Spider Name Generator

Spiders get named two very different ways depending on whether you love them or fear them. The tarantula and jumping-spider hobby has produced a whole vocabulary of affectionate names — Spood, Spooder, Smol, Bean, Floof — alongside genus nicknames like Pokie (Poecilotheria), Avic (Avicularia), Brachy (Brachypelma), and Grammy (Grammostola). Jumping spiders in particular, with their big forward-facing eyes, tend to get names that sound like a small dog: Boop, Peeper, Nugget, Pip. Names playing on eight legs — Otto, Octavia, Ocho, Hachi, Eightball — are perennial favorites, as are weaving words like Gossamer, Bobbin, and Spindle.

On the darker side, fiction and myth supply the heavyweights. Tolkien's Shelob and Ungoliant, Rowling's Aragog, D&D's Lolth, the Greek Arachne, the West African trickster Anansi, the Japanese Jorōgumo, and the Lakota Iktomi are all reference points for a spider character with menace or cunning. Species names double as villain names — Widow, Recluse, Huntsman, Trapdoor, Goliath — and anatomy words like Chelicera and Spinneret sound sinister to anyone who doesn't know what they mean.

A good spider name usually commits to one tone. If the spider is a pet, small and slightly ridiculous works; if it's a monster, reach for old goddesses, night words, and titles like Broodmother or Weaver of Fates.