Bearfolk Name Generator

Bearfolk are the big, slow-talking hill and forest people of many fantasy settings: Kobold Press's Midgard makes them Northlands clansfolk, homebrew D&D and Pathfinder tables use them as ursine barbarians, druids and hermits, and video games from Armello to Wizard101 fill their snowy kingdoms with bear knights. Whatever the setting, their names share three habits. They are heavy, with long vowels and doubled consonants (Brunngar, Grumbold, Thrudd). They lean Norse or Finnish, because that is where real bear cults and bear-names come from. And they almost always carry a second name that says where the den is or what the bear looks like.

The given names on this list draw on Old Norse (Halvard, Hjordis, Torgeir), Finnish bear-words (Otso, Ohto, Karhu, the taboo name Mesikämmen, honey-paw), Slavic Medved and Mishka, and Europe's hidden bear-names: Bjorn, Bernard, Ursula, Orson, Arthur, Mathan. The surnames are den and hive names (Hollowpine, Honeyvale, Deepden), pelt and body names (Broadback, Thickcoat, Ironsnout) and season names (Firstsnow, Longwinter).

For a clan or saga feel, use a byname instead: Grimnir Eats-the-Hive, Tova Wades-the-Falls, Thorri Never-Thaws. Gentler, storybook bearfolk suit old-fashioned names like Barnaby Broadfoot or Clementine Softsnout, and cubs get short growls: Huffa, Rumbo, Snaggle.