Vlad the Impaler

Vlad the Impaler was, in reality, a 15th-century prince of Wallachia (in modern-day Romania) who lived from 1431 to 1476. He was also known as Draculea, a diminutive form of his father's nickname Dracul (from his membership of the Order of the Dragon). Draculea became anglicised to Dracula and Bram Stoker used this form as the name of the titular vampire in his 1897 book Dracula.

In Romanian, Vlad the Impaler is translated to Vlad Tepes, and some Castlevania games give Dracula's full name as Dracula Vlad Tepes (or variations thereupon), implying a link between the two. However, in Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, Dracula was identified with Mathias Cronqvist, a fictional 11th-century Crusader who lived 400 years before Vlad the Impaler. Because of this, the position (and existence) of Vlad in Castlevania continuity is unclear. It is generally assumed that in the 15th century, Mathias changed his name to Vlad Tepes and committed the atrocities which, in time, would become associated with a historical character. It is also possible that Mathias liked Vlad's surname of Dracula, and adopted it after Lisa was killed. Dracula originally meant "son of the dragon" but, in time, it would come to mean "son of the devil", a name Mathias would naturally be attracted to.