Good axe names are short and hard, like the ones Norse warriors gave theirs: often the name of a troll-woman or a giantess. That's the kind of fact that makes a good axe name, and this axe name generator has names in four styles: Norse axes like Shieldtroll, dwarven heirlooms like Grudgehewer, brutal cleavers like Skullsplitter, and the homely names people give tools they love, like Old Bess.
Ten good axe names
All ten came from the generator, from each of its four styles:
- Irontroll: named after a troll-woman, the Norse way.
- Helmbiter: named for what it bites through.
- Runehewer: a dwarven heirloom with runes cut into the head.
- Anvilwarden: for a dwarf smith's axe that's never far from the forge.
- Basaltsplitter: stone and splitting, for a mountain dwarf.
- Marrowcleaver: brutal and plain, for an orc or a warlord.
- Neckchopper: the executioner's choice.
- Old Bess: a pet name for a woodsman's favourite, like Mons Meg, the cannon at Edinburgh Castle.
- Bonny Kate: homely and fond, for the axe that's always been there.
- Little Joan, Friend of the Hearth: a homely name with a title, for an axe that chops the firewood.
Axes with names
- Rimmugýgr, "battle-ogress", was the axe of Skarphéðinn in Njáls saga. Norse warriors liked to give axes the names of troll-women and giantesses.
- Hel was the axe of King Olaf II of Norway, named after the goddess of the dead.
- Kennings, the riddling phrases of Norse poetry, called an axe things like the "troll-woman of the shield". The Norse names here borrow that habit: Helmhag, Byrniewolf.
- The labrys, the double axe of Minoan Crete, may have given its name to the Labyrinth, "the house of the double axe". That's an old theory, and still argued over.
Four kinds of axe
- Norse: shield-breakers named like ogresses and wolves. For Vikings, berserkers and anyone with a longship.
- Dwarven: names about stone, oaths and grudges. Dwarves in fantasy, from Tolkien's Gimli on, love an axe.
- Brutal: what it does, said plainly. For orcs, warlords and executioners.
- Homely: people have always given favourite tools and guns pet names, often women's names. Edinburgh Castle's great cannon is Mons Meg. A woodsman's Old Bess or a barbarian's Little Nell says a lot about the owner.
Naming an axe in Minecraft? The Minecraft Tool and Weapon Name Generator has an Axe option, with epic names like Stormbiter and funny ones like Axe of Great Fuss. Rename it in an anvil like any other item.
Kinds of axe
Choose "Name and description" and the generator says what kind of axe it is:
- Bearded axe: a Viking design whose blade hangs below the haft, so you could hook a shield or choke up for close work.
- Dane axe: the big two-handed war axe of the Viking age, carried by the housecarls at Hastings.
- Poleaxe: a late medieval weapon for fighting in armour, with an axe head, a hammer and a spike.
- Felling axe and hatchet: working tools, which in stories have a habit of becoming weapons.