200+ Dragon Names, With Meanings

Fire & Flame Dragon Names

The default setting for a dragon, and the hardest group to be original in. These lean on heat, ash and the moment before ignition rather than just saying "fire" louder.

• Ember

  What is left glowing after the fire

• Pyra

  From pyr, the Greek word for fire

• Ignis

  Latin for fire, plain and old

• Cinder

  Burnt through but still hot

• Blazewing

  Wings that leave a trail of heat

• Scorch

  The mark left behind, not the flame

• Forgeheart

  Built around a fire that never goes out

• Ashfall

  What drifts down after an eruption

• Flarion

  A sudden bright flare

• Magmus

  Molten rock, still moving

• Solara

  Of the sun

• Kindle

  To start something burning

• Brimstone

  Old word for sulphur, the smell of fire

• Ashenmaw

  A jaw grey with old smoke

• Firetail

  Marked by a burning tail

• Coalheart

  Slow-burning and hard to put out

• Emberkin

  Born of the same fire

• Searwing

  Wings hot enough to leave a mark

Ice & Frost Dragon Names

Cold names read as older and more patient than fire names, which suits a dragon you want to seem unbothered.

• Glacia

  Of the glacier, slow and immense

• Rime

  Frost that forms out of fog

• Icefang

  Teeth like frozen spikes

• Blizzara

  A storm you cannot see through

• Coldsnap

  A sudden drop in temperature

• Wintermaw

  A mouth that breathes winter

• Snowdrift

  Snow piled by the wind

• Frostwing

  Wings edged with ice

• Northwind

  The cold wind that comes down from the top of the world

• Nivalis

  Latin for snowy

• Chillhorn

  Horns cold to the touch

• Auroria

  Of the northern lights

• Sleetclaw

  Claws like frozen rain

• Iceveil

  A thin sheet of ice over everything

• Hoarfrost

  The white crystals on a cold morning

• Permafrost

  Ground that never thaws

• Glacierborn

  Carved out of ancient ice

• Frostmere

  A frozen lake

Storm & Sky Dragon Names

For flyers. These describe weather rather than a creature, which is the fastest way to make a name feel large.

• Tempest

  A violent storm

• Thunderwing

  Wingbeats you hear before you see

• Zephyr

  The west wind, gentle and fast

• Cyclone

  A storm turning around its own centre

• Skyfall

  A dive out of the clouds

• Galeforce

  Wind strong enough to move things

• Stratos

  Of the upper atmosphere

• Nimbus

  A rain cloud, or a halo

• Levin

  Old English for lightning

• Squall

  A short, sharp burst of weather

• Windshear

  Where two air currents cut across

• Stormcaller

  One the weather answers to

• Aether

  The thin upper air, far above the clouds

• Cirrus

  The highest, thinnest cloud

• Boltfang

  A bite like a lightning strike

• Vortex

  Air pulled into a spiral

• Highwind

  The wind above the mountains

• Thunderhead

  The tall cloud a storm builds into

Shadow & Night Dragon Names

Dark names go wrong when they try too hard. The ones that last describe low light rather than evil.

• Shadeborn

  Hatched somewhere the light never reached

• Umbra

  The darkest part of a shadow

• Duskclaw

  Hunting in the last of the light

• Nocturne

  A piece of music written for night

• Shadowmaw

  A shape you only half see

• Eclipse

  When one thing swallows the light of another

• Ravenwing

  Black-feathered and quiet

• Grimshade

  A shadow that feels heavy

• Nightfall

  The moment the light goes

• Mourn

  Grief, worn openly

• Vesper

  The evening star

• Blackthorn

  A dark tree with hard spines

• Gloamwing

  Of the twilight

• Sable

  Deep, glossy black

• Erebus

  The primordial darkness

• Wraithscale

  Scales that seem not quite solid

• Duskbane

  Something the dark fears

• Midnighter

  One who only appears at the middle of night

Legendary & Mythological Dragon Names

Names borrowed from real dragon myth. They carry weight because someone has been telling their story for a thousand years.

• Fafnir

  Norse dwarf who became a dragon hoarding gold

• Nidhogg

  The dragon gnawing the roots of the world tree

• Jormungandr

  The serpent encircling the world

• Stoorworm

  The vast sea serpent of Orkney legend

• Apep

  Egyptian serpent of chaos who fought the sun

• Lindworm

  The wingless serpent dragon of northern legend

• Ladon

  The dragon guarding the golden apples

• Typhon

  The Greek monster who fought Zeus

• Vritra

  Vedic serpent who held back the rivers

• Zmey

  The many-headed dragon of Slavic folklore

• Zilant

  The winged serpent on the old arms of Kazan

• Wyvern

  Two-legged dragon of heraldry

• Drakaina

  Greek for a female dragon

• Elderscale

  Old enough that the scales have thickened

• Primordius

  From the beginning of things

• Runewyrm

  A wyrm marked with old writing

• Ancalar

  An invented old-sounding name for a first dragon

• Wyrmric

  Ruler among wyrms

Forest & Nature Dragon Names

Green dragons are underrated. These names suit a dragon that lives somewhere rather than one that just burns things.

