Goblin Name Generator

About Goblin Names

Goblins are the small, sharp-eared folk of warrens, ruins, and the unkempt edges of larger kingdoms. They average three feet tall, weigh almost nothing, and operate on a combination of mischief, opportunism, and a particular kind of bitter loyalty that outsiders almost never see. The standard road-story about goblins — that they are stupid, vicious, and disposable — is the goblin's oldest and most useful weapon, because almost every adventurer who repeats it has been quietly robbed by a goblin within the last five years and has not yet noticed.

Goblin society is tribal and improvisational. A goblin tribe forms around whatever shelter and food the local terrain offers — an abandoned mine, a forgotten fortress, a network of natural tunnels — and reorganizes itself constantly as members are lost, gained, or argue their way out the door. Goblins fight each other often and forgive each other quickly. They die young by the standards of most races, and they tell jokes the whole way down.

What outsiders miss most often about goblins is the seriousness of their attachments. A goblin who decides you matter will steal for you, lie for you, and stand between you and danger they cannot possibly survive — and they will not announce any of it. Goblin loyalty is given quietly and revoked even more quietly, and most adventurers who have benefitted from it never realize it was ever there.

Goblin Naming Conventions

Goblin names are short, hard, and easily shouted across a cave — one or two syllables, often nasal or guttural. Examples: Droop, Gleep, Knob, Mug, Nix, Pog, Snik, Squik, Wug, Yek, Zog, Brak, Drek, Frek, Gob, Lirk, Murk, Pug, Skee, Vek. Goblins do not generally use family surnames; they use a den-name marking the tribe's current home: "of the Black Tunnel," "of the Rotting Stair," "of the Cracked Hearth," "of the Long Pit." Den-names change as tribes move, sometimes annually. A goblin introducing themselves seriously gives given-name and den-name; one introducing themselves casually gives only the given-name and a sharp grin.