Male Fantasy Name Generator

Male fantasy names that land usually come from real naming stock that has been bent a little. Most medieval-flavored heroes carry Old English, Norse, Welsh, French, Germanic or Latin given names (Aldric, Sigurd, Rhodri, Emeric, Dieter, Cassius) paired with an invented surname built from a place or a trait: Vaneholt, Stormwald, Blackmere, Ironwood. That formula, used by Tolkien, Martin and nearly every tabletop setting since, reads as old-world without belonging to any real country.

The sound of the name tells readers what kind of man he is. Rangers, rogues and mercenaries get short, hard names with one or two syllables (Rook, Kade, Flint, Brom). Kings, paladins and scholars get longer Latin or Greek-tinged names (Aurelius, Leonidas, Octavian, Valerian). Elven men run long and liquid (Thalion, Erevan, Soveliss), dwarves short and gruff with a two-noun clan name (Brokk Stonehammer), orcs and warlords harsh with K, G and hard R (Gorak Bloodfang). Villains borrow biblical or underworld echoes: Malachi, Abaddon, Erebus, Thanatos.

The list below mixes all of those styles on purpose, plus Arabic, Persian, Indian, East Asian, Italian, Spanish, Slavic and Celtic-inspired names for worlds that are wider than a single kingdom. Pick a first name that fits the man's role, a surname that fits his homeland, and check that no one else at the table shares his first letter.