Lamia 1

I've been researching family lineage in Sicily for awhile. My grandmother's maiden name was Lamia. Upon reading the John W. Keats poem, and the Greek mythology origins, it was an uncomfortable name to accept. The family were from Trapani where both Greek and the Ottoman history is found. I just wonder how this name became used as a last name. Especially in this part of Sicily. *Note. The Greek mythology story of Lamia is interesting in the facts where she is Poseidon's daughter. Zeus was the father of her children. Hera chose to punish Lamia by killing her children in front of her. An act that was beyond the evil that Lamia is transformed into. It's almost like a PTSD she's developed. Where the sight of children drives her mad. So Zeus rips out her eyes so that she can no longer see. This was an anomaly for me personally with the family last name. Where my powerful ex, took our daughter away who he was hurting intentionally to get back at me. The inability to save, protect, rescue, comfort your children who look to you for this does mentally break your mind. Not in a murderous rampage upon other children. But the inability to be around, hear, or see others.

Lamia also appears in Greek Mythology as the name for female demons who devour children and drain the blood of young men they seduce. The Greek word Lamia means "a large shark" or "a dangerous lone shark" (source: www.theoi.com). [noted -ed]

Is Lamia really a name in present-day use?! As New_Chloe accurately pointed out, this was a monster who devoured children, so it would be really sick to name your child Lamia. You may as well name your daughter Medusa, Harpy, or Succubus.