Gaius

In Battlestar Galactica, Gaius Baltar was used by a Cylon spy to help bring about the holocaust that killed most of humanity. He was rescued from Caprica, and ended up on Galactica. He invented a Cylon detector, and led a monotheistic cult. He was also elected President of the twelve colonies.

In Frank Herbert's Dune, Gaius Helen Mohaim was a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother. She was part of the conspiracy to end Paul Atreides' rule, and was later executed by Alia Antreides.

In Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series, House Gaius is a ruling house of Alera.

In Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Gaius van Baelsar was a general who lead the invasion into Eorzea. He was known as The Black Wolf.

Gaius is a Latin name from ancient Rome, and means 'Happy'. Only 15 boys in the United States were named Gaius in 2015.

Nayru

In The Legend of Zelda series, Nayru was the goddess of wisdom. She and her sisters created Hyrule, the mythical kingdom where the series takes place. Nayru created the laws of the universe and magic. The Oracle of the Ages was named Nayru after her. Lanayru Province and Lanayru, The Light Spirit, were also named for her.

Nayru was created for the Legend of Zelda. In the language of Hyrule, it means 'love' or 'wisdom'. Nayru does not appear in the Social Security Administration's name database. 

Daisy

In Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Daisy Johnson was the daughter of Calvin Johnson and an inhuman, Jiaying. Daisy was taken from her parents as an infant, and she went by the name Skye. She joined S.H.I.E.L.D., and worked on Agent Phil Coulson's team. After she was exposed to the Terrigen mist, she gained the ability to cause vibrations in objects. In the Marvel comics, her codename was Quake, and she became a member of the Avengers.

In Pokémon, Daisy was an older sister of Misty. She was the one of the Gym Leaders of Cerulean City.

In the video game Super Mario Land, Daisy was the Princess of Sarasaland.

Daisy is an English name that means 'day's eye.' It is also the name of a flower. It is sometimes a nickname for Marguerite, which is the French word for the same flower. In 2014, Daisy was the 180th most popular name for girls in the U.S.

Zelda

In The Legend of Zelda, Princess Zelda was the name of several members of the royal family of Hyrule. In some incarnations she was a child. In others, she was a young adult. Zelda possessed psychic and magical abilities. She often played the role of damsel in distress for the hero Link.

In X-Men, Zelda was a waitress who once dated Robert Drake, aka Iceman.

In the British Sci-Fi series, Terrahawks, Zelda was an android and the primary villain of the series.

In the Batman television series, Zelda the Great was a magician who robbed a bank every year on April Fool's day in order to pay Eivol Ekdol to make her escape devices for her.

Zelda is a diminutive of the Old German name Griselda, which means 'dark battle.' Zelda dropped out of the top 1,000 names for girls in the U.S. in 1967. In 2014, 212 girls were named Zelda.

Sora

In Stargate Atlantis, Sora Tyrus was from the Genii homeworld. She served under Acastus Kolya, and was part of a raid the Genii conducted against Atlantis. Sora blamed Teyla for her father's death when she left him behind on a Wraith hive ship, and the two fought over it. Teyla won, and spared Sora's life, ending their feud. She disagreed with Kolya's ruthless methods, and preferred to spare lives wherever possible.

In the video game Kingdom Hearts, the main protagonist is a teenage boy named Sora. I know nothing about this game, so I won't attempt to explain it.. click the links if you want to know more!

Sora is a unisex Japanese name that means "sky." In 2014 it was given to 67 girls and and 25 boys in the United States.

Scarlet

Scarlet Witch is a character in the Marvel Universe. Her real name is Wanda Maximoff. She is the twin sister of Pietro Maximoff, also known as Quicksilver. In the Marvel Comics, Scarlet Witch was a part of Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants before joining the Avengers.

Will Scarlet is a character in the television show Once Upon a Time.

Scarlet Sharp was a witch who was reported missing on Potterwatch in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.

Scarlett Adams was a character in the Power of Five series of novels by Anthony Horowitz. At first, it was believed her power was to predict the weather, but it was later determined that she also had the ability to control it.

Skarlet was a character in the Mortal Kombat video game. She was able to absorb the blood of her prey.

The Scarlet Brethren were a group of nine wizards who wore red robes in  the Dragonlance novel, "The Dying Kingdom."

In Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, a Scarlet-Flower was a breed of dragon of Chinese origin. They were red with a yellow crest, and enjoyed fighting.

In the Star Wars franchise, Scarlet was a term used for art that was not approved by Imperial censors.

