Pirate name generator

Salt-stained names for Sea of Thieves crews, D&D swashbucklers, One Piece OCs and Talk Like a Pirate Day. Describe the character and get a captain's name with an epithet the crew would actually shout across the deck.

1 credit per run

Try an idea:

90+ pirate name ideas

  • Captain Josiah Kell
  • Captain Red Hand Mabry
  • Captain Abel Crowe
  • Captain Ezra Blackwake
  • Captain Silas Thorne

5 of 15 ·

Pirate names with a title, a name and a reputation

Real pirates rarely went by the name on their baptism record. The crews of the early 1700s used a short formula: a rank or title, a plain given name, and a nickname pulled from a beard, a coat or a habit. John Rackham became Calico Jack for his calico clothes. Edward Teach became Blackbeard. Bartholomew Roberts became Black Bart. This generator is tuned for that formula and for the places people need pirate names now: Sea of Thieves crews, D&D 5e swashbuckler rogues, One Piece original characters, Halloween costumes and kids' pirate parties.

Tell it who the pirate is: a disgraced navy officer turned raider, a ship's cook who mutinied over the rum ration, a sky pirate captain in a homebrew setting. You get a full name with title and epithet, an optional ship or crew name, and a short note on where the nickname came from. Ask for a historical, comic or fantasy tone and the names shift to match.

  • The Golden Age formula

    Title, given name, epithet. The same pattern that turned John Rackham into Calico Jack and Edward Teach into Blackbeard. The generator keeps given names period-plain and puts the color in the nickname.

  • Epithets with a backstory

    Every nickname comes with a reason: Ironhook lost a hand to a boarding axe, Saltbeard never dried out. Useful for a character sheet, a Sea of Thieves roleplay crew or a One Piece bounty poster.

  • Ship and crew names

    A pirate needs a ship and a crew to go with the name. Ask for a matching ship name in the style of Queen Anne's Revenge or Royal Fortune, plus a crew name for your party or Discord server.

5 tips for naming a pirate

  1. Use the three-part formula

    Most memorable pirate names have a title, a given name and an epithet: Captain, Jack, Calico. You can drop any one part and still sound right. Captain Ezra Blackwake works, Blackwake alone works, and Ezra the Black works. Missing all three is how you end up with a pirate called Steve.

  2. Take the nickname from something you can see

    Golden Age nicknames were blunt and physical. Teach had a black beard. Rackham wore calico. Henry Every was Long Ben. Pick one visible trait, a scar, a hook, a hat, a missing ear, and turn it into a word the crew would yell in a storm.

  3. Keep the given name plain

    Real crews were full of Johns, Edwards, Williams, Annes and Marys. The color came from the epithet, not the first name, and Bartholomew is about as fancy as it got. A plain name plus a vivid nickname sounds historical; two vivid names sound like a cartoon.

  4. Match the tone to the audience

    A kids' party wants Captain Barnacle Bottom. A grim D&D campaign wants Josiah Kell, called the Gallows-Cheat. A One Piece OC wants a bounty-poster epithet up front: Saltbeard Mabry. Decide the tone first, tell the generator, and you will throw away fewer names.

  5. Name the ship like a boast or a threat

    Pirate ships carried names meant to brag or taunt: Queen Anne's Revenge, Royal Fortune, Fancy. Revenge, fortune and royalty are safe themes. A ship name gets said even more than the captain's at a Sea of Thieves or D&D table, so keep it to three words or fewer.

Want names made for yours? Describe what you're naming and Nomi finds names that fit.

Frequently asked questions

Use the formula real pirates used: a title, a given name and a nickname. Start with Captain, Quartermaster or no title, add a plain period name like Josiah or Anne, then give it an epithet from a trait you can see: Ironhook, Half-Ear, Saltbeard. Calico Jack, Blackbeard and Black Bart all follow it. Or describe your character to the generator and it builds all three parts for you.

Anne Bonny and Mary Read sailed with Calico Jack Rackham and were captured with his crew off Jamaica in 1720. Ching Shih, also known as Zheng Yi Sao, took command of the Red Flag Fleet in the South China Sea after her husband died in 1807 and negotiated an amnesty in 1810. Grace O'Malley commanded ships off the west coast of Ireland and met Elizabeth I in 1593.

From his beard. Edward Teach, sometimes recorded as Thatch, wore a long black beard, and Charles Johnson's 1724 General History of the Pyrates describes him tucking lit slow matches under his hat to look more frightening in a fight. He commanded Queen Anne's Revenge and was killed at Ocracoke, North Carolina, in 1718. His name is the purest example of the physical-trait nickname.

September 19 every year. It began in 1995 as a joke between two friends, John Baur and Mark Summers, and spread widely after humor columnist Dave Barry wrote about it in 2002. A pirate name is the easiest way to join in at work, at school or online. Generate one, use it in your email signature for the day, and practice your arrrs.

Yes. For Sea of Thieves, ask for a short name and a crew name you can use for roleplay, an alliance or your Discord server. For a One Piece OC, ask for an epithet-first name in bounty-poster style, the way the series writes Straw Hat Luffy or Pirate Hunter Zoro. Avoid reusing the D. initial or existing crew names if you plan to share your OC.

The real ones tended to boast or threaten: Queen Anne's Revenge, Royal Fortune, Fancy, Whydah. Revenge, fortune, royalty and weather are reliable themes, and short names work best when someone has to shout them over the wind. Ask the generator for a ship name to match your captain, so Captain Abel Crowe sails the Carrion Wake rather than a ship that belongs to another pirate.

More name generators

Browse all 171 generators →