Our staff regularly receives inquiries regarding the Seraphim angels names and personal characteristics. I believe this has arisen from common confusion between Seraphim angels and archangels, the later of which do have specific names and personalities. I thought instead of briefly addressing this commonly asked question in our frequently asked questions section, that I better write up a whole article about it, and hopefully dispel some of the confusion and misinformation on the subject. Now, do bear in mind that this article relates to Seraphim in the theological or religious sense, as I am fully aware of Seraphim angels having individuals personas within the realm of fiction. I am also aware of the Seraphim being given individual names within the angel art and figurines market, and I have a feeling this might even be part of the reason why theological confusion is arising, especially lately. Many of these glass angel figurines are given female names.
For the record, the Seraphim angels do not have personal names or individual personas. In fact, there is still much scholarly and academic debate as to how many Seraphim actually surround the throne of God. The Book of Isaiah speaks of the Seraphim in the plural sense, so obviously we know that there were more than one Seraphim that appeared in Isaiah's vision. However beyond that there isn't any other information that specifically states how many there are. So by in large the detailed information or personal traits and characteristics of the Seraphim are fairly vague at best, and they certainly were never given individual names, apart of course from the name Seraphim. Anything that runs contrary to this vague description of the Seraphim, is completely fictional, and certainly not derived from any officially recognized religious scripture within any of the three Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
The first source of constant confusion that seems to bleed over on to the subject of the Seraphim, is archangels. Obviously we all know that archangels do have individual names, personas, and unique characteristics. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael being the predominant archangels, each have their own unique history within canonical scripture. One of the reasons why archangels might have been given or painted within the Bible as sort of personalized characters, is that they are fairly low on the angel totem pole, and quite frequently carry out tasks in both heaven and on earth. This makes the archangels more human like, and this is likely the reason why personalities stuck to them in scripture. The Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones however all directly encircle God's throne, and although they are living beings, they are each heavily symbolic of God's purest power, and thus are much less human like than lower angel classes.
Within the fictional world, obviously the Seraphim have been brought to life in all sorts of ways, making them somewhat comic book like in many regards. All of these portrayals however are completely fictional, and should not be taken as religious interpretations of the Seraphim. A pet peeve of mine in this regard, is when I see Seraphim angels portrayed in contemporary art, specifically in video games and Japanese art, and in these examples they aren't even remotely similar to the Seraphim described in the Bible. For example the Seraphim were said in the Book of Isaiah to have six wings, however I often see them depicted with only one set, again leading me to believe that they are always confused with archangels. With regards to the fictional names that have been given to them across thousands of art venues, well I won't even go into that. If you are looking for a specific example of names, stayed tuned for a write up.
