Name for a Pirate

[RaggedAngel]

I need help with names for a few swashbuckling NPC's. I'm terrible at names, so I'm requesting your help. They should be fairly serious (no puns, please), and should be realistic for a campaign that's sort of set in the 1600-1700's.

The setting is essentially "Carribean pirates if magic existed and guns didn't."

I need a name for a captain, a cook, a gunner (blasty sorcerer), and a first mate. They're all human or half-elven.

My thanks in advance.

[Cog]

http://donjon.bin.sh/name/#elvish_male and http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/ may be of use to you.

[MarkusWolfe]

Captain [INSERT COLOR HERE]beard.

Wait. I take that back.

Captain [INSERT ADJECTIVE HERE]beard.

No, wait, I take that back again. I forgot elves and half elves can't grow beards.

[RaggedAngel]

No, wait, I take that back again. I forgot elves and half elves can't grow beards.

Thus is half my problem. The captain's a half-elf.

[Cog]

The Dread Captain Nullbeard.

[McSmack]

When I think of pirates I don't see people with stong family ties or a very standard home life. So family names don't seem to fit as well. It follows that they might give themselves names e.g. Blackbeard, Bluebeard, etc. So it's not far out there to think that at least some part of their name would relate to a distinguishing feature or prehaps their profession.

Captain Darius Windrunner- an half-elf quick of mind and body.
John Cooke, Butcher, or Fish - the ships cook probably doesn't have a fancy name, because if he were really charasmatic or intelligent he'd probably be doing something more important than cooking.
Janissary- 'cannoneer' female human blaster. her friends call her Jan or Sari. (Janissaries were turkish fighters that were some of the earliest to upgrade to firearms as standard equipment IIRC)
'Crackshot' McGillicutty or Muldoone- blaster type
Montgomery - First mate- human

[Moriato]

No, wait, I take that back again. I forgot elves and half elves can't grow beards.

Actually I think half-elves can. I seem to remember seeing book art of half-elves with beards. I imagine it would be kind of thin or scraggly though. Captain Halfbeard? Wait, CAPTAIN SOULPATCH! No wait.. that sounds like a really lame superhero.

[PollyOliver]

Are any of them missing bits? "One-ear" and "Ninefingers" always make fun epithets. For the sorcerer, maybe "Shipburner"? As in Josyas Shipburner and Captain James Ninefingers. I can't think of anything for the first mate, and every cook-related name I can think of is a silly pun.

Edited to give real-world first names

[The Glyphstone]

Just call the cook 'Cookie'. Simple and descriptive. And if you later want puns, have him wander around the ship singing "The sea is for Cookie, it's good enough for me..."

[person29]

Captain [INSERT COLOR HERE]beard.

Wait. I take that back.

Captain [INSERT ADJECTIVE HERE]beard.

No, wait, I take that back again. I forgot elves and half elves can't grow beards.

I think the half-elf in the PHB has facial hair

[Eldan]

Set in our world? I'm a fan of Spanish and French names for pirates, really.

[ScionoftheVoid]

The captain should be called Fullbeard, which buys him a round of confusion if he needs it when they find out he's clean-shaven.

[Kaeso]

Captain [INSERT COLOR HERE]beard.

Wait. I take that back.

Captain [INSERT ADJECTIVE HERE]beard.

No, wait, I take that back again. I forgot elves and half elves can't grow beards.

Captain Fistbeard Beardfist?

[Pokonic]

Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkusWolfe
Captain [INSERT COLOR HERE]beard.

Wait. I take that back.

Captain [INSERT ADJECTIVE HERE]beard.

No, wait, I take that back again. I forgot elves and half elves can't grow beards.

Captain Fistbeard Beardfist?
Arrg, you beat me to it!:smallbiggrin:

[Duncan_Ruadrik]

uh... Dread Pirate Roberts. Come on, you had to see that one coming.

[bloodtide]

One of the famous pirates from my Campaign:

All-Hands OnDeck-A flamboyant halfling pirate.


Also nautical/ship terms are popular with pirates. Things like 'big sail' or 'hard hull' or the classic keel as in keelhaul.

Also sea terms, like shark bait, squid eye, hard wave, or briney deep.

