Medieval Horse Name Generator

Period names for destriers, coursers, palfreys and rounceys

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500 medieval horse names in period style: color names from the horse rolls such as Bayard, Liard, Morel and Favel, owner and place forms like Morel de Lisle, steeds of romance such as Veillantif and Gringolet, and entries for destriers, coursers, palfreys and rounceys.

About medieval horse names

Medieval horses were mostly named for their coats. A bay was Bayard, a dapple gray Liard or Lyard, a black Morel, a sorrel Sorel, a dun Favel, an iron gray Ferrant, a gray Grisel, a white Blanchard, and a horse with white markings Bausan or Baucent. When an army mustered, clerks wrote each mount into a horse roll with its type, color, markings and value, so the owner could be repaid if it died. With so many Bayards, a horse was often told apart by an owner or a place: Morel de Lisle, Bayard of Smithfield.

Poets gave famous steeds grander names. In the Song of Roland, Roland rides Veillantif and Charlemagne rides Tencendur. Gawain's horse is Gringolet, the Cid's is Babieca, Bevis of Hampton's is Arondel, and Bayard carries the four sons of Aymon.

This list keeps to that world: roll names in period spellings, the same color names in Spanish, Italian and German, owner and place forms, and roll-style entries by type and markings. The steeds come from chansons, romances, sagas, Norse horse lists, the Welsh triads, Chaucer, some Persian, Arabic and Serbian epics, and the late Italian romances. The owner and place pairings are our own, made in the period pattern, not copied from one roll. It has no unicorns, fantasy compounds or modern barn names.

How to choose medieval horse names

  • Decide the type of horse first. A knight charges on a destrier, raids and hunts on a courser, travels on a palfrey, and mounts his squire on a rouncey. Entries such as Barded Destrier or Ambling Palfrey name the type outright.
  • Match the color name to the coat: Morel for a black horse, Liard for a dapple gray, Sorel for a chestnut, Favel for a dun, Ferrant for an iron gray, Blanchard for a white one.
  • Add an owner or a place when two horses share a name, as in Morel de Lisle or Bayard of Smithfield. Swap in your own character's family or the town where the horse was bought.
  • Spelling was not fixed, so Bayard and Baiard are one name, and so are Liard and Lyard. Pick the spelling that fits your setting: French forms for a French court, Latin forms such as Badius for a clerk's record.
  • Save the literary names for a mount that matters. Readers who know the stories will hear Roland in Veillantif and Gawain in Gringolet.

Frequently asked questions

What did people in the Middle Ages name their horses?

Mostly after the coat. Bayard, Liard, Morel, Sorel, Favel, Ferrant, Grisel and Blanchard were the everyday names, and the same few names were used again and again, which is why an owner or a place was often added. The same habit shows in other languages, with Morello in Italian and Morcillo in Spanish for a black horse and Falbe in German for a dun.

What is the difference between a destrier, a courser, a palfrey and a rouncey?

They are types by use, not breeds. The destrier was the knight's great warhorse for battle and tournament and the most costly of the four. The courser was lighter and faster, the palfrey had a smooth ambling gait for long journeys, and the rouncey was the all-purpose mount of squires and men-at-arms. The list has entries for each, such as Black Destrier, Swift Courser, Ambling Palfrey and The Squire's Rouncey.

Are these names taken from medieval records?

The single color names and the literary steeds are period names: Bayard, Lyard and Favel turn up in medieval records and poems, and Gringolet, Arondel and Broiefort come from romance and epic. Longer forms such as Grisel de Neville or Favel of Woodstock pair a period color name with a period family or place in the pattern the rolls used. They are not copied from a particular roll, so treat them as period style and not as evidence.

What are good names for a knight's warhorse?

For a plain, believable name use a color name such as Ferrant, Morel or Bayard. For more weight, try an Old French phrase such as Destrier Arabi or Ferrant d'Espagne, or a description in the style of a horse roll, such as Ferrant Pomele, Black with a Star or Bay Rouncey with a Star for the squire riding behind.

