Name generator

Spell book and tome title generator for fantasy libraries

Twenty book titles per click for the shelf your players are about to search. Titles are built from a kind of book, a subject, an author and a describing word. Choose arcane, grim, ancient, comic or cosy to stock a wizard's tower or a village herbalist's cupboard.

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

Thessane's Chronicleauthor's name's kind of book
Canticle of Small Nuisanceskind of book of subject
The Starcraft of IngramThe one-word opening + one-word ending of author's name
Saltbookone-word opening + one-word ending
A Guide to RunesA Guide to subject
The Miscellany of FalmarkThe kind of book of author's name
Glyphs for Beginnerssubject for Beginners
Abridged Enchantmentsdescribing word + subject
Thessane's Compendiumauthor's name's kind of book
Falmark's Formularyauthor's name's kind of book
Corvina on First Firesauthor's name on subject
Corvina's Guide to Sigilsauthor's name's Guide to subject
The Charmbook of BelisarThe one-word opening + one-word ending of author's name
Concerning CursesConcerning subject
The Damned ManualThe describing word + kind of book
The Treatise That Should Not Be ReadThe kind of book That Should Not Be Read
Saltcraftone-word opening + one-word ending
Illusions and Hidden Namessubject and another subject
Refuted Cursesdescribing word + subject
A Guide to BindingsA Guide to subject

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

Spell book and tome title 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.

Arcane and strange

On Summonings
The Atlas of Ravelle
Falmark's Compendium
Archmage Nerissa's Almanac
Concordance of Divinations
Concerning Midnight Hours

Grim and dark

Register of Glyphs
The Digest That Should Not Be Read
The Wardscript of Ondreth
Summonings and Auguries
Register of Counter-spells
Wystella's Herbal

Ancient and mythic

Concerning Sunken Kings
Miscellany of Auguries
Glyphs and Auguries
Magister Ravelle's Miscellany
Practical Illusions
Concerning First Fires

Comic and light

Kestrane's Guide to Overdue Books
Register of Unwise Wishes
Hexes for Beginners
Talking Hats and Omens
A Guide to Talking Hats
Concerning Awkward Summonings

Cosy and homely

Kestrane's Illustrated Concordance
Hexscript
On Incantations
A Guide to Mending Spells
The Folio of Ingram
Concerning Friendly Familiars

How these tome names are built

This generator draws from 196 hand-picked words in 7 lists and uses 18 naming patterns, plus 6 more that wrap around a keyword you type. The patterns can combine into up to 55,866 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 book	26	Handbook, Folio, Grimoire, Catalogue, Bestiary, Libram, Chronicle
Subject	66	Singed Robes, Bread Wards, Glyphs, Blights, Transmutations, Vanished Courts, Auguries
Describing word	50	Shorter, Pocket, Singed, Invisible, Dog-eared, Collected, Blood-inked
Author's name	24	Corvina, Zephyrine, Falmark, Xanthe, Kestrane, Hesperine, Prospera
Author's title	12	Hedge-witch, Sage, Doctor, Magister, Seer, Conjurer, Librarian
One-word opening	12	Bone, Ink, Hex, Candle, Salt, Star, Rune
One-word ending	6	song, lore, book, craft, script, wise

Patterns

Pattern	Example	Used for
kind of book of subject	Miscellany of Wards	any style
The describing word + kind of book	The Silvered Treatise	any style
author's name's kind of book	Belisar's Digest	any style
On subject	On Divinations	any style
describing word + subject	Refuted Runes	any style
subject and another subject	Weather Rhymes and Small Nuisances	any style
The kind of book of author's name	The Digest of Dunmere	any style
author's title + author's name's kind of book	Sage Hesperine's Bestiary	any style
one-word opening + one-word ending	Starlore	any style
Concerning subject	Concerning Mirrors	any style
author's name's describing word + kind of book	Thessane's Revised Treatise	any style
author's name on subject	Evanthe on Friendly Familiars	Arcane and strange, Ancient and mythic
The one-word opening + one-word ending of author's name	The Bonelore of Ravelle	Arcane and strange, Grim and dark
The kind of book That Should Not Be Read	The Register That Should Not Be Read	Grim and dark
Fragments on subject	Fragments on Starlight	Ancient and mythic
subject for Beginners	Singed Robes for Beginners	Comic and light, Cosy and homely
A Guide to subject	A Guide to Sigils	Cosy and homely, Comic and light
author's name's Guide to subject	Nerissa's Guide to Garden Remedies	Comic and light
your keyword's kind of book	Vesper's Formulary	any style
The kind of book of your keyword	The Treatise of Vesper	any style
On your keyword and subject	On Vesper and Sentient Soup	any style
The describing word + kind of book of your keyword	The Fragmentary Annals of Vesper	any style
your keyword + one-word ending	Vespersong	any style
author's title + your keyword's kind of book	Sage Vesper's Codex	any style

The words are written by hand for tome 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 tome

A book title in a fantasy library is a clue, so it should say what is inside. The main pattern is a kind of book and a subject: Formulary of Wards, Bestiary of Shades. The kind of book tells players how to use it. A primer or a handbook teaches, a lexicon or a syllabary translates, a formulary or a herbal lists recipes, a chronicle or annals record what happened, and a grimoire is a working spell book that somebody actually cast from.

The second pattern puts an author on the cover. Nerissa's Codex or Magister Orlock's Primer turns a prop into a lead, because authors have rivals, pupils and graves. The author names here are invented for this page. When one fits your world, lock it and re-roll to give the same scholar a whole shelf: a real writer never stops at one book.

Moods sort the library by wing. Arcane titles deal in mirrors, thresholds and hidden names. Grim ones are chained, sealed or burnt at the edges. Ancient ones are fragments in dead languages. Cosy ones are a hedge-witch's well-thumbed guides to bread wards and mending spells, and comic ones record what happened to the last apprentice. One-word titles such as Runelore or Hexcraft suit the standard works everybody has heard of.

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

What is the difference between a grimoire, a codex and a tome?

In this generator a grimoire is a practical spell book, a codex is any bound manuscript, and a tome is one large volume of a longer work. The first guide paragraph explains the other book words, so you can lock the one that matches what the players will find inside.

How do I fill a whole library quickly?

Generate a few batches in each mood, heart the titles you like and use Download to save the list as a text file. Twenty to thirty titles are enough for players to feel a room is full; only two or three need contents.

Can I use an author or a school of magic from my setting?

Yes. Type it into the include-my-word box for forms such as Vesper's Lexicon, The Formulary of Vesper or On Vesper and Sigils.

Are the titles real books?

No. Subjects, authors and titles are made up from the lists on this page. A short title can still match something that exists, so search for it before you publish.