And all fun fun goofy ones:

Exxon Landho--who once ran his ship around...
Titantic Icebottom--who once hit an iceberg...
Argo GoldenFleece--an expolorer and avdenturer
Bismark Ironbottom--A big, mean troll
Friday Luckystar--who has bad and good luck
Edmund Fitzgerald-I live on the Great Lakes

[Morph Bark]

One of the famous pirates from my Campaign:

All-Hands OnDeck-A flamboyant halfling pirate.

Makes me think a good name would be Hansen van der Decken. :smalltongue:

[Hiro Protagonest]

One of the famous pirates from my Campaign:

All-Hands OnDeck-A flamboyant halfling pirate.

And all fun fun goofy ones:

Exxon Landho--who once ran his ship around...
Titantic Icebottom--who once hit an iceberg...
Argo GoldenFleece--an expolorer and avdenturer
Bismark Ironbottom--A big, mean troll
Friday Luckystar--who has bad and good luck
Edmund Fitzgerald-I live on the Great Lakes

Can I post these on this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187326)? Or do you want to post them?

[BRC]

I need help with names for a few swashbuckling NPC's. I'm terrible at names, so I'm requesting your help. They should be fairly serious (no puns, please), and should be realistic for a campaign that's sort of set in the 1600-1700's.

The setting is essentially "Carribean pirates if magic existed and guns didn't."

I need a name for a captain, a cook, a gunner (blasty sorcerer), and a first mate. They're all human or half-elven.

My thanks in advance.

The Captain: Captain Rodger "Iron Eye" Gullsen.

The Cook: Cookie or Chef.
The Gunner: Handsome Jack.
The First Mate: Gregor The Blade.

[Crossblade]

http://www.piratenames.net/
or
Anyone from here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOa_YMOzEGQ)

Or to make your own, the typical way to do it is:
Take a normal name. (first or last)
Take an object related to pirates.
Optional: Take an adjective to add to the object or just use an adjective instead.

Examples:
Cannonball Bill or Short Cannon Bill
Silver Gun Stevens
Peg Leg Pete
Hungry Parrot Elye
Black Anchor Tom
Hairless Arthur
Two Patch Angus (ok, I sort of stole that from Yogscast)
The Cruel Pirate Lewis


You get the idea.

[Malimar]

I simply cannot have a pirate crew without naming the bo'sun Higgs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson). It's just not possible.

My last campaign actually primarily used a pirate ship for base camp, but the NPC crew mostly used the racial guidelines for their names rather than piratey names. Which is to say, they just kept whatever names they had before they became pirates. A bit prosaic, but you might consider switching a couple of the names up like that, unless you want this to be the piratiest bunch of pirates ever to pirate a pirated thing.

[zephyrkinetic]

I must input the idea of a cook named Gibs. Pronounced "Jibbs," like in giblets. I don't think it's unrealistic for the cook's name to be a food pun.
"Cooky" always works, too.

[nixxieraindrop]

What about... Captain Derryk Cutlass? Derryk meaning "the people's ruler" and cutlass meaning... Well, awesome pointy thing. Therefore, ruling by the sword.

[Jack Zander]

I was gonna point to my avatar and suggest you use the name Roberts, but looks like someone beat me to it.

[NamelessNPC]

The Captain: Captain Rodger "Iron Eye" Gullsen.

The Cook: Cookie or Chef.
The Gunner: Handsome Jack.
The First Mate: Gregor The Blade.

For some reason, these names sound really awesome

[Dsurion]

For some reason, these names sound really awesomeI don't know if you've noticed, but pretty much everything BRC posts is full of awesome.

[chainer1216]

"Magnus Warfield" is the best pirate name i've ever heard.

[Morph Bark]

What about... Captain Derryk Cutlass? Derryk meaning "the people's ruler" and cutlass meaning... Well, awesome pointy thing. Therefore, ruling by the sword.

Consider the name Dirk means the same thing as well as something quite similar to cutlass, Dirk Cutlass would be quite something. :smallamused:

Or if he is known as a criminal and mostly murdering helpless people, Cut-a-lass.

[BRC]

I don't know if you've noticed, but pretty much everything BRC posts is full of awesome.

Can I sig that?

[Dsurion]

Can I sig that?Please do :smallsmile:

And rather than just continue to blather on not on topic...

