The name of the novel points to the central importance of Count Dracula and the threat he represents. While Dracula does not tell the story, those who do tell it are united in believing that defeating him is crucial.

Dracul means "dragon" or "devil," and Dracula means "son of Dracul." Both words point to the supernatural, mythic aspects of Count Dracula, a being who can shape-shift himself into other animals, such as bats or rats, and can command animals associated with evil, such as wolves and rats—and who, of course, is undead.

Stoker originally titled his manuscript The Un-Dead and originally named Dracula "Count Wampyr." "Wampyr" is derived from older forms of the word "vampire." However, after doing research on Eastern European history, Stoker changed his main character's name to "Dracula" after the descendants of the medieval ruler Vlad II, or Vlad Dracul, of Wallachia (in present-day Romania).

By naming the book Dracula rather than The Un-Dead, Stoker focuses the reader on the need to stop one particular and powerful vampire.

Historically speaking, "Dracula" was supposedly named after his father "Dracul" which means "dragon" or "devil" in Romanian. With the additional "a" at the end, you could almost say that his name means, literally, "little devil" or "junior dragon."

The name came about in Trannsylvania in 1431, somewhat official "records" state. Other than the above facts, Dracula is both the main character's name as well as the story title, much like "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, or "Batman" in more modern terms. Literary works normally only bear the name of their title character whenever that character is powerful enough to deserve such a credit.