Naming guide
What makes a great giant name
Giant names should feel heavy in the mouth. Deep o and u vowels, rolling r sounds and weighty endings such as -rak, -mund, -gar, -thar or -hild suggest something enormous and very old. A short, blunt name makes a giant sound brutish, while a long, stately one makes it sound like royalty that ruled before humans learned to write.
In D&D 5e, giant society revolves around the ordning, a hierarchy said to have been laid down by the giant father-god Annam. It ranks storm giants at the top, then cloud, fire, frost and stone giants, with hill giants at the bottom. Storm King's Thunder (2016) and Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants (2023) both build on this structure, and each giant type has its own naming flavor. Matching the name to the type does more work than any other choice.
- Hill giants: crude, short names with blunt sounds, such as Mogg, Grubb or Bolgra. Epithets are about food, size and smashing things.
- Stone giants: quiet, artistic names that sound carved, such as Kethrak or Orvessa. Epithets refer to caves, ore veins and stonecraft.
- Frost giants: Norse-flavored names with harsh clusters, such as Hrimgar or Skaldra. Epithets involve ice, axes and raiding.
- Fire giants: martial, forge-proud names, such as Brazhur or Kaldra. Epithets come from smithing, smoke and iron.
- Cloud giants: aristocratic, melodic names, such as Aelvaris or Vaelora. Epithets are noble titles and displays of wealth.
- Storm giants: regal, oceanic names, such as Thalassor or Merivane. Epithets refer to tides, thunder and prophecy.
Real mythology offers a second toolkit. Norse myth calls one group of giants the hrimthursar, the rime-giants, from the Old Norse word hrim, meaning rime or frost. Building on roots like that gives frost giant names an authentic edge without borrowing a famous giant's name.
Giant name ideas
Hill giant names
- Grubb Fatfist: eats first and never asks
- Mogg: big, dim and proud of both
- Bolgra the Wide: a matriarch who rules by sheer bulk
- Thudd: named for the sound he makes when landing
- Gorma Sheepswallow: raids farms for snacks
- Dunk Cowcrusher: a herd-wrecker with a grudge
Stone giant names
- Kethrak Deepvein: a carver who reads stories in rock
- Orvessa: a patient dreamer from the deepest caves
- Durnholt Granitebrow: stern and very slow to anger
- Selmara Echodeep: listens to the voice of the mountain
- Thane Korvald: keeper of a great cavern hall
- Gravenna Dreamcarver: sculpts what she sees in her sleep
Frost giant names
- Hrimgar Icebeard: a raider whose beard never thaws
- Skaldra Rimecloak: wears a mantle of frozen furs
- Jarl Hrimvald: a war leader with a hall full of trophies
- Ulfhild Snowmane: a huntress with a pack of winter wolves
- Kolgrim the Reaver: feared along every northern coast
- Bjarnhild Glacierborn: as hard and slow as the ice
Fire giant names
- Brazhur Ironforge: a master smith who judges others by their craft
- Kaldra Ashmantle: a general in soot-black mail
- Duke Varkhal: a tyrant of the volcanic forges
- Vessa Cinderhand: her touch leaves scorch marks
- Tharkul Emberjaw: breathes heat when he speaks
- Skorval Anvilheart: values a good blade over gold
Cloud and storm giant names
- Aelvaris Skyhold: a cloud giant noble in a floating castle
- Countess Sylvaine of the High Keep: wealthy and scheming
- Ostravel Windcrown: a gambler who bets on mortal lives
- Thalassor Tidecaller: a storm giant oracle
- Merivane Deepstorm: rules from an undersea palace
- Queen Ondressa: calm as deep water, terrible in anger
How to create your own giant name
Add weight to an ordinary name. Take a short name and extend it with a deep vowel and a heavy ending: Gar becomes Garmuth, Hild becomes Hildrun, Bran becomes Branthor. One extra syllable instantly makes a name feel bigger.
Use roots for each type. Build from a small bank of sounds: Hrim-, Skal- and -vald for frost giants; Braz-, Ash- and -kul for fire giants; Dur-, Kor- and -holt for stone giants; Ael-, Vael- and -is for cloud giants; Thal-, Mer- and -or for storm giants; Grub-, Mog- and a plain -a for hill giants.
Earn the epithet. Give the giant an epithet tied to what its kind brags about: a hill giant's appetite (Sheepswallow), a frost giant's raids (the Reaver), a fire giant's forge work (Anvilheart), a stone giant's carving (Dreamcarver), a cloud giant's wealth (the Gilded) or a storm giant's prophecies (Tidecaller).
Use a title for rank. In Storm King's Thunder, giant leaders carry titles that fit their type: hill giant chiefs, stone giant thanes, frost giant jarls, fire giant dukes, cloud giant counts and countesses, and storm giant kings and queens. Put the title first, as in Jarl Hrimvald or Duke Varkhal, and players can place the giant in the ordning straight away.
Tips for using giant names in your game or story
Make the type obvious. Players often hear a giant's name before they meet the giant, in a rumor or a ransom note. A name like Bulga Barrelgut or Countess Vireth tells them what to prepare for, which makes the reveal feel fair.
Give hill giants names that are easy to shout. They are often comic brutes, and a name like Mogg or Thudd lands well when the giant bellows it about himself in the third person.
Keep a steading or clan consistent. A frost giant steading might share -grim and -hild endings, while a fire giant forge-city might favor harsh k and z sounds. This lets you name dozens of minor giants quickly and helps players tell rival factions apart.
Slow down for big names. Deliver giant names in a low, slow voice with stress on the first syllable: HRIM-gar, AEL-va-ris, THAL-a-ssor. Avoid names so long you cannot say them in one breath, because players will shorten them anyway.
Remember the giant kin. In D&D, goliaths and firbolgs are both related to giants. A goliath character can borrow a giant root at a smaller scale, such as a frost-touched goliath named Hjalmor, which ties the character to the giants your campaign features. Female giant names work the same way as male ones; endings like -a, -hild, -ra and -ane add a feminine sound without losing any weight.