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Giant names: elements, titles and ideas

A giant's name should land like a footfall. Here is how to build one that sounds enormous, from the heavy, saga-rooted name itself to the elemental byname that says whether you are facing frost, fire, stone or storm.

Giants are the oldest and largest of fantasy's folk, and their names should carry that weight. The pattern is simple: a big, Norse-flavoured name, and where the giant has earned one, an elemental byname. Get the sound heavy enough and the name does half the work of making something feel huge.

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The sound of a giant

Borrow from the jotun of Norse myth. Heavy openings and grand endings give names like Gromund, Skarnir, Durnar and Varhild, names built on hard, rolling sounds that land like footsteps. Keep them weighty rather than pretty; a giant's name should rumble. Giantesses follow the same rule with endings like -hild, -run and -dis, which sound just as ancient and just as large.

The elements

Most fantasy giants are sorted by element, and naming the element is the quickest way to place one. Frost giants belong to ice and the frozen north; fire giants to flame and the forge-deeps; stone giants to the high peaks and deep caves; and storm giants to cloud, sky and thunder. Choosing the element first tells you which bynames fit, the Frozen and Frostking for ice, the Molten and Emberlord for fire, and so on, so the whole name pulls in one direction.

Epithets, domains and titles

Three kinds of byname suit a giant. An epithet names a quality, the Frozen, the Burning, the Unmoving, the Thunderous. A domain names a realm the giant rules, of the Frozen Wastes, of the High Peaks, of the Storm Throne, which suits a jarl or a king among giants. And a title is a grand compound earned like a crown, Frostking, Emberlord, Stormborn, Earthshaker. Pick a domain or a title for a ruler, an epithet for a lone wanderer.

Letting a generator do the work

Giant names combine naturally from a heavy given name and an elemental byname, which is how the giant name generator builds them, with options for gender, the byname style and which element to draw from. Generate a batch, read them aloud as a herald would over a battlefield, and keep the one that sounds like a mountain moving. For another ancient power, see the dragon name generator, and for the craft, how to name a fantasy character.

A few pitfalls

  • Too light. A short, soft name undercuts the scale. Reach for heavy, rolling sounds.
  • Mismatched element. A frost giant called Emberlord sends mixed signals. Keep the byname in step with the kind.
  • Over-titling. Not every giant is a king. Save the grand domains and titles for the ones who rule something.

If your giants share a world with others, their huge names tower over the Norse names of your Vikings and the stout names of your dwarves, who often live in their shadow.

Questions

Giant naming questions

Use a big, Norse-sounding given name like Gromund or Varhild, then, if the giant has earned one, add an elemental byname: an epithet (the Frozen), a domain they rule (of the High Peaks), or a grand title (Frostking, Stormborn). The heavy sound and the element do the work.
Fantasy giants are usually sorted by element. The most common are frost giants (ice and the north), fire giants (flame and the forge-deeps), stone giants (mountains and deep caves) and storm or cloud giants (sky and thunder). This generator builds names for all four.
Closely related. The jotun of Norse myth are the giants that fantasy giants are largely modelled on, which is why these names lean on heavy, Norse-flavoured sounds. The same names suit jotun, titans and other huge folk just as well.

Name your giant

Generate towering elemental giant names with epithets, domains and titles in seconds. Free, instant and no sign-up.

Open the giant name generator