The Best Names That Mean Poison or Toxic

Need to name a character who poisons their enemies? Or maybe you just want an edgy name for your baby? You’ve come to the right place! We’ve compiled a list of unique names that mean poison or are related to poison. Keep reading for names for boys and girls, as well as options inspired by myths, literature, and real poisoners from history.

Top Names Associated with Poison

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A list of names that mean or are related to poison.

Names that mean or are associated with poison are often inspired by poisonous plants and venomous snakes. Some popular girl names include Belladona, Gwenwyn, Hellebore, and Tansy. Popular boy names include Bane, Drake, and Mercurio. Gender-neutral options include Oleander and Mercury.

Section 1 of 8:

Girl Names That Mean Poison

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While there aren’t a ton of girl names that directly mean “poison,” there are many that are closely associated with it. For example, there are tons of poisonous plants and flowers that can also serve as names for characters (or even a baby!). Here are some of our favorites:
- Aconita (after the scientific name for wolfsbane)
- Aithusa (Greek for “fiery, blazing, poison hemlock”)
- Amanita (after a genus of poisonous mushrooms)
- Aqua (after the arsenic mixture Aqua Tofana)
- Artemisia (another name for mugwort)
- Atropa (after the genus name for deadly nightshade)
- Atrotina (invented name meaning “the little deadly nightshade”)
- Azalea (after the poisonous flowers)
- Belladonna (Italian for “beautiful lady;” after the poisonous plant)
- Cantarella (after a type of poison supposedly used by the Borgias)
- Cicutara (invented name meaning “she of the hemlock”)
- Datura (another name for jimsonweed or “stinkweed”)
- Gwenwyn (Welsh for “poison”)
- Hellebore (after the poisonous plant)
- Ivy (English for “vine;” after poison ivy)
- Mandragora (another name for mandrake)
- Mortoxia (invented name meaning “death poison”)
- Nimh (Irish for “poison”)
- Oleandra (after the poisonous plant oleander)
- Poinsettia (after the poisonous plant)
- Poisonella (invented name meaning “poisonous woman”)
- Rhododendron (after the poisonous plant)
- Serpentina (Latin for “snake-like”)
- Solanine (after the genus Solanum, or nightshade plants)
- Tansy (after the poisonous flower)
- Toxara (invented name meaning “the toxic one”)
- Toxica (Spanish for “the toxic one”)
- Toxique (French for “toxic”)
- Venefica (Latin for “female poisoner, witch”)
- Venificara (invented name meaning “female poisoner”)
- Venoma (Latin for “venom”)
- Virosa (after Amanita virosa, a poisonous mushroom)
- Visha (Sanskrit for “poison”)

Section 2 of 8:

Boy Names That Mean Poison

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Like with girl names, there aren’t very many boy names that specifically mean “poison.” However, many draw inspiration from venomous snakes and plants. Here are some ideas to choose from:
- Adder (English for “venomous snake”)
- Armitox (Latin for “poison bearer”)
- Arsen (short for arsenic)
- Arsenic (after the poisonous chemical)
- Athanor (after a furnace used by medieval alchemists)
- Attor (English for “venom, poison”)
- Bane (English for “destroyer;” after wolfsbane)
- Basmu (Sumerian for “venomous snake”)
- Bracken (after the poisonous fern)
- Doku (Japanese for “poison”)
- Dokugiri (Japanese for “poison mist”)
- Dokuto (Japanese for “man of poison”)
- Draco (Latin for “serpent”)
- Drake (short for mandrake)
- Halimaka (Sanskrit for “poison-spewing”)
- Iolaus (Greek for “poison arrow”)
- Mandrake (after the poisonous plant)
- Mercurio (the Italian form of “mercury”)
- Oak (after poison oak)
- Ormr (Norse for “snake, serpent”)
- Pacoatl (Nahuatl for “medicine snake, poison snake”)
- Patecatl (Nahuatl for “medicine, potion, poison”)
- Samael (Hebrew for “venom, poison of God”)
- Solanum (another name for nightshade)
- Strychnos (Greek meaning “deadly, a kind of nightshade”)
- Veneno (Spanish for “poison, venom”)
- Venenus (Latin for “full of venom”)
- Viper (after the family of venomous snakes)

