Hippo Name Generator

River, mud and belly-laugh names for hippos

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Names for hippos of every kind, from zoo and storybook hippos to plush toys and pygmy hippos: river names like Wallow, Luangwa and Kazinga, classics such as Hattie and Hortense, kind jokes like Hip Hip Hooray and Second Lunch, and words such as Kiboko, Swahili for hippo.

About hippo names

The word hippopotamus comes from Greek and means river horse, and most good hippo names start in the same place: the water. There are plain water and mud words (Wallow, Splash, Oxbow, Lily Pad) and the real rivers, lakes and parks where hippos live, such as the Luangwa, the Kazinga Channel, Lake Naivasha and Mzima Springs.

Zoo hippos often get old-fashioned people names, and a few have become famous, like Fiona at the Cincinnati Zoo and Moo Deng, the pygmy hippo in Thailand. Neither is in the list, but the same style is: Hattie, Hortense, Hamish and Willoughby. For plush and storybook hippos there are titles such as Lady Mudsworth and Captain Wallow.

Funny hippo names get a clear share, and the jokes stay kind: wordplay (Hip Hip Hooray, Hippotenuse), appetite (Second Lunch, Melon Muncher) and size turned upside down (Twinkle Toes, Feather). The list also has names for pygmy hippos, including Sapo and Taï, two West African parks where they live, and words from African languages with their meanings: kiboko (Swahili), imvubu (Zulu) and dorina (Hausa) all mean hippo.

How to choose hippo names

  • Decide what the name is for. A zoo-style hippo suits a people name (Hattie, Hobart), a plush toy suits a title or a soft sound (Squishy, Lady Mudsworth), and a story character often needs a name that says what it does (Wallow, Night Grazer).
  • Keep size jokes about the animal. Names that flip the joke, like Tiptoe, Ballerina and Feather, are funnier and kinder than a word that is an insult for people.
  • If you pick a word from Swahili, Zulu or Hausa, keep its meaning with it. In Swahili, Maji is water, Matope is mud, Kubwa is big and Kidogo is small. Amanzi is water in Zulu and Ruwa is water in Hausa.
  • For a pygmy hippo, think forest and small instead of river and huge: Pebble, Mudlet, Raindrop, Half Pint or Tiwai.
  • Naming a pair or a whole pod? Pick one theme, such as two rivers (Ruaha and Rufiji) or a title and a sidekick (Admiral Bathtub and Rubber Ducky).

Frequently asked questions

What is a good name for a hippo?

Water and mud names fit almost any hippo: Wallow, Puddle, Mudpie, Lagoon and Ripple are in the list. For a classic zoo feel, try an old-fashioned name such as Hattie, Hortense, Herman or Willoughby.

What are some funny hippo names?

A fifth of the list is joke names. They include Hip Hip Hooray, Hippotenuse, Hippo Campus, Not a Rock, Second Lunch, Melon Muncher, Belly Flop and Twinkle Toes. They poke fun at the splash, the yawn and the appetite of the animal, never at a person's body.

What does kiboko mean?

Kiboko is the Swahili word for hippopotamus. The list also has Imvubu (Zulu), Dorina (Hausa), Mvuu (Chichewa), Kubu (Setswana) and Seekoei (Afrikaans, literally sea cow), which all mean hippo, plus everyday words such as Maji (water) and Matope (mud).

What can I call a pygmy hippo?

Pygmy hippos live in the forests of West Africa and are far smaller than river hippos, so small names suit them: Pebble, Mudlet, Raindrop, Little Wallow, Fun Size and Pocket Hippo. Sapo, Taï, Gola and Tiwai are places in Liberia, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone where the species is found.

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All 500 hippo names

This is the complete list the generator above draws its random batches from, sorted A to Z and grouped by first letter.

Plain text, one name per line.

A: 12 names

  • Aboki
  • Achelous
  • Admiral Bathtub
  • Akagera
  • All You Can Eat
  • Amanzi
  • Archimedes
  • Asali
  • Aswan
  • Aubergine
  • Auntie Splash
  • Awash

B: 51 names

  • Babba
  • Backwater
  • Bahari
  • Ballerina
  • Bangweulu
  • Barge
  • Baringo
  • Baron von Bubbles
  • Barrel Roll
  • Bath Bomb
  • Bath Time
  • Bathsheba
  • Bathysphere
  • Bayou
  • Beach Ball
  • Bedtime Hippo
  • Bellow
  • Belly Flop
  • Belly Laugh
  • Benue
  • Bes
  • Big Blue
  • Big Cheese
  • Big Grin
  • Big Splash
  • Big Wave
  • Bigwig
  • Bijagós
  • Bitsy
  • Bloat Boss
  • Bloop
  • Blub
  • Blue Nile
  • Blush
  • Bobber
  • Bobo
  • Boga
  • Bon Appétit
  • Bristles
  • Brookside
  • Brunch
  • Bubble Bath
  • Bubble Blower
  • Bubblegum
  • Buffet
  • Bulrush
  • Buoy
  • Burble
  • Busisiwe
  • Butternut
  • Bwawa