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All 500 medieval horse 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: 9 names

  • Abjar
  • Alazán
  • Alazán de Castilla
  • Albus
  • Ambling Palfrey
  • Arondel
  • Arundel
  • Aubagu
  • Auferrant

B: 124 names

  • Babieca
  • Badius
  • Badius Bausandus
  • Bai
  • Bai Bausan
  • Bai Brun
  • Bai Clair
  • Bai d'Antioche
  • Bai de Dreux
  • Bai de Lusignan
  • Bai de Syrie
  • Bai Estelé
  • Bai Pomele
  • Baiard
  • Baiardo
  • Baillet
  • Baillet d'Audley
  • Baillet de Beaumanoir
  • Baio
  • Baio di Lombardia
  • Ball
  • Ball of Eltham
  • Ball of Macclesfield
  • Ball of Skipton
  • Ball of the Grange
  • Ball of the Mill
  • Ball of Tutbury
  • Balzano
  • Balzano di Ferrara
  • Barbamusche
  • Barded Destrier
  • Baucent
  • Baucent de Carcassonne
  • Baucent de Montmorency
  • Baucent du Châtelain
  • Baucent of Dover
  • Baucent of Hereford
  • Bausan
  • Bausan de Bayonne
  • Bausan de Clifford
  • Bausan de Frise

B, continued

  • Bausan de Joinville
  • Bausan de Narbonne
  • Bausan de Provence
  • Bausan du Vicomte
  • Bausan of Bristol
  • Bausan of Stirling
  • Bausandus
  • Bavieca
  • Bay Courser with a Star
  • Bay Destrier of Lombardy
  • Bay Palfrey of Brabant
  • Bay Rouncey with a Star
  • Bay with a Snip
  • Bay with a Star
  • Bay with a White Muzzle
  • Bay with Three White Feet
  • Bayard
  • Bayard Bausan
  • Bayard d'Anjou
  • Bayard de Clare
  • Bayard de Gascogne
  • Bayard de Montauban
  • Bayard de Mortimer
  • Bayard de Rouen
  • Bayard du Roi
  • Bayard du Temple
  • Bayard Estelé
  • Bayard of Smithfield
  • Bayard Pomele
  • Bayardo
  • Bayo
  • Bayo de León
  • Behzad
  • Beiaard
  • Bel Joeor
  • Berry Brown Palfrey
  • Black Courser of Apulia
  • Black Destrier
  • Black Palfrey with a Star
  • Black with a Star
  • Black with a White Hind Foot

B, continued

  • Blakkr
  • Blanc
  • Blancart
  • Blanchard
  • Blanchard d'Acre
  • Blanchard d'Outremer
  • Blanchard de Bourgogne
  • Blanchard de Champagne
  • Blanchard de Courtenay
  • Blanchard de la Dame
  • Blanchard de Lyon
  • Blanchard de Quincy
  • Blanchard of Tintagel
  • Blanchet
  • Blanchet de Rennes
  • Blanchet du Chapelain
  • Blesse
  • Blind Bayard
  • Brigliadoro
  • Broiefort
  • Brok
  • Brok of Odiham
  • Brok of the Cart
  • Brun
  • Brun Bausan
  • Brun d'Armagnac
  • Brun de Braose
  • Brun de Falaise
  • Brun de Montpellier
  • Brunel
  • Brunel d'Évreux
  • Brunel de Mandeville
  • Brunel de Tripoli
  • Brunel du Bouteiller
  • Brunel Estelé
  • Brunel of Chester
  • Brunel of Lincoln
  • Brunel of St Albans
  • Brunel of Whitby
  • Brunus
  • Bucephalus
  • Bucifal

C: 13 names

  • Carnaflawg
  • Castaño
  • Ceincaled
  • Cornan
  • Courser of Aragon
  • Courser of Naples
  • Courser of the Border
  • Courser of the Chase
  • Coursier Bai
  • Coursier d'Espagne
  • Coursier Liard
  • Coursier Morel
  • Covered Destrier

D: 33 names

  • Dahis
  • Dapple Gray Palfrey
  • Dapple Gray with a Dark Mane
  • Dappull Gray
  • Destrier Arabi
  • Destrier Bai
  • Destrier Crenu
  • Destrier d'Aragon
  • Destrier de Castille
  • Destrier de Hongrie
  • Destrier Gascon
  • Destrier Liard
  • Destrier Morel
  • Destrier of Apulia
  • Destrier of Castile
  • Destrier of the Lists
  • Destrier Sejorné
  • Dextrarius
  • Drösull
  • Drudlwyd
  • Du y Moroedd
  • Dub Sainglend
  • Dun
  • Dun in the Mire
  • Dun of Alnwick
  • Dun of Berwick
  • Dun of Caernarfon
  • Dun of Galloway
  • Dun of Knaresborough
  • Dun of Pickering
  • Dun of Roxburgh
  • Dun of the Fens
  • Dun with a Dark Stripe

