DnD orc names
An orc name from this generator is assembled, not picked off a list: onsets, four vowels, one of ten endings, then a surname from a 64-name pool. The assembly leaves a fingerprint. Over 10,000 draws at seed 20261031, every given name began with one of 8 letters and ended with one of 4, so the whole batch fits in 32 shapes — and 39.0% of it began with a G or a K while 37.5% ended in h.
- Kisog Bloodhand
- Matholush Boneaxe
- Nomimosh Scaraxe
- Grulur Ironaxe
- Rathirug Scartusk
- Masar Grimjaw
- Zithumokh Stonecut
- Muzisosh Stoneaxe
- Kanag Stonetusk
- Ruthorak Tuskaxe
- Runuk Scarhand
- Zothasush Ironfist
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| First letter of the given name | 8 possible: G K M N R S T Z |
| Last letter of the given name | 4 possible: g h k r |
| First letter x last letter | 32 cells, all 32 used |
| Letters used in the given name | 14 of 26 |
| Busiest letter | r — 8,862 of 74,470 characters |
| Names starting with G or K | 3,904 (39.0%) |
| Names ending in h | 3,750 (37.5%) |
| Mean given-name length | 7.45 letters, shortest 5, longest 10 |
| Surnames | 64 (8 heads x 8 tails), each used 156 or 157 times |
Eight ways in, four ways out
Onsets decide the first letter. Ten are on the table — g, k, m, n, r, sh, th, z, gr, kr — and two of those start with g and two with k, so G and K each carry about a fifth of the batch while the other six letters carry a tenth apiece:
| Letter | Names | Share |
|---|---|---|
| G | 1,967 | 19.7% |
| K | 1,937 | 19.4% |
| R | 1,035 | 10.3% |
| T | 1,031 | 10.3% |
| Z | 1,024 | 10.2% |
| M | 1,021 | 10.2% |
| S | 1,011 | 10.1% |
| N | 974 | 9.7% |
The other end is narrower. All ten endings close on a consonant, and only four consonants appear: h, g, r and k. The four are not close to each other — h alone is 37.5% of the batch.
| Ending letter | Names | Share |
|---|---|---|
| -h | 3,750 | 37.5% |
| -g | 2,679 | 26.8% |
| -r | 1,786 | 17.9% |
| -k | 1,785 | 17.8% |
Read the grid as a map of what a table will hear. A cell like Gh — 798 names — is the sound of a generic orc: hard g at the front, -h at the back. The lightest corners, Nr (165) and Zk (168), are where a name stops sounding like every other orc in the warband.
Why h carries more than a third of the batch
Only three of the ten endings are three letters long: -ush, -osh, -okh. All three end in h. The Noble and Archaic styles accept only endings of three letters or more, so on this race those three are the entire list for two of the five styles that cycle through a batch. A 10,000-name batch caps each ending at ceil(10,000 / 10 x 1.25) = 1,250 names, and all three finished exactly on that cap: 3 x 1,250 = 3,750, the count of names ending in h. The other seven endings split the 6,250 that is left — six at 893 and -uk at 892.
| Ending | Letters | Names | vs cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| -ush | 3 | 1,250 | on cap |
| -osh | 3 | 1,250 | on cap |
| -okh | 3 | 1,250 | on cap |
| -og | 2 | 893 | -357 |
| -ur | 2 | 893 | -357 |
| -ug | 2 | 893 | -357 |
| -ar | 2 | 893 | -357 |
| -ag | 2 | 893 | -357 |
| -ak | 2 | 893 | -357 |
| -uk | 2 | 892 | -358 |
Fourteen letters, twelve that never appear
The onsets, the vowels (a o u i), the five coda letters (l n r s m) and the endings overlap into fourteen letters. Counted over every character of every given name in the run — 74,470 in total — this is the whole alphabet an orc name has:
- r8,862
- u8,172
- o7,677
- h7,193
- a6,944
- k6,341
- s6,217
- g6,058
- i4,183
- m3,685
- n3,654
- l1,997
- t1,754
- z1,733
letters used in the given name, with character counts
And the letters that are not in it:
- b
- c
- d
- e
- f
- j
- p
- q
- v
- w
- x
- y
12 letters that never appear in a given name — including e, the most common letter in English
Two of those absences are structural. There is no e because the vowel pool is a, o, u and i only; there is no b, d or p because no onset starts with them. The consequence at the table: an orc whose name carries a soft e has to get it from the surname — Bonegnaw, Stonecut, Scaraxe and the rest of the 64 — because the given name will never supply one.