The name Scarlet is of French origin, and means 'red'. It can be spelled Scarlet or Scarlett. Scarlett was the 30th most popular name for girls in the United States in 2014.

Elara

Elara is the name of one of Jupiter's moons. Prior to 1976, it was officially known as Jupiter VII, although it was sometimes informally called Hera. It is a very small moon, being only 43 km, or 26.7 miles in diameter.

There is a character called Elara Dorne in the Star Wars: The Old Republic video game.

There is an elf named Elara in the Great Multiverse video game.

Like many astronomical names, Elara comes from Greek Mythology. Elara was a human princess that Zeus seduced. She died giving birth to Tityos, son of Zeus and a giant. In 2014, 22 girls in the United States were named Elara.

Logan

The name Logan can be found all over the sci-fi/fantasy world. The most prominent use is in the Science fiction novel turned film, Logan's Run. In the novel, people's lives were terminated once they reach the age of 21 in order to prevent overpopulation. The character Logan was charged with enforcing the rule by killing those who run. When Logan turned 21, he became a runner himself, and used an underground railroad to reach Sanctuary, a colony on Mars.

Logan is also the name of Wolverine, of the X-Men. Wolverine was born James Howlett, the son of a wealthy landowner, John Howlett, in the 1880s. However, his biological father was the groundskeeper, Thomas Logan. Thomas killed John Howlett, and Wolverine in turn killed Thomas with his bone claws. Cast out by his mother, he adopted the name Logan.

Logan Cale was one of the main characters in the television series Dark Angel. Logan is a hacker/journalist, who transmits his untraceable broadcasts under the pseudonym "Eyes Only". He helped Max track down her fellow genetically engineered soldiers.

There were two characters in the tv series, Warehouse 13 with the name Logan. Kate Logan was a secret service agent who once had a relationship with Pete Lattimer.  Logan was an individual who used an artifact to disrupt a banking convention. He killed several bankers before he was stopped.

Logan Gyre is the High King in The Night Angel Triolgy by Brent Weeks.

Logan Willowine was a Kender Mystic in the Dragonlance novel, Citadel of Light.

Lieutenant Logan was an engineer on the U.S.S. Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Garfield Mark "Gar" Logan, is the real name of the comic book character Beast Boy.

Logan is the main character in the video game Fable III. Gabriel Logan is a character in the video game, Syphon Filter. Logan was a character in the video game Star Wars Galaxies.

In Farscape, Douglas Logan was an avatar used by Rygel in a simulation.

The name originates as the name of a Scottish Clan. It means "little hollow". Although it is mostly used for boys, Logan is also used for girls. In the United States, Logan ranked as the 13th most popular name for boys, and ranked at #391 for girls in 2014.

Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia is a constellation named for a queen in Greek mythology.  Cassiopeia was the mother of Andromeda. She incurred the wrath of Poseidon by boasting about Andromeda's and her own beauty.

In Battlestar Galactica, Cassiopeia was a medtech, and former prostitute.

In Transformers, Cassiopeia was a reporter for Around Cybertown.

Cassiopeia was a mage in League of Legends video game.

In the Harry Potter series, Cassiopeia Black was the daughter of Cygnus Black II and Violetta Bulstrode.  She was the grand-aunt of Sirius Black.

The name is Greek in origin, and means "cassia juice." In 2014, the name Cassiopeia was given to 12 girls in the United States. Cassiopeia is a more unique way to get to the nickname 'Cassie'.

August 2013 Roundup

British Baby Names profiled Archer, known to geeks as the surname of the first Captain of the Enterprise, and Malcolm, the tactical officer that served under him.

Baby Name Pondering gives us Atlas, which is a moon, a star, a comic book, a video game, and much more. They also profiled Axis, from the Wayfarer Redemption fantasy series.

Bewitching Names discussed Ceres, which is a dwarf planet.

Appellation Mountain looked in depth at Melody, the birth name of Doctor Who's River Song.

Nameberry has a post on names from the work of Neil Gaiman.

Once Upon a Time Baby names has a list of Magical Names.

June 2013 Roundup

I took the month of June off from the blog, but plenty of other sites picked up the slack! Here's a roundup of Geeky Names profiled in the month of June.

Appellation Mountain profiled Tanith, first name of Sci-Fi writer Tanith Lee. Tanith was also a Goa'uld in Stargate SG-1.

In Name Only had Stark as their cool baby name of the week.

British Baby names talked about Ismeria, a rare name that has a slightly geek reference in that it's part of the genus name for a type of butterfly.

