Animal Companion Name Generator

An animal companion is not a pet, and the name should say so. Rangers, druids and beastmasters usually settle on one of four approaches. The first is the trail name: a single word for something the animal did or looks like, such as Thornback, Halftail, One-Ear, Mudpaw or Old Grey. These sound like a hunter describing a beast tracked for years. The second is the ordinary name, the way shepherds and kennel-keepers have always named working animals: Boone, Barnaby, Tansy, Loud Molly, Quiet Jack. A bear called The Sergeant is funnier and more memorable than one called Darkfury. The third borrows from the cultures that gave us ranger archetypes, so Irish and Welsh (Faolan, Bran, Madra, Gethin) and Norse (Ylva, Hrafn, Skadi, Freki) names fit a wolf, hound or raven instantly. The fourth is the hedge-witch garden of herbs, berries and poisons, where Sorrel, Bramble, Rosehip and Wolfsbane all double as names.

Two smaller traditions are worth knowing. Legendary beasts (Argos, Laelaps, Garmr, Hugin, Sleipnir, Bucephalus) work for a companion with a destiny, and British black-dog folklore (Shuck, Barghest, Padfoot, Gytrash) gives an eerie hound or panther real weight.

Pick for the species and the player: a raven wants something clipped, a boar something blunt, a giant spider something unsettling, and a mount something you can shout across a battlefield.