Female names take an a or an e
The builder has one gender rule and it only touches the final letter: with the gender set to Female it appends a or e with probability 0.45 (code constant), and only if the name already ends on a consonant. Every orc given name does, so the rule fires on 44.8% of female draws. Male has a mirror rule — append n, r or th when a name ends in a vowel — and it changed 0 of 10,000 orc names, because no orc given name ends in a vowel.
| Measure | Neutral | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|---|
| Names ending in -a | 0 | 2,209 | 0 |
| Names ending in -e | 0 | 2,269 | 0 |
| Names ending on a consonant | 10,000 | 5,522 | 10,000 |
| Distinct given names | 7,671 | 8,848 | 7,677 |
| Mean given-name length | 7.45 letters | 7.91 letters | 7.46 letters |
Six female draws from the same seed: Kothamoshe Ironcut, Shusuka Bloodgnaw, Gumasage Bloodfist, Nurisuge Scargnaw, Gonare Grimaxe, Goshilushe Grimcut. The same run under Male gave Kothamosh Marrowfist and Kisog Grimtusk — one letter shorter at the tail, which is the whole difference between a female orc name and a male one here.
Surnames and repeats
The surname is a compound of 8 heads by 8 tails: Scar, Iron, Stone, Grim, Blood, Marrow, Tusk and Bone, closing on jaw, hand, fist, tusk, axe, cut, maw or gnaw. That is 64 surnames for the whole race, so they spread thin and even — an even split of 10,000 draws gives 156.25 each, and the run came back with every one of them used 156 or 157 times.
Full names repeat 41 times in 10,000 draws (0.41%, 9,959 distinct), and given names repeat far more (7,671 distinct) because the surname pool is what separates them. Inside one 200-name batch the caps keep both halves spread: no surname more than ceil(200 / 64 x 1.25) = 4 times, no ending more than ceil(200 / 10 x 1.25) = 25 times.
How this was measured
Pools (code constants). 10 onsets, 4 vowels, 10 endings, 5 coda letters, 64 surnames (8 x 8). Orc is not one of the long-name cultures, so a given name is one or two opening syllables, never three.
Sample. 10,000 draws at seed 20261031, gender Neutral, five styles cycled, one tracker — the same call the generator makes. The gender table repeats the run at Female and at Male.
Counting. First and last letter are read off the given name only, before the surname. A frame cell is those two letters. The letter counts add every character of every given name: 74,470 characters. A coda letter is the character placed after the stem and before the ending.
Reproduce it
var s=document.createElement('script'); s.src='/assets/orc-stats.js'; document.body.appendChild(s);Run that line on the homepage, not on this page: the generator script only loads there. It prints the first-letter and last-letter tables, all 32 frame cells, the letter counts and the Female/Male tail counts for seed 20261031.
Questions
Why do so many orc names end in -h?
Three of the ten endings are three letters long — -ush, -osh and -okh — and all three end in h. The Noble and Archaic styles only accept endings of three letters or more, so for two of the five styles that cycle through a batch, those three are the whole list. Each of the three finished the 10,000 draws exactly on its 1,250 cap, and 3 x 1,250 = 3,750, which is the number of names ending in h.
Which letters do orc names use?
Fourteen of the twenty-six. The onsets (g k m n r sh th z gr kr), the four vowels (a o u i), the five coda letters (l n r s m) and the ten endings overlap into a, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, r, s, t, u and z. b, c, d, e, f, j, p, q, v, w, x and y never appear in a given name. r is the busiest letter, with 8,862 of the 74,470 characters counted.
Do female orc names look different?
At the last letter, 44.8% of the time. The builder has one gender rule: with gender set to Female it appends a or e, and only when the name already ends on a consonant. Every orc given name does, so 4,478 of 10,000 female draws ended in a vowel — 2,209 in -a, 2,269 in -e — against 0 of 10,000 neutral draws and 0 of 10,000 male draws. Kothamosh becomes Kothamoshe. Mean length goes from 7.45 to 7.91 letters.
How many orc names come back before one repeats?
10,000 draws returned 9,959 distinct full names — 41 repeats, 0.41% — and 7,671 distinct given names. The 64 surnames (8 heads x 8 tails) were used 156 or 157 times each, against 156.25 for an even split. Inside a 200-name batch no surname may appear more than ceil(200 / 64 x 1.25) = 4 times.
Generate orc names · Elf names, four subraces measured · Human names, 64 clans counted · All 36 races · Name statistics