Baby Name Pondering has two names with a geeky side: Dale, and Fiora.

Nancy's Baby Name's Name Predictions contained a few geeky names, Cypher, Kitai and Tesla.

Bewitching Baby Names had an in depth profile of Ameratsu, which was the name of a Goa'uld in Stargate SG-1.

Nameberry had an awesome list of Celestial Names.

Tycho

Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer who lived in the 16th century. He observed a supernova in 1592, and unlike most of his contemporaries, asserted that the star was further away than the moon. He coined the term 'Nova' to describe what we now call Supernovas. Tycho lost part of his nose during a duel over a mathematics formula, and often wore a false nose made of various metals, depending on the occasion. There are craters on the moon and on Mars that are named for him.

Tycho Celchu is a character in the Star Wars universe. He was a native of Alderaan, and he lost his entire family when the planet was destroyed by the Death Star. He was a member of the Imperial Navy at the time, but the destruction of his world spurred him to join the Rebel Alliance as a starfighter pilot. He later continued to serve as a pilot for the New Republic. He eventually became a General in the Galactic Alliance Defense Force.

There are characters named Tycho in the computer games Fallout and Marathon, and in the Warhammer 40,000 game.

Tycho is a Greek name that means "hitting the mark". I think the fact that it can be shortened to the modern nickname 'Ty', makes this name a little less archaic. In 2011, 13 boys in the United States were named Tycho.

Quorra

Quorra was a character from the movie, Tron: Legacy and the video game, Tron: Evolution. Quorra was the last known ISO (Isomorphic Algorithm) still alive. She was a friend of Kevin Flynn, and helped his son Sam Flynn after he traveled to the Grid. She eventually escaped with Sam to the real world, becoming a real person in the process.

Quorra is pronounced the same as the name Cora, so it might have been intended as a variant of that name. Cora is an Italian name that means 'heart.' Quorra is another name for the Niger River. It might also derive from the Latin word 'quora', which means 'whose'. In 2014, 26 girls were given the name Quorra.

Kingsley

Kingsley Shacklebolt was a prominient wizard in the Harry Potter series. Kingsley was a Auror who joined the Order of the Phoenix. After Voldemort was defeated, he became the Minister of Magic.

Doctor Sara Kingsley was a character in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode 'Unnatural Selection'. She led a genetic experiment on children which made them immune to all forms of disease, but also made them deadly to normal humans.

Kingsley's Adventure was a video game created for Playstation in 1999.

Kingsley is an English name that means 'King's meadow'. In 2011, the name Kingsley was given to 196 boys and 33 girls.

Alice

Alice was the main protagonist from the Resident Evil movie franchise. She was a security operative working for the Umbrella corporation. After Umbrella creates a zombie apocalypse, she becomes the enemy of the corporation.

In Star Trek: Voyager, Tom Paris discovers an alien shuttle craft with an A.I. that he called Alice, after a girl he chased while a student at Starfleet Academy. Tom was able to interface with the ship through a neurogenic interface, and gradually, the ship began to control him.  

In the original Star Trek television series, notorious con artist Harry Mudd created a series of android women that he called the Alice series.

In the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood, Alice Carter was the daughter of Captain Jack Harkness. Jack used her son, Steven, to reverse a signal being sent through the children of Earth by the 456. The process stopped the 456, but resulted in Steven's death.

In the Harry Potter francise, Alice Longbottom was the mother of Neville Longbottom. She was driven mad when Bellatrix Lestrange tortured her with the Cruciatus curse.

Alice was the name of a Pretender Transformer in the movie, Revenge of the Fallen. She took the form of an animatronic figure of Alice in Wonderland from an amusement park.

There is a main belt asteroid named 291 Alice. 

Alice ML is a programming language that is a dialect of Standard ML. 

Alice Eliot was a character from the video game Shadow Hearts. She could hear supernatural voices and later became an exorcist. She could use white magic to heal others and inflict damage on enemies.

Alice 19th was a Japanese manga series published from 2001-2003.

ALICE is an acronym for Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity, and for A Large Ion Collider Experiment.

Alice is a German name that means 'noble'.  Alice has always been in the top 1000 names in the United States. The highest it's been was #8 in the years 1906, 1882, & 1880. In 2011, it ranked at #140.

February 2013 Roundup

I've decided to do a monthly Roundup feature on the last day of every month. In it, I'll compile links to other name sites that profiled geeky names during the month. I've done these posts before, but I feel it would be better to do them on a more regular basis. So, here are the Geeky names I've found across the web during the month of February!

