Vampire Name Generator

How vampire names are usually built

Vampire names tend to split into two families. Aristocrats carry a given name from an old court and a family name with a particle, as in Lucien de Valcourt, which suggests land that was lost or never really theirs. Ancient vampires drop the surname and keep a single name from an older language, shaped with dark vowels and a final sibilant, such as Nythissa or Vorian.

Titles add age. Countess and Baron suggest a house that has outlived its country, and a bare name suggests someone who has outlived the habit of titles.

Keeping a bloodline consistent

Decide what a vampire does with their name over the centuries. Some keep it for pride, some change it every generation and some take the name of whoever turned them. Give a coven a shared habit, such as a family name, a colour or a river, so readers can see lineage in the names. Let the old ones forget the details of their living names, and let the young ones cling to them. Keep a list of each vampire's birth name, current name and any alias, and let one slip of the tongue reveal who a character used to be.

Twenty example vampire names

• Lucien de Valcourt a courtier who never left the last dance.
• Seraphine de Noirmont a hostess whose guests are never seen again.
• Nythissa an ancient name with no surname left.
• Count Alaric Sangvaine a lord who rules a mountain pass.
• Vorian a single-name elder who remembers the empire.
• Baroness Cordelia Ashcrest owns a quiet estate and a long list of debts.
• Cassian de Morford a duellist who is too polite to lose.
• Thaeene an elder whose voice fills a room.
• Lord Desmond Belcourt a patron of the arts and the dark.
• Mirabelle de Laurois a singer in a theatre that burned down.
• Kazar a restless wanderer with a short fuse.
• Evangeline Ravanmont a physician who offers cures for a price.
• Mortimer de Dartennes a patient bookkeeper of souls.
• Severis a general from a vanished kingdom.
• Countess Genevieve Lorford a hostess of a very exclusive supper.
• Xerys an elder who is only seen at funerals.
• Leopold de Bellois a scholar of long evenings.
• Ursene an ancient with a sudden sense of humour.
• Delphine Noircourt a collector of ledgers and secrets.
• Lorcan Ashvaine a gentleman thief of the ballroom.