A dragon's name should sound old, heavy and slightly dangerous to say out loud. This dragon name generator builds names from sounds that suit each kind of dragon, from fire and frost to sea and venom, harsh or sleek. Add an epithet and your dragon gets a reputation too: the Ashen, Bane of Kings, Lord Beneath the Mountain.
Where dragon names come from
- Dragon comes from the Greek drakōn, a great serpent. Old English had draca (which gives us drake) and wyrm, and Old Norse ormr: all words for snakes before they were words for dragons.
- Norse myth has the great named dragons: Fáfnir, a dwarf turned into a dragon by greed for gold and killed by Sigurd; Níðhöggr, who gnaws at the roots of the world tree; and Jörmungandr, the serpent that circles the world.
- Beowulf's dragon has no name at all. It wakes when a thief steals a cup from its hoard, and burns the land in revenge.
- Chinese dragons are a different creature: long, wingless, linked to water, rain and good fortune rather than fire and greed.
Famous dragons and their names
- Smaug: Tolkien called the name "a low philological jest", from an old Germanic verb meaning to squeeze through a hole. Bilbo, flattering him, calls him Smaug the Tremendous.
- Glaurung, Tolkien's first dragon, is called the Father of Dragons.
- Balerion the Black Dread, in Game of Thrones, shows how much an epithet adds. Daenerys named her own dragons after family: Drogon after Khal Drogo, Rhaegal and Viserion after her brothers.
- Odahviing, in Skyrim, is a name and a Shout at once: in the dragon language it means "snow hunter wing". Every dragon name in the game is three words of power.
Nine kinds, two sounds
The start of each name carries the element and the ending carries the sound:
- Fire draws on words for burning and forges (ign-, pyr-, and Surt- after the fire giant of Norse myth). Frost on Norse and Greek words for ice and snow (hrim-, khion-). Storm, earth, shadow, sea and venom each have their own. Light dragons take their names from words for dawn and brightness, like Phosara, Keeper of the Morning, and primordial dragons sound like the oldest things alive: Ormrorvax, the First of All Dragons. Light dragons take their names from words for dawn and brightness, like Phosara, Keeper of the Morning, and primordial dragons sound like the oldest things alive: Ormrorvax, the First of All Dragons.
- Harsh endings (-uzul, -agor, -arax) give a growling, ancient name for something that burns villages.
- Sleek endings (-yra, -essa, -ith) give a smoother name, for a cunning dragon, a young one, or one that reads as female.
Giving a dragon a title
Dragons in stories rarely have just one name. They collect titles from the people who fear them (the Black Dread), from what they've done (Burner of Cities), and from flattery: Bilbo calls Smaug the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities to keep him talking.
Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea goes further: a dragon's true name gives power over it, so the name everyone uses is only a mask. A dragon with a public title and a secret name is a ready-made quest.
Got a name but no story? Try the Story Prompt Generator for a plot, a setting or a twist.
For more beasts of legend, from phoenixes to griffins, see the mythical creature name generators.
Looking for an Eastern dragon of rain and rivers? Try the Chinese Dragon Name Generator.