Good pirate island names promise treasure, trouble or a laugh: Lost Map Isle, Groaning Cay, Seasick Bucket Isle. The Pirate Island Name Generator names the islands pirates bury treasure on, sail home to and steer well clear of: treasure islands, rowdy pirate ports, cursed isles, hidden tropical hideouts and some very silly islands, with a description of what waits there if you want one.
Eight good pirate island names
All eight came from the generator:
- Lost Map Isle: a treasure island that has already caused trouble.
- Gold Bar Cay, where the treasure map is scratched onto the shell of a very old tortoise: a treasure hunt with a twist.
- Port Oakum: a pirate port named after the tarred rope used to seal a ship's planks.
- Brigand's Wharf, whose governor is a retired pirate with a very fancy hat: a pirate haven with a ruler to match.
- Ghost Crab Island, where footprints appear in the sand with nobody there to make them: a cursed island that stays spooky without being scary.
- Hermit Crab Hollow, with a lagoon deep enough to hide a whole ship: a hideout with a reason to hide there.
- Moody Parrot Rock: a silly island for a younger crew.
- Moody Teapot Island, where the X on the map was a tea stain: a joke the whole table will remember.
Real pirate havens and treasure islands
The age of piracy had real island bases, and their names still turn up in pirate stories.
- Tortuga, off the north coast of Hispaniola, is Spanish for "turtle", supposedly from the island's shape. It was a famous buccaneer base in the 1600s.
- Nassau, in the Bahamas, was a pirate haven in the early 1700s, until the British sent a governor to clear the pirates out.
- Cay and key come from the Spanish cayo, a small low island, which is why the Caribbean is full of them.
- Treasure Island gave us most of the rest. Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, published as a book in 1883, has the map, the X and the buried gold that every pirate island since has borrowed.
Pick a style: Treasure, Pirate port, Cursed, Hideout or Funny. Choose With a description to find out what waits on the island.
Using a pirate island
- For a treasure hunt or a party, the treasure descriptions make good first clues.
- For a game, give each island on your map a different style, so the crew knows which ones to avoid.
- For younger pirates, the funny islands keep things silly.
Every island needs a crew: try the Pirate Name Generator. For islands of every other kind, there's the Island Name Generator, and for the sea around them, the Sea Name Generator. To guide ships past the rocks, try the Lighthouse Name Generator.
For more, see all the place name generators.