Mind Flayer Name Generator

Mind flayer names in Dungeons & Dragons are meant to be hard for human mouths to say. Canon illithids include the god-brain Ilsensine, the dead deity Maanzecorian, the entity Thoon, and named individuals like Cephalossk, Lugribossk, Sangalor, Grazilaxx (Out of the Abyss), Yharaskrik and Methil El-Viddenvelp from the Drizzt novels, Zellix from Neverwinter, and Omeluum from Baldur's Gate 3. Look at those and a pattern appears: two to four syllables, dense consonant clusters (ss, zz, thr, ssk, xx, kr), a lot of hissing and clicking sounds, and endings such as -ossk, -axx, -alor, -orian, -ithid, -ulith or -aq. Vowels are sparse and mostly a, o and u. Apostrophes are rare in illithid names, unlike drow or githyanki, so use them sparingly if at all.

Illithids do not really have names in their own tongue; they think in Qualith, a tactile four-lined script, and communicate telepathically. The names in the books are approximations that thralls and surface scholars use, which is a good excuse in-game to let a mind flayer's name shift depending on who is saying it. Elder brains, ulitharids and alhoons (lich illithids) are often known by titles instead: The Absolute, The Emperor, the Elder Brain of Oryndoll.

The list above gives you individual illithid names, ranked variants for ulitharids and alhoons, elder brain and colony titles, and a few nautiloid ship names for a full Underdark campaign.