A sword with a name is a sword with a story. This sword name generator gives you names in three moods: heroic blades like Oathwarden, dark and cursed ones like Griefbane, and old swords in the style of Beowulf's Hrunting. Add an epithet for its reputation, or a description of what it looks like.
Famous swords and their names
- Excalibur, King Arthur's sword, is Caliburnus in Geoffrey of Monmouth, probably from the Welsh Caledfwlch.
- Durendal was Roland's sword in the Song of Roland; he tried to break it rather than let it fall to the enemy, and couldn't. Charlemagne's was Joyeuse.
- Tizona and Colada belonged to El Cid. A sword said to be Tizona is in a museum in Burgos.
- Gram, Sigurd's sword, means "wrath". It was broken and reforged before he killed the dragon Fáfnir.
- Tyrfing, in Norse legend, was cursed: it could never be drawn without killing someone.
- Kusanagi, the "grass-cutter", is one of the three sacred treasures of the Japanese imperial family.
Three kinds of sword
- Heroic names promise something: Oathwarden, Hopelight, Lionguard. The sword of someone who means well.
- Dark and cursed names threaten: Griefbane, Widowmaker, Gravethirst. Michael Moorcock's Stormbringer, which drinks the souls of those it kills, set the standard.
- Old English names end in -ing, like the swords in Beowulf: Hrunting, the borrowed sword that fails against Grendel's mother, and Nægling, which breaks in the fight with the dragon. These use Old English words like hild (battle), gār (spear), īsen (iron), glēd (ember) and sigel (the sun).
How swords were made, and why it matters
Early medieval swords were often pattern-welded: rods of iron and steel twisted and forged together, leaving swirling patterns on the blade like water or snakeskin. To the people who carried them, a pattern-welded sword looked alive, which may be one reason they were given names.
Some Viking-age blades carry their maker's name inlaid in the steel: the swords marked +VLFBERH+T are the most famous. A sword named after its smith is an old idea.
Naming your own sword
- What did it do? Name it after its greatest deed, or its worst.
- Who made it? A smith's mark, a god's forge, a dwarf's grudge.
- Who carried it before? Swords outlive their owners. A sword with three names, one from each bearer, is a quest in itself.
- Other styles: for blades with real Elvish meanings, try the Elven Sword Name Generator; for Japanese names, the Japanese Sword Name Generator.
- Who carries it? An Old English sword needs an Old English owner: try the Anglo-Saxon Name Generator or the Viking Name Generator.
Playing the Elder Scrolls? Try the Daedric Weapon Name Generator.