A list of fairy characters from legend, folklore, and literature.
For a list of types of fairies, see The Little Folk.
For a list of types of fairies, see The Little Folk.
Ana: queen of the keshalyi, forest nymphs from the Roma lore of Transylvania. Ana was forced to marry the king of the demonic Locolics, and gave birth to nine increasingly hideous demons of disease, until finally her husband agreed to a divorce.
Ariel: a sprite in Shakespeare's Tempest, and the name of a sylph in The Rape of the Lock, one of the first works to portray fairies with wings.
In the 1990s, Edain McCoy described Ariel as the queen of the pillywiggins, flower fairies of dubious origin. By the details she gives, it is very likely that she took her description of Ariel directly from The Tempest.
Asmaghiah Peri (Raja Jinn Peri): Malaysia. The king of the fairies or jinn in the Malay Annals or the Sulalatus Salatin (Genealogy of Kings). He brought the three crowns of Solomon to King Suran.
Aureola: a name given to the fairy queen and wife of Auberon in a masque for Queen Elizabeth in 1591.
Billy Blind: a helpful brownie-like being from English and Scottish legend, who appears in several of the Child ballads.
Brightkin, a fairy knight and son of the Mountain King. He fell in love with a fairy princess, the Lady of Elfin-Mere, who was referred to as the child of Titania.
Brownie-Clod: Scottish highlands. Named for his habit of throwing clods of earth at passerby. Companion, husband or son of Meg Mullach or Maggy Moulach.
Caelia: In the tale of "Tom a Lincoln," she’s a fairy queen who marries King Arthur’s son and has his child, the Faerie Knight, but later commits suicide. In Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, she is the ruler of the House of Holiness where with the help of her three daughters she helps the Redcrosse Knight. She is the mother of Faith, Hope, and Charity, otherwise known as Fidelia, Speranza, and Charissa. A fairy named Celia also appears in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1882 comic opera Iolanthe as an attendant of another Fairy Queen.
Carabosse: an evil fairy, name usually attributed to the fairy who curses Sleeping Beauty. Appears in Princess Mayblossom.
"Bosse" means a hump, as in a hunchback, and could also refer to a bubo, or swollen lump from the pox. "Cara" means "face" in Latin, indicating an ugly old woman with a disfigured face.
Chloris: Oberon's queen in The Faery Pastorall, or Forrest of Elves by William Percy, a raunchy play written around 1600.
Churn Milk Peg and Melch Dick: English fairies who guard nuts and orchards. Melch means moist.
Colman Grey: a baby piskie taken in by a farmer’s family. They were all very happy together until his birth father came to take him away again, and he vanished. The story is similar to Skillywiddens.
Cranion: charioteer of Mab in Nymphidia. His name is another word for a fly.
Crokesot: In the 1262 work Li Jus Adain, Crokesot or Crokesou is a messenger of the fairy monarch Hellekin, dispatched to bring his suit to Morgain la Fee (Morgan le Fey).
Dovregubben: the king of the trolls in the 1867 Norwegian play Peer Gynt. Dovre is a mountainous place located in Norway which is frequently associated with trolls in folklore, and "gubbe" means old man. In English, the character is called The Old Man of the Mountains or the Mountain King.
The Erlking: a king of the fairies or elves. It is probably derived from ellekonge ("elf-king," Danish). The name entered poetry through works like Johann Gottfried Herder's ballad "Erlkönigs Tochter" (1778).
Fanferluche: a fairy in the fairytale "Babiole."
Friar Rush (Brauder Rausch) – a spirit or kobold who disguised himself as a friar to corrupt the men of an abbey, but could be identified by a cow’s tail, cloven feet, or hooked nails. In other stories he’s more benevolent and even gets banished from Hell, becoming an Ignuus Fatuus much like Jack o’ Lantern. He sometimes gets conflated with the Friar's Lanthorn or Will o' the Wisp, but the rush is from Rausch, German for a loud roaring noise.
Genesta: a fairy in the fairytale "Heart of Ice." It's a Latin name for a kind of shrub.
Gentille: a fairy in the fairytale "The Imp Prince." Her name means "nice" or "kind."
Gloriadas, Gloriande, Lempatrix, Margale, Oryane, Translyne: attendants of Oberon in Huon. Along with Malabron, Gloriant tempers Oberon’s wrath with mercy. The magical horn of Oberon made of ivory by four of these fairies in the aisle of Cephallonia. Gloriande gave it the power to cure sickness with its blast, Translyne the power to satisfy hunger and curse, Margale to bestow joy, Lempatrix to summon those who heard it. Translyne was also the niece of Morgan le Fey.
Gloriana: Daughter of Oberon and the titular character of The Faerie Queene. Her birth name is Tanaquill. She had twelve knights, each personifying one of the virtues. Her character was a flattering allegory of Queen Elizabeth.
Goldemar: In a legend recorded by Thomas Keightley, King Goldemar or Vollmar was an invisible kobold or house spirit, benevolent until angered. Goldemar was used as the name of the dwarf king by the author Villamaria. He was also mentioned as a dwarf-king by Jacob Grimm.
Gorgonzola: a fairy in the fairytale "Heart of Ice." She might be named for the cheese or for the city of Gorgonzola.
Goss’mour: Lover of Puck in The Faery Favour.
The Greek Gods. Pluto and Proserpine are sometimes king and queen of the fairies, and Diana, goddess of the moon, is sometimes the fairy queen. One source calls Mercury the prince of the fairies. Neptune has also popped up a few times.
Grumedan: a fairy in the fairytale "Narcissus and Potentilla"
Gwyn ap Nudd, Welsh god of the Underworld, was later called the king of the Tylwyth Teg. This seems similar to the Roman gods Pluto and Proserpina being used as the fairy king and queen prior to Oberon and Titania.
Habetrot: In an English fairytale, she and her sisters make up a group of hideous but benevolent Rumpelstiltskin-like figures. One of her sisters is named Scantlie Mab.
Habundia: In Heywood’s Hierarchie (1635), identified as the queen of the night ladies, analogous to the fatas, fees, sybyls, and all nymphs of watery places. Some have suggested that Queen Mab's name comes from Habundia. A related name may be Dame Abonde.
Halte-kok: a nisse
Hellekin, Harlequin: In Ordericus Vitalis’ Ecclesiastical History, he’s a giant who leads the Wild Hunt. In Li Jus Adan, 1262 work, Hellekin is a fairy king and suitor to Morgan le Fey.
Herodias: A Biblical figure who in Medieval times became associated with the Wild Hunt. She was said to be a queen of the witches, spirits or fairies. Other names for this figure included Minerva; Bensoria, Diana, Herodiana (Italy), Satia, Dame Abonde (France), Holde, Berchta (Germany), Irodiada, Aradia, Minerva, Pharaildis, or Noctiluca.
Hewie Milburn: A name repeated by a fairy in one Scottish account, which inspired James Telfer's poem, The Fairies Song beginning "O where is tiny Hew? And where is little Len? And where is bonnie Lu, And Menie of the Glen?
Hinzelmann: A German kobold. Heinze is a nickname for Heinrich, making his name something like Little Man Henry; other kobolds had names like Chimmeken (Joachim) and Wolterken (Walther). He had a wife named Hille Bingels. Hille is a pet form of the name Hildebrand. Bingels might be related to “binge,” a ditch or pit, or “pingel,” a Westphalian name for someone pedantic.
