Half-Elf Name Generator

A name from two worlds

A half-elf's name usually tells you who raised them. A child brought up among elves gets a long, flowing elven name; one raised in a human town gets a human one. Either way, the other parent often survives in the family name. This generator follows that idea, and every name in a mixed list carries a short note:

• Elven + human: an elven given name with a human family name, for half-elves raised among elves.
• Human + elven: a human given name with an elven family name, for half-elves raised among humans.
• Blended: a given name that is itself half and half, with a family name from either side.

This page's list opens with Breorn Elmcombe (Elven + human).

How the blend works

The blended names come from a grammar we built out of our own elf and human grammars. Half of it takes a human beginning and an elven ending: Hal- with -iel, Bran- with -wyn, Mar- with -ion. The other half takes an elven beginning and a human ending: Syl- with -mund, Cael- with -wen, Ela- with -ric. The seams follow the rules of both sides: no doubled vowels at a join, th and ae at most once, never more than two vowels together. The result sounds like a name a half-elf might be given by parents who each wanted to see themselves in it.

Elven names on this page use the high and wood styles of our elf grammar, and human names use all three human regions. The table below shows the parts and some examples of each kind.

Family names

Family names come from the other parent. A half-elf with an elven given name takes a human family name (Hartwell, of Ravenford, of House Morence), and one with a human given name takes an elven one (Starbloom, of the Silver Grove, of House Taelyrin). Blended names can go either way. Choose Family name only to see both kinds side by side.