40K Imperial Name Generator

An Imperial name in Warhammer 40,000 is less a single style than a recognisable blend. The backbone is High Gothic, the Latin-flavoured tongue of the Ecclesiarchy and Administratum, which gives names like Ursarkar Creed, Ibram Gaunt, Gregor Eisenhorn and Ciaphas Cain their weight: a Latin or Greek given name (Lucius, Octavia, Tiberius, Drusilla) attached to a short, hard surname, often Germanic or English in sound (Kell, Voss, Thorne, Stahl). Individual worlds add their own flavour: Slavic names on Vostroya and Valhalla, Byzantine names in old noble houses, Italianate echoes in the Navy and the Navis Nobilite.

The second ingredient is the rank. Imperial characters are almost always introduced with a title, and the title tells you which arm of the Imperium they serve: Inquisitor, Interrogator and Acolyte for the Holy Ordos; Commissar, Colonel and Lord General for the Astra Militarum; Canoness, Palatine and Sister Superior for the Adepta Sororitas; Lord-Captain for Rogue Traders; Arbitrator and Judge for the Adeptus Arbites; Prefect and Ordinate for the Administratum. Saints and cardinals are often known by a single name with an epithet, as with Saint Celestine or Alicia Dominica.

Every name here is original, written in that canon style and spread across every branch of the Imperium, so you can name a whole retinue, regiment or governor’s court without borrowing anyone famous.