Section 3 of 8:

Unisex Names That Mean Poison

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Some names associated with poison can work for any gender. Draw inspiration from toxic chemicals, poisonous plants, or venomous serpents. Here are some ideas to try out:
- Aconite (after the poisonous plant)
- Ahi (Sanskrit for “snake, dragon”)
- Arsenic (after the toxic element)
- Cyanide (after the highly toxic chemical compound)
- Dokuyaku (Japanese for “poison”)
- Draconis (Latin for “serpent”)
- Gaidoku (Japanese for “harmful poison”)
- Hemlock (after the poisonous plant)
- Hydran (after the Greek Hydra)
- Krait (after the venomous Indian krait snake)
- Mamba (after the black mamba, a venomous snake)
- Mercury (after the poisonous chemical)
- Nagendra (Sanskrit for “lord of serpents”)
- Nyoka (Swahili for “snake”)
- Oleander (after the poisonous plant)
- Poison (English for “a substance that causes illness or death through chemical action”)
- Samm (Arabic for “venom, poison”)
- Sarin (after a toxic, man-made nerve agent)
- Toxin (English for “an organic poison”)
- Venom (English for “a toxic liquid emitted through a bite or sting”)

Section 4 of 8:

Mythical Names Associated with Poison

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Whether you’re creating a fantasy character or looking for a really unique name for a baby, try researching different mythologies. There are plenty of deities from various cultures who are associated with poison or serpents. Here are some popular ones:
- Apopis (an ancient Egyptian serpent deity, known as the god of chaos)
- Circe (the sorceress who poisoned Odysseus’s men in The Odyssey)
- Echidna (In Greek mythology, the mother of the Hydra, whose name means “she-viper”)
- Fafnir (a venomous dragon from Norse mythology)
- Hecate (the Greek goddess of witchcraft, sometimes associated with poison)
- Heracles (the Greek demigod who shoots Nessus the centaur with an arrow dipped in poisonous blood)
- Hydra (a Greek serpentine monster with venomous blood)
- Jormungandr (the Midgard Serpent whose venom kills Thor at Ragnarok, according to Norse mythology)
- Loki (the Norse trickster god, closely associated with poison)
- Medea (a sorceress from Greek mythology who is heavily associated with poison)
- Medusa (after the Greek gorgon with snakes for hair)
- Morrigan (the Celtic goddess of death and destruction, often associated with poison)
- Nemain (an aspect of the Celtic goddess the Morrigan, whose name potentially comes from the root “nemo,” meaning “poison”)
- Nessus (the centaur Heracles poisoned in Greek mythology)
- Nidhogg (in Norse mythology, a venomous dragon who gnaws at Yggdrasil)
- Typhon (a venomous, serpentine monster in Greek mythology)

Section 5 of 8:

Literary Names Associated with Poison

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Give a nod to your favorite fictional poisoner. Poison is a common way characters kill each other in literature, so there are plenty of options to choose from. Here are some of the most notable names from classic literature and more modern works:
- Barabas (a character in Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, who poisons his own daughter)
- Bartholomew (after the poison victim in Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Sign of Four)
- Claudius (after the character in Hamlet who is stabbed with a poisoned rapier)
- Coriolanus (after President Snow from The Hunger Games, who is known to poison his enemies)
- Farran (after Farran the Poisoner from Redwall by Brian Jacques)
- Gertrude (Hamlet’s mother who drinks poison intended for her son in Shakespeare’s Hamlet)
- Hamlet (the titular character in Shakespeare’s play who is killed by a poisoned rapier)
- Laertes (after the character in Hamlet who is wounded by the poison on his own rapier during a duel)
- Livia (after a poisoner in Robert Graves’s I, Claudius, who poisons her husband, Emperor Augustus)
- Maomao (after the protagonist of The Apothecary Diaries, who is extremely knowledgeable on toxins)
- Marina (after the alter ego of Dr. Poison from DC Comics)
- Mia (after the character in The Nevernight Chronicle by Jay Kristoff, who is an assassin known for using poison)
- Monica (after the biochemist supervillain Monica Rappaccini from Marvel Comics)
- Monty (after Uncle Monty from A Series of Unfortunate Events, who appears to have been killed by a venomous snake)
- Oberyn (after Oberyn Martell from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, known to use complex poisons)
- Regan (a character in Shakespeare’s King Lear who was poisoned by her own sister)
- Romeo (after the character in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, who dies after drinking poison)

