Throughout history, across many different cultures and belief systems, names have held significant meaning. To name something is to define it and understand its essence. This idea is particularly important in the study of demonology, where names are approached with both caution and intrigue.
Instead of being just creations of the imagination, the names found in medieval grimoires and ancient texts represent a mix of misunderstood deities, poorly translated writings, and the embodiment of human fears.
To make this information more accessible, we’ve organised these entities into a structured database. This resource shows their linguistic roots, key literary references, and the specific types of harm they were believed to cause.
The Grimoire: An Etymological Directory of Infernal Names
Abaddon (Apollyon)
Origin: Hebrew / Greek
Described in the biblical Book of Revelation as the “angel of the bottomless pit.” The name translates directly to “Destruction” or “The Destroyer,” commanding a vast plague of locusts in apocalyptic literature.
Abigor
Origin: Medieval Grimoires
In traditional demonology, Abigor is pictured as a handsome knight wielding a lance. He is specifically conjured by occultists for military assistance, strategic wartime advice, and his supposed powers of divination.
Afrit (Ifrit)
Origin: Islamic Folklore
Massive, malevolent spirits within Jinn lore. They represent the second most powerful tier of these entities. Historians frequently connect their characteristics to ancient Egyptian spirits associated with violent desert sandstorms.
Ahriman
Origin: Zoroastrianism
The absolute personification of deceit, darkness, and evil in ancient Persian lore, locked in a perpetual cosmic war with the creator deity Ahura Mazda. He is heavily linked to early serpentine depictions of the devil.
Alastor
Origin: Greek / Roman
Originally a Greek term for an avenging deity or an executioner of family curses. Roman demonologists later adapted the name, downscaling its power to refer to a malevolent, destructive genius haunting a specific household.
Arioch
Origin: Hebrew
Translating to “fierce lion,” this name appears historically in the Book of Genesis. It was later adapted into classic literature, most notably appearing as one of the prominent fallen angels in John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost.
Asmodeus
Origin: Apocrypha / Literature
The primary antagonist in the Book of Tobit who disrupts marriages. In the 1707 satirical novel Le Diable Boiteux, he takes a student on a midnight flight, lifting roofs off houses to expose the hypocritical private lives of citizens below.
Azazel (Eblis)
Origin: Semitic / Islamic
Associated closely with the wilderness scapegoat ritual in ancient Judea. In Islamic traditions, under the name Eblis (signifying “despair”), he is a Jinn cast out of the heavenly realm for refusing to bow before the newly created Adam.
Baphomet
Origin: Medieval Inquisition
Though modern culture views this as a goat-headed demon, historians recognize it as a corrupt Old French mistranslation of “Mahomet” (Muhammad), manufactured to accuse the Knights Templar of heretical worship.
Barbason
Origin: Elizabethan Theatre
A fiend famously conjured by William Shakespeare in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Literary scholars trace this specific name to Reginald Scot’s landmark 1584 skeptical text, The Discoverie of Witchcraft.
Beelzebub
Origin: Philistine / Syrian
A linguistic mockery of Baalzebub, moving from the honorable Syrian title “Lord of the High House” to the intentionally derogatory “Lord of the Flies.” He is heavily cementation in lore as a Prince of Devils.
Belphegor
Origin: Moabite / Folk Satire
Rooted in the ancient deity Baal-Peor. In medieval folklore, he became a demonic investigator dispatched from hell to discover if true marital bliss existed on earth, returning with a definitive negative verdict.
Caliban
Origin: Shakespearean Drama
The famous brooding, deformed sub-human antagonist from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Within the context of the play, he is explicitly identified as the biological offspring of a devil and the powerful witch Sycorax.
Cambion
Origin: Post-Medieval Folklore
A categorical label rather than an individual identity. In later European witchcraft treaties, a Cambion was the semi-human offspring resulting from the physical union of a human and an incubus or succubus.
Demogorgon
Origin: Late Antiquity
Originally recorded by early Christian commentators like Lactantius as a premier ruler of the underworld. For centuries, the name was treated as a terrifying secret, believed to invite immediate catastrophe if uttered aloud.
Gog & Magog
Origin: Eschatology
Appearing in Ezekiel and the Book of Revelation, these names represent individual rulers, hostile nations, or apocalyptic forces destined to gather for a final, catastrophic conflict against the spiritual kingdom.
Lamia
Origin: Greek Mythology
Originally a tragic Libyan queen transformed by grief and divine wrath into a child-devouring serpentine monster. The name evolved into a classic synonym for predatory witches capable of masking their monstrous nature with beauty.
Lucifer
Origin: Latin Astronomy
A Latin astrological term meaning “Morning Star” or “Light-Bringer,” referencing the planet Venus. It became synonymous with the adversarial prince due to early Christian interpretations of passages in Isaiah 14:12.
Mammon
Origin: Aramaic / Syrian
Originally a regular Aramaic noun meaning “material wealth” or “riches.” Because of its unique personified phrasing within the Gospel of Matthew, medieval theologians transformed the abstract concept of greed into an individual demon of gold.
Mephistopheles
Origin: German Renaissance
The sardonic, cold adversary popularized by the historical Faust legend. Invented by combining Greek roots, the name fittingly translates to “the one who shuns or hates the light,” serving as literature’s premier cosmic contract broker.
Original Perspective: Deicide by Mistranslation
Delve Deeper
When you take a close look at the history of demonology, a clear pattern stands out: the deities people once worshipped often come to be viewed as demons later on.
A vast majority of the names that filled the anxious minds of medieval European witch-hunters were never originally intended to represent underworld monsters. Instead, names like Beelzebub and Belphegor are the direct byproducts of psychological warfare waged through ancient translations. When rival cultures or rising monotheistic systems encountered the local nature deities of neighbouring lands, they did not merely reject them; they systematically weaponised language to re-frame them.
By taking an honourable foreign title like Baal-Poer (a Moabite divinity associated with spring agricultural celebrations) and intentionally tracking it into scripture as a base spirit of orgies and decay, ancient scribes pulled off a form of cultural rewriting.
This deep historical lens reminds us that the study of demonology tells us very little about the actual spiritual realm but reveals an incredible amount about human tribalism, the fear of the foreign, and the terrifying power of a translator’s stroke of the pen.
In Pure Spirit
The study of historical nomenclature is an ever-expanding field, and ancient manuscripts regularly reveal forgotten variations of these names. Have you encountered an unusual infernal title during your own historical or literary research?
If you have an entry you believe belongs in this comprehensive index, please leave a comment below and cite your historical source or grimoire so we can continue expanding this independent reference library.
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