Amazonian Name Generator

The Amazons of Greek myth were a nation of warrior women on the Thermodon river by the Black Sea, and their names advertise exactly that. Almost every attested Amazon name is a compound of martial and equestrian roots: hippos (horse) in Hippolyta, Melanippe, Lysippe and Alkippe; mache (battle) in Andromache, Aristomache and Pyrgomache; toxon (bow) in Toxis, Toxaris and Toxophone; thoe (swift) in Prothoe and Hippothoe; nike (victory) in Hipponike; and andros (man) in Antianeira, literally "a match for men." Penthesilea means roughly "mourned by the people," Otrera "the nimble," Myrina "the swift-moving."

Only a dozen Amazons appear in the big stories: Hippolyta and her girdle, Penthesilea slain by Achilles at Troy, Antiope carried off by Theseus, Otrera who founded the temple at Ephesus, and the queens Lampedo, Marpesia, Myrina and Thalestris from later chronicles. Dozens more survive only as labels painted beside figures on Attic vases: Ainippe, Kydoime, Okyale, Bremusa, Derinoe, Thraso. Those are the real treasure for naming a character, because they sound authentically archaic and almost nobody has used them.

The legend was probably inspired by Scythian and Sarmatian horsewomen buried with their weapons, so this generator also includes steppe queens like Tomyris, Amage and Tirgatao. The epithet forms (Aella Whirlwind, Molpadia Death-Song) translate what the Greek actually meant.