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110+ Goblin Names for D&D and Fantasy Worldbuilding

Goblin names work by a different grammar from every other fantasy race. Elves inherit names, dwarves carry clan names into exile, but a goblin is called something — by the warren, after the incident, and rarely to its face at first. The name is a nickname that fought its way into permanence. That’s why the classic goblin name is either a scrap of mouth-noise (Snik, Fizz, Grak) or an unflattering compound built from a body part and a flaw. Get that grammar right and almost any syllable salad will read as goblin; get it wrong and you’ve just named a small orc.

Two practical rules before you pick. First, keep it short at the front: goblins are interrupted a lot, so names that survive are one or two syllables plus an optional epithet. Second, a goblin’s name should be sayable through gritted teeth — test it in the sentence “Get back here, ___!” If it fits, it’s a goblin name. The 110 names below are grouped by the role the goblin plays in your world, from warren skulkers to self-crowned kings. The first list comes straight from the curated pool behind our goblin name generator, which can also shape names to your specific setting.

Popular Goblin Names

These twenty are drawn from our goblin generator’s hand-curated pool — note how many are compound insults (Wartnose, Snotblister) or noises with teeth in them (Gritch, Kreeble, Wizzlecrack). That’s the house style of goblinkind.

Sneaky & Skulker Names

Scouts, pickpockets and tunnel-creepers. Sibilants and soft consonants do the work here — a skulker’s name should sound like it was whispered. Compounds built on quiet verbs (slink, skitter, hush, pad) tell the table exactly what this goblin does before it does it.

Warband & Raider Names

The opposite acoustic: front-loaded plosives and violence compounds. Raider names are war cries shortened to fit in a mouth — Smashgob, Riptooth. Note the goblin habit of misspelling its own ferocity (Skullcrusha): goblins heard the big folk’s war-names and copied them slightly wrong.

Female Goblin Names

Goblin naming is unisex in structure — earned epithets, mouth-noise roots — but names read as female in most settings when they take the -a, -et, or -ina endings goblins pilfered from human naming. A matriarch usually keeps a childhood noise-name (Nixxa, Zibbet) and adds an epithet only once she runs something.

Goblin Boss & Chieftain Names

The boss name is a two-part joke goblins take completely seriously: a stolen title of nobility stapled to a goblin name. The grandeur is the point — nothing says goblin king like a title three sizes too big. For a boss who should genuinely frighten the party, invert the rule: one short, hard name and an epithet earned in blood.

Tinker & Scavenger Names

Scrap-goblins name themselves after the tools and treasures they hoard. Cog, bolt, spring, wick — the vocabulary of the junk pile becomes a name the way a trade once became a human surname. These fit alchemist goblins, trap-makers, and any warren that lives downstream of a dwarven forge.

Using These Names

Pick the section that matches the goblin’s job, then roughen the name against your world: swap a consonant, shorten it, or bolt on an epithet from a local landmark. If your setting needs names for the goblins’ larger cousins, our orc names list uses a related but heavier naming grammar, and the dwarf names list makes a good contrast for the folk whose mines goblins keep moving into. For every other race and role, browse the full directory of name generators.