Baldur's Gate 3 is built on fifth-edition D&D, so each of its races brings its own naming customs: githyanki names like Lae'zel, dragonborn who put their clan first, tieflings with infernal or virtue names. This Baldur's Gate 3 name generator covers all eleven playable races, so your Tav sounds like they belong in the Sword Coast.
How names work for each BG3 race
- Human: a first name and a family name, in the Sword Coast's medieval style.
- Elf and Half-Elf: flowing elven names; half-elves often mix an elven first name with a human surname.
- Drow: a personal name and the noble house they belong to, like Minthara Baenre.
- Dwarf: a short, hard first name and a clan name, often about the forge or the deep.
- Halfling: a homely name and a family name that started as a nickname.
- Gnome: a bouncy personal name and a clan name.
- Half-Orc: a single strong name, as half-orcs often go by.
- Tiefling: an infernal name, or a virtue name like Hope or Torment.
- Githyanki: clipped names split by an apostrophe, like Lae'zel.
- Dragonborn: clan name first, then personal name.
Each race has its own generator on this site with the full naming rules; this page puts them all in one place.
Naming your Tav
"Tav" is the name players, and Larian, use for a custom character in Baldur's Gate 3. A few tips for replacing it:
- Keep it short enough to hear often. Companions say your name a lot. A full dragonborn name is a mouthful; a first name alone is easier.
- Apostrophes and hyphens work, so githyanki and goblin-style names are fine.
- Think about the companions. Your name will sit alongside Shadowheart, Astarion, Gale, Karlach, Lae'zel and Wyll in every conversation. Something with its own sound stands out.
Origin characters and their names
The game's origin characters show the naming styles in action. Lae'zel is the githyanki pattern exactly. Karlach is a tiefling with a short, plain name rather than an infernal or virtue one. Astarion is a high elf with a long, elegant name, and Shadowheart is a half-elf who goes by a name that isn't really a name at all.
That last one is a good reminder: a character can go by a nickname, a title or an alias, and the story of why is often more interesting than the name itself.