Every expectant parent I've ever met has wanted to select a 'good' baby name for his or her future child--one with positive characteristics in terms of sound, meaning, associations, and so forth. Logically, these parents have actively avoided 'bad' names with unpleasant sounds, distasteful definitions, and objectionable associations. This tendency is the norm where I live, so that's why I was surprised the first time I met someone with an apotropaic name.

What's an apotropaic name? Well, an apotrope is something that wards off evil and thereby helps a person evade harm and/or death. For example, amulets and talismans are apotropes. Or, if you were a vampire hunter and needed protection, you could use crucifixes and silver bullets as apotropes.

An apotropaic name, therefore, is a name that protects the bearer from evil. It's an intentionally uncomplimentary moniker that's meant to trick spirits or demons into thinking a child is unloved or unwanted (...because an undesirable child is not worth stealing away).

That first apotropaic name I encountered meant "white hen." The woman who owned it was from Southeast Asia and had siblings (both male and female) with names that meant such things as "black hen," "hippopotamus," "garlic," and "red fruit." (Some siblings were luckier than others, I'd say.)

She explained that several of her older siblings had died very young, and that her parents, after enduring these losses, decided to give the rest of their children apotropaic names in order to prevent them from encountering the same fate.

The practice of giving apotropaic names is mostly found in areas of Africa and Asia. Of course, the majority of names in these two regions are chosen for other reasons (to reflect values, aspirations, birth order, etc.), but when malevolent spirits are a special concern, apotropaic names are often bestowed as a precaution.

Though several popular western names also have 'bad' definitions, these names tend to be chosen on other grounds. For instance, Dolores (Spanish for "sorrows") and Caleb (Hebrew for "dog") are normally used because of their ties to religion. Similarly, Claudius (Latin for "crippled") and Cameron (Scottish for "crooked nose") are associated with history and culture.

To us, names meaning "intelligent" or "beautiful" may seem more auspicious than those meaning "garlic" or "hippopotamus." But the most important thing to remember about apotropaic names is that they--just like the 'good' names we're more familiar with--are chosen with children's best interests in mind, and this is precisely the way baby names ought to be chosen.