Kraken Name Generator
Kraken names from Old Norse and North Sea words for depth, drowning and the whale-road, every fragment glossed, with a skaldic sea-kenning.
2,044,224 combinations in this form
- Myrkvaldr Sandsalr
Myrk murk + valdr wielder
murk wielder
Sand sandbank + salr hall
sandbank hall
- Idahrifa Saltgata
Ida eddy + hrifa snatching
eddy snatching
Salt brine + gata path
brine path
- Beinbol Drekreid
Bein bone + bol lair
bone lair
Drek longship + reid riding
longship riding
- Djupsvelgr Aramork
Djup deep + svelgr swallower
deep swallower
Ara oar + mork forest
oar forest
- Fjaraulfa Araheimr
Fjara ebb-shore + ulfa she-wolf
ebb-shore she-wolf
Ara oar + heimr home
oar home
- Talgap Laxmork
Tal reckoning + gap chasm
reckoning chasm
Lax salmon + mork forest
salmon forest
- Hraunormr Hvalfold
Hraun lava field + ormr serpent
lava field serpent
Hval whale + fold earth
whale earth
- Rekaslonga Ernisetr
Reka drift + slonga sling
drift sling
Erni eagle + setr seat
eagle seat
- Lonbein Hafbol
Lon lagoon + bein bone
lagoon bone
Haf open sea + bol lair
open sea lair
- Foradreki Knarrastigr
Forad peril + reki drifter
peril drifter
Knarra merchant ship + stigr path
merchant ship path
- Dufunda Bylgjufjall
Duf dipping + unda wound
dipping wound
Bylgju billow + fjall mountain
billow mountain
- Blodslod Fiskstod
Blod blood + slod trail
blood trail
Fisk fish + stod berth
fish berth
- Svartleggr Mavsvollr
Svart black + leggr limb bone
black limb bone
Mavs gull + vollr flat ground
gull flat ground
- Myrkvasoga Stormvollr
Myrkva darkened + soga sucking
darkened sucking
Storm tempest wind + vollr flat ground
tempest wind flat ground
- Neshaus Svanbraut
Nes headland + haus skull
headland skull
Svan swan + braut way
swan way
- Straumblastr Fleyvollr
Straum current + blastr blast
current blast
Fley vessel + vollr flat ground
vessel flat ground
- Rostfylgja Svanfold
Rost tide race + fylgja attendant spirit
tide race attendant spirit
Svan swan + fold earth
swan earth
- Midskjol Ulfbol
Mid fishing ground + skjol shelter
fishing ground shelter
Ulf wolf + bol lair
wolf lair
- Druknskelfir Hrafnbyggd
Drukn drowning + skelfir shaker
drowning shaker
Hrafn raven + byggd settlement
raven settlement
- Kolgaslonga Ernislod
Kolga cool wave + slonga sling
cool wave sling
Erni eagle + slod trail
eagle trail
- Nafntorg Stormbyggd
Nafn name + torg market
name market
Storm tempest wind + byggd settlement
tempest wind settlement
- Bjargsaugr Araengi
Bjarg crag + saugr sucker
crag sucker
Ara oar + engi meadow
oar meadow
- Kolgayla Drekteigr
Kolga cool wave + yla howling
cool wave howling
Drek longship + teigr strip of land
longship strip of land
- Beinkjolfar Isateigr
Bein bone + kjolfar wake
bone wake
Isa ice + teigr strip of land
ice strip of land
How kraken names are built
¶The Norse antecedent of the kraken is the hafgufa, the sea-reek, described in the thirteenth-century Konungs skuggsjá as an island that is not an island. That is the register these names work in: haf the open sea, djup the deep, svelgr a whirlpool and literally a swallower, gufa vapour, kraki a hooked pole, which is where the word kraken most likely comes from. A first element sets the water, a second element names the thing in it.
Old Norse marks gender on the noun, so the sets are grammatical rather than decorative. Masculine second elements end in -r: bakr a back, ormr a serpent, svelgr a swallower, drangr a sea stack, skelfir a shaker. Feminine second elements end in -a: hrina a screech, fylgja an attendant spirit, valva a seeress, hvirfla a whirl. The unmarked set uses neuter nouns — kaf submersion, djup the deep, él a snow squall, mið a fishing ground — and suits a thing spoken of as weather.
The second name is a sea-kenning and it names the water the creature holds. Skalds did not say sea; they said hvalvegr the whale-road, svanbraut the swan's way, selbað the seal's bath, fiskheimr the fish's home. Pairing a creature with a road, a field or a hall gives you a stretch of ocean and a claim on it, which is the only kind of territory a kraken can hold. Sailors then measure the claim in cable-lengths and stay outside it.
Questions
What are good kraken names?
Take a water word and a body word and let Norse do the rest: Djupsvelgr, Marbakr, Hvalkjaftr, Svartormr. Keep the first element concrete — deep, black, cold, current, cable — because the terror in the old accounts is scale and depth rather than malice. A kraken named deep-swallower or sea-jaw does not need an adjective in front of it.
What is the kraken in Norse sources?
It appears as the hafgufa, the sea-reek, in the Konungs skuggsjá, alongside the lyngbakr or heather-back, a whale so large that crews land on it and light fires. Both are described as hazards rather than monsters. The word kraken itself is later and Scandinavian, and is usually traced to kraki, a pole with hooks, from the shape of the arms.
Does a kraken have a gender?
The names do, because Old Norse nouns do. Masculine elements end in -r, feminine in -a, and neuter nouns take neither. If you want the creature to read as an animal, use the gendered sets; if you want it to read as a phenomenon that fishermen discuss like weather, use the neuter set, which is how the medieval accounts actually talk about it.
What is a cable-length?
A sailor's measure of about two hundred yards, a tenth of a nautical mile, originally the length of a ship's anchor cable. It is the useful unit for a kraken because it is the distance at which things stop being safe: crews in the old reports describe the sea going strange several cables off, and steer by that rather than by any sighting.
What is a sea-kenning?
A skaldic compound that names something by circling it. The sea is the whale-road, the swan's way, the seal's bath; a ship is the wave-horse. Kennings are how Norse verse handled a fixed metre and a small vocabulary, and they make excellent territorial names, since each one describes the same water from the point of view of a different creature.