Good elven sword names describe the blade in Elvish, the way Tolkien's do. The elves of Middle-earth named their swords, and the names meant something: Glamdring is "Foe-hammer", Orcrist "Goblin-cleaver". This elven sword name generator builds names the same way, from real words in Tolkien's two Elvish languages, and gives you the meaning of each one. Choose Sindarin, Quenya, Tolkien's own swords, or a mix.
Ten good elven sword names
All ten came from the generator, with the meaning it gives for each:
- Rhîw-crist: "Winter-cleaver". Crist is cleaver, as in Orcrist.
- Thoron-megil: "Eagle-sword". Megil is the Sindarin for sword, as in Mormegil.
- Draug-dring: "Wolf-hammer", with the same -dring as Glamdring.
- Gil-lang: "Star-cutlass". Gil is star, as in Gil-galad.
- Galad-crist: "Radiance-cleaver", for a blade that shines.
- Telpë-macil: "Silver-sword". Macil is the Quenya for sword.
- Isil-macil: "Moon-sword". Isil is the Quenya name for the Moon.
- Laurë-macil: "Golden-light-sword", after the golden light of Laurelin, one of the Two Trees.
- Lómë-lango: "Dusk-broadsword", for an old blade of the Elder Days.
- Ninquë-lango: "White-broadsword", plain and grand.
Tolkien's swords and what their names mean
- Glamdring, "Foe-hammer": forged in Gondolin for its king, Turgon, and found by Gandalf in a troll-hoard in The Hobbit.
- Orcrist, "Goblin-cleaver": found in the same hoard and carried by Thorin. The goblins simply called it Biter.
- Narsil, from the words for fire and white light: Elendil's sword, broken in the war against Sauron.
- Andúril, "Flame of the West": Narsil reforged for Aragorn.
- Ringil, "Cold star": the sword Fingolfin used against Morgoth in The Silmarillion.
- Anglachel, "Iron of the flaming star": forged from a fallen star, later reforged for Túrin as Gurthang, "Iron of death". Túrin himself became known as Mormegil, "the Black Sword".
- Aranrúth, "King's ire": the sword of Thingol, king of Doriath.
Sindarin or Quenya?
Tolkien gave his elves two main languages. Quenya, the High-elven tongue, is old, formal and ceremonial, a little like Latin in our world. Sindarin, the Grey-elven tongue, is what the elves of Middle-earth actually speak, and most of the swords in the books have Sindarin names.
Choose Sindarin for a sword made and used in Middle-earth, and Quenya for something ancient: an heirloom from the Elder Days, or a blade made in the West.
How the names are built
Each name joins two real words: a description (fire, star, black, doom) and a kind of weapon.
- Sindarin: megil sword, crist cleaver, lang cutlass, dring hammer or beater (the -dring of Glamdring). First parts include naur fire, gil star, morn black, celeb silver and amarth doom.
- Quenya: macil sword and lango broadsword, with elen star, isil moon, nár fire and telpë silver.
In Sindarin, the start of the second word often changes when two words are joined, a rule linguists call mutation, so Tolkien's own compounds don't always look like their parts. The names here keep the parts joined with a hyphen, as in Gil-galad, so you can see exactly what they mean.
Giving your sword a story
- Name it for what it did. Orcrist and Glamdring are named for the enemies they killed. A sword called Morn-crist (Black-cleaver) has a history.
- Name it for what it's made of. Anglachel was forged from a fallen star. Celeb-megil (Silver-sword) or Gil-lang (Star-cutlass) suggests the same kind of origin.
- Let it change. Narsil became Andúril, and Anglachel became Gurthang. A reforged blade deserves a new name.