Name generator

Mercenary company name generator for sellswords and free lances

Twenty company names per click, built from a captain, a kind of unit, a beast on the banner and the job the company is known for. Choose grim, noble, comic, wild or ancient to name the band your party hires, fights or founds.

These are 20 seeded examples. Press Generate for a new batch.

The Headlong HalberdsThe describing word + kind of unit
The Polecat Free LancesThe banner beast + kind of unit
The Russet GuardThe describing word + kind of unit
Venn's Bullscaptain's name's banner beast + s
The Stallion RegimentThe banner beast + kind of unit
No Quarter BladesNo Quarter kind of unit
The Bitter StallionsThe describing word + banner beast + s
The DitchholdersThe job word + ending
The Founding Sellswords of NyleThe describing word + kind of unit of captain's name
Skirmishers of the Frenzied Hornetkind of unit of the describing word + banner beast
The Berserk Free LancesThe describing word + kind of unit
Band of the PolecatBand of the banner beast
Venn's Shieldscaptain's name's kind of unit
Jarek's Irregularscaptain's name's kind of unit
The TwelveThe number
Vanguard of the True Kitekind of unit of the describing word + banner beast
Brakka's Spearscaptain's name's kind of unit
Oswin's Reasonably Priced Legioncaptain's name's Reasonably Priced kind of unit
Standardtakersjob word + ending
The Reckless HostThe describing word + kind of unit

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Mercenary company name generator: example names by style

Each group below is a fixed batch made with this generator, with only the style filter changed. 50 names are on this page before you press anything.

Grim and dark

The Gatetakers
Band of the Bloodhound
The Trumpetbringers
The Mustertakers
Band of the Stallion
Zella's Shields

Noble and grand

The Chivalrous Skirmishers of Petronel
Trumpetfellows
Band of the Lurcher
Strom's Sellswords
The True Sellswords
The Hyena Vanguard

Comic and light

Oswin's Bows
The Ramparttakers
Brakka's Skirmishers
Wulfric's Shields
The Marching Host
Crossbows of the Ragged Goshawk

Wild and rugged

Odalys's Wolverines
Dessa's Bloodhounds
The Ravening Pikes
The Buzzard Vanguard
The Rabid Vanguard
The Russet Stoat Pack

Ancient and mythic

Band of the Founding Bull
Wulfric's Forty
Last of the Forty
The Rampartholders
Blades of the Unremembered Bull
The Tusker Cohort

How these company names are built

This generator draws from 172 hand-picked words in 7 lists and uses 20 naming patterns, plus 6 more that wrap around a keyword you type. The patterns can combine into up to 114,218 different names before filters. Every name in the list shows the pattern behind it, so you can see why it reads the way it does.

Word lists

List	Words	A few of them
Kind of unit	24	Halberds, Shields, Pikes, Host, Outriders, Skirmishers, Crossbows
Describing word	60	Sterling, Eternal, Hired, Border, Oathless, Refunded, Late
Banner beast	26	Wolverine, Kestrel, Shrike, Bloodhound, Bulldog, Stoat, Goshawk
Captain's name	24	Radda, Brakka, Venn, Mirek, Garrow, Jarek, Odalys
Job word	18	Muster, Moat, Wall, Road, Ditch, Field, Tower
Ending	8	fellows, minders, bringers, stormers, holders, breakers, crackers
Number	12	Twelve, Five Hundred, Ninety-Nine, Eleven, Three, Nine, Sixty

Patterns

Pattern	Example	Used for
The describing word + kind of unit	The Reckless Crossbows	any style
captain's name's kind of unit	Hesper's Sellswords	any style
The banner beast + kind of unit	The Adder Spears	any style
Band of the banner beast	Band of the Buzzard	any style
The describing word + banner beast + s	The Pitiless Scorpions	any style
The job word + ending	The Fieldtakers	any style
job word + ending	Ditchfellows	any style
captain's name's number	Garrow's Sixty	any style
The number	The Forty	any style
captain's name's describing word + kind of unit	Dessa's Eternal Free Lances	any style
captain's name's banner beast + s	Marrek's Mongrels	any style
kind of unit of the describing word + banner beast	Host of the Ragged Bulldog	any style
No Quarter kind of unit	No Quarter Guard	Grim and dark
captain's name's Orphans	Wulfric's Orphans	Grim and dark
The describing word + kind of unit of captain's name	The Tattered Vanguard of Hesper	Noble and grand, Ancient and mythic
The Honest number	The Honest Ninety-Nine	Noble and grand
captain's name's Reasonably Priced kind of unit	Garrow's Reasonably Priced Lances	Comic and light
The number Cowards	The Nine Cowards	Comic and light
The describing word + banner beast Pack	The Negotiable Stoat Pack	Wild and rugged
Last of the number	Last of the Nine	Ancient and mythic
your keyword's kind of unit	Vantor's Legion	any style
The your keyword + kind of unit	The Vantor Blades	any style
Band of the your keyword	Band of the Vantor	any style
your keyword's banner beast + s	Vantor's Wolverines	any style
The your keyword + ending	The Vantorcrackers	any style
The describing word + kind of unit of your keyword	The Gaunt Free Lances of Vantor	any style

The words are written by hand for company names, not scraped. Pressing Generate runs the same seeded routine that built the names above, so the same seed always gives the same list.

Naming guide for your company

A mercenary company sells one thing, its reputation, and the name is the advertisement. The two commonest patterns are a describing word with a kind of unit, The Russet Lances, and the captain's name with the unit, Tavish's Pikes. The first belongs to a company that outlives its commanders. The second belongs to one that is really a single dangerous person and the people who follow them, and it changes name when the captain does.

The unit word tells an employer what they are buying. Lances and riders are cavalry and cost more. Pikes, shields and halberds hold a line. Bows and crossbows stand behind someone else. Irregulars, skirmishers and outriders scout, raid and are gone by morning. A free company or a band is whatever turned up. Lock the unit that matches the job in your adventure.

Then there is the banner. A beast on the flag, a jackal, a shrike, a stoat, says the company knows what it is and does not mind. A job word with an ending, Gatecrackers or Wallstormers, says what it did once and has dined out on since. The moods shift the tone from grim bands that give no quarter to comic ones that are reasonably priced and mostly sober.

Before you commit to a name

Say the name aloud twice. If you stumble, your players or readers will too, and a name nobody can say gets replaced by a nickname.
Check that it does not sound like another name already in your campaign or story. Two places that start with the same letter and end the same way get mixed up at the table.
Search the web for it. The names are built from this site's own word and syllable lists, but a random blend can match a name from a published book, game or setting by chance. If it does, pick another.
If you plan to publish or sell your work, treat the name like any other: you are responsible for checking it is not a trademark or a well-known name from someone else's world.
Write it on the map or the character sheet and read it small. Long names get shortened in play, so check that the short form also works.

Questions

How do I name a company the party will fight rather than hire?

Use the grim or wild mood. Names such as a carrion host or a rabid jackal pack tell the players what to expect, and the captain patterns give the villain a name at the same time.

Can the players use this for their own company?

Yes. Put a player character's name or the party's home town into the include-my-word box. The generator returns forms such as Vantor's Lances, The Vantor Guard and Band of the Vantor.

Why are some beasts so unglamorous?

On purpose. Hired soldiers are named by other people as often as by themselves, and a company called the Curs or the Ferrets has a story behind it. If you want lions and eagles, the noble mood changes the describing words to match a prouder banner.

What does the number in some names mean?

The company's strength when it was founded, or what is left of it. Tavish's Forty had forty; Last of the Two Hundred has a history worth a scene. Decide which when the name comes up.