• Thornwood

  A forest you cannot walk through

• Mossclaw

  Old enough that things grow on it

• Verdana

  From verdant, deeply green

• Bramblewing

  Wings that catch on everything

• Sylvara

  From silva, the Latin for woodland

• Oakenhide

  Skin as tough as oak bark

• Fernwhisper

  The sound of undergrowth moving

• Rootfang

  Teeth like the roots that split stone

• Willowmane

  A mane that hangs and sways

• Petalscale

  Scales that overlap like a flower

• Vinewing

  Wings wrapped in creeping green

• Barkhide

  Ridged and grey like an old trunk

• Hollowtree

  Something living inside something dead

• Cedarwing

  Smelling of warm resin

• Lichen

  The slowest-growing thing alive

• Elderbark

  The oldest tree in the wood

• Thicketmaw

  A mouth hidden in dense growth

• Marrowvine

  A vine that grows into the bone

Ocean & Water Dragon Names

Sea dragons need names that sound like movement. Anything with a hard consonant at the end tends to fight the theme.

• Tidefang

  Arriving with the water

• Maelstrom

  A whirlpool big enough to take a ship

• Coralwing

  Wings the colour of a reef

• Nerida

  From the Nereids, sea nymphs

• Abyssal

  Of the deepest ocean

• Riptide

  The current that pulls you out

• Kelpmane

  A mane like drifting seaweed

• Seafoam

  White water on the surface

• Marina

  Of the sea

• Deepscale

  Built for pressure

• Brinewing

  Salt-crusted from long flights over water

• Lagoona

  Of the shallow, sheltered water

• Pearlfin

  Fins with an iridescent sheen

• Undertow

  The pull you cannot see

• Saltclaw

  Weathered by the sea

• Aquilon

  An old name for a cold sea wind

• Thalassa

  Greek for the sea itself

• Stormsurge

  The water a storm pushes ahead of it

Gem & Metal Dragon Names

The easiest group to match to a colour scheme, which is exactly why these names age well: change the saddle, keep the name.

• Obsidian

  Black volcanic glass, sharp when broken

• Amethyst

  Deep violet quartz

• Ironhide

  Armoured and unbothered

• Goldscale

  Scales worth stealing

• Silverwing

  Pale and reflective in flight

• Emeraldine

  Of a deep, clear green

• Rubyfang

  Red-toothed

• Sapphira

  Of the sapphire, deep blue

• Onyx

  Banded black stone

• Bronzeclaw

  Old metal, gone slightly green

• Steelmaw

  A bite nothing dents

• Diamondback

  Ridged with the hardest thing there is

• Copperwing

  Warm orange metal

• Jade

  Green stone carved for luck

• Garnet

  Dark red, like old wine

• Quartzite

  Rock made of crystal grains

• Titanium

  Light, and almost impossible to break

• Malachite

  Banded green copper stone

Cute & Baby Dragon Names

For hatchlings and for anyone who thinks a 40-foot fire-breathing reptile should be called Peanut. Both are valid.

• Nibbles

  Bites everything, damages nothing

• Sparky

  More smoke than flame so far

• Pip

  Very small, very loud

• Peanut

  Tiny and slightly ridiculous

• Toasty

  Permanently warm to hold

• Puff

  Breathes smoke rings, not fire

• Squeaker

  The roar has not come in yet

• Bitsy

  Small enough to sit on your shoulder

• Pebble

  Small, round and hard to lose

• Doodle

  Never sits still long enough to draw

• Flicker

  A flame that has not caught properly

• Mochi

  Soft, round and surprisingly dense

• Bean

  Small, and somehow always underfoot

• Waffles

  Named after a favourite food, obviously

• Snuggle

  A dragon that has no idea how sharp it is

• Zippy

  Faster than something that shape should be

• Wiggle

  Cannot stay in one place

• Cinnamon

  Warm brown and slightly spicy

Female Dragon Names

Names that read as feminine without going soft. Most work equally well on a fire dragon and an ice one.

• Serilda

  Armoured for battle, from old Germanic roots

• Draca

  Old English root of the word dragon

• Elowyn

  Of the elm, of the old wood

• Vaela

  Invented, built to sound windswept

• Isolde

  Ice ruler, from Celtic legend

• Ravenna

  Dark as a raven wing

• Thalia

  Blooming, flourishing

• Xandria

  Defender of people

• Aurelia

  Golden

• Kaida

  Japanese for little dragon

• Nerys

  Welsh for lady

• Aveline

  Longed for, hoped for

• Solenne

  Solemn, dignified

• Frostelle

  A small, cold brightness

• Fyra

  From fire, shortened

• Liraz

  My secret

• Ondine

  A water spirit

• Verity

  Truth

Male Dragon Names

Heavier consonants, mostly Norse and Greek roots. These suit a dragon you want to sound like it has been around a while.