E: 2 names

  • Easy Ambler
  • Eiðfaxi

F: 53 names

  • Fákr
  • Falbe
  • Falbo
  • Falbo di Verona
  • Falke
  • Fauve
  • Fauveau
  • Fauvel
  • Fauvel de Coucy
  • Fauvel de Dijon
  • Fauvel de Picardie
  • Fauvel de Reims
  • Fauvel du Prévôt
  • Favel
  • Favel Bausan
  • Favel d'Aragon
  • Favel de Beauchamp
  • Favel de Chartres
  • Favel de Hainaut
  • Favel de Mowbray
  • Favel de Pouille
  • Favel du Connétable
  • Favel Estelé
  • Favel of Cyprus
  • Favel of Woodstock
  • Favell
  • Favellus
  • Faxi
  • Ferrand
  • Ferrand de Brabant
  • Ferrandus
  • Ferrandus Pomele
  • Ferrant
  • Ferrant Bausan
  • Ferrant d'Espagne
  • Ferrant de Hongrie
  • Ferrant de l'Évêque
  • Ferrant de Lagny
  • Ferrant de Montfort
  • Ferrant de Percy
  • Ferrant de Sicile
  • Ferrant de Toulouse
  • Ferrant Estelé
  • Ferrant of Carlisle
  • Ferrant Pomele
  • Ferrante
  • Fluga
  • Folatise
  • Fölkvir
  • Freyfaxi
  • Frontalatte
  • Frontino
  • Fuchs

G: 38 names

  • Gaignun
  • Galatee
  • Galathe
  • Ghabra
  • Glaumr
  • Goti
  • Gramimund
  • Grani
  • Gray Destrier with a Star
  • Gray Rouncey with a White Foot
  • Gray with a Black Mane
  • Great Horse of Flanders
  • Great Horse of Lombardy
  • Gringolet
  • Gringuljete
  • Gris
  • Gris Ferrant
  • Gris Pomele
  • Grisel
  • Grisel Bausan
  • Grisel de Bruges
  • Grisel de Ferrers
  • Grisel de l'Abbé
  • Grisel de Neville
  • Grisel de Normandie
  • Grisel de Savoie
  • Grisel de Valence
  • Grisel Estelé
  • Grisel of Canterbury
  • Grisel of Conwy
  • Grisel Pomele
  • Griseus
  • Griseus Pomelatus
  • Grison
  • Grissell
  • Grissell of Beverley
  • Gryngolet
  • Gwyn Mygdwn

H: 7 names

  • Hackney of Forty Shillings
  • Háfeti
  • Hengroen
  • Hölkvir
  • Hrafn
  • Hunting Courser
  • Hvítingr

I: 4 names

  • Ingliart
  • Irish Hobby
  • Iron Gray Destrier
  • Iron Gray with a Star

J: 2 names

  • Jennet of Granada
  • Jór

K: 3 names

  • Keincaled
  • Kengála
  • Kertr

L: 32 names

  • Le Vair Palefroi
  • Leardo
  • Leardo di Puglia
  • Liard
  • Liard Bausan
  • Liard d'Artois
  • Liard de Bohun
  • Liard de Caen
  • Liard de l'Hôpital
  • Liard de Lombardie
  • Liard de Poitiers
  • Liard de Provins
  • Liard de Warenne
  • Liard du Comte
  • Liard Estelé
  • Liard Pomele
  • Liardus
  • Liardus Pomelatus
  • Liath Macha
  • Llamrei
  • Lluagor
  • Lungr
  • Lyard
  • Lyard of Gloucester
  • Lyard of Kenilworth
  • Lyard of Lancaster
  • Lyard of Norwich
  • Lyard of Pembroke
  • Lyard of Prys
  • Lyard of Richmond
  • Lyard of York
  • Lyard Pomele

M: 34 names

  • Manor Affer
  • Marchegai
  • Marmorie
  • Marr
  • Meinlas
  • Melyngan Mangre
  • Milk White Palfrey
  • Milsoudor
  • Móðnir
  • Mór
  • Morcillo
  • Morcillo de Córdoba
  • Moreau
  • Moreau de Bretagne
  • Moreau de Craon
  • Moreau de Tours
  • Moreau du Sénéchal
  • Morel
  • Morel Bausan
  • Morel d'Harcourt
  • Morel de Bordeaux
  • Morel de Castille
  • Morel de Lacy
  • Morel de Lisle
  • Morel du Maréchal
  • Morel Estelé
  • Morel of Durham
  • Morel of Pontefract
  • Morel of Warwick
  • Morell
  • Morello
  • Morello di Mantova
  • Morellus
  • Morellus Bausandus

