Name generator

Pirate ship name generator for sea campaigns and stories

Twenty ship names per click, built from sea creatures, weather, rogues and the things a crew sails for. Choose grim, noble, comic or wild, cap the length so it fits on a stern board, and heart the names worth a flag.

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

Henrietta's Furyfirst name's boast
Tempest of the Roaring Ospreysea word of the describing word + sea creature
The Lopsided AlbatrossThe describing word + sea creature
The Fair CongerThe describing word + sea creature
The Tempest SharkThe sea word + sea creature
The Seasick TempestThe describing word + sea word
The Barracuda's RansomThe sea creature's boast
The Glorious SwellThe describing word + sea word
The Fair AlbatrossThe describing word + sea creature
The Wild SquallThe describing word + sea word
Reef of the Fair Narwhalsea word of the describing word + sea creature
The Glorious NavigatorThe describing word + rogue
The Swift BrineThe describing word + sea word
The Vengeful DolphinThe describing word + sea creature
The Mutinous BucketThe describing word Bucket
The Surf TernThe sea word + sea creature
The Brine DolphinThe sea word + sea creature
Raider's Follyrogue's boast
The Fathom SirenThe sea word + sea creature
Plunder of the Swellboast of the sea word

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Nothing saved yet. Press the heart next to a name and it appears here, saved in this browser only.

Pirate ship name generator: example names by style

Each group below is a fixed batch made with this generator, with only the style filter changed. 44 names are on this page before you press anything.

Grim and dark

Plunderer's Wrath
Horizontamer
The Crimson Serpent
Riptidedancer
The Windward Urchin's Mischief
The Stingray's Revenge

Noble and grand

The Sovereign Squid
The Cormorant's Mischief
The Rolling Squid
Revenge of the Riptide
Winifred's Revenge
Sovereign Marigold

Comic and light

The Mutinous Navigator
The Restless Raider
Horizonrider
Buccaneer's Defiance
Nobody's Fortune
Promise of the Foam

Wild and rugged

The Roving Tempest
The Reckless Fortune
Lady Henrietta
Riptiderider
The Feral Ruin
The Reckless Siren

How these ship names are built

This generator draws from 154 hand-picked words in 7 lists and uses 19 naming patterns, plus 6 more that wrap around a keyword you type. The patterns can combine into up to 53,320 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
Describing word	50	Feral, Restless, Scarlet, Cursed, Damp, Golden, Black
Sea creature	24	Tern, Walrus, Pelican, Kraken, Petrel, Stingray, Cormorant
Sea word	18	Surf, Maelstrom, Riptide, Tide, Current, Undertow, Tempest
Rogue	16	Helmsman, Marauder, Wrecker, Corsair, Rover, Navigator, Smuggler
Boast	20	Reckoning, Fortune, Delight, Gamble, Glory, Ransom, Ruin
First name	16	Bess, Josephine, Molly, Roslyn, Clementine, Lucinda, Isolde
Ending	10	hunter, strider, rider, dancer, caller, tamer, runner

Patterns

Pattern	Example	Used for
The describing word + sea creature	The Vengeful Walrus	any style
rogue's boast	Marauder's Liberty	any style
The describing word + rogue	The Vengeful Freebooter	any style
sea word + ending	Waverider	any style
The sea creature's boast	The Lobster's Revenge	any style
describing word + first name	Thundering Bess	any style
first name's boast	Clementine's Liberty	any style
boast of the sea word	Plunder of the Swell	any style
The sea word + sea creature	The Surf Marlin	any style
Lady first name	Lady Marigold	any style
The describing word + boast	The Grinning Fortune	Grim and dark, Wild and rugged
The describing word + sea creature's boast	The Soggy Serpent's Folly	Grim and dark
Pride of the sea word	Pride of the Surf	Noble and grand
The describing word + first name	The Lopsided Bess	Noble and grand
The describing word Bucket	The Dauntless Bucket	Comic and light
The sea creature That Couldn't Swim	The Manta That Couldn't Swim	Comic and light
Nobody's boast	Nobody's Wrath	Comic and light
The describing word + sea word	The Mutinous Spray	Wild and rugged
sea word of the describing word + sea creature	Spray of the Roaring Serpent	Wild and rugged
The describing word + your keyword	The Unpaid Saltmere	any style
your keyword's boast	Saltmere's Bounty	any style
The your keyword + sea creature	The Saltmere Osprey	any style
boast of your keyword	Defiance of Saltmere	any style
Lady your keyword	Lady Saltmere	any style
your keyword + ending	Saltmeretamer	any style

The words are written by hand for ship 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 ship

Ship names are short because they are shouted, across water, in bad weather. The commonest pattern here is the oldest one afloat: a describing word and a sea creature, The Crimson Marlin, The Roving Petrel. A crew can paint it on the stern, sew it on a flag and yell it from the rigging, which is all a name at sea has to survive.

The second pattern is the boast: somebody's Revenge, Fortune or Folly. It tells a story before the ship is in cannon range. A Corsair's Ransom was paid for with stolen silver; a Castaway's Promise has a captain who swore something on a beach. Pick the boast first, ask why the crew chose it, and you have the ship's history.

One-word names such as Tidechaser or Galerider join a sea word to an ending and suit fast, small vessels: sloops, cutters, smugglers' boats. Names with a first name, a salty Bess or a Lady Cordelia, suit ships that were bought or stolen from honest trade and never renamed. The comic mood is for the ship the party can actually afford.

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 make the name sound more fearsome?

Choose the grim mood. It swaps in words such as Dread, Cursed and Merciless and adds patterns that pair them with a boast, as in The Vengeful Reckoning.

Can I name the ship after a captain or a port in my world?

Yes. Type the name into the include-my-word box. You get patterns such as Saltmere's Revenge, Lady Saltmere or Fortune of Saltmere.

Are these only for pirates?

No. The noble mood gives names for a navy flagship or a merchant prince's galleon, and the plain patterns with a first name suit any trading vessel. Only the rogue pool is pirate through and through.

How long should a ship name be?

Two or three words. Set the number-of-words filter to two for a name a lookout can shout in one breath, or cap the longest name at about 18 characters so it fits on a map label.