Salome is the name later tradition gives to the young woman who dances before King Herod Antipas in the New Testament story. He is so pleased he swears she may have anything she asks. Prompted by her mother Herodias, she asks for the head of John the Baptist on a plate, and Herod has him killed. Though actually, the Gospels tell this story without giving the girl a name; they call her the daughter of Herodias. The name Salome comes from other ancient writing, and the famous Dance of the Seven Veils is not in the Bible at all — it belongs to later art, especially Oscar Wilde's play and Strauss's opera. So when people say Salome, they often mean this dark, theatrical figure, not a quiet extra in a Bible scene. The name itself goes back through Greek to a Hebrew root shared with shalom, peace, which sits strangely beside the story. It is also used as a girl's name today.