Daily Archives: 6 April 2012

Beyond ‘Fred’: Ancient Greek Names for Games

Greek writing from ancient greek red figure po...

Greek writing from ancient greek red figure pottery (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Looking for a character name that sounds distinctive but doesn’t look like it came out of a random name generator? How about one from Ancient Greece? Often the best names come from real life. Beyond ‘Fred’ is an occasional series that provides lists of names from real-world cultures, both past and present. In other posts, I’ve covered everything from Italian to Ancient Egyptian.

An important note: I’m listing names that I think sound cool for rpg game purposes. I’m not worrying about historical accuracy. If you’re looking for a name for historical re-enactment, please check out my list of sources at the end of this post. I also don’t usually cover name meanings, but again, most of my sources list those. Finally, I tend to stay away from names that are currently in common usage. I figure if you were interested in those, you wouldn’t be looking at this list 😉

Ancient Greek Names

Male

  • Abantes
  • Agapetos
  • Akakios
  • Aktis
  • Alexios
  • Bakis
  • Basileios
  • Bion
  • Burrhus
  • Daetor
  • Dareios
  • Diodoros
  • Diokles
  • Dryas
  • Echemmon
  • Eirenaios
  • Epiktetos
  • Eustorgios
  • Eyrx
  • Galenos
  • Gennadios
  • Glykon
  • Gurgos
  • Harpagos
  • Hesiodos
  • Hyakinthos
  • Hylas
  • Iasos
  • Iphitus
  • Isidoros
  • Itheus
  • Kadmos
  • Kallias
  • Karpos
  • Kyrios
  • Laomedon
  • Linos
  • Loxias
  • Lykos
  • Makarios
  • Melampos
  • Metrophanes
  • Myron
  • Narkissos
  • Nereus
  • Nikias
  • Nyctinus
  • Okytos
  • Olympos
  • Origenes
  • Orthaeus
  • Pammon
  • Pankratios
  • Phaidros
  • Philokrates
  • Sabyllos
  • Seleukos
  • Skiron
  • Solon
  • Talaemenes
  • Thales
  • Timaios
  • Tros
  • Xanthos
  • Xenokrates
  • Xenon
  • Xuthos
  • Zagreus
  • Zenodoros
  • Zopyros
  • Zosimus

Female

  • Achaia
  • Agape
  • Aikaterine
  • Anthousa
  • Basiane
  • Berenike
  • Bito
  • Briseis
  • Damaris
  • Delias
  • Demetria
  • Drosis
  • Eirene
  • Euantha
  • Eudokia
  • Euthymia
  • Evadne
  • Gaiane
  • Galatea
  • Galene
  • Glyke
  • Haidee
  • Hagne
  • Helike
  • Hypatia
  • Iaera
  • Ino
  • Isidora
  • Issa
  • Kallistrate
  • Kallixeina
  • Korinna
  • Kynna
  • Lais
  • Lasthena
  • Ligeia
  • Lyra
  • Megara
  • Melitta
  • Mykale
  • Myrrine
  • Nemerte
  • Nesaea
  • Nikaia
  • Nysas
  • Oitane
  • Olympias
  • Oreithyia
  • Otonia
  • Pales
  • Pelagia
  • Phile
  • Pylia
  • Raisa
  • Rhene
  • Rhode
  • Rhodope
  • Sebasteia
  • Semele
  • Sostrate
  • Sotera
  • Thalassa
  • Thais
  • Timo
  • Tryphosa
  • Xanthe
  • Xanthippe
  • Xene
  • Xenia
  • Zenobia
  • Zita
  • Zosime
  • Zoe

Hints on pronunciation

  • Always pronounce the final “e”– it makes an sound like “eh”.
  • “Ch” is always pronounced with a “k” sound.
  • “Th” is pronounced smoothly, like in “this”

Sources

Other Beyond ‘Fred’ Posts:

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