The Name of the Orc

It's Orctober again! So lets celebrate by investigating some Orcish nomenclature:

Inspired by the random name generator in Erny's Warlord: Battle in the Darklands I wondered what a name generator based on archeogaming and the historical period of Citadel Miniatures and Warhammer gaming I'm interested in (i.e. the glory days of 1st and 2nd edition) might look like.

Rather than dice and tables I've used  the magic of modern random number generation built into Google Sheets to generate the list. And in fact you can do this too, by simply refreshing this page:




Or if the fancy-pants iframe above isn't working visit : Ye Olde Oldhammer Orc Name Generator
So how did this list come about I hear you ask? Well, ignoring any other published texts, scenarios, boardgames (sorry Bilge Gutrot) or other mentions of Orcish characters, I decided to focus solely on the names given to Citadel Miniatures, and scoured  catalogue collection and the Stuff of Legends to produce a definitive list of Old School Citadel Miniatures Orcs Names :

Source	Range	Firstname	Secondname
Jun 1984	RR5 Harboth Black Mountain	Harboth
Jun 1984	RR5 Harboth Black Mountain	Yaskin	Forit
Jun 1984	C15 Orc	Shield Bearer
Jun 1984	C15 Orc	Bladebane
Jun 1984	C15 Orc	Cyclopse
Jun 1984	C15 Orc	Warlord
Jun 1984	C15 Orc	Maulman
Jun 1984	C15 Orc	Dwarfsmiter
Jun 1984	C15 Orc	Axe Killer
Jun 1984	C15 Orc	Maniac
Jun 1984	C15 Orc	Guardsman
Compedium 3	C15 Orc	Gashcog
Compedium 3	C15 Orc	Nazram
Compedium 3	C15 Orc	Bungerbol
Compedium 3	C15 Orc	Grigal
Compedium 3	C15 Orc	Nishrok
Compedium 3	C15 Orc	Gobstob
Compedium 3	C15 Orc	Brugzod
Compedium 3	C15 Orc	Tizog
Compedium 3	C15 Orc	Lutnob
Mighty Ugezod Death Commandos	Mighty Ugezod Death Commandos	Ugezod
Mighty Ugezod Death Commandos	Mighty Ugezod Death Commandos	Guzrod	Dogchild
Mighty Ugezod Death Commandos	Mighty Ugezod Death Commandos	Mormo	Jabberbinder
Mighty Ugezod Death Commandos	Mighty Ugezod Death Commandos	ushtug	the gut
Aug 1986 Flyer	C15 Orc	Kroglod
Aug 1986 Flyer	C15 Orc	Hagblad	the Maimer
Aug 1986 Flyer	C15 Orc	Barg	Brainbasher
Aug 1986 Flyer	C15 Orc	Graglob	Grinning
Aug 1986 Flyer	C15 Orc	Hoglod	Bone-breaker
Aug 1986 Flyer	C15 Orc	Glodbog	Crusher
Aug 1986 Flyer	C15 Orc	Garglod	Bow-Biter
Aug 1986 Flyer	C15 Orc	Egrod	Arrowchuker
Aug 1986 Flyer	C15 Orc	Kaglod	Chopper
Aug 1986 Flyer	C15 Orc	Owd	Glodger
Aug 1986 Flyer	C15 Orc	Holf	Stunty-sticker
Aug 1986 Flyer	c21 Boar Rider	Bodblat	Standardbearer
Aug 1986 Flyer	c21 Boar Rider	Garg	Stuntyspiker
Aug 1986 Flyer	c21 Boar Rider	Grodbol	Slicer
Aug 1986 Flyer	c21 Boar Rider	Tegrod	Skullhat
Aug 1986 Flyer	c21 Boar Rider	Gaglob	Chuckbolt
Aug 1986 Flyer	c21 Boar Rider	Nogzod	Bighat
Aug 1986 Flyer	c21 Boar Rider	Goglob	Bighat
Aug 1986 Flyer	c21 Boar Rider	Gegblod	Slasher
Aug 1986 Flyer	c21 Boar Rider	Bargog	Smasher
Aug 1986 Flyer	c21 Boar Rider	Crazgog	Stuntybelter
Dec 1986	C27 Orc Ballista & Crew	Bolbosh
Dec 1986	C27 Orc Ballista & Crew	Onefang
Dec 1986	C27 Orc Ballista & Crew	Gnashtor
Dec 1986	C27 Orc Ballista & Crew	Slaghead
Dec 1986	C27 Orc Ballista & Crew	Gubspor
Dec 1986	C27 Orc Ballista & Crew	Grimnose
March 1987	c21 Boar Rider	Axe Hacker
March 1987	c21 Boar Rider	Bulgnosh	Bigblade
March 1987	c21 Boar Rider	Dogface
March 1987	c21 Boar Rider	Spearscreamer
March 1987	c21 Boar Rider	Anzak	Archer
Spring 1987	Orc1	Orbid
Spring 1987	Orc1	Darket
Spring 1987	Orc1	Bruk
Spring 1987	Orc1	Ranglit
Spring 1987	Orc1	Angok
Spring 1987	Orc1	Zinge
Spring 1987	Orc1	Spikk
Spring 1987	Orc1	Mannik
Spring 1987	Orc1	Myarg
Spring 1987	Orc1	Slyss
Spring 1987	Orc1	Hurt
Spring 1987	Orc1	Samig
Spring 1987	Orc1	Fletch

So I left out Ugezods mates who aren't Orcs. Goblins, Ogres, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, are all quite different and deserving of their own enquiry, maybe next time lads.

Besides the nice pun - Yeraskin Forit ("You are asking for it" - a beating, that is), there's some obvious trends here - first names are largely two syllables , and last names are largely compound words consisting of two elements that usually refer to either an act of violence, an enemy or a weapon. The fore-name parts are highly reminiscent of Bill & Ben the Flowerpot men in full on swear mode, with lots of 'ob', 'lob', 'gl' which is quite in keeping with Tolkiens naming of Orcs which gravitates around the same sounds. The more observant of you will have noticed that the Spring 87 names have a very different set of syllables, much more focussed on the shaper 'k' and 't' sounds than the 'g', not sure why, but it's possible the person who was responsible for making up silly names for miniatures was changed.

It's interesting that Man and Dwarf (and the nickname for Dwarves 'Stunty') appears whereas Elf does not. There might be some significance in that - perhaps Elves are perhaps not seen as a 'worthy' foe, or perhaps the sector of Orcdom in question doesn't come into contact with Elves, Slann, Lizardmen or Hobbits. Uzlud Frogspiker would be fine name for a Lustrian orc. Again, there is a Tolkienism in that Shagrat could be a similar formulation,  although I think the professor might shake his head at the suggestion that it's a compound word indicating bestiality with vermin.

Anyway, I built a table of the component parts of the published names:

Forename A	Forename B	Surname A	Surname B
ang	ak	arrow	bane
anz	arg	axe	basher
ba	bid	big	belter
bar	blad	big	binder
bod	blat	big	biter
bol	blod	blade	blade
bru	bog	bone	bolt
brug	bol	bow	breaker
bulg	bol	brain	child
bunger	bosh	chopper	chucker
craz	both	chuck	er
dark	cog	dog	hat
dog	et	dwarf	killer
eg	face	glodg	lord
ga	gal	gut	man
gag	ge	jabber	smiter
garg	gog	maul	spiker
gash	gog	skull	sticker
geg	head	slash
glod	ig	slicer
uge	zod	smash
guz	rod	stunty
mor	mo	war
ush	tug
gnash	kin
gob	lit
gog	lob
grag	lob
gri	lob
grim	lod
grod	lod
gub	lod
hag	lod
har	nik
hog	nob
kag	nose
krog	nosh
lut	ok
man	ram
my	rg
naz	rg
nish	rod
nog	rod
or	rok
owd	spor
rang	stob
sam	tor
slag	zod
sly	zod
spi	zog
teg
ti
yas
zin

You'll have noticed I haven't normalised the data. Indeed, items that have more frequency in the original name set have more frequency in the component data table, so some elements have a higher chance of appearing.  Its not a perfect weighting (which would have to take into account the size of the dataset), but it will do, won't it.

Anyway here's a bunch of Orcy ne'er-do-wells generated from this list:

Ushlod Glodgspiker
Gnashrg Chopperkiller
Gegspor Gutspiker
Ushrok Arrowman
Nazrok the Smiter
Morzod Dogkiller
Goglob Slicerblade
Tiet the Axe
Gabog Maul
Ushlod Bigbasher
Glodrg Chucklord

I've had to add in "the" to a couple of names to make them read better, but otherwise it's a pretty good emulation of a mid-80s Citadel Miniatures catalogue Orc nomenclature.

What I love most about random generation is how they feed the creative response, much like random character generation in Dungeons & Dragons (3d6 in order or nothing). One can just imagine the mace-weilding leering stance of of Doggog Dwarfbasher, or the stooped, grinning gait of Banik Glodgehat  underneath his patched-up leather helm, or the arrogant gesticulating of the Necromantic Orc Wizard who is Glodok Skullbinder.. They practically design themselves.

Occasionally the generator does produce something weird - Angbid Stuntylord for example. It's possible just to ignore it as being out of flavour, or perhaps it's an opportunity for backstory, maybe he's a slave-master with a retinue of Dwarven captives, or carries severed dwarf-heads on his standard or belt.

If you're interested in the nomenclature of the orc in gaming literature (and let's be honest, who isn't?) have a look at Zenopus excellent article on Gygaxian Orc Tribes names. Hmm...perhaps a ramble through the rulebooks of Oldhammer picking out tribal names... Oh yeah, and if the Ye Olde Oldhammer Orc Name Generator vomits up any particularly interesting, funny or inspiring names for you, I'd love to hear them.