A lot of sailors were common people with common names based on their family trade. It's entirely realistic to name people Smith, Cook, Cooper, etc., and translate into a different language if you want. Personally, I've found that pirates are more interesting when they have fairly common names rather than exotic ones.

[Feldarove]

Sort of a different flavor, but check out a few of the Somali Pirates names.

I often think of pirate ships as a collection of the outcast of many different nations. So not everyone would have a british or Cut-throat Jack type of name.

Perhaps the first-mate is a massive, dark skinned half-orc named : Abdiwali

He is from far away island and speaks a language that know one knows, and also very broken common; which is comprised of mostly vulgar commands.

Going with the out-cast idea, you could have the captain be a naval officer gone rogue. So he could have a really proper sounding name like:

Captain Reginal Huntington
or
Captain Deudermont (a la RA salvatore)

Just some thoughts,

[Cirrhosis]

First mate Broseph? Captain Mantonio? Gunner Dudewardo?

[person29]

When I had pirates play a major part of a campaign the crew I can remember of the top of my head consisted of:

Cpt - Dread Pirate Roberts (human rogue/dread pirate)
1st Mate - Xane (half-orc sorc/dragon disciple...was secretly evil, party thought he was a fighter or ranger until late in the campaign when he gained wings and started slinging spells)
Crows nest - Delmer (elf-ranger with no legs...but kickass archery :) ) his animal companion was a hawk named crow
There was a cleric can't remember his name, the chef named cook, stowaway kid named bartender jr, a crazy swashbuckler/gambler type named chris and a few others im not remembering as it was a few years ago

goodluck with your game!

[nixxieraindrop]

Consider the name Dirk means the same thing as well as something quite similar to cutlass, Dirk Cutlass would be quite something. :smallamused:

Or if he is known as a criminal and mostly murdering helpless people, Cut-a-lass.

Well upstaged. :smallsmile:

Dirk Cutlass definitely needs a cleft chin. And a horse.

[zephyrkinetic]

Well upstaged. :smallsmile:

Dirk Cutlass definitely needs a cleft chin. And a horse.

Look at your ship; now look at mine. Look back at yours, now back to mine.

Look in my hand. It's a ship's roster. Look again; the crew has now mutinied!.

Your ship is mine.

I'm on a horse.

[dgnslyr]

Maybe you should name the cook Tavish DeGroot?
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSFbEBopHTH66B1lse4UxNf46CKaFKWA Fi5r3Rt8EYzLuPJZLfXGg&t=1
Demopan, anybody?
My creativity gland isn't feeling active today...
When in doubt, Captain NounVerb or AdjectiveNoun both work well. This applies to anybody, really.

[The Glyphstone]

Look at your ship; now look at mine. Look back at yours, now back to mine.

Look in my hand. It's a ship's roster. Look again; the crew has now mutinied!.

Your ship is mine.

I'm on a horse.

Now look at my horse, my horse is amazing...

[Greenish]

Call me Ishmael. :smallamused:

Pirate Jenny (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFP3x4bKpZE)
Mack the Knife (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgYgl4OodeY)
Stack'o'Lee (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8S-Pu6T0Q0)

[MarkusWolfe]

Call me Ishmael. :smallamused:

Excuse me, I believe the original poster has requested PIRATE names, not names for NPCs who took all 5 levels of Leviathan Hunter from Stormwrack.

And besides, even if she had, I believe that Ahab is a much better name, at least for the Captain. Maybe Starbuck if they're an elf or a half elf. Queequeg for the orc or half orc or even human who took levels in barbarian before going into Leviathan Hunter.

[Greenish]

Excuse me, I believe the original poster has requested PIRATE names, not names for NPCs who took all 5 levels of Leviathan Hunter from Stormwrack.Ah, but he became a pirate afterwards.
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090927124048/lxg/images/f/f6/Ishmael.png

[Edit]: Besides, it's not like MacHeath or Stagger Lee were pirates either, but the names fit.

[MarkusWolfe]

Ah, but he became a pirate afterwards.
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090927124048/lxg/images/f/f6/Ishmael.png

Ishmael was one of Nemo's crew in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Alan Moore, you sly dog....

[Greenish]

Ishmael was one of Nemo's crew in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Alan Moore, you sly dog....He is the first mate of Nautilus. When the others first meet him, he introduces himself with, well, you'll probably guess.