Cult Name Generator

How cult names are built

Cult names say what the group worships or fears, and they are usually calm. A nature cult names its symbol: the Order of the Antlered Stag. A cosmic cult names a thing too large to understand: the Watchers of the Bottomless Eye. A doomsday cult names the date it is waiting for: the Last Dawn Fellowship. Most also take a group word that sounds respectable (Order, Circle, Brotherhood), because a cult that sounds like a cult would never gain a member.

The best names have a double reading. Members hear comfort, and outsiders hear a threat.

Keeping a cult believable

A cult should have a name, a symbol and a small vocabulary that all agree. If the name mentions a stag, the robes, the altar and the greeting should too. Give the group a way outsiders mispronounce or shorten its name, since a scandal always renames a cult in the newspapers. Keep the grammar steady across rival groups: two cults called Order of the something are easy to confuse, and that confusion can be useful in a mystery. Decide whether members know the full name or only the short one, and whether the name was chosen by the founder or given by the people who feared them.

Twenty example cult names

• The Order of the Antlered Stag woodland worshippers who meet at the new moon.
• The Last Dawn Fellowship a doomsday group that counts down every night.
• The Watchers of the Bottomless Eye they believe something sleeps below the lake.
• The Cult of Zhulathoth a cosmic cult that speaks in a borrowed tongue.
• Children of the Mossy Hollow a quiet sect living under the old barrow.
• The Brotherhood of the Ninth Hour monks who wait for a bell that never rings.
• The Hungry Circle of Brakmund a famine cult with a charming leader.
• The Choir of the Silent Sun singers who believe the sun is listening.
• The Cult of Sevarion a young cult with money and fine robes.
• The Sisterhood of the Black Well healers who ask a high price.
• The Faithful of the Closing Door they preach that the world is almost over.
• The Pale Covenant of Ulgaroth masked followers of a forgotten idol.
• The Keepers of the Hollow Star astronomers who left their observatory.
• The Wardens of the Thirteenth Bell a sect guarding a cracked bronze bell.
• The Rooted Fellowship farmers who bury their dead as seed.
• The Whispering Order of Yelanor a secret society inside a noble court.
• Heralds of the Great Silence preachers of an enormous quiet.
• The Congregation of the Veiled Tide a harbour cult that drowns its doubters.
• The Cleansing Fire Vigil penitents who burn their old names.
• The Disciples of the Folded Mirror they never show their faces in daylight.