The Halloween-inspired baby names growing in popularity - including Lucifer and Bellatrix

28 October 2021, 12:20 | Updated: 28 October 2021, 13:28

By Polly Foreman

Names including Lucifer, Salem and Bellatrix are growing in popularity in the UK.

If you're expecting a baby over the next few days, it may interest you to know that there's a growing number of parents giving their kids Halloween-inspired names.

Spooky monikers like Salem, Bellatrix, and even Lucifer have all seen a rise in popularity over the past few years, according to research from The Audit Lab.

The digital marketing agency looked at data from ONS data, and found that names linked to things like Harry Potter, witches, and even the devil are on the rise.

• The most popular baby names of the last 20 years - including Emily and Joshua
• The baby names 'at risk of extinction' - including Kirsty, Lauren and Craig
• The baby names 'most likely to be geniuses' - including John, Susan and Marie

Lucifer, which is the name of the devil, has seen a huge rise in popularity over the last few years, with 15 babies being given this moniker in 2020. There were no recored Lucifers in the UK until 2016, and the popularity of the name has grown by 275 per cent in four years.

Villain names generally seem to be on the rise, with Bellatrix - the moniker of Voldermot's most loyal servant in Harry Potter - seeing a growth in popularity over the last years. There were 12 babies given the name in both 2017 and 2019, and it first showed up in 2010, just after Helena Bonham Carter first played her in the films.

Kylo, the name of a villain played by Adam Driver in the Star Wars films, has also seen a surge in popularity - with 189 babies given the moniker last year. It is number 252 on the popularity list.

Last year, there were also 11 babies called Ursula, as seen in The Little Mermaid, and 13 boys and girls named Salem.

Draco (from Harry Potter) and Hannibal (from the Hannibal Lecter story) have also cropped up.