Prison Name Generator

Gaols, prison moons and vaults for sleeping dragons, from the Keyless Tower to Camp No-Pudding.

Kind of prison

Name format

Press Generate Names for 8 prison names.

Tap a name to copy it, or the bookmark to keep it.

black shadow = tap it

By Rich · Updated 29 October 2026

Example Prison Names

A few names this generator came up with. Tap one to copy it, or press "Generate Names" above for more.

Any kind of prison · Name only

Fibbington
Penal Station Malvek
The Tapestry Gaol
The Mostly Locked Castle

Any kind of prison · With a description

The Unopened Casket, where the last werewolf of the old kingdoms howls only in his sleep
The Binding of Nine Moons, so old that the monsters inside have started a library
Sergeant Snoot's Locked Pantry, a prison for gnomes who refuse to stand still in gardens
Shacklewick Gaol, a hilltop prison that the townsfolk swear is haunted by its builder

Fantasy/D&D · With a description

Keldby Gaol, where the worst offenders are kept on an old ship moored in the estuary
Dunmarrow Lock-Up, whose walls are so thick that no sound gets out at all
The Margravine's Cells, cut into a sea cliff, and you can only get there at low tide
Duskthorpe Rock, a keep turned prison after its lord was locked in his own dungeon

Sci-fi · With a description

Cryo-Prison Vorrel, parked so close to a black hole that a year inside is ten outside
Labour Colony Gorran, on the frozen night side of a tidally locked world
The Long Orbit, with no spaceport, no ships and no way off
Lockdown Platform Thessk, under two suns, with no shade for a hundred miles

For monsters · Name only

The Sea Serpent Gaol
The Warded Coffer
The Troll's Oubliette
The Fiend Well

Funny · Name only

The Probably Escape-Proof Lock-Up
The Fairly Inescapable Big House of Doom
Mother Mittens's Penitentiary
Bars and Stripes

How the Prison Name Generator Works

It works from 786 names and name parts, which combine into over 1,800,000 possible results.

The choices:

Kind of prison: Any kind of prison, Fantasy/D&D, Sci-fi, For monsters, Funny.
Name format:
- Name only, e.g. The Windowless Bridewell
- With a description, e.g. The Forgotten Tolbooth of Fellwick, built on an island in a lake that freezes solid every winter

Each press gives you 8 names. "Show 8 more" adds 8 you haven't seen yet. Once you've seen them all, "Start again" shuffles the whole list again.

A good prison name tells prisoners what they're in for: a rock, a gaol or an oubliette in fantasy (Bitterholt Rock), a code and a number in sci-fi (Facility Beta-113), a seal or a cage for monsters. Every villain needs somewhere to be locked up, and every hero needs somewhere to break out of. This prison name generator makes names for fantasy dungeons and D&D gaols, sci-fi prison planets and stations, magical prisons built to hold monsters, and funny lock-ups, with an optional one-line description.

Eight good prison names

All eight came from the generator, across its four styles:

Bitterholt Rock: a fantasy prison on a crag, with a name that sounds as cold as it is.
Cragwick Rock, whose top cells have no stairs, so prisoners go up and down by basket: a gaol with an escape problem built in.
The Leaden Oubliette: an oubliette is a cell you're put in to be forgotten.
Penal Asteroid Sereth, which jumps to a new star system every night: a sci-fi prison nobody can find.
Oskara Station, buried under three miles of ice: a prison where the landscape is the guard.
The Seven-Locked Wraith Seal: a magical prison for something that can't be killed.
The Starlocked Casket, where a storm spirit is kept in a jar that must never be opened: a monster prison small enough to carry.
Camp No-Pudding: a funny lock-up for the worst crime of all.

How prisons get their names

Real prisons were usually named after where they stood. London's Newgate prison took its name from Newgate, one of the gates in the old city wall, and the Tower of London held prisoners for centuries. Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay was named by Spanish explorers after the seabirds on the island. In Scotland a tolbooth was a town hall that also served as the jail, and in the 18th and 19th centuries Britain kept prisoners on hulks, old ships moored in rivers and harbours.

Fantasy prisons are gaols, rocks, oubliettes and hulks: The Sunless Lockhouse, The Drowned Tolbooth of Drearwick.
Sci-fi prisons sound official: Correctional Orbital Drevan, Holding Station Zaltor.
Monster prisons are seals, circles and vaults: The Salt Circle, The Riddle-Locked Cage.
Funny prisons are for goblins and pixies: Wobblecombe Secure Unit for Cheeky Pixies.

Choose With a description for one detail about the prison, which is usually where an escape plan starts.

Using a prison in your game

Give it one weakness and hide it in the description.
Name the warden as well. A prison with a person in charge feels more real.
Decide who it holds: debtors, rebels, monsters or someone the party needs to free.

For a prison inside a castle, try the Castle Name Generator or the Fortress Name Generator. For one under the ground, there's the Dungeon Name Generator, and for a tower with someone locked at the top, the Wizard Tower Name Generator.

For more, see all the world-building name generators.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are good names for a fantasy prison?

Names that sound cold and permanent: Bitterholt Rock, The Leaden Oubliette, or The Sunless Lockhouse. For a sci-fi prison, try Penal Asteroid Sereth or Correctional Orbital Drevan.

What is an oubliette?

A dungeon cell reached only by a trapdoor in the ceiling. The name comes from the French oublier, to forget.

Can I get a prison for monsters?

Yes. Choose For monsters for seals, cages and vaults, like The Seven-Locked Wraith Seal or The Salt Circle.