Iolanthe: a central character and fairy in Gilbert and Sullivan's play of the same name. She was banished from Fairyland because she married a mortal.
Iubdan and Bebo: king and queen of the little people, the leprechauns or Luchra. Their names are also spelled Iubhdan (pronounced Uv-don) or Bé Bhó (pronounced Bay-voe).
In the Saga of Fergus mac Léti, King Fergus meets the "lúchorpáin," or "little bodies." These water sprites try to drag the sleeping king into the sea, but he wakes up and captures them, and will only let them go if they grant him wishes. They give him three wishes, including the ability to breathe underwater, but tell him never to swim in Loch Rudraige; he does so and this leads to his death. This is believed to be the first known reference to leprechauns.
A later version appears in the manuscript Egerton 1782, dating from c. 1517 and translated by Standish O'Grady in the Silva Gadelica. This is a a more involved and comical version that names the king and queen of the lúchorpáin. Upon first visiting court, the tiny monarchs fall into a bowl of porridge. Eventually, Iubdan gives Fergus a cauldron that can never be emptied, a harp that plays itself, and a pair of shoes that will let him travel freely through the water. However, again, this leads to Fergus' death.
Joan the Wad: In the mid-19th century, Joan with the Wad or Joan of the Wad was given as the name of a Pisky from Cornwall. A wad is a kind of bundle or torch, making her the female equivalent of Jack o' Lantern or Will o' the Wisp. Around the 1930s, newspapers carried advertisements for good luck charms symbolizing Joan the Wad. "A Short History of Joan the Wad, Queen of the Lucky Cornish Piskies," was leaflet of 28 pages, used to advertise these charms.
Kenna: daughter of Oberon in the poem “Kensington Garden,” by Thomas Tickell. Oberon threw out Kenna’s human lover Albion and arranged for her to marry the fairy prince Azuriel, but Albion waged war on Oberon’s kingdom. Azuriel killed him, but Albion’s ancestor Neptune destroyed the kingdom. All the fairies but Kenna fled. Kenna tried to revive Albion with juice from the herb moly, but instead the body became a snowdrop. Later, when Wise laid out the grounds for the Prince of Orange, Kenna gave him the plans through a dream and the resulting garden was named after her. The poem later inspired a comic opera.
Kille Kopp: a troll changeling, also known as Kyllikop or Killkrack. The name is related to German dialect Kielkropf (changeling, aborted fetus).
Knurremurre: a king of the trolls. Name means rumble-grumble, or the grumbler.
Lagrée: an ugly old fairy with only one eye and one tooth, in the story Fairer-than-a-Fairy
Laurin: a dwarf-king in German and Austrian tales. He appeared in a Middle High German poem titled "Laurin" or "Der kleine Rosengarten," in which Dietrich von Bern fights him in order to rescue a girl he's kidnapped.
Little King Loc: a king of the gnomes in a French tale.
Lulu 'anaqidu (Clusters-of-Pearl): son of the Sultan of the Jann in an Iraqi fairytale similar to East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon.
Mab: Queen or Quean Mab is the "fairies' midwife" mentioned by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet. She’s responsible for elflocks in horse’s manes, which are bad luck if not undone. She is associated with nightmares, succubi and witches, and is not presented as the wife and queen of Oberon until the 1627 poem “Nymphidia.”
Mable: daughter of Oberon and Mab in a poem by Rev. Thomas Parnell, which later had a stage adaptation, an unnamed "fairy opera" which was erroneously attributed to R. B. Sheridan.
Magotine: older sister of Carabosse in the French literary tale "The Green Serpent"
Malekin: an invisible spirit who haunted Dagworthy Castle in Suffolk, England; benevolent, if prone to pranks. He or she was originally a human infant kidnapped by the fairies. This was one of the stories related by the 13th-century writer Ralph of Coggeshall.
Mallebron, Malabron: in the medieval tale of Huon of Bordeaux, a fairy condemned by Oberon for his disobedience to take the form of a sea monster. He later received a twenty-eight year extension in return for pardoning Huon, and worked with fellow servant Gloriande to rescue Huon’s beloved.
Marmot: a fairy in the fairytale "Princess Camion." She is a literal marmot.
Marsontine: a fairy in the fairytale "Heart of Ice."
Master Dobbs: A brownie in Sussex lore.
Mazilla: a fairy in the fairytale The Blue Bird
Melinette: a fairy in the fairytale "Narcissus and Potentilla"
Micol: The 17th-century astrologer William Lilly gave Micol as a name used to conjure a spirit. She is referred to as "regina pigmeorum," queen of the pigmies, or fairies.
Milkah: A nymph and the foster-mother of Albion in Kensington Garden. A very wily fairy with many mystic charms. Albion was a royal infant, whom she kidnapped and raised herself. She stunted his growth to Elfin standard by feeding him dwarf elderberries and daisy’s root. A fairy by the same name appeared in the masque The Fairy Favour.
Moonwort: a fairy, Titania’s favorite dancer, appearing in the fairytale book Oberon’s Horn. She was captured by a giant and rescued by the human prince, Rutifol Stiff-Beard. They wanted to marry, but in order to do so, either she must become a human and take on all of the 973 years she had lived, or he had to become like her. He decided to join her in Fairyland.
Morgan le Fay: Morgan the fairy. An enchantress and healer of Arthurian legend. There are still references to her as a fairy queen or a goddess. She first showed up in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Vita Merlini (c. 1150) as Morgen, ruler of an otherworldly island inhabited by mystically powerful women. She pops up as Fata Morgana in Italian legend, and "Margot la fee" is a word for fairies in Brittany.
Naggeneen: a mischievous Clurichaun.
Nanny Button Cap: A fairy in a Yorkshire rhyme. Evidence is lacking; investigation ongoing.
Nymphidia: Trusted servant of Mab in the poem Nymphidia. While Puck aided Oberon, Nymphidia helped Mab by using magic and countering all of Puck’s tricks. This poem was formative in English fairy literature, parodying court life and further shrinking Shakespeare's already-tiny fairies. The names would be used by other authors; Nymphidia was identified as the "mother of the maids" in Thomas Poole's Parnassus.
Oberon: The king of fairies, also referred to as Auberon or Oboram. He may have originated from the character of Elberich, the Norse king of the dwarves. Oberon first appears in "Huon de Bourdeaux," a thirteenth-century French romance during which Oberon is the king of the fairies, a handsome dwarf, the height of a three-year-old child, who mentors Huon and later makes him his successor. Ogier le Danois calls Oberon Morgan’s brother. In the legend of Ysaie the Sad, the hero is aided by an ugly dwarf named Tronc, the son of Morgan le Fey and Julius Caesar. The fairies reward Tronc with beauty and a throne, and he takes the name Oberon. In Spenser's “The Faerie Queen,” his genealogy is a pastiche of the royal family of England, so he succeeded his brother Elferon and his daughter is Gloriana, a copy of Queen Elizabeth.
In The Faery Pastorall (c. 1600), his father's name is Julius, although the author considered naming him Albion.
Old Moss the Fairy Queen: a boggart or feeorin of Saddleworth mentioned in a 19th-century poem. She married Tod of the Den (that being a name for a fox) and lived near Todmorden, on the moor.
