Tanuki Name Generator

The tanuki is Japan's raccoon dog, and in folklore it is the bake-danuki, a jolly shapeshifter that drums on its belly, turns leaves into money and teapots into itself. The famous ones are named like country gentlemen of the Edo period: Danzaburou-danuki, lord of the Sado island tanuki; Shibaemon of Awaji; Kinchou of Awa, hero of a tanuki war; Inugami Gyoubu of Matsuyama, who commanded 808 followers; and the Hage-danuki of Yashima. Studio Ghibli's Pom Poko kept that register with Shoukichi, Gonta, Oroku and Tamasaburou, and Animal Crossing gave the world Tom Nook.

A good tanuki name usually leans one of three ways. Old-fashioned commoner names with endings like -bei, -kichi, -suke, -zou and -emon (Gonbei, Ponkichi, Tokubei) sound like a tanuki who runs a sake shop. Sound-play names built on pon or pokopon, the noise of the belly drum, are the classic pet-name choice. And food, plant and season words such as Mochi, Kinako, Donguri, Momiji and Satsuki fit a round, hungry, nature-loving animal. Women's names in the tales take the Edo O- prefix: Oroku, Okiyo, Otama.

This list mixes all of these, plus a handful of English nicknames for a pet or plush, so you can name a yokai trickster or a chubby companion character.