C: 24 names

  • Cannonball
  • Canoe
  • Cantaloupe
  • Captain Wallow
  • Cartouche
  • Casamance
  • Cassava
  • Cattail
  • Cavalla
  • Chamo
  • Chauncey
  • Cheka
  • Chemchemi
  • Chortle
  • Chuckles
  • Clay
  • Clean Plate
  • Colonel Cannonball
  • Coral
  • Cordelia
  • Corduroy Blue
  • Count Snorkel
  • Crumb
  • Cuddle Puddle

D: 16 names

  • Dame Dewdrop
  • Daphne
  • Deep End
  • Delta
  • Demi
  • Dessert First
  • Displacement
  • Doctor Dunk
  • Dorina
  • Dorothy
  • Downpour
  • Dragonfly
  • Duchess of the Delta
  • Duckweed
  • Duncan
  • Dusky

E: 7 names

  • Ears Above Water
  • Eddy
  • Egret
  • Elevenses
  • Eudora
  • Eureka
  • Ewaso

F: 15 names

  • Faience
  • Faiyum
  • Feather
  • Featherweight
  • Felucca
  • Ferry
  • Flamingo
  • Floating Boulder
  • Floaty
  • Flood Warning
  • Floodplain
  • Flossie
  • Four Toes
  • Franklin
  • Fun Size

G: 17 names

  • Galana
  • Gentle Wade
  • Geraldine
  • Glug
  • Godfrey
  • Gogo
  • Gola
  • Gorongosa
  • Granny Wallow
  • Grape
  • Grover
  • Grumeti
  • Guffaw
  • Gulp
  • Gumball
  • Gurgle
  • Gwendolyn

H: 55 names

  • Hadley
  • Hal
  • Half Hippo
  • Half Pint
  • Hamish
  • Hapi
  • Harlow
  • Hathor
  • Hattie
  • Hawthorne
  • Haystack
  • Hazina
  • Helga
  • Heloise
  • Hendrix
  • Hepzibah
  • Herman
  • Hester
  • Hettie
  • High Tide
  • Hilary
  • Hildegard
  • Hip Hip Hooray
  • Hip Hop
  • Hippie
  • Hippily Ever After
  • Hippity
  • Hippity Hop
  • Hippo Campus
  • Hippocrates
  • Hippodrome
  • Hippolyta
  • Hippolyte
  • Hippopota-Mess
  • Hippopota-Miss
  • Hippotenuse
  • Hippothesis
  • Hippy
  • Hippy Birthday
  • Hippy Dippy
  • Hippy Go Lucky
  • Hipster
  • Hipsy
  • Hobart
  • Hobson
  • Hollis
  • Honker
  • Honoria
  • Hortense
  • Houseboat
  • Hovercraft
  • Howard
  • Huggs
  • Hugh
  • Huxley

I: 8 names

  • Ihema
  • Ilanga
  • Imvubu
  • Imvula
  • Irving
  • Ishasha
  • Island with Ears
  • Itty Bitty

J: 5 names

  • Jabali
  • Jabulani
  • Jacana
  • Jujube
  • Just the Nostrils

K: 21 names

  • Kafue
  • Kariba
  • Karnak
  • Kasai
  • Katavi
  • Kavango
  • Kazinga
  • Kerplunk
  • Khwai
  • Kiboko
  • Kidogo
  • King of the Pool
  • Kingfisher
  • Kipenzi
  • Kisima
  • Kisiwa
  • Kogi
  • Kola
  • Kosi
  • Kubu
  • Kubwa

L: 24 names

  • Lady Mudsworth
  • Lagoon
  • Lala
  • Lavinia
  • Lawn Mower
  • Letaba
  • Lettuce Eat
  • Lifeguard
  • Light as Air
  • Lily Pad
  • Limpopo
  • Linyanti
  • Little Bit
  • Little Miss Mud
  • Little Splash
  • Little Wallow
  • Liwonde
  • Lloyd
  • Lofa
  • Loma
  • Long Soak
  • Lord Lilypad
  • Luangwa
  • Luxor

