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Craft Names

Most Wiccans (along with many Pagans, witches and magicians) adopt a new name upon initiation or dedication as a symbolic rebirthing into a new life, as is the practice of many other religions. This name is between you and your gods. Whether you tell anyone else is up to you. Some people refer to these names as "magical names" or "Wiccan names".

• Choose with care. You're not creating a role-playing character. You're adopting a name that is as much a part of you as the name stated on your birth certificate. You have the right to call yourself PrancingGriffin, but we have the right to laugh our asses off at it.
• Do not hide behind your name. Too many people publish on the Internet under pseudonyms. If you choose not to come out of the broom closet for fear of persecution (or any other reason), that is your right. But you're either in or you're out. If you are not willing to identify yourself with what you write, don't write it.
• Choose where you use it. Do it consistently, and know your reasons. Most people do not use their Wiccan name in the general public - not because they should be embarrassed about it, but because it creates confusion. Most people who do use them publicly, I suspect, do it for the attention. Some people believe their name should only be used within a circle, or only among members of their coven or Tradition. Some never tell anyone.
• Don't demean your non-Wiccan name. Complete denial of your previous identity is the mark of a cult. Becoming Wiccan does not remove you from the rest of the world. Furthermore, your parents likely put a lot of time an energy into the giving of your name, and it is disrespectful to them to casually discard that gift. This especially applies if you choose to take on a new last name as well - your last name is a link to family and heritage.

Names are taken from a variety of sources - mythology, nature, ethnic cultures. There's no rule to it. Baby name books can be quite helpful, as they generally state the associated meaning of all listed names. Just be sure of your reasons. "Because it sounds cool" is not a good enough reason.

Numerology is a necessary component to finding an appropriate name.
The generally suggested formula is to take all the digits in your birthday and add them together. Then you add the digits of the result together until you get to a single digit. Then you must find a name that can be reduced to the same number through a system in which every letter is given a value.

All I can say is: why???

Our alphabet and dating system are man-made and subjective. January counts as "1" because it is (currently) the first month of the year - a convention accepted inconsistently across the centuries even in Europe. England, for example, considered March 25 the beginning of the numbered year until 1752. Reckonings of time and its measurement continue to vary throughout the world. The Chinese New Year is independent of the Western New Year's Day, for example. The Wiccan ritual year starts in November at Samhain. So why are we ascribing magical powers to the thoroughly modern, Western calendar?

Numerology as practiced by Ceremonial Magicians is a complex system that I'll readily admit I know little about. It's generally based off the Hebrew alphabet, not our Latin one. Hebrew itself is a complex language, in which each letter also has other innate meanings, including a numerical value. Adding a few arbitrarily assigned numbers together represents numerology about as well as the horoscope in the newspaper represents astrology.