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Okay so I'm still processing how incredible the television adaptation of Good Omens was, but one thing that has bothered me since I read the book a thousand years ago is Aziraphale's name. Now that everyone else is speculating, and I've had some time to consider, here's my two cents on it.

Let's assume - reasonably, I think - that the -ale is a variant spelling of the typical -el [אל-] "[of] God" ending. That leaves us with Aziraph-.

So what Hebrew word can I make with that? In Hebrew, we look for our three-consonant word roots, and fortunately we have three consonants right here.

The Z isn't very helpful, but if I swap it out for an S - which is pronounced so similarly that we can call it transliterative margin of error - we get S/R/PH .ש.ר.פ

And this is great news, because a שרף, or a "seraph," is a kind of angel! But that's not all.

First of all, the שרף root also refers to burning - such as that flaming sword that Aziraphale was supposed to be responsible for. But it gets better.

Because seraphim are also associated with... snakes! In fact, there is a whole story in the book of Numbers in which people are punished with "נחשים השרפים" ["nehashim hasrefim"] - which can be translated literally as "fiery serpents," allegorically as "venomous serpents," or also legitimately as "seraph serpents" or "serpent seraphs" - in other words, in addition to the requisite six wings, it's possible that the type of angel known as seraphim, the type that Aziraphale's name seems to associate with, were shaped like snakes.

Or, put simply: Crowley and Aziraphale may have been the same shape in their initial / true forms! Truly meant to be. 💟

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