Which Occult Grimoires Catalog Authentic Demon Names?

I get a kick out of paging through old grimoires, so here’s how I’d map the landscape for anyone asking which books actually list demon names. Historically, the most cited and influential source is the section commonly called 'Ars Goetia', which is the first part of 'The Lesser Key of Solomon'. That collection gives you a roster of 72 spirits with ranks, descriptions, and sigils. It’s a medieval/renaissance compilation of older traditions, and you’ll see the same roster echoed in later works.

Close cousins to that are 'Pseudomonarchia Daemonum' by Johann Weyer and the often-cited 'Dictionnaire Infernal' by Jacques Collin de Plancy. Weyer’s list predates many later codifications and influenced the Goetia lists; Collin de Plancy’s 19th-century book added flair, illustrations, and popularized many names for a wider audience. For someone digging into manuscript traditions, the 'Key of Solomon' or 'Clavicula Salomonis' (various Latin manuscripts) is also crucial, since it supplies ritual frameworks that later authors adapted for spirit work.

If you like weird corners of manuscript culture, check out the 'Munich Manual of Demonic Magic' (a 15th-century manuscript often cited as 'Clm 849') and the so-called 'Grand Grimoire' (sometimes called 'Le Dragon Rouge') — both contain named entities, seals, and different hierarchies. A few other helpful references that touch on spirit names (though not always straight demon catalogs) are 'The Book of Abramelin' and the medieval 'Heptameron' traditions.

One big caveat: 'authentic' depends on what you mean—authentic to tradition, to a manuscript lineage, or to some metaphysical claim. Names change spelling and rank across sources, and many are syncretic borrowings from older mythologies. For serious study, compare multiple editions and look for critical translations; for casual interest, the texts above are the classic starting points and a lot of fun to explore.