Naming guide
What makes a great goliath name
In D&D 5e, goliaths are towering mountain folk with giant blood. They were first playable in the Elemental Evil Player's Companion, were updated in Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, and became a core species in the 2024 Player's Handbook, which links each goliath to a giant ancestry: cloud, fire, frost, hill, stone or storm. Their naming tradition grows out of a culture that prizes fair competition and personal achievement.
A traditional goliath has three names:
- A birth name chosen by the parents, one to three syllables long and rarely tied to gender, such as Vathok, Ilaru or Kelai
- A nickname given by the tribe's chief, describing a deed, talent or memorable mistake, such as Ridgewalker or Goatfriend
- A clan name, long and rolling, usually five syllables or more and ending in a vowel, such as Oruvaketha or Tavolimaku
Put together, a full goliath name reads Vathok "Ridgewalker" Oruvaketha. The nickname is the part that changes. Goliaths keep score of their accomplishments, and a chief can replace a nickname when someone earns a better one or disgraces the old one. Among outsiders, many goliaths go by their nickname alone because it says the most about who they are right now.
Birth names and clan names lean on open vowels and clean consonants: k, t, th, l, m, n and v, with a, o, u and i doing most of the work. Double vowels and the occasional hyphen, as in Kavethi-Olamo, give clan names a chant-like rhythm. Nicknames are plain compound words in Common, so anyone who meets the goliath knows what they are famous for.
Goliath name ideas
Because goliath birth names are mostly unisex, the male and female lists below suggest characters rather than strict rules. Any birth name works for any goliath.
Male goliath names
- Vathok "Ridgewalker" Oruvaketha: a guide who knows every mountain pass
- Mekku "Longthrow" Tavolimaku: a hunter with a legendary spear arm
- Kaltu "Icebiter" Ekelanavi: a frost-blooded goliath who laughs at winter
- Oskan "Cairnbuilder" Muhatolani: keeper of the clan's trail markers
- Tharuk "Thunderlistener" Varonakeo: a storm-blooded reader of weather
- Paeno "Goatfriend" Ilothanaru: a herder with a soft spot for animals
Female goliath names
- Ilaru "Firstpeak" Saumelakatu: the first of her age group to reach the summit
- Nemu "Hailcatcher" Thalumikano: quick hands and quicker reflexes
- Tauvi "Forgeheart" Pelanakoru: a fire-blooded smith
- Riva "Steadyrope" Ganuvitheli: the climber everyone wants on their line
- Kelai "Truthteller" Okotalumae: blunt, fair and widely trusted
- Ovanu "Swiftaxe" Hevakalani: a warrior who tends to end fights early
Gender-neutral goliath names
- Aleko "Mistwalker" Kavethi-Olamo: a cloud-blooded scout who seems to step out of the fog
- Thenu "Embercarrier" Rokatha-Venui: keeper of the clan's traveling fire
- Mavu "Rimeskin" Lumakotheva: a frost-blooded elder whose skin glitters with ice in a storm
- Kuvo "Hilltumbler" Anuvirakai: a hill-blooded brawler who knocks foes flat
- Lethu "Unbroken" Teomakaluva: a stone-blooded survivor of an avalanche
- Sanu "Stormcounter" Ketharuvani: counts the seconds between lightning and thunder
Goliath nicknames
- Laughsatcold: a goliath who never admits to feeling winter
- Oneboot: lost a boot in a crevasse and finished the climb anyway
- Packbearer: carried a wounded friend down the mountain
- Twice-Fallen: survived two falls that should have been fatal
- Peakmocker: a climber who makes hard ascents look easy
- Snowtaster: earned through a very public faceplant in a snowdrift
Goliath clan names
- Oruvaketha: a clan of guides and trailbreakers
- Tavolimaku: hunters of the high plateaus
- Kavethi-Olamo: an old clan formed when two families joined
- Saumelakatu: herders of mountain goats and rams
- Muhatolani: keepers of cairns and boundary stones
- Hevakalani: a warrior clan known for fierce contests
How to create your own goliath name
Build a short birth name. Use one to three syllables in a consonant-vowel rhythm, ending on a vowel or a hard k or th: Va-thok, Me-kku, I-la-ru, Ke-lai. Use the same sounds for any gender, since goliath parents rarely distinguish.
Turn a story into a nickname. Ask what this goliath did that the whole tribe still talks about, then compress it into one compound word. Carrying a wounded friend down the mountain becomes Packbearer; losing a boot in a crevasse becomes Oneboot. Embarrassing nicknames are traditional too, and they push a goliath to earn a better one.
Stack syllables for a clan name. Combine five or more open syllables and end on a vowel: Ta-vo-li-ma-ku, O-ru-va-ke-tha. Repeat a sound or join two halves with a hyphen, as in Kavethi-Olamo, for a clan formed from two families.
Echo your giant ancestry. Let the nickname hint at the ancestry from the 2024 rules: mist and fog for cloud giants, ember and forge for fire, rime and ice for frost, boulder and tumble for hill, endurance words such as Unbroken for stone, and thunder or lightning for storm.
Plan the next nickname. Write down the nickname your goliath hopes to earn, such as Firstpeak or Neverbested. It doubles as a character goal and gives the DM a reward to hand out at the right moment.
Tips for using goliath names in your game or story
Introduce all three names once, then use the nickname. A goliath might announce themselves formally as Riva "Steadyrope" Ganuvitheli, but the party will call them Steadyrope. Keep the full name on your sheet for formal scenes.
Let nicknames change in play. Agree with your DM that a major victory or failure can earn a new nickname. Renaming a goliath from Lastdown to Neverbested after a hard-won duel is a satisfying piece of character growth.
Mark the stress on clan names. Long clan names are easy to mangle, so note the stressed syllable, such as o-ru-va-KE-tha, and the table will settle on one pronunciation quickly.
Do not gender the birth name. Adding -a for female goliaths makes them sound like a different culture. Keep birth names unisex and let personality and nickname carry the character.
Give goliaths raised outside the tribe a twist. A goliath raised in a human city might have a human given name, no clan name and a nickname from street friends, such as Tomas "Clodhopper". That missing clan name can become a strong personal quest.