• Drakon

  Greek for dragon, unchanged

• Ragnar

  Warrior of judgement

• Kaelen

  Slender, mighty

• Thorne

  Sharp, and hard to hold

• Balor

  Irish giant with a destroying eye

• Sirion

  A great river, invented in the old style

• Draven

  Of the raven

• Ormr

  Old Norse for serpent or dragon

• Grimwald

  Fierce ruler

• Halvar

  Rock defender

• Zephyros

  From zephyros, the west wind

• Cadmus

  The founder who fought a dragon

• Sigurd

  The hero who killed Fafnir

• Vulkar

  Built from the root for volcano

• Torvald

  An old Norse name meaning ruler

• Eirik

  Eternal ruler

• Malachar

  Invented, deliberately ominous

• Alaric

  Ruler of all

Funny Dragon Names

The contrast is the joke: the bigger and more frightening the dragon, the better a stupid name works. These survive longer than you would expect.

• Sir Burns-a-Lot

  Knighted for services to arson

• Mr. Toasty

  Deeply polite, deeply flammable

• Fluffy

  Objectively untrue

• Cupcake

  Sweet name, four rows of teeth

• Barbecue

  Describes the method, not the meal

• Steve

  Just Steve

• Sneezy

  Setting things on fire by accident

• Marshmallow

  White, soft-looking, do not toast

• Chonk

  Structurally significant

• Smokey Joe

  Sounds like a barbecue truck, is a dragon

• Tiny

  Ironic, obviously

• Hot Sauce

  Small quantity, large consequences

• Kevin

  Terrifying, and yet: Kevin

• Wingus

  Has wings, uses them badly

• Combustible

  A warning label as a name

• Snackrifice

  What the goats call it

• Char Char Binks

  The pun nobody asked for

• Nugget

  Golden, bite-sized, absolutely not

How to choose a dragon name that lasts

Most dragon names get abandoned within a week. The ones that stick tend to follow the same few rules.

1. Name the element, not the mood. Ember, Frostwing and Tempest still describe your dragon after you have recoloured it twice. "Destroyer" describes how you felt on the day you typed it.
2. Two or three syllables. Fafnir, Onyx and Kaida land instantly. Anything past four syllables gets shortened by other players whether you approve or not.
3. Check the short form. Seraphina becomes Sera, Thunderwing becomes Thunder, Sir Burns-a-Lot becomes Sir. Make sure you like whatever it collapses into.
4. Hard consonants read as older. Ormr, Grimwald and Drakon sound ancient; Lyria and Aveline sound young. Neither is better, but they are not interchangeable.
5. A funny name needs a serious dragon. Calling a hatchling Cupcake is nothing. Calling a fully grown fire dragon Cupcake is the joke.

Build your own: the two-part dragon name formula

Nearly every name on this list is two ideas joined together. Take one word from each column, say the result out loud, and keep the ones that do not make you wince.

Part one: element, weather or material

Ember, Ash, Frost, Rime, Storm, Gale, Thunder, Shadow, Dusk, Night, Iron, Gold, Obsidian, Coral, Tide, Thorn, Moss, Bone, Blood, Sun.

Part two: body, motion or role

Wing, Fang, Claw, Maw, Scale, Hide, Heart, Tail, Horn, Mane, Caller, Bane, Born, Fall, Song, Bringer, Watcher, Keeper.

Emberclaw, Frostmaw, Stormcaller, Nightbringer, Ashborn, Ironhide, Thornheart. The formula is obvious once you see it, which is exactly why it keeps producing names that sound right.

Naming your dragon in Flying Dragon’s Life Simulator

Flying Dragon's Life Simulator is our dragon life sim for iPhone and iPad. You fly across mountains, caves, lakes and islands, hunt on land, sea and air, battle raptors and dinosaurs, and eventually build a nest, find a mate and raise a family of baby dragons.

Which matters for naming, because you are not naming one dragon for one session. You are naming a dragon you will fly for hours, recolour, upgrade, and then name hatchlings after. Picking a theme early pays off: a Frostwing whose children are Rime, Sleetclaw and Hoarfrost reads as a family. A Frostwing whose children are Kevin and Cupcake reads as a different, also very good, decision.

The game is a one-time $9.99 purchase with no ads and no in-app purchases, is rated 9+ for its hunting and combat, and added gamepad support, a day-night cycle and a weather system in version 1.5.

Frequently Asked Questions