Some of the most famous vampire names, for both men and women, in literature, cinema, legends or folklore are Vlad, Orlok, Angel, Edward Cullen, Blade and, of course, Dracula.
The vampire is a mythological creature that is generally characterized as an immortal human or an active corpse, which feeds on the blood of other human beings to survive. It is part of the culture of many societies around the world.
Photo by FICG.mx from flickr
The vampire has transcended generations and has become universal due to its presence in legends, stories, fables, novels, television and film series, as well as the human imagination. There are also important theological studies on this creature.
Literature, cinema, and popular folklore have adapted the vampire to different contexts, attributing different personalities to him. Thus, there are stories of romantic vampires, wild vampires, asocial or very social vampires, etc.
Being mythical creatures, vampires are found in different ways and under different names throughout their trajectory in art and culture. The most famous being Count Dracula, based on the Wallachian prince Vlad Drăculea (1431-1476).
Literature vampires
In 1748 Heinrich August Ossenfelder wrote a poem entitled The Vampire. Studies indicate that in this work the term "vampire" was coined for the first time. Since then, countless names have been created, brought to life by very interesting characters in literature.
1- Lestat de Lionco urt : capricious, insecure and promiscuous. He is one of the main characters in the novel Interview with the Vampire written by Anne Rice.
2- Eli : sure of her actions, loyal, but asocial. Protagonist of the Swedish novel Låt den rätte komma in, in Spanish Let me in, written by John Ajvide Lindqvist and published in 2004.
3- Henry Fitzroy : romantic and lover of writing. Protagonist of the series of novels The Saga of the Blood of the writer Tanya Huff. He is a vampire inspired by the royal historical figure Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, son of King Henry III.
4- Carm illa : beautiful and mysterious. A vampire belonging to the novel Carmilla, of which she is not the protagonist despite bearing her name. It is a short novel written by Sheridan Le Fanu in 1872.
5- Miriam : beautiful, lonely. She is a vampire protagonist of the novel Hunger or The Craving written by Louis Whitley Strieber and published in 1980.
TV vampires
When television was invented, it didn't take many years for the now famous vampire gothic genre to take over the screens.
6- Mitchel l : strong and brave. Also known as John Mitchell, he is a leading vampire on the British television series Being Human. He was born in 1893 and was a soldier in the First World War.
7- William : compassionate, kind, but with a dark past. William Erasmus Compton, better known as Bill, is one of the main characters in the television series True Blood.
8- Angel : competent, talented. Protagonist of the series that bears his name, he is a legendary vampire with more than two hundred years of age who has been punished for his evil, but gets a second chance to become a hero.
9- Leo Zachs : hates humans. He is a 600-year-old vampire character from the Israeli series Split directed by Shai Kapon and first aired in 2009.
Movie vampires
In the world of cinema, vampires have gained much more popularity since the premiere of the first feature film about vampires in 1922.
10- Orlok : lonely, nostalgic. Better known as Nosferatu, he is a very ugly-looking vampire. He is the protagonist of the first vampire film, the silent film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau in 1922.
Photo by FICG.mx from flickr
11- Dracula : romantic, warrior. This vampire has been the subject of countless interpretations and adaptations in different novels, television series and movies, such as in 1992's Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
12- Abby : sure of her actions, loyal, but asocial. It is the same character from the Swedish novel Let Me In, but this time with another name in its film adaptation directed by Matt Reeves.
13- Blade : distant, cynical. He is a dhampiro, that is, a mix between vampire and human. He is the protagonist of the 1998 film Blade directed by Stephen Norrington.
14- Vlad : ruthless and authoritarian. Vlad Tepes is the name of a Romanian prince, nicknamed the impaler for torturing his victims by piercing them with a stick. This historical character is played by Luke Evans in the movie Dracula: The Untold Legend.
15- Edward Cullen : stubborn, kind, melancholic. Edward is the protagonist of the Twilight saga, released in 2008.
Folklore vampires: spirits
As part of the culture of some peoples, the vampire is a mythological being in spirit form. It can be feared by some and praised by others. Each society has given a name to these spirits.
16- Adze : belonging to African mythology. It is a vampire spirit that sucks the blood of living beings. In case of not being able to feed on blood, it feeds on coconut milk or palm oil. This spirit is shaped like a firefly and, when captured, takes its human form.
17- Alp : it is originally from Germany. Locally it is said that it is born in the form of a butterfly from the mouth of a vampire. It is a spirit that sucks the blood from the nipples of boys and men, also the milk of cows or lactating women.
18- Mara : of German origin. It is the spirit of a vampire who incessantly haunts the men she has fallen in love with for having tasted their blood. In Czechoslovakia it is said that it is the soul of a living person who wanders at night.
19- Zotz : it is a vampire spirit presented in the form of a bat. He is originally from Mexico where he is considered a God by tribes such as the Tzotziles of Chiapas. He is also called Camazotz and is considered powerful and highly feared in that culture.
20- Azeman : it is a hybrid between vampire and werewolf. It is a female spirit that turns into an animal at night and sucks the blood of human beings. It never goes out in the day. This vampire is originally from Guyana.
Related topics
Medieval names.
Viking names.
Elf names.
Epic names.
Names of demons.
Names of angels.
Fairy names.
Names of dragons.
References
- Caro Oca, AM Vampires in the television fiction of the XXI century: The immortal myth. Recovered from: idus.us.es
- Eetessam Párraga, G. (2014) The seduction of evil: the vampire woman in romantic literature. Recovered from: s3.amazonaws.com
- González Christen, A. (2003) From Vampires to Vampires. Recovered from: redalyc.org
- Sevilla, JP (2000) An iconographic approach to vampire cinema. Recovered from: magazines.um.es
- Vlad Tepes. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org
- Ruiz Lopera, H. (2017) The 10 most famous vampires in cinema. Recovered from: buhomag.elmundo.es
- Maocho, F. (2009) Cinema - Vampires and Seventh Art. Recovered from: felixmaocho.wordpress.com