Dwarf Name Generator

The Dwarf Name Generator produces one to ten dwarven names per click, each with a short line describing the dwarf who carries it. The list has 404 names, 200 male and 204 female, in the Tolkien-and-tabletop style most players expect: a short Norse-flavored first name followed by a compound epithet surname, as in Thorgrim Ironbeard, Astrid Flamebeard, Karin Deepdelver or Gloin Grimhand. Set the gender to Male, Female or Random and you have a character name for D&D, Pathfinder, Warhammer, a novel or a video game in a few seconds.

Settings and results

Two controls: the number of names (1 to 10) and a gender dropdown. Random draws from all 404 names; Male and Female limit it to the 200 or 204 names in that group. Names inside a batch never repeat. Each result is a card with the name and a “Meaning” line, though the line is a character note rather than an etymology: Bera Ironfist – a dwarf who has a hard hand with weapons; Daisy Diamonds – a dwarf with a large collection of shiny jewels. Those notes are useful as instant backstory hooks, and easy to ignore if you only want the name.

How the names are built

Dwarf naming in fantasy comes almost entirely from Tolkien, who lifted his dwarf names (Thorin, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dwalin, Balin) from the Old Norse poem Völuspá. Games followed his lead, so “dwarvish” now means Old Norse sounds: short first names heavy on hard consonants, -i and -in endings for men (Fili, Dwalin, Thorgrim), and -a, -is or -id endings for women (Astrid, Freydis, Ingrid, Liv, Karin). The surname is where a dwarf's trade or reputation lives. It is nearly always two English words fused together: a material or element (Iron, Steel, Stone, Gold, Flame, Moon) plus a body part, tool or deed (beard, fist, heart, hammer, forge, delver, breaker). Read the surname and you already know what the character does: a Deepdelver mines, a Fireforge smiths, an Ogrebreaker fights.

The list here follows that pattern deliberately, and several first names are the Tolkien originals (Fili, Oin, Gloin, Bofur, Bifur, Bombur, Dwalin) paired with new surnames so they read as familiar without being copies.

Sample names

Using the names at the table and on the page

• Player characters. Generate ten, pick the one that sounds right when said out loud, and take the note as your first backstory line.
• NPC lists for game masters. Ten names with a one-line hook each is a ready-made list of tavern regulars, mine foremen or clan elders. Keep the surnames consistent within a family: if the elder is a Stonefist, so are the children.
• Clan and stronghold names. Take just the surname element (Ironjaw, Battlehammer, Moonstone) and use it as a clan or hold name.
• Fiction. The female list matters here: many fantasy sources barely name dwarven women, and having 204 to choose from saves inventing them from scratch.

Building a mixed party? There are matching generators for gnomes, medieval humans, witches and deities, and the Elden Ring Name Generator covers a darker register. Everything else is under all name generators.