Orcish names are not given. They are taken, and held for exactly as long as they can be defended. A weak orc with a strong name will be relieved of it, publicly, and issued something more accurate. This makes orcish introductions refreshingly honest, and orcish census-taking a contact sport.
The sounds are built to survive weather and war: guttural stops, short vowels, nothing that requires delicacy. Gorash. Thokka. Zugnak. One syllable is a warrior's name; two is a chieftain's; three is either a shaman or a lie.
The epithet is the true biography. Skullsplitter, Chainbreaker, the Quiet, the Last. It is earned once, in front of witnesses, and never self-applied: an orc who names themselves the Unbroken has simply scheduled the demonstration. When the grimoire deals you an epithet, understand that somewhere in your character's past is the day they paid for it.
The elements of the old tongue
Gor- blood
Karg- broken tusk
Zug- swift raid
Mok- fist
Ur- first-born
Drak- beast-tamer
Shag- cunning
Thok- skull
Var- scar
Grim- silent hunter
Lug- burden-bearer
Naz- black iron
Margin notes
Do orcs have family names?
Rarely. Blood matters less than deeds; the epithet replaces the surname. Some hordes use the mother's name as a tie-breaker between two Gorashes, which both Gorashes resent equally.
How do I make an orc name that isn't a cliché?
Keep the sounds hard but give the meaning a wound: Lug means burden-bearer, Naz means black iron, the Last means sole survivor of the clan. The cliché is not the growl, it is the growl with nothing behind it.
Female orc names: how do they differ?
They hit the same, with she-wolf and storm and ember in the old meanings: Thokka, Gorgra, Varsha. The war-kin do not do delicate, and the grimoire respects that.
Last inscribed 2026-08-16
