Minerva Cerridwen: Hello, my name is Minerva Cerridwen. When I was 11, I wanted to be a witch, and so I needed a witch name and I learned that many real-life witches or Wiccans chose their craft names from mythology and gods and goddesses. So I sat down with a book full of potential witch names to find one that suited me, and in the end, I had two options left that I liked. Out of those two, my mother thought the Roman goddess Minerva suited me best, and I agreed because I valued wisdom and I liked owls.

From that point on, I started using the name Minerva online and with some of my friends. These days, Minerva feels much more like my real name than my legal first name, because I've used it in places where I could be completely myself.

Cerridwen wasn't really a last name originally, but a second craft name. My friend, who taught me about Wicca, had chosen it for herself as a second name. And I wanted to be a witch sister, so I adopted it too. I still like it, and as a writer, it feels fitting that Cerridwen is the Celtic goddess of inspiration. My name is also one of the reasons why I started learning Welsh.

I haven't practiced Wicca in many years, but my name still is Minerva Cerridwen and I still like both modern witches and the old fashioned ones from the fairy tales. In Dutch, which is my first language, I pronounce it Minerva Cerridwen.