Leprechaun Name Generator

The leprechaun of Irish folklore is a solitary fairy, a cobbler by trade, who mends the shoes of the other fair folk and hoards the coins he earns. In the old tales he rarely has a name at all; he is simply "the leprechaun" or the "lucharachán," the little stooping one. When later storytellers and cartoon studios began naming leprechauns, they reached for real Irish sources: Gaelic given names like Seamus, Cormac, Tadhg, and Fiachra, and the O' (grandson of) and Mac (son of) surnames of Irish clans.

The most convincing leprechaun names follow one of three patterns. The first is a genuine Irish name and surname, such as Turlough O'Carolan or Fergal MacNamara, which grounds the character in a real place and lineage. The second pairs a first name with a trade or trait nickname, in the manner of Cillian Cobbler, Sean Sixpence, or Nimble Neasan Nightsneak. The third borrows from the fairy cousins of the leprechaun, the drunken clurichaun and the red-capped fear dearg, or from Irish landscape and hedgerow words like gorse, blackthorn, and peat.

An effective leprechaun name should be short enough to shout across a bog, and it should suggest at least one of the creature's defining qualities: mischief, thrift, craftsmanship, or the green and gold of the countryside.