Elf names have a sound you recognise straight away: soft consonants, long vowels and endings like -iel, -wen and -ion. This elf name generator gives you three takes on it. Tolkien gives you real elves from Middle-earth, D&D gives you names in the style of the Player's Handbook, and Generic gives you original names that don't belong to any one world.
Tolkien's elves: names with meanings
Every name in the Tolkien style is an elf from Tolkien's books, and almost all of them mean something in his Elvish languages, Sindarin and Quenya:
- Legolas: "green leaves" (Sindarin)
- Elrond: "star-dome"
- Arwen: "noble maiden"
- Celebrían: "silver queen"
- Círdan: "shipwright", fitting for the elf who builds the ships to the West
- Gil-galad: "star of radiance"
- Fëanor: "spirit of fire"
Because they're real characters, fans will recognise them. That's perfect for a Middle-earth game or an elf named after a hero of old. For an original character, borrow the building blocks instead (below).
Build your own Tolkien-style elf name
Tolkien built his names from real word parts, and you can do the same:
- gil star, galad radiance, celeb silver, mith grey, nim white
- -wen maiden and -iel daughter, for female names (Arwen, Eärwen "sea-maiden", Galadriel)
- -ion son, and -dil friend or lover (Eärendil, "friend of the sea")
- -dor land, for names tied to a place
So Celebwen reads as "silver maiden" and Mithion as "grey son". Neither is in the books, but both feel at home there, and you'll know what they mean.
D&D elves: child names, adult names and family names
In Dungeons & Dragons (5th edition), elves go by a child name until they declare themselves adults, sometime after their hundredth birthday, and then choose an adult name. That's a nice detail for a character: a young elf might still be using a short child name, or be about to pick a new one.
D&D elf family names usually come with a translation, which you can use in Common: Galanodel (Moonwhisper), Liadon (Silverfrond), Holimion (Diamonddew). If you give your elf a family name, deciding what it means in Common gives other characters something to call them.
The D&D style here sounds like the Player's Handbook: flowing, with ae, ai and th, like Aelthas, Faenya and Saelvan. A few, like Naivara and Shanairra, are names the Player's Handbook itself suggests. The gender-neutral D&D names are short (Aeris, Faen, Rael), which suits child names well.
Generic elf names
The generic style is for elves outside any particular world. Male names tend to end in -ion, -or or -as (Ithilion, Calenor), female names in -iel, -wen or -a (Ariniel, Elowen, Talindra).
Gender-neutral generic names are nature words: Willow, Rowan, Wren, Briar, Ember. They work well for wood elves, druids or an elf who's taken a name in the common tongue.
Looking for a Christmas elf rather than a Tolkien one? Try the Elf on the Shelf and Christmas Elf name generators.