OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Fantasy Title Generator
Epithets, Offices, Honorifics and Regnal Styles for Any Character
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How the Fantasy Title / Epithet Generator works
This fantasy title generator is free and makes a new batch each time. Generate fantasy titles and epithets in six kinds: heroic epithets (the Unbowed, Slayer of the Ash Dragon), villainous epithets (the Sleepless, Butcher of Ostia), royal styles (the Third of Her Name, called the Unready), offices and ranks (Warden of the Northern Marches, Lord Chancellor), folk nicknames (Ironhand, Old Longshanks) and full styled names that combine them. Use them for kings, heroes, villains and any NPC who deserves more than a first name.
Fantasy title generator: where the names come from
A title is the cheapest way to give a character a past. Aldric is a name; Aldric the Unbowed, Slayer of the Ash Dragon, Warden of the North, is a man with three stories behind him, and the reader wants all three. This generator produces the epithets, offices and styles that fantasy uses to do this, split by the kind of character who carries them, because a hero and a villain are titled in different registers and a king is titled in a third.
Heroic epithet gives the virtue form (the Steadfast, the Lionhearted), the deed form (Slayer of Nine Kings, Breaker of Chains) and the guardian form (Shield of the North). Villainous epithet gives the dread form, the Merciless, the Widowmaker, Scourge of the Drowned Coast, and the unsettling the Hollow One. Royal style follows the real convention of ordinal plus nickname, the Fourth of His Name, called the Fat, and includes the unflattering adjectives that real chroniclers attached to real kings. Office or rank produces the offices of a court and a realm, Lord Marshal, Keeper of the Seal, Justiciar of the Silent Vale, which are the titles a campaign's politics turn on. Folk nickname gives the byname a soldier or a peasant carries, Ironhand, Threefingers, Old Lackland, that no herald ever wrote down. Full styled name assembles a complete formal name from these pieces for a herald to announce.
The places, realms and foes are the section's shared map and its shared events, so Slayer of the Serpent of Ostia is a deed done in the Ostia the city page names, and Warden of the Northern Marches guards the border the noble house page's marcher lords hold. The lists are original. Epithets are the common property of every history and every fantasy and no character from a published work is reproduced, but the same ordinary words produce the same results everywhere, so search a title before using it commercially.
For the character who carries the title, the character page; for the house they belong to, the noble house page; for the office's seat, the castle page; and for the deed the epithet records, the prophecy page can foretell it.
FAQ
Why do the royal nicknames include insults?
Because history's do. Real kings were called the Unready, the Fat, the Bald and the Mad, usually after they were safely dead, and a fantasy dynasty without an embarrassing ancestor is less believable. Pick the flattering ones for the reigning monarch and the rude ones for the family tree.
What is the difference between an epithet and a folk nickname?
An epithet is what the bards call a hero; a folk nickname is what the soldiers call him. The Unbowed is an epithet and Old Ironhand is a nickname, and the same character can have both. Use the nickname in the tavern and the epithet in the throne room.
Can I use the offices for a real political structure?
Yes. The office list includes the real medieval and early-modern posts (chancellor, justiciar, seneschal, constable) with their real meanings, so a court built from them will have a coherent hierarchy. The High and Lord prefixes give a senior tier when you need one.
How do I use the full styled name?
For the herald's announcement, the treaty's signature line and the tombstone. It is deliberately long; a character introduced with the full style once and by first name afterwards feels grander than one with a short title throughout. Trim it when it runs to three clauses.
Are any of these titles from published works?
No. The titles are original and the places and foes are this section's invented ones, but epithets are made from ordinary words and the same forms occur in every history and fantasy, so a coincidental match is possible and worth a search before commercial use.
See also: all Fantasy & RPG tools, People, Sci-fi, Culture & Language, Online & Social, Business & Brand, Places & Things.
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