Fairy Name Generator

How fairy names are usually built

Fairy names work like a child's first name plus a house name. The first name is short and soft, often one syllable: Pip, Nim, Wren. The second half is made from something in the fairy's own corner of the world, a plant or a creature joined to a small ending, as in Foxgloveknot or Mossdown. A third piece, an epithet or a place, says what the fairy is known for in the neighbourhood.

Habitat does a lot of work. Garden fairies borrow from flowers and herbs, woodland fairies from bark, moss and mushrooms, pond fairies from reeds and ripples. A reader hears the setting before you describe it.

Keeping the small folk consistent

Decide what the small folk do with names. Some fairies take a new surname each season, from whatever blooms outside the door, and others keep one for life. Decide whether humans can hear them properly, because a name that is almost a word is easy to misremember. Give each family or colony a habit, such as a shared ending like -wick or -down, so lineage shows in the sound. Keep fairies of one colony distinct by first letter, since many of them are small and many of the names are short. A list of each fairy, their habitat and the place they claim will stop a garden from filling with five identical Pips.

Twenty example fairy names

• Pip Marigoldwhisper keeps the bees' accounts in a flower pot.
• Wren Mossdown the Dappled a woodland fairy who naps in old boots.
• Tansy Reedbell of the Mill Pond ferries beetles across the water.
• Nim Foxglovetoes a small gossip of the herb bed.
• Posy Acorndrift collects lost buttons for a nest.
• Fennel Lavenderwick the Tidy sweeps the paths each morning.
• Briar Hazelspindle a grumpy fairy with a thorn for a spear.
• Clover of the Old Wall a young sprite with a lot of questions.
• Tilly Duckweedhop a pond fairy who cannot swim.
• Sage Pansyglimmer the Sly trades flower seeds for secrets.
• Dilly Brackenfluff sleeps through every storm.
• Mallow Cattailsong of Marsh Edge the choir leader of the frogs.
• Twig Toadstoolbutton a gardener of tiny mushrooms.
• Poppy Thymebuzz the Cheerful visits every window at dusk.
• Hob Alderdapple repairs boats the size of acorn caps.
• Linnet Rowanpetal of the Hazel Copse a singer with a very small voice.
• Kit Pebblenibble always hungry, never full.
• Yarrow Bluebelltuft a healer who knows every bruise.
• Zinnia of the Greenhouse a fairy who prefers glass to sky.
• Orrin Mistletoeberry the Shy lives high in the crab apple.