Section 6 of 8:

Historical Names Associated with Poison

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If you’re creating a villainous character, consider naming them after a real villain. Poison is a common weapon used by serial killers for centuries, and below, we’ve listed the names of some of the most infamous:
- Agrippina (after Agrippina the Younger, a Roman empress said to have poisoned Emperor Claudius)
- Alan (after mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, who died of cyanide poisoning)
- Anna Marie (after serial killer Anna Marie Hahn, who poisoned her victims)
- Catherine (after Catherine de’ Medici, who supposedly made gloves laced with poison)
- Cesare (after Cesare Borgia, a member of the House of Borgia known to poison people)
- Cleopatra (the Egyptian queen who supposedly died after being bitten by a venomous snake)
- Demosthenes (an ancient Greek statesman who poisoned himself to avoid being captured)
- Gesche (after Gesche Gottfried, a German serial killer who poisoned 15 people)
- Guilia (after Guilia Tofana, the creator of Aqua Tofana)
- Locusta (after a professional poisoner supposedly hired by Empress Agrippina to poison Emperor Claudius)
- Lucrezia (after Lucrezia Borgia, an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia, who supposedly hid poison in hollow rings)
- Lydia (after Lydia Sherman, an American serial killer known as the Derby Poisoner)
- Marie (after Marie Lafarge, a French woman who poisoned her husband with arsenic in 1840)
- Mary Ann (after Mary Ann Cotton, a Victorian serial killer who killed her victims with arsenic)
- Nannie (after serial killer Nannie Doss, who killed her victims with rat poison and arsenic)
- Paracelsus (after the Swiss physician and alchemist known as the “father of toxicology”)
- Socrates (an ancient Greek philosopher who died by drinking a cup of poisonous hemlock)
- Vera (after Vera Renczi, a serial killer who was charged with poisoning 35 people)

Section 7 of 8:

Toxic-Sounding Names

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While none of these names are directly related to poison, they have that toxic sound that’s perfect for an edgy character. Some aren’t even traditional names, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box! Here are some examples:
- Akui (Japanese for “malice, ill will”)
- Akuji (African for “dead and awake”)
- Balor (Irish for “the deadly one”)
- Belial (Hebrew for “wicked”)
- Blight (English for “disease that kills plants”)
- Cain (Scottish for “war-like”)
- Carcinogen (Greek and English for “a substance that causes cancer”)
- Casimir (Polish for “destroyer of peace”)
- Corrosion (Latin for “the eating away of materials”)
- Damien (Greek for “to tame or subdue”)
- Dearil (Scottish for “call of death”)
- Deimos (Greek for “terror, dread”)
- Dolion (Greek for “deceit, betrayal”)
- Drefan (Anglo-Saxon for “trouble”)
- Fachnan (Irish for “malicious”)
- Fani (Arabic for “perishable, mortal, passing”)
- Gorgon (Greek for “dreadful”)
- Gvantsa (Georgian for “mischievous, wild”)
- Jabez (Hebrew for “born in pain”)
- Kaliya (Indian for “of death”)
- Lefu (African for “death, sickness”)
- Malvolio (Italian for “ill-will”)
- Matchitehew (Native American for “one who has an evil heart”)
- Mazzikim (Hebrew for “those who harm”)
- Mort (French for “death”)
- Mutagen (Latin and English for “a physical or chemical agent that permanently changes genetic material”)
- Nemesis (Greek for “vengeance”)
- Plague (Latin for “fast-spreading disease”)
- Pollution (English and Latin for “the process of making the environment dirty”)
- Radiation (Latin and English for “beam of light”)
- Rancor (Latin for “a feeling of bitter hate”)
- Rogue (English for “unpredictable”)
- Sephtis (Persian for “eternal death”)
- Spite (English for “malice, ill will”)
- Tempest (French for “turbulent”)