So you’ve decided to roll up a Wizard as your next DnD character – but how do you pick a suitable Wizard name? The names of famous Wizards can be found throughout DnD, immortalised in their signature spells – Tasha, Mordenkainen, and Melf were once all player characters before making their way into the players handbook. You need a name that can create a legend.
If you’re just getting started planning your next DnD character, first make sure you check out our Wizard 5e DnD class guide. We can also recommend some great DnD character creators that make the process of writing up a new character very easy, as well as the best DnD character sheets to keep all your information tidy.
Once you’re ready to bring your creation to life, these are the best sources of Wizard names for Dungeons and Dragons:
Wizard names in mythology
The father of modern fantasy, JRR Tolkien, stole unashamedly from European mythology to get the names for characters in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. You’ll find Gandalf, all the Dwarves who accompany Bilbo Baggins on his adventure, and many Silmarillion characters spread throughout the Norse Poetic Edda.
While Tolkien had an academic career to familiarise himself with excellent mythological names for Wizards, we can cheat: Wikipedia offers helpful lists of character names for many different mythologies and specific epics.
Start with the list of dwarfs in Norse mythology; after that, it’s hard to pick just one recommendation. The Hindu Ramayana, Anglo-Saxon Beowulf, Mesopotamian Gilgamesh, and Roman Aeneid are all worth checking out, and Wikipedia lists many more folk epics besides.
Wizard name generator
You can easily turn your name and facts about your life into a suitable sobriquet for a sorcerer with a little randomisation. This method will work for any character, but, Wizards have the advantage of being a little bit weird, so you can keep some really odd character names.
Roll D4 to determine how many syllables your Wizard’s name should have. Then, for each syllable, roll a D6 on this chart to determine where you’re going to get that syllable from.
Roll | Source |
1 | First syllable of your first name |
2 | Last syllable of you first name |
3 | First syllable of your last name |
4 | Last syllable of your last name |
5 | First syllable of your first pet’s name |
6 | First syllable of the town you were born in |
7 | Last syllable of the town you were born in |
8 | First syllable of your favorite candy |
9 | First syllable of your favorite band |
10 | First syllable of your favorite color |
Wizard titles
Even a simple name can become suitably wizardly once it has an appropriate title. Because Wizards get up to such strange stuff, they can pick up much weirder titles than other characters.
Wizard of Placename – as in, Garnet of Redfort, Titian of Lake Lormand, White-eye of the Bleak Mountains. This is a good way to connect your character to your game’s campaign setting.
Wizard the Adjective – as in Gandalf the Grey, Bertrand the Wise, Istmir the Insane. Wizards often become famous for their deeds, which can be great, terrible, or just plain wacky, so any adjective would work: this random adjective generator should help.
Wizard the Noun – as in Melisandre the Red Woman, Kalan the Enchanter, Starnosh the Flame. While these can be concrete, a more abstract title can be very evocative. If your character is “the Rock of Time’s Wheel”, it’s hard to work out what that means, but there’s no question that it’s cool!
Looking for more shortcuts for your next DnD game? Check out our guide to the best DnD One Shots.
Source: Wargamer