Pirate Name Generator

Real pirates of the Golden Age (roughly 1650 to 1730) mostly had ordinary English, Welsh, Irish, Dutch and French names: Edward Teach, Bartholomew Roberts, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Samuel Bellamy. The legend comes from the nicknames that crews and newspapers attached to them. Teach became Blackbeard, Roberts became Black Bart, John Rackham became Calico Jack for his striped clothes, and Edward Low was simply Ned Low, remembered for his cruelty. Nicknames came from appearance (One-Eyed, Redhand, Longshanks), habits (Rotgut, Powder-Burn), a trade (Bonesaw for a surgeon, Fiddler for the musician) or a grisly reputation (Half-Hanged, Gallows).

That pattern, a plain given name plus a descriptive epithet, is still the most convincing way to build a pirate name, and it works whether the tone is grim (Cutthroat Caz Lidell), comic (Soggy Biscuit Bob) or for a children's party (Captain Cuddlebeard). For fantasy and D&D pirates, the same idea applies, but the surname is usually a sea-flavored compound such as Tidewhisper, Brinebeard or Hullbreaker that fits the character's race and the setting.

This list gives you historical pirates for reference, Captains with invented full names, nicknamed cutthroats, kid-friendly scallywags, grimmer adult names, fantasy crewmates, and crew roles like Bosun, Quartermaster and Powder Monkey so you can name an entire ship.