200+ Horse Names, With Meanings

Black Horse Names

A black coat does half the work for you. The names that suit it best describe a shade of dark rather than announcing that the horse is scary.

• Ebony

  The darkest hardwood there is

• Onyx

  A black stone with a deep shine

• Midnight

  The darkest hour of the night

• Raven

  Black-feathered and glossy

• Shadow

  Follows you everywhere, makes no sound

• Coal

  Black, and holds its heat

• Soot

  The fine black left behind by smoke

• Jet

  A black stone polished to a mirror

• Blackjack

  A gambler’s name for a black horse

• Obsidian

  Volcanic glass, black and sharp-edged

• Noir

  French for black

• Sable

  Deep, glossy black

• Domino

  Black with one white marking

• Eclipse

  When one thing covers the light of another

• Pitch

  Black with no shine at all

• Inkwell

  As dark as spilled ink

• Nightfall

  The moment the light goes

• Cinders

  Burnt black, still warm

White & Grey Horse Names

Most white horses are technically grey, which gives you two vocabularies to borrow from: snow and metal. Snow names read soft, metal names read expensive.

• Snowfall

  Quiet, and it changes the whole landscape

• Pewter

  A soft grey metal with no shine

• Pearl

  White with a faint colour underneath

• Frost

  The white that forms overnight

• Dove

  Pale grey, and calm with it

• Ivory

  Warm white, close to cream

• Ghost

  Pale and hard to see coming

• Alabaster

  A soft white stone carvers favour

• Winter

  The season everything turns white

• Cloud

  White, and never the same shape twice

• Ash

  Grey, and the tree of the same name

• Sterling

  Silver of a guaranteed quality

• Mist

  Weather you can walk into

• Blanca

  Spanish for white

• Flurry

  A short, sudden fall of snow

• Dapple

  A grey coat marked with pale rings

• Glacier

  White, slow and immense

• Moonlight

  Enough light to ride by

Chestnut, Bay & Palomino Names

Brown and gold coats have the richest name pool of any colour, because almost every warm thing in a kitchen is fair game.

• Copper

  Red-brown metal that brightens in the sun

• Chestnut

  The coat colour itself, and still a good name

• Cinnamon

  Warm red-brown bark

• Amber

  Golden resin turned to stone

• Rusty

  Orange-brown, and friendlier than it sounds

• Sorrel

  The proper word for a light chestnut coat

• Ginger

  Red-gold, with a bite to it

• Honey

  Pale gold, and slow-moving

• Butterscotch

  Gold with a hint of burn

• Caramel

  Sugar cooked until it turns amber

• Bourbon

  Barrel-aged and reddish

• Saffron

  The most expensive gold there is

• Hazel

  Light brown flecked with green

• Mahogany

  Deep red-brown timber

• Cocoa

  Dark brown and warm

• Sundance

  A palomino coat in full afternoon light

• Roan

  A coat evenly flecked with white hairs

• Brandy

  Amber, and it warms you up

Female Horse Names (Mares & Fillies)

The strongest mare names come from plants, weather and stones rather than from people. They stay dignified when the horse turns twenty.

• Bella

  Beautiful, in Italian and Spanish

• Willow

  A tree that bends instead of breaking

• Luna

  Latin for moon

• Daisy

  A field flower that opens at first light

• Sierra

  A long ridge of mountains

• Juniper

  An evergreen that grows on hard ground

• Clover

  Luck, if you find the right one

• Meadow

  Open grass, which is where she would rather be

• Ruby

  A deep red stone

• Belle

  French for beauty, and easy to call across a field

• Nova

  A star that suddenly burns brighter

• Poppy

  A red flower that takes over open ground

• Maple

  A tree that turns red in autumn

• Starlight

  Faint light that still travels a long way

• Lily

  A tall white flower

• Zara

  Short, bright and easy to shout

• Cleo

  Short for Cleopatra, and it suits a proud mare

• Sage

  A grey-green herb, and a word for wisdom

Male Horse Names (Stallions & Colts)

Stallion names work best when they are short and end on a hard sound. One syllable carries across a paddock better than three.

• Duke

  A title, and he will behave like it

• Bandit

  Steals apples, shows no remorse

• Ranger

  One who covers a lot of ground

• Thunder

  What a gallop sounds like on hard earth

• Baron

  An old landholding title

• Diesel

  Works all day and never complains

• Jasper

  A red-brown stone

• Rebel

  Does it his way, eventually

• Chief

  The one the rest of the herd follows

• Maverick

  An unbranded animal, then anyone unbranded

• Blaze

  The white stripe down a horse’s face

• Ace

  The highest card in the deck

• Boone

  A frontier name, after Daniel Boone

• Caspian

  A sea ringed by mountains, and a rare horse breed

• Gunner

  Quick off the mark

• Rowan

  A tree said to keep bad luck out of a yard

• Samson

  Strength people end up telling stories about

• Flint

  Hard stone that throws a spark

Racehorse & Speed Names

Real racehorse names are two words long and sound good shouted by a commentator. That is the whole formula, and it is a good one to steal.

• Comet

  Seen once, then gone

• Quicksilver

  Mercury, impossible to hold on to

• Furlong

  The unit a race is measured in

• Photo Finish

  Too close to call from the rail

• Long Shot

  The one nobody backed

• Tailwind

  The wind pushing from behind

• Slipstream

  The easy air behind the leader

• Firecracker

  Small, loud, gone in a second

• Whiplash

  What the field gets watching him leave

• Turbo

  Extra power on demand

• Meteor

  Comes in fast and burns

• Jetstream

  The fast river of air high above

• Full Tilt

  At absolutely everything available

• Head Start

  Ahead before the gate opens

• Homestretch

  The last straight before the line

• Wildfire

  Moves faster than anyone plans for

• Overdrive

  The gear above the top gear

• Winning Streak

  A run nobody has broken yet

Western & Ranch Horse Names

Western names come from places and gear rather than from adjectives. Borrowing a real map name is the quickest way to sound like you know what you are doing.

• Dusty

  The colour of a long dry road

• Rio

  Spanish for river

• Cheyenne

  A plains people, and a Wyoming city

• Bronco

  An unbroken horse, said with respect

• Wrangler

  The person who handles the horses

• Sundown

  When the work finally stops

• Cimarron

  A wild river, and a word for untamed

• Tumbleweed

  Goes wherever the wind is going

• Buckshot

  Speckled, and scattered wide

• