Nothing strikes fear into your enemies like the ominous sounding name of your greatsword… Weenis Tickler!
Giving a weapon a name adds a lot to your narrative. Named weapons provide potential for prestige, backstory, connections, insinuations, omens, great magical or divine powers and many other such possible spins. Name a weapon and see how it adds flavor to your tale!
Excellent Names for your Weapons
Take any two or three of these and combine them in a way that inspires or entertains you…
- crusher, smasher, basher, masher,
- piercer, impaler, holemaker, needle, pin, carver,
- destroyer, annihilator, ender, wrecker,
- spinner, maker,
- rage, surge, sting,
- fiery, flaming, electric, smoke, fire, flame, acid,
- taker, stealer, breaker, opposer, corrupter,
- fiend, beast, killer, ravager, rager,
- defiant, defiance, defy, defiler,
- buster, breaker, duster, blaster,
- avenger, vengeance seeker, revenant, atoner,
- renderer, wrencher, ripper,
- bane, foe, fighter,
- stone, metal, iron, steel, bronze, rock, glass, diamond, emerald,
- sky, star, sun, moon, celestial,
- divine, holy, godly,
- fierce, wicked, savage, monster, evil, vengeful, slithering, corrupt, vile,
- ancestral,
- dire, great, stalwart, stoic,
- terrible, terrifying, terrorizing, terror, tyrannical, tyrant,
- imperial, royal, king’s, queen’s,
- jeweled, bearded, cloaked, studded,
- wrath of, bane of, death of, curse of, slayer of,
- animals: tiger, wolf, snake, viper, dog, puma, jaguar, cheetah (fast weapon), stag, bear,
- ironic name bits: silk, velvet, gentle, soother, careful, tender, easy, soft, mother’s, baby, kitten, pussy, lamb, pony, lovely, fresh, weak, pretty, princess, lady, light, warm,
Ideas and Thoughts
- using symbolism and superstition as part of a weapon name gives a foreboding or otherworldly spin:
- use symbolic body parts in the name: “The Heart of (whatever)”, or the eye, mind, hand, arm, fist,
- use colors, hues, or tones: “The Blue Fist of (blah blah blah)” is a powerful mace (maybe), green, red, fiery red, scarlet, dark, bright, gray, golden, silver, starlight,
- use animals as symbolic elements in your weapon names: a “Spider Sabre” is way different than the fabled “Yak Smasher”
- weather can be used symbolically as well: lightning, thunder, storm, wind, tornado, typhoon, drizzle (not too scary), snow, frost, cold, summer. “Spring Rain” may be a suitable weapon name for a woodland elf; I can imagine some swarthy human sellsword laughing at that name… just before Spring Rain impales him.
- connecting the weapon to a particular house, faction, family, tradition, institution lends it weight and authority. Not to mention, it creates tons of motivation for all kinds of characters to protect it, use it, destroy it, silence it, command with it, and so on.
- imbue your weapon with emotion: Anger’s Flame, Sword of Wrath, Sorrow Staff, Pride of __________, see Emotional Traits for more ideas.
- devising some history that explains the strange name of a weapon is an excellent narrative devise. Think about the weapon’s forging, travels, battles, owners, complications, powers, reputation, victories, failures, tragedies,
- build a weapon around a particular monster or foe and develop a name that reflects its prowess against that foe: Orcbuster, Demonbreaker, Dragons’ Bane, Thief Killer, Gremlin Grinder, Lawyer Litigator, Lizardlicker, Foe Fryer,
- you can also just give your weapon a name: Carl, Bob, Ingrid, Sarah, Marsha, Marvin, Ellery, Berwald, Dostoevsky (or Fyodor), or if it is a shaky spear call it William.