Lestat

A misspelling of Lestan (French, "the Stan"), derived from the name of Anne Rice's husband, Stan, whom the character of Lestat is based upon. The misspelling was used instead because Rice liked it.

Anne Rice has said it was supposed to be the French name "Lestan" but she made a spelling error, and so his name became Lestat.

In Anne Rice's novels, Lestat tells us that he is the seventh son of the Marquis of the Auvergne, and that his name is meaningless becuase it is made up of the first letter of each of his olders brothers' first names.

Lestat the vampire in Mrs. Rice's novels was originally intended to be Lestan, apparently after her husband Stan Rice. She had heard that in Old French Stan was LESTAN. Fortunately, while writing the novel she mistakenly placed a T at the end of the name instead of an N. Something she noticed later and was too lazy to correct. Now the name Lestat could only really be traced back to her novel. In a way, it was a very smart mistake.