The baby name Cephalus is a Male name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced English: /ˈsɛfələs/ (SEF-uh-lus); Classical Greek: /ˈkɛpʰalos/ (KEH-pah-los).
Cephalus is Greek in Origin.
The baby name Cephalus is a Male name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced English: /ˈsɛfələs/ (SEF-uh-lus); Classical Greek: /ˈkɛpʰalos/ (KEH-pah-los).
Cephalus is Greek in Origin.
Cephalus is the Latinized form of Greek Kephalos (Κέφαλος), from kephalē “head.” In Classical Greek, kephalē also carried a metaphorical sense of “chief” or “leader,” so the name can be read as “head” or “one at the head.” The root appears across scientific vocabulary (cephalic, encephal-), underscoring its deep linguistic legacy.
Best known from Greek myth, Cephalus is an Athenian hunter abducted by the dawn-goddess Eos and later reunited with his wife Procris; their story, ending in Procris’s death by his unwitting hand, is retold in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and echoed in Renaissance art and drama. As a given name it has seen occasional antiquarian revival but remains rare today, more common in literary or historical discussion than in registries. Variants and transliterations include Kephalos and Kefalos (Modern Greek), with Romance forms such as Cefalo/Céfalo sometimes attested; the feminine Kephale is lexical, not a personal-name counterpart.
Cephalus does not appear in any of the birth registries or name datasets we track. This usually means it's either extremely rare, a regional/traditional name not captured by official statistics, or a brand-new coinage. Use it knowing your child will almost certainly be the only one in the room.
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