Bewitching Names profiled Romulus. While she focused on it's historical origins, it's best known to geeks as the home planet of the Romulan race in Star Trek. Romulus was also a super villain in the Marvel universe, and a main belt asteroid is also named 10386 Romulus.

Naming the Fishes listed the names found in the video game Dragon Age 2.

Mer de Noms suggested Benzene as a unique way to get to 'Ben'. It also has that trendy 'z' sound. The more I think about it, the more I like it!

Name Freak profiled Colm, the name of the actor who played Miles O'Brien in Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Colm is also the name of a character in the video game Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. 

I recently discovered Nameholics Anonymous's series of posts on Harry Potter Names. She's going alphabetically, and I didn't find it until recently, so I was a few letters behind! Her most recent post is 'F is For Filius'. Previous posts include A is for Alastor, B is for Bathilda, C is for Cedric, D is for Draco, and E is for. I think she forgot to add a name to the last one!

Morpheus

Morpheus was one of the main characters in the Matrix franchise. He was the captain of the hovercraft Nebuchadnezzar. Morpheus's goal was to find "The One" who would end the war as foretold by the Oracle. He found Neo and taught him about the Matrix.

Morpheus was an alias of Dream, the protagonist of the D.C. comic The Sandman, written by Neil Gaiman.

Morpheus was the title of an episode in the 10th Season of Stargate SG-1, during which the team falls ill with a sleeping sickness.

There were two video games named Morpheus. One was released in 1987 and was a shoot em' up style game. The other was released in 1998, and was a first person adventure game. Mopheus D. Duvall was a character in the video game, Resident Evil: Dead Aim.

Two types of software share the name Morpheus: a file sharing program, and a morphing and digital compositing program.

Morpheus was the god of dreams in Greek mythology. He was a winged daemon, but he could take human form, and appear in dreams. The last time the name appeared in the Social Security name database was in 2000, when it was given to 5 boys.

Trinity

Trinity was the female lead of the Matrix franchise. After She escaped from the Matrix, Trinity became first mate on the Nebuchadnezzar. The Oracle told her that she would fall in love with The One, or Neo. In the first movie, she revived the dead Neo with a kiss. In the Matrix Reloaded, Neo returned the favor and revived her after she is shot in the Matrix. In the final installment, the Matrix Revolutions, Trinity was killed in the real world when she was impaled by power cables.

Trinity Wells was the name of a News reporter in the Doctor Who franchise. She has appeared in Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Trinity was the name of a little known science fiction film from 2001. 

Blade: Trinity was the third film in the Blade triolgy. The triology stars Wesley Snipes as a vampire superhero.

Trinity was also the name of a 1986 video game. 

Trinity was the name of a villain in the D.C. comics universe. She was a android woman that housed a computer virus with three faces which represented Time, War and Chaos.

In the Team Tejas comic, Trinity was a superhero who had the ability to create three clones of herself.

Trinity was the 77th most popular girl's name in 2011. The name also refers to the Holy Trinity of the Catholic church, and most usage probably related to the religion.

Aeon

Aeon Flux began as an animated short on Mtv in the 1990s. By the third and final season, it grew from a few minutes in length to a full half hour. In 2005, it became a live action film starring Charlize Theron, which spawned a video game and a comic book. Aeon was a secret agent from the nation of Monica, who infiltrated the neighboring police state Bregna, which was led by her nemesis and lover, Trevor Goodchild.

Aeons were a type of creature in the Final Fantasy series of role playing video games. They were powerful creatures that could be summoned and controlled by the player. They were a physical manifestation of the dreams of the Fayth, people whose souls were removed from their still living bodies and sealed into stone tablets. 

Aeon was a Latin transliteration of a Greek word that meant life or lifespan but has evolved into the English word Eon, meaning age, or a long period of time. In 2011, the name Aeon was given to 7 girls.

Kira

Kira is a female variant of the Russian name Cyrus. It's also a female variant of the Irish name Ciaran.

In the Sci-Fi world, it's best known as the name of Kira Nerys, the Bajoran first officer on Deep Space 9. Bajoran naming tradition used the surname first, and given name second, so Kira was her surname, and Nerys was her given name.

In Fantasy, Kira was the name of a gelfling in the film, The Dark Crystal. 

For Gamers, Kira is a character in the video game Mortal Kombat.

In 2011, Kira ranked #333 in the U.S. This makes her a familiar, yet uncommon choice.