A good moon name tells you what the moon is to the people below it: a mining claim like Kerrigan's Diggings, a lamp in a fantasy sky like The Owl Moon, or a goddess like The Hunting Mother. Every good world needs a moon or two. This moon name generator names sci-fi mining and colony moons, the moons of a fantasy sky, moons from myth and legend, and quiet poetic moons, with a short description if you want one.
Eight good moon names
All eight came from the generator, two from each style:
- Kerrigan's Diggings: a mining moon named after the prospector who staked it.
- Kadhu IV-a: a survey code for a moon of the fourth planet, the way a colony office would file it.
- The Owl Moon: a fantasy moon named for the nights it rules.
- The Lamplighter's Bucket: the kind of everyday name farmers give the sky.
- The Hunting Mother: a mythic moon that sounds like a goddess.
- Ondrel's Comb: a moon named as an object belonging to someone in a legend.
- The Pale Saucer: a gentle poetic name.
- The Lamp of Empty Streets: a poetic name for the moon over a sleeping city.
How real moons got their names
- Our Moon is just "the Moon" in English, with a capital letter. The Romans called it Luna and the Greeks Selene, after the moon goddess.
- Jupiter's four largest moons were discovered by Galileo in 1610 and named Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, after figures loved by Zeus, the Greek Jupiter.
- Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos, "fear" and "dread", named after the sons of Ares, the Greek god of war.
- Uranus breaks the pattern: its moons are named after characters from Shakespeare and Alexander Pope, like Titania, Oberon, Miranda and Ariel.
The generator follows each habit. Sci-fi moons are named after claims, prospectors and surveys: Calloway's Claim, Jorvic IV-b. Fantasy moons get everyday names, and sometimes come in pairs: Tam and Wren. Mythic moons are goddesses and their belongings, and Poetic moons are lamps, mirrors and saucers. Choose With a description for a line about what the moon does, like The Little Moon, which pulls the tides of the Inner Sea.
Moons in your world
- Decide what the moon means. A farming world names its moon after harvests; a mining colony after money.
- Two moons make a story. Twins, rivals or a big and a small one each give the calendar and the legends something to work with.
- Let the name change. Settlers might call a moon one thing, and the survey office another.
Give the moon a world to orbit with the Planet Name Generator, and a sun with the Star Name Generator. For the wider sky, there's the Galaxy Name Generator; for the ships and the locals, the Spaceship and Alien name generators.
For more, see all the sci-fi name generators.