N: 1 name

  • Noir Bauçant

O: 2 names

  • Orelia
  • Overo

P: 18 names

  • Palefridus
  • Palefroi Amblant
  • Palefroi Bai
  • Palefroi Blanc
  • Palefroi Gris
  • Palefroi Norrois
  • Palfrey of the Pilgrim Road
  • Passe-Brewel
  • Passecerf
  • Passelande
  • Pomelatus
  • Pomele
  • Pomele de Châtillon
  • Pomele de Gand
  • Pomele du Bailli
  • Pomely Grys
  • Pommelé
  • Puzzat

R: 24 names

  • Rabicano
  • Rakhsh
  • Rispa
  • Roan with a Bald Face
  • Roncin Bai
  • Roncin Sor
  • Rondello
  • Ros Beiaard
  • Rouan
  • Rouan d'Alençon
  • Rouan de Boulogne
  • Rouan de Cologne
  • Rouan de Segrave
  • Rouan du Chambellan
  • Rouan Estelé
  • Rouan Pomele
  • Rouncey of Eight Marks
  • Rouncey of the Garrison
  • Rouncey of the Watch
  • Ruano
  • Ruano de Burgos
  • Rucio
  • Rucio de Toledo
  • Runcinus

S: 48 names

  • Šarac
  • Sauro
  • Sauro di Napoli
  • Saut Perdu
  • Scheck
  • Schemming
  • Schimmel
  • Scot
  • Scot of Bury
  • Scot of Guildford
  • Scot of Norfolk
  • Shabdiz
  • Shabrang
  • Skálm
  • Skævaðr
  • Skemmingr
  • Slöngvir
  • Söðulkolla
  • Sor
  • Sor Bauçant
  • Sor d'Albret
  • Sor de Blois
  • Sor de Tyr
  • Sorel
  • Sorel Bausan
  • Sorel d'Aquitaine
  • Sorel de Bayeux
  • Sorel de la Reine
  • Sorel de Navarre
  • Sorel de Troyes
  • Sorel de Vere
  • Sorel Estelé
  • Sorel of Exeter
  • Sorel of Ludlow
  • Sorel of Winchester
  • Sorell
  • Sorrel with a Blaze
  • Sorrel with Two White Feet
  • Sorus
  • Sorus Bausandus
  • Sóti
  • Spanish Destrier
  • Spanish Jennet
  • Stornello
  • Stúfr
  • Summarius
  • Sumpter of the Wardrobe
  • Swift Courser

T: 30 names

  • Tachebrun
  • Tencendor
  • Tencendur
  • The Abbess's Palfrey
  • The Archer's Rouncey
  • The Bishop's Palfrey
  • The Carter's Capul
  • The Chapel Sumpter
  • The Clerk's Lean Hackney
  • The Duke's Courser
  • The Earl's Destrier
  • The Herald's Courser
  • The Hobelar's Hobby
  • The King's Great Destrier
  • The Lady's Palfrey
  • The Marshal's Destrier
  • The Merchant's Hackney
  • The Monk's Palfrey
  • The Plowman's Mare
  • The Prioress's Palfrey
  • The Queen's Palfrey
  • The Reeve's Stot
  • The Sergeant's Rouncey
  • The Shipman's Rouncy
  • The Squire's Rouncey
  • The Yeoman's Rouncey
  • Tjaldari
  • Tordillo
  • Tourney Destrier
  • Trotting Rouncey

V: 19 names

  • Vair
  • Vair d'Auvergne
  • Vair de Calais
  • Vair de Hastings
  • Vair de Liège
  • Vair de Rohan
  • Vair du Héraut
  • Vair of Coventry
  • Vair of Harlech
  • Vair of Windsor
  • Vairon
  • Vairon de Dinan
  • Vairon de Laval
  • Vakr
  • Valr
  • Vegliantino
  • Veillantif
  • Vigg
  • Volatin

W: 1 name

  • White with Black Ears

Z: 3 names

  • Zaino
  • Zaino de Aragón
  • Ždralin