Random God Name Generator

A god's name usually tells you what people needed from it. Zeus and Jupiter descend from the same Proto-Indo-European sky-father, Dyeus, as do Tyr and Dievas; Amaterasu means "shining in heaven"; Quetzalcoatl is the "feathered serpent"; Perun and Perkunas share a root meaning "to strike", fitting for thunder gods; Ereshkigal is "lady of the great earth", the underworld. Even the vague names carry meaning: Wakan Tanka is "the great mystery", Ahura Mazda "the wise lord", Olodumare "the owner of the source of creation".

Most pantheons repeat a small set of roles: sky father, earth mother, sun, moon, storm, sea, war, love, wisdom, craft, death, and a trickster. Once you know the role you want, you can borrow across cultures without breaking anything: a war goddess might be Sekhmet, Durga, the Morrigan, Oya or Anat, and each brings a different flavour, Egyptian lion-fire, Hindu demon-slaying, Irish crows, Yoruba storm-winds, Canaanite bloodlust. Tricksters are especially portable, from Loki and Hermes to Anansi, Coyote, Raven, Eshu and Sun Wukong.

This generator draws only real, attested deities so you can look any of them up and borrow their stories, symbols and holy days along with the name. Roughly 190 gods and goddesses from more than twenty traditions are included, weighted so that a random pull is as likely to hand you Mokosh or Tangaroa as Zeus.