M: 46 names

  • Madame Mudbath
  • Maji
  • Major Yawn
  • Malawi
  • Mana Pools
  • Mano
  • Marsh
  • Matope
  • Mauve
  • Mawingu
  • Melon Baller
  • Melon Crusher
  • Melon Muncher
  • Memphis
  • Meroe
  • Midge
  • Millicent
  • Mini
  • Minnow
  • Miss Paddlewick
  • Mister Riverbottom
  • Mkhulu
  • Moa
  • Monsoon
  • Montague
  • Moonwalker
  • Moremi
  • Morsel
  • Mpenzi
  • Mr. Wallows
  • Mrembo
  • Mto
  • Mud Mask
  • Mud Pony
  • Mudbank
  • Mudflat
  • Mudlet
  • Mudpie
  • Mudskipper
  • Mulberry
  • Murchison
  • Murna
  • Mushroom
  • Mvuu
  • Mwanga
  • Mzima

N: 18 names

  • Naiad
  • Naivasha
  • Nap Buddy
  • Ndumo
  • Nefertari
  • Neptune
  • Nguvu
  • Nhlanhla
  • Niassa
  • Night Grazer
  • Nile
  • Nile Blue
  • Nilus
  • Nimba
  • No Diving
  • Not a Rock
  • Nubia
  • Nyasi

O: 13 names

  • Obelisk
  • Ocean Liner
  • Odessa
  • Okavango
  • Okra
  • Old Man River
  • Omo
  • Opet
  • Orango
  • Orchid
  • Ottoline
  • Oxbow
  • Oxpecker

P: 41 names

  • Paddle
  • Paraa
  • Patchwork
  • Pebble
  • Pendjari
  • Periscope
  • Periscope Eyes
  • Periwinkle
  • Petit Four
  • Philae
  • Philomena
  • Phineas
  • Phyllis
  • Picnic
  • Pink Belly
  • Pinky
  • Pint Size
  • Pippo
  • Pirouette
  • Plantain
  • Plop
  • Pocket
  • Pocket Hippo
  • Pod Leader
  • Polepole
  • Pollywog
  • Pongola
  • Pontoon
  • Pool Noodle
  • Poseidon
  • Posy
  • Princess Puddlejump
  • Professor Puddle
  • Prunella
  • Puddle
  • Puddlejumper
  • Pumpkin Smasher
  • Putty
  • Pwani
  • Pygmalion
  • Pygmy Pie

Q: 1 name

  • Queen of the Waterhole

R: 27 names

  • Raft
  • Raindrop
  • Rainy Season
  • Ramses
  • Rana
  • Rapids
  • Reedbed
  • Retima
  • Ripple
  • River Horse
  • River Pony
  • Riverbank
  • Riverbend
  • Rodney
  • Rosamund
  • Rose Quartz
  • Rosetta
  • Rosewater
  • Rosy Cheeks
  • Rowboat
  • Ruaha
  • Rubber Ducky
  • Rufiji
  • Rumbles
  • Rusizi
  • Rutherford
  • Ruwa

S: 50 names

  • Saadani
  • Sabie
  • Safi
  • Salad Bar
  • Sandbar
  • Sapo
  • Scamander
  • Scarab
  • Sea Cow
  • Second Breakfast
  • Second Lunch
  • Seekoei
  • Semliki
  • Shallows
  • Sheldon
  • Short Stack
  • Silt
  • Sinoe
  • Sir Chomps
  • Sir Float-a-Lot
  • Sir Splash-a-Lot
  • Slosh
  • Small Fry
  • Snack Attack
  • Snoot
  • Snorkel
  • Snorter
  • Snugglemud
  • Soak
  • Soggy
  • Spa Day
  • SPF Fifty
  • Splash
  • Splash Zone
  • Splish
  • Splosh
  • Squashy Hugs
  • Squeezums
  • Squelch
  • Squishy
  • St. Lucia
  • Stepping Stone
  • Stone
  • Strawberry Milk
  • Stuffing
  • Submarine
  • Sunbather
  • Sunscreen
  • Suspicious Boulder
  • Swamp Sprite

T: 26 names

  • Tadpole
  • Taï
  • Talek
  • Tamu
  • Tanganyika
  • Taweret
  • Tethys
  • Thalassa
  • Thandiwe
  • Thebes
  • Thundercloud
  • Thurston
  • Tidal Wave
  • Tidbit
  • Tiddler
  • Tikiti
  • Tiptoe
  • Tiwai
  • Tope
  • Travel Size
  • Triton
  • Trudy
  • Tugboat
  • Tunu
  • Tutu
  • Twinkle Toes

U: 5 names

  • Udaka
  • Umfolozi
  • Umfula
  • Uncle Mud
  • Usiku

V: 1 name

  • Velveteen

W: 12 names

  • Wade
  • Wallow
  • Wally
  • Wata
  • Water Lily
  • Watercress
  • Waterhole
  • Watermelon
  • Wave Pool
  • Wide Yawn
  • Wiggle Ears
  • Willoughby

Y: 2 names

  • Yawner
  • Yellow Submarine

Z: 3 names

  • Zambezi
  • Zeppelin
  • Ziwa