Oriande: a fay appearing in the late-12th century French tale Quatre Fils Aymon (The Four Sons of Aymon). She is the foster-mother and fairy lover of the enchanter Maugis d'Aigremont. She lives in the palace of Rosefleur.
Oriel: In Kensington Garden, an Oriel wooed Kenna but later aided her sweetheart Albion in battle. In the masque The Fairy Favour, written for the Prince of Wales, Oriel was the beloved son of Oberon and Titania and the heir to their kingdom. He had gone missing, causing Oberon and Titania and the rest of their subjects to worry, but Puck tracked him down. In fact he took the guise of a human prince and will spend a while in the mortal realm, presumably as George IV (the play was written for the then-4-year-old Prince of Wales). The fairies all wish him a long and happy life in the mortal state before he returns to them. The real George IV was ultimately very unpopular for his debauched living.
Paribanou/Peri Banu: Arabic. A fairy bride from the story "The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou.” Peri is an Arabic word for fairy, and her name translates literally to Fairy Lady. She is a radiantly beautiful and wealthy woman, while her brother Schaibar or Shabbar is an incredibly strong dwarf. This story appeared in Antoine Galland’s version of the Arabian Nights, but was actually one of the oral tales he learned from the storyteller Hanna Dyab. It was not originally part of the One Thouand and One Nights.
An identical Italian tale appears under the title “The Daughter of the Dwarf” in Gianni and the Ogre by Ruth Manning-Sanders (1971).
Paridamie: a fairy in the story "Princess Rosanella"
Patch and Pinch and Grim and Gull, Tib and Sib and Licke and Lull: These fairies are servants of Oberon whom Puck meets in The Life of Robin Goodfellow. Patch and Pinch and Grim and Gull are the brothers; Tib, Sib, Licke and Lull are their sisters.
Sib and Tib are the leaders of the female fairies. The female siblings of this family don’t go abroad every night as the men do, but occasionally they’ll make a trip together and warm and dress their children by human fires. They will leave money for the cleanly and organized, but further dirty the homes of the lazy. They live within a hill where they lend money to humans, but if a human fails to pay back the money, they are punished with pinches and bad luck. I’ve seen Sib compared to Sibillia, an Italian fairy sorceress and seer who lives in a mountain, where treasure is kept and the magic arts are taught. In the Middle Ages, Tibb was a stock name for a lower-class, sexually promiscuous woman, a character who often appeared in plays. Tibb’s Eve was originally a non-time, similar to silly phrases like the 'twelfth of never' and 'when two Sundays fall together' being others, but is now an actual thing in Newfoundland. Licke is a cook and Lull is a nursemaid. Patch monitors housewives and those who take care of animals, punishing the lazy by making them dirtier than ever. Patch or Pach was a common name for a court fool in Shakespeare’s time. Pinch's name refers to the fairy habit of pinching lazy maidens black and blue. Grim is a herald of death and misfortune, who takes the form of a black dog - a frequent form for spirits of foreboding. Grim is a common name for fairies such as church grims, which toll church bells and appear at funerals. It could possibly be derived from Grimr, meaning masked or hooded one, who was the alter ego of Odin when he walked among mortals. Gull (a word for tricking people) punishes slovenly servants, switches babies for changelings, steals food and mimics voices. In his role as Hagge or Nightmare, he also lies on people's chests and induces nightmares.
Peallaidh: "Shaggy one." A hairy, demonic creature that haunted streams. According to Scottish toponymist William J. Watson, Peallaidh was the king of the uruisgs in Breadalbane. An Urisk or Uraisg was a type of water fairy in the Scottish Highlands. Other urisks included Bruinidh an Easain, Bruinidh an Eilen, Padarlan, Cas-luath an Leitir, and Triubhas-dubh a Fartairchill.
"Peallaidh an Spùit" (Peallaidh of the Spout), "Stochdail a’ Chùirt", and "Brùnaidh an Easain" (Brownie of the little waterfall) were names of Scottish brownies.
Peaseblossom: One of Titania’s attendants in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Like many of the fairies, he is named not only for plants but for "domestic objects" used for medicines and condiments. The human Bottom facetiously inquires after Peaseblossom’s parents, Mistress Squash and Master Peascod.
Peaseblossom and Mustardseed appeared in the 20th-century fairytale The Forest of Wild Thyme.
Pheradzoye: queen of fays in Demantin by Berthold von Holle.
Pigwiggen, Pigwidgeon: A fairy knight who vied with Oberon for Mab’s affections in Nymphidia. Tom Thumb was his page. Pigwidgeon is a term for a very tiny person. In "The Sources and Analogues of a Midsummer Night's Dream," it's said that "'Piggy-widden' is a west-country dialect term, meaning a little white pig, used as an endearment for the youngest of a family."
Puddlefoot – Scottish brownie who would splash around in a stream. Like brownies who vanish when given clothing, Puddlefoot left as soon as someone named him.
Puck: a mischievous spirit. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare combined two different folklore characters, Robin Goodfellow and Puck, to create Oberon's manservant. In a 1628 ballad, he’s the son of Oberon by a mortal woman. It's unclear which came first.
He is a shapeshifter with a distinctive laughing cry of “ho, ho, ho," who has been portrayed as a goblin, satyr, demon, or house-cleaning spirit similar to a brownie.
Alternate names: Robin Goodfellow, Hob, Hobgoblin, Willy Wisp, Crisp, Hodgepoke, Puckrel, Lob-lie-by-the-fire, Pug, Hob, Lubbar fend, Puckling, puck-hairy, Pixie, Pug-Robin.
Saradine: a fairy in the fairytale "Featherhead"
Sybilla: A Sybil was associated with Monte Vettore, a mountain in the Apennines; according to Ortelius' Cartographia Neerlandica (16th century), Sybilla lives inside a paradisical cave deep within the mountain. This was connected to the European folk motif of Venusberg, the mountain of Venus, in which a man is seduced into visiting the otherworld by a fairy queen. Antoine de la Sale's La Salade (c. 1440) told the story of the sinful but alluring Queen Sibilla. This tale later became conflated with the German story of Tannhauser. In "Huon of Bordeaux," Sybilla is a fairy queen under the emperor Oberon, and in Arthurian lore, Sebile showed up as an evil enchantress and companion of Morgan le Fey.
Skillywidden: A faerie child captured by a farmer in Cornwall. The farmer's family called the child Bobby Griglans; in Celtic Cornish dialect, griglans means heath, or an area of land full of heather and gorse. The fairy child's parents eventually retrieved him.
Later writers Enys Tregarthen and Eileen Molony used the word “skillywidden” or “skillywiddon” as a term for young fairies in general.
Skillywadden Moor, Skillywadden Farm, and Skillywadden Barn are locations close by the setting of the story. They may have existed beforehand. The barn is now a holiday location where you can stay.
Soussio: the villain's fairy godmother in "The Blue Bird"
Surcantine: a fairy in the fairytale "Princess Rosanella"
Taboret: a fairy in the fairytale "A Toy Princess"
Tam Lin, Tomalin, Tamlane: A famous changeling from Scottish ballads, dating back at least as far as 1549. His sweetheart rescued him from the Fairy Queen. In the poem Nymphidia, Tomalin was a kinsman and servant of Oberon.
Titania: The Fairy Queen in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and pretty much every piece of fairy literature since then, vying with Mab.
Tom Thumb: You’ll also run into Tom over on the Thumblings page, but he shows up a few times in fairy literature. In Nymphidia, he’s a fairy page who backed Pigwiggen, and in a ballad of Robin Goodfellow, he lives in Fairyland as a musician and porter.
Tryamour, Triamour: a fairy mistress character from 14th-century romance of Sir Launfal, by Thomas Chestre. She marries Launfal, a knight of King Arthur. She identifies herself as the daughter of the king of Olyroun - a name which brings to mind both Oberon and Avalon and could also be the real island of Oléron.
In the source material, "Lanval" (one of the 12th-century lais of Marie de France), the fairy bride is left unnamed but is from Avalon.
Voro: queen of the child-eating Mola of Guadalcanal.
Vurtesniken: a troll who steals beer, name meaning “covetous of wort.” He is called home to tend to his child, Ållermore.
Wanne Thekla: queen of elves and witches in the folklore of the Netherlands. She is a night-traveling figure similar to the goddesses Perchta and Holle.
Will o’ the Wisp: an alternate name for Jack o’ Lantern or Puck. This can be used as a personal name but is usually the name of a whole race of fairies. Others include Hob a Lantern, Gyl-Burnt-Tayle (a flirty female will-o-wisp), Kit with the canstick, Peg-a-Lantern, Jenny-Burnt-Tale, Ellylldan, Bob-a-Longs, Hinky-punk, Dick o’ Tuesday, Pinket, Poake, Jack the White Hate, Old White Ha, Meg o’ the Lantern, Mad crisp, Dank Will, or Miscann Many.
Xamet and Fatma Fofana: Wolof folklore, Senegal. The king and queen of the konderong, and guardians of the animals. Xamet was in charge of antelope and deer, Fatma Fofana in charge of milking animals. A hunter always had to invoke the konderongs’ blessing, and Fatma Fofana – since she was concerned with the welfare of all animals – was always the final one invoked.
Yallery Brown: England. In a Lincolnshire tale, this was the name of an imp the size of a baby, with yellow hair and brown skin. It helped a young boy who rescued it, but when he made the mistake of thanking it, he was plagued by bad luck for the rest of his life.
Zephyrus, a fairy in the opera “A Princess of Kensington."
- Pavelčík, N. and Pavelčík, J. (2001) Myths of the Czech Gypsies. Asian Folklore Studies, v. 60, pp. 21-30.
- von Wlislocki, Heinrich. Volksglaube und religioser Brauch der Zigeuner. 1891.
Ariel: a sprite in Shakespeare's Tempest, and the name of a sylph in The Rape of the Lock, one of the first works to portray fairies with wings.
In the 1990s, Edain McCoy described Ariel as the queen of the pillywiggins, flower fairies of dubious origin. By the details she gives, it is very likely that she took her description of Ariel directly from The Tempest.
- Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. c. 1610-1611.
- Pope, Alexander. The Rape of the Lock. 1712.
- McCoy, Edain. A Witch's Guide to Faery Folk: Reclaiming Our Working Relationship with Invisible Helpers. 1994.
Asmaghiah Peri (Raja Jinn Peri): Malaysia. The king of the fairies or jinn in the Malay Annals or the Sulalatus Salatin (Genealogy of Kings). He brought the three crowns of Solomon to King Suran.
Aureola: a name given to the fairy queen and wife of Auberon in a masque for Queen Elizabeth in 1591.
- Bruster, Douglas. A Midsummer Night's Dream: Evans Shakespeare Editions. 2012. p. 161.
Billy Blind: a helpful brownie-like being from English and Scottish legend, who appears in several of the Child ballads.
Brightkin, a fairy knight and son of the Mountain King. He fell in love with a fairy princess, the Lady of Elfin-Mere, who was referred to as the child of Titania.
- Allingham, William. Songs, Ballads and Stories. 1877. "Prince Brightkin."
Brownie-Clod: Scottish highlands. Named for his habit of throwing clods of earth at passerby. Companion, husband or son of Meg Mullach or Maggy Moulach.
- Aubrey, John. Miscellanies Upon Various Subjects. 1890.
- Briggs, Katharine Mary. A Dictionary of Fairies. 1976.
- Stewart, William Grant. The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of Scotland. 1823. pp. 142-144.
Caelia: In the tale of "Tom a Lincoln," she’s a fairy queen who marries King Arthur’s son and has his child, the Faerie Knight, but later commits suicide. In Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, she is the ruler of the House of Holiness where with the help of her three daughters she helps the Redcrosse Knight. She is the mother of Faith, Hope, and Charity, otherwise known as Fidelia, Speranza, and Charissa. A fairy named Celia also appears in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1882 comic opera Iolanthe as an attendant of another Fairy Queen.
Carabosse: an evil fairy, name usually attributed to the fairy who curses Sleeping Beauty. Appears in Princess Mayblossom.
"Bosse" means a hump, as in a hunchback, and could also refer to a bubo, or swollen lump from the pox. "Cara" means "face" in Latin, indicating an ugly old woman with a disfigured face.
- Everything2: "writeups"
Chloris: Oberon's queen in The Faery Pastorall, or Forrest of Elves by William Percy, a raunchy play written around 1600.
Churn Milk Peg and Melch Dick: English fairies who guard nuts and orchards. Melch means moist.
- "Churn Milk Peg," Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog
Colman Grey: a baby piskie taken in by a farmer’s family. They were all very happy together until his birth father came to take him away again, and he vanished. The story is similar to Skillywiddens.
- Couch, Thomas Q. "The folk Lore of a Cornish Village." Notes and Queries vol. 11, 1855. p. 398.
Cranion: charioteer of Mab in Nymphidia. His name is another word for a fly.
- Drayton, Michael. "Nymphidia: The court of Fairy." 1627.
- The Folk-lore Journal, Volume 3. 1885. p. 145.
Crokesot: In the 1262 work Li Jus Adain, Crokesot or Crokesou is a messenger of the fairy monarch Hellekin, dispatched to bring his suit to Morgain la Fee (Morgan le Fey).
- Paton, Lucy Allen. Studies in the Fairy Mythology of Arthurian Romance. 1903. pp. 252-253.
Dovregubben: the king of the trolls in the 1867 Norwegian play Peer Gynt. Dovre is a mountainous place located in Norway which is frequently associated with trolls in folklore, and "gubbe" means old man. In English, the character is called The Old Man of the Mountains or the Mountain King.
The Erlking: a king of the fairies or elves. It is probably derived from ellekonge ("elf-king," Danish). The name entered poetry through works like Johann Gottfried Herder's ballad "Erlkönigs Tochter" (1778).
Fanferluche: a fairy in the fairytale "Babiole."
Friar Rush (Brauder Rausch) – a spirit or kobold who disguised himself as a friar to corrupt the men of an abbey, but could be identified by a cow’s tail, cloven feet, or hooked nails. In other stories he’s more benevolent and even gets banished from Hell, becoming an Ignuus Fatuus much like Jack o’ Lantern. He sometimes gets conflated with the Friar's Lanthorn or Will o' the Wisp, but the rush is from Rausch, German for a loud roaring noise.
- Kittredge, G. L. "The Friar's Lantern and Friar Rush." PMLA, Vol. 15, No. 4 (1900), pp. 415-441.
Genesta: a fairy in the fairytale "Heart of Ice." It's a Latin name for a kind of shrub.
Gentille: a fairy in the fairytale "The Imp Prince." Her name means "nice" or "kind."
Gloriadas, Gloriande, Lempatrix, Margale, Oryane, Translyne: attendants of Oberon in Huon. Along with Malabron, Gloriant tempers Oberon’s wrath with mercy. The magical horn of Oberon made of ivory by four of these fairies in the aisle of Cephallonia. Gloriande gave it the power to cure sickness with its blast, Translyne the power to satisfy hunger and curse, Margale to bestow joy, Lempatrix to summon those who heard it. Translyne was also the niece of Morgan le Fey.
Gloriana: Daughter of Oberon and the titular character of The Faerie Queene. Her birth name is Tanaquill. She had twelve knights, each personifying one of the virtues. Her character was a flattering allegory of Queen Elizabeth.
- Spenser, Edmund. "The Faerie Queene." 1590-1596.
Goldemar: In a legend recorded by Thomas Keightley, King Goldemar or Vollmar was an invisible kobold or house spirit, benevolent until angered. Goldemar was used as the name of the dwarf king by the author Villamaria. He was also mentioned as a dwarf-king by Jacob Grimm.
- Keightley, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology. 1828, 1870. "King Goldemar."
- Villamaria (ed). Fairy Circles: Tales and Legends of Giants, Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites and Hobgoblins. 1877. "The Friendship of the Dwarves."
- Grimm, Jacob. Teutonic mythology vol. II. 1883.
Gorgonzola: a fairy in the fairytale "Heart of Ice." She might be named for the cheese or for the city of Gorgonzola.
Goss’mour: Lover of Puck in The Faery Favour.
- Hull, Thomas. "The fairy favour. A masque." 1766.
The Greek Gods. Pluto and Proserpine are sometimes king and queen of the fairies, and Diana, goddess of the moon, is sometimes the fairy queen. One source calls Mercury the prince of the fairies. Neptune has also popped up a few times.
Grumedan: a fairy in the fairytale "Narcissus and Potentilla"
Gwyn ap Nudd, Welsh god of the Underworld, was later called the king of the Tylwyth Teg. This seems similar to the Roman gods Pluto and Proserpina being used as the fairy king and queen prior to Oberon and Titania.
- Sikes, Wirt. British goblins : Welsh folk-lore, fairy mythology, legends and traditions. 1880.
Habetrot: In an English fairytale, she and her sisters make up a group of hideous but benevolent Rumpelstiltskin-like figures. One of her sisters is named Scantlie Mab.
- Jacobs, Joseph. More English Fairy Tales. 1894. "Habetrot and Scantlie Mab."
Habundia: In Heywood’s Hierarchie (1635), identified as the queen of the night ladies, analogous to the fatas, fees, sybyls, and all nymphs of watery places. Some have suggested that Queen Mab's name comes from Habundia. A related name may be Dame Abonde.
- Heywood, Thomas. "The hierarchie of the blessed angells Their names, orders and offices the fall of Lucifer with his angells."
- Keightley, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology. 1828, 1870. "France."
- Modern Language Notes, Volume 17. 1902.
- King, Richard John. Two Lectures Read Before the Essay Society of Exeter College. 1840. p. 26.
Halte-kok: a nisse
- Craigie, William Alexander. Scandinavian Folk-lore: Illustrations of the Traditional Beliefs of the Northern Peoples. 1896.
Hellekin, Harlequin: In Ordericus Vitalis’ Ecclesiastical History, he’s a giant who leads the Wild Hunt. In Li Jus Adan, 1262 work, Hellekin is a fairy king and suitor to Morgan le Fey.
- Paton, Lucy Allen. Studies in the Fairy Mythology of Arthurian Romance. 1903. pp. 252-253.
Herodias: A Biblical figure who in Medieval times became associated with the Wild Hunt. She was said to be a queen of the witches, spirits or fairies. Other names for this figure included Minerva; Bensoria, Diana, Herodiana (Italy), Satia, Dame Abonde (France), Holde, Berchta (Germany), Irodiada, Aradia, Minerva, Pharaildis, or Noctiluca.
Hewie Milburn: A name repeated by a fairy in one Scottish account, which inspired James Telfer's poem, The Fairies Song beginning "O where is tiny Hew? And where is little Len? And where is bonnie Lu, And Menie of the Glen?
- Douglas, George. Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales. 1901. "The Fairy's Song."
- Sheldon, Frederick. The Minstrelsy of the English Border: Being a Collection of Ballads, Ancient, Remodelled, and Original, Founded on Well Known Border Legends. 1847. p. 179.
- Lennard, John. Reginald Hill: 'On Beulah Height'.
Hinzelmann: A German kobold. Heinze is a nickname for Heinrich, making his name something like Little Man Henry; other kobolds had names like Chimmeken (Joachim) and Wolterken (Walther). He had a wife named Hille Bingels. Hille is a pet form of the name Hildebrand. Bingels might be related to “binge,” a ditch or pit, or “pingel,” a Westphalian name for someone pedantic.
- Keightley, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology. 1828, 1870. "Hinzelmann."
Iolanthe: a central character and fairy in Gilbert and Sullivan's play of the same name. She was banished from Fairyland because she married a mortal.
Iubdan and Bebo: king and queen of the little people, the leprechauns or Luchra. Their names are also spelled Iubhdan (pronounced Uv-don) or Bé Bhó (pronounced Bay-voe).
In the Saga of Fergus mac Léti, King Fergus meets the "lúchorpáin," or "little bodies." These water sprites try to drag the sleeping king into the sea, but he wakes up and captures them, and will only let them go if they grant him wishes. They give him three wishes, including the ability to breathe underwater, but tell him never to swim in Loch Rudraige; he does so and this leads to his death. This is believed to be the first known reference to leprechauns.
A later version appears in the manuscript Egerton 1782, dating from c. 1517 and translated by Standish O'Grady in the Silva Gadelica. This is a a more involved and comical version that names the king and queen of the lúchorpáin. Upon first visiting court, the tiny monarchs fall into a bowl of porridge. Eventually, Iubdan gives Fergus a cauldron that can never be emptied, a harp that plays itself, and a pair of shoes that will let him travel freely through the water. However, again, this leads to Fergus' death.
- Binchy, D. A. The Saga of Fergus mac Léti.
- O'Grady, Standish, ed. and trans. Silva Gadelica. 1892.
- Story Archaeology. "A Crock of Old Cobblers."
- Excerpt from Silva Gadelica
- Blog post: The King and Queen of the Leprechauns
Joan the Wad: In the mid-19th century, Joan with the Wad or Joan of the Wad was given as the name of a Pisky from Cornwall. A wad is a kind of bundle or torch, making her the female equivalent of Jack o' Lantern or Will o' the Wisp. Around the 1930s, newspapers carried advertisements for good luck charms symbolizing Joan the Wad. "A Short History of Joan the Wad, Queen of the Lucky Cornish Piskies," was leaflet of 28 pages, used to advertise these charms.
- Glossary of Words in Use in Cornwall, Volume 7. 1880.
- Couch, Thomas Q. "The folk Lore of a Cornish Village." Notes and Queries vol. 11, 1855. p. 398.
- Who is Joan the Wad? (blog post)
Kenna: daughter of Oberon in the poem “Kensington Garden,” by Thomas Tickell. Oberon threw out Kenna’s human lover Albion and arranged for her to marry the fairy prince Azuriel, but Albion waged war on Oberon’s kingdom. Azuriel killed him, but Albion’s ancestor Neptune destroyed the kingdom. All the fairies but Kenna fled. Kenna tried to revive Albion with juice from the herb moly, but instead the body became a snowdrop. Later, when Wise laid out the grounds for the Prince of Orange, Kenna gave him the plans through a dream and the resulting garden was named after her. The poem later inspired a comic opera.
- Tickell, Thomas. "Kensington Garden." 1722.
- German, Edward. A Princess of Kensington: A New and Original Comic Opera in Two Acts. 1903.
Kille Kopp: a troll changeling, also known as Kyllikop or Killkrack. The name is related to German dialect Kielkropf (changeling, aborted fetus).
- Lindow, John. Swedish Legends and Folktales. 1978.
Knurremurre: a king of the trolls. Name means rumble-grumble, or the grumbler.
- Keightley, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology. 1828, 1870. "The Troll Turned Cat."
Lagrée: an ugly old fairy with only one eye and one tooth, in the story Fairer-than-a-Fairy
Laurin: a dwarf-king in German and Austrian tales. He appeared in a Middle High German poem titled "Laurin" or "Der kleine Rosengarten," in which Dietrich von Bern fights him in order to rescue a girl he's kidnapped.
- Sawyer, Ruth; Mollès, Emmy. Dietrich of Berne and the Dwarf King Laurin: Hero Tales of the Austrian Tirol. 1963.
- Villamaria (ed). Fairy Circles: Tales and Legends of Giants, Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites and Hobgoblins. 1877. "The Friendship of the Dwarves."
Little King Loc: a king of the gnomes in a French tale.
- Lang, Andrew. The Olive Fairy Book. 1907. "The Story of Little King Loc."
- France, Anatole. "Abeille." 1883.
Lulu 'anaqidu (Clusters-of-Pearl): son of the Sultan of the Jann in an Iraqi fairytale similar to East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon.
- Stevens. Folktales of Iraq. pp. 20-26.
Mab: Queen or Quean Mab is the "fairies' midwife" mentioned by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet. She’s responsible for elflocks in horse’s manes, which are bad luck if not undone. She is associated with nightmares, succubi and witches, and is not presented as the wife and queen of Oberon until the 1627 poem “Nymphidia.”
- Ailles. "The Fairy Queen Mab: Mediating Elizabeth in Early Modern England." 2007.
Mable: daughter of Oberon and Mab in a poem by Rev. Thomas Parnell, which later had a stage adaptation, an unnamed "fairy opera" which was erroneously attributed to R. B. Sheridan.
- Parnell, Thomas. "A Fairy Tale in the Ancient English Style." c. 1714.
- Patmore, Peter George. My Friends and Acquaintance. 1854. p. 302.
- Milhous, Judith and Robert D. Hume. "One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Neglected English Play Manuscripts in the British Library (c. 1770-1809), Part I." The Library, Volume 9, Issue 1, 1 March 2008, Pages 37–61. 2008.
Magotine: older sister of Carabosse in the French literary tale "The Green Serpent"
Malekin: an invisible spirit who haunted Dagworthy Castle in Suffolk, England; benevolent, if prone to pranks. He or she was originally a human infant kidnapped by the fairies. This was one of the stories related by the 13th-century writer Ralph of Coggeshall.
Mallebron, Malabron: in the medieval tale of Huon of Bordeaux, a fairy condemned by Oberon for his disobedience to take the form of a sea monster. He later received a twenty-eight year extension in return for pardoning Huon, and worked with fellow servant Gloriande to rescue Huon’s beloved.
Marmot: a fairy in the fairytale "Princess Camion." She is a literal marmot.
Marsontine: a fairy in the fairytale "Heart of Ice."
Master Dobbs: A brownie in Sussex lore.
- Parish, William Douglas. A Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect and Collection of Provincialisms in Use in the County of Sussex, Issue 6. 1875. p. 35.
Mazilla: a fairy in the fairytale The Blue Bird
Melinette: a fairy in the fairytale "Narcissus and Potentilla"
Micol: The 17th-century astrologer William Lilly gave Micol as a name used to conjure a spirit. She is referred to as "regina pigmeorum," queen of the pigmies, or fairies.
- Lilly, William. William Lilly's history of his life and times : from the year 1602 to 1681. 1715. p. 229.
Milkah: A nymph and the foster-mother of Albion in Kensington Garden. A very wily fairy with many mystic charms. Albion was a royal infant, whom she kidnapped and raised herself. She stunted his growth to Elfin standard by feeding him dwarf elderberries and daisy’s root. A fairy by the same name appeared in the masque The Fairy Favour.
- Tickell, Thomas. "Kensington Garden." 1722.
- Hull, Thomas. "The fairy favour. A masque." 1766.
Moonwort: a fairy, Titania’s favorite dancer, appearing in the fairytale book Oberon’s Horn. She was captured by a giant and rescued by the human prince, Rutifol Stiff-Beard. They wanted to marry, but in order to do so, either she must become a human and take on all of the 973 years she had lived, or he had to become like her. He decided to join her in Fairyland.
- Morley, Henry. Oberon's Horn: A Book of Fairy Tales. 1861.
Morgan le Fay: Morgan the fairy. An enchantress and healer of Arthurian legend. There are still references to her as a fairy queen or a goddess. She first showed up in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Vita Merlini (c. 1150) as Morgen, ruler of an otherworldly island inhabited by mystically powerful women. She pops up as Fata Morgana in Italian legend, and "Margot la fee" is a word for fairies in Brittany.
Naggeneen: a mischievous Clurichaun.
- Croker, Thomas Crofton. Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. 1826. "The Haunted Cellar." p. 129-147.
Nanny Button Cap: A fairy in a Yorkshire rhyme. Evidence is lacking; investigation ongoing.
- Wright, Elizabeth Mary. Rustic speech and folk-lore. 1913. p. 207.
Nymphidia: Trusted servant of Mab in the poem Nymphidia. While Puck aided Oberon, Nymphidia helped Mab by using magic and countering all of Puck’s tricks. This poem was formative in English fairy literature, parodying court life and further shrinking Shakespeare's already-tiny fairies. The names would be used by other authors; Nymphidia was identified as the "mother of the maids" in Thomas Poole's Parnassus.
- Drayton, Michael. "Nymphidia: The court of Fairy." 1627.
- Poole, Thomas. "The English Parnassus, or, A helpe to English poesie." 1657.
Oberon: The king of fairies, also referred to as Auberon or Oboram. He may have originated from the character of Elberich, the Norse king of the dwarves. Oberon first appears in "Huon de Bourdeaux," a thirteenth-century French romance during which Oberon is the king of the fairies, a handsome dwarf, the height of a three-year-old child, who mentors Huon and later makes him his successor. Ogier le Danois calls Oberon Morgan’s brother. In the legend of Ysaie the Sad, the hero is aided by an ugly dwarf named Tronc, the son of Morgan le Fey and Julius Caesar. The fairies reward Tronc with beauty and a throne, and he takes the name Oberon. In Spenser's “The Faerie Queen,” his genealogy is a pastiche of the royal family of England, so he succeeded his brother Elferon and his daughter is Gloriana, a copy of Queen Elizabeth.
In The Faery Pastorall (c. 1600), his father's name is Julius, although the author considered naming him Albion.
Old Moss the Fairy Queen: a boggart or feeorin of Saddleworth mentioned in a 19th-century poem. She married Tod of the Den (that being a name for a fox) and lived near Todmorden, on the moor.
- Shaw, Thomas. Recent Poems: On Rural and Other Miscellaneous Subjects. 1824. "The Narrative of Shantooe Jest." p. 127.
- Young, Simon. "Shantooe Jest, A Forgotten Nineteenth-Century Fairy Saga."
- Notes and Queries. 1870. p. 156.
Oriande: a fay appearing in the late-12th century French tale Quatre Fils Aymon (The Four Sons of Aymon). She is the foster-mother and fairy lover of the enchanter Maugis d'Aigremont. She lives in the palace of Rosefleur.
Oriel: In Kensington Garden, an Oriel wooed Kenna but later aided her sweetheart Albion in battle. In the masque The Fairy Favour, written for the Prince of Wales, Oriel was the beloved son of Oberon and Titania and the heir to their kingdom. He had gone missing, causing Oberon and Titania and the rest of their subjects to worry, but Puck tracked him down. In fact he took the guise of a human prince and will spend a while in the mortal realm, presumably as George IV (the play was written for the then-4-year-old Prince of Wales). The fairies all wish him a long and happy life in the mortal state before he returns to them. The real George IV was ultimately very unpopular for his debauched living.
- Tickell, Thomas. "Kensington Garden." 1722.
- Hull, Thomas. "The fairy favour. A masque." 1766.
- Hibbert, Christopher. George IV: The Rebel Who Would Be King. 2012.
- Burden, Michael. The Independent Masque 1700-1800: A Catalogue. Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle No. 28 (1995), pp. 59-159.
- Baker, David Erskine. Names of Dramas: A-L. 1812. p. 214.
Paribanou/Peri Banu: Arabic. A fairy bride from the story "The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou.” Peri is an Arabic word for fairy, and her name translates literally to Fairy Lady. She is a radiantly beautiful and wealthy woman, while her brother Schaibar or Shabbar is an incredibly strong dwarf. This story appeared in Antoine Galland’s version of the Arabian Nights, but was actually one of the oral tales he learned from the storyteller Hanna Dyab. It was not originally part of the One Thouand and One Nights.
An identical Italian tale appears under the title “The Daughter of the Dwarf” in Gianni and the Ogre by Ruth Manning-Sanders (1971).
Paridamie: a fairy in the story "Princess Rosanella"
Patch and Pinch and Grim and Gull, Tib and Sib and Licke and Lull: These fairies are servants of Oberon whom Puck meets in The Life of Robin Goodfellow. Patch and Pinch and Grim and Gull are the brothers; Tib, Sib, Licke and Lull are their sisters.
Sib and Tib are the leaders of the female fairies. The female siblings of this family don’t go abroad every night as the men do, but occasionally they’ll make a trip together and warm and dress their children by human fires. They will leave money for the cleanly and organized, but further dirty the homes of the lazy. They live within a hill where they lend money to humans, but if a human fails to pay back the money, they are punished with pinches and bad luck. I’ve seen Sib compared to Sibillia, an Italian fairy sorceress and seer who lives in a mountain, where treasure is kept and the magic arts are taught. In the Middle Ages, Tibb was a stock name for a lower-class, sexually promiscuous woman, a character who often appeared in plays. Tibb’s Eve was originally a non-time, similar to silly phrases like the 'twelfth of never' and 'when two Sundays fall together' being others, but is now an actual thing in Newfoundland. Licke is a cook and Lull is a nursemaid. Patch monitors housewives and those who take care of animals, punishing the lazy by making them dirtier than ever. Patch or Pach was a common name for a court fool in Shakespeare’s time. Pinch's name refers to the fairy habit of pinching lazy maidens black and blue. Grim is a herald of death and misfortune, who takes the form of a black dog - a frequent form for spirits of foreboding. Grim is a common name for fairies such as church grims, which toll church bells and appear at funerals. It could possibly be derived from Grimr, meaning masked or hooded one, who was the alter ego of Odin when he walked among mortals. Gull (a word for tricking people) punishes slovenly servants, switches babies for changelings, steals food and mimics voices. In his role as Hagge or Nightmare, he also lies on people's chests and induces nightmares.
- "Robin Goodfellow: his mad prankes, and merry Jests, full of honest mirth, and is a fit medicine for melancholy." 1628. Printed in Illustrations of the Fairy Mythology of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Volume 14, Halliwell-Phillipps, 1845, pp.120-165.
Peallaidh: "Shaggy one." A hairy, demonic creature that haunted streams. According to Scottish toponymist William J. Watson, Peallaidh was the king of the uruisgs in Breadalbane. An Urisk or Uraisg was a type of water fairy in the Scottish Highlands. Other urisks included Bruinidh an Easain, Bruinidh an Eilen, Padarlan, Cas-luath an Leitir, and Triubhas-dubh a Fartairchill.
"Peallaidh an Spùit" (Peallaidh of the Spout), "Stochdail a’ Chùirt", and "Brùnaidh an Easain" (Brownie of the little waterfall) were names of Scottish brownies.
- Scottish Folk-Lore and Folk Life - Studies in Race, Culture and Tradition; The Silver Bough 126-127
- Transactions, Volume 25, 134
Peaseblossom: One of Titania’s attendants in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Like many of the fairies, he is named not only for plants but for "domestic objects" used for medicines and condiments. The human Bottom facetiously inquires after Peaseblossom’s parents, Mistress Squash and Master Peascod.
Peaseblossom and Mustardseed appeared in the 20th-century fairytale The Forest of Wild Thyme.
- Wall, Wendy. "Why Does Puck Sweep?: Fairylore, Merry Wives, and Social Struggle." Shakespeare Quarterly, Volume 52, Number 1, Spring 2001, pp. 67-106.
- Noyes, Alfred. The Forest of Wild Thyme: A Tale for Children Under Ninety. 1905.
Pheradzoye: queen of fays in Demantin by Berthold von Holle.
- Puckett, H. W. "The Fay, Particularly the Fairy Mistress, in Middle High German." Modern Philology Vol. 16, No. 6 (Oct., 1918), pp. 297-313.
Pigwiggen, Pigwidgeon: A fairy knight who vied with Oberon for Mab’s affections in Nymphidia. Tom Thumb was his page. Pigwidgeon is a term for a very tiny person. In "The Sources and Analogues of a Midsummer Night's Dream," it's said that "'Piggy-widden' is a west-country dialect term, meaning a little white pig, used as an endearment for the youngest of a family."
- Drayton, Michael. "Nymphidia: The court of Fairy." 1627.
- Blog Post: Nymphidia and the Fairies of Michael Drayton
Puddlefoot – Scottish brownie who would splash around in a stream. Like brownies who vanish when given clothing, Puddlefoot left as soon as someone named him.
- Briggs, Katharine Mary. The Fairies in Tradition and Literature. 1967.
- Briggs, K. M. The Personnel of Fairyland. 1953. p. 127.
Puck: a mischievous spirit. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare combined two different folklore characters, Robin Goodfellow and Puck, to create Oberon's manservant. In a 1628 ballad, he’s the son of Oberon by a mortal woman. It's unclear which came first.
He is a shapeshifter with a distinctive laughing cry of “ho, ho, ho," who has been portrayed as a goblin, satyr, demon, or house-cleaning spirit similar to a brownie.
Alternate names: Robin Goodfellow, Hob, Hobgoblin, Willy Wisp, Crisp, Hodgepoke, Puckrel, Lob-lie-by-the-fire, Pug, Hob, Lubbar fend, Puckling, puck-hairy, Pixie, Pug-Robin.
- Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. c.1595-1596.
- Nutt, Alfred. The fairy mythology of Shakespeare. 1900.
- "Robin Goodfellow: his mad prankes, and merry Jests, full of honest mirth, and is a fit medicine for melancholy." 1628. Printed in Illustrations of the Fairy Mythology of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Volume 14, Halliwell-Phillipps, 1845, pp.120-165.
Saradine: a fairy in the fairytale "Featherhead"
Sybilla: A Sybil was associated with Monte Vettore, a mountain in the Apennines; according to Ortelius' Cartographia Neerlandica (16th century), Sybilla lives inside a paradisical cave deep within the mountain. This was connected to the European folk motif of Venusberg, the mountain of Venus, in which a man is seduced into visiting the otherworld by a fairy queen. Antoine de la Sale's La Salade (c. 1440) told the story of the sinful but alluring Queen Sibilla. This tale later became conflated with the German story of Tannhauser. In "Huon of Bordeaux," Sybilla is a fairy queen under the emperor Oberon, and in Arthurian lore, Sebile showed up as an evil enchantress and companion of Morgan le Fey.
Skillywidden: A faerie child captured by a farmer in Cornwall. The farmer's family called the child Bobby Griglans; in Celtic Cornish dialect, griglans means heath, or an area of land full of heather and gorse. The fairy child's parents eventually retrieved him.
Later writers Enys Tregarthen and Eileen Molony used the word “skillywidden” or “skillywiddon” as a term for young fairies in general.
Skillywadden Moor, Skillywadden Farm, and Skillywadden Barn are locations close by the setting of the story. They may have existed beforehand. The barn is now a holiday location where you can stay.
- Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England. 1865. pp. 450-451.
- Jago, Frederick William Pearce. The Ancient Language and the Dialect of Cornwall: With an Enlarged Glossary of Cornish Provincial Words. 1882. p. 182.
- Molony, Eileen. Folk Tales from the West. 1971.
- Young, Simon. "Enys Tregarthen's Folklore Tales: A Selection." 2017.
- Bond, Chris. An Index to the Historical Place Names of Cornwall: Vol 2 - L to Z. 2007. p. 248.
Soussio: the villain's fairy godmother in "The Blue Bird"
Surcantine: a fairy in the fairytale "Princess Rosanella"
Taboret: a fairy in the fairytale "A Toy Princess"
Tam Lin, Tomalin, Tamlane: A famous changeling from Scottish ballads, dating back at least as far as 1549. His sweetheart rescued him from the Fairy Queen. In the poem Nymphidia, Tomalin was a kinsman and servant of Oberon.
- Child, Francis James, ed. English and Scottish Popular Ballads. I Part 2. (1890). "Tam Lin." pp. 335–358.
- Drayton, Michael. "Nymphidia: The court of Fairy." 1627.
- Tam Lin: Child Ballad 39A - Tam Lin Balladry
Titania: The Fairy Queen in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and pretty much every piece of fairy literature since then, vying with Mab.
Tom Thumb: You’ll also run into Tom over on the Thumblings page, but he shows up a few times in fairy literature. In Nymphidia, he’s a fairy page who backed Pigwiggen, and in a ballad of Robin Goodfellow, he lives in Fairyland as a musician and porter.
- Drayton, Michael. "Nymphidia: The court of Fairy." 1627.
- "Robin Goodfellow: his mad prankes, and merry Jests, full of honest mirth, and is a fit medicine for melancholy." 1628. Printed in Illustrations of the Fairy Mythology of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Volume 14, Halliwell-Phillipps, 1845, pp.120-165.
Tryamour, Triamour: a fairy mistress character from 14th-century romance of Sir Launfal, by Thomas Chestre. She marries Launfal, a knight of King Arthur. She identifies herself as the daughter of the king of Olyroun - a name which brings to mind both Oberon and Avalon and could also be the real island of Oléron.
In the source material, "Lanval" (one of the 12th-century lais of Marie de France), the fairy bride is left unnamed but is from Avalon.
Voro: queen of the child-eating Mola of Guadalcanal.
- Fox, C. E. Threshold of the Pacific. 1925.
- Luomala, Katharine. The Menehune of Polynesia and other mythical little people of Oceania. 1951.
Vurtesniken: a troll who steals beer, name meaning “covetous of wort.” He is called home to tend to his child, Ållermore.
- Lindow, John. Swedish Legends and Folktales. 1978.
Wanne Thekla: queen of elves and witches in the folklore of the Netherlands. She is a night-traveling figure similar to the goddesses Perchta and Holle.
- Thorpe, Benjamin. Northern Mythology vol. 3. p. 265.
Will o’ the Wisp: an alternate name for Jack o’ Lantern or Puck. This can be used as a personal name but is usually the name of a whole race of fairies. Others include Hob a Lantern, Gyl-Burnt-Tayle (a flirty female will-o-wisp), Kit with the canstick, Peg-a-Lantern, Jenny-Burnt-Tale, Ellylldan, Bob-a-Longs, Hinky-punk, Dick o’ Tuesday, Pinket, Poake, Jack the White Hate, Old White Ha, Meg o’ the Lantern, Mad crisp, Dank Will, or Miscann Many.
Xamet and Fatma Fofana: Wolof folklore, Senegal. The king and queen of the konderong, and guardians of the animals. Xamet was in charge of antelope and deer, Fatma Fofana in charge of milking animals. A hunter always had to invoke the konderongs’ blessing, and Fatma Fofana – since she was concerned with the welfare of all animals – was always the final one invoked.
- Ames, David W. (1958). The Dual Function of the "Little People" of the Forest in the Lives of the Wolof. The Journal Of American Folklore, (279), 23.
Yallery Brown: England. In a Lincolnshire tale, this was the name of an imp the size of a baby, with yellow hair and brown skin. It helped a young boy who rescued it, but when he made the mistake of thanking it, he was plagued by bad luck for the rest of his life.
- Balfour, M. C. (1891). "Legends Of The Cars". Folk-Lore Vol II, No III, pp. 264-271
- Jacobs, Joseph. More English Fairy Tales. 1894. "Yallery Brown." pp. 26–33, 222–3.
Zephyrus, a fairy in the opera “A Princess of Kensington."
- German, Edward. A Princess of Kensington: A New and Original Comic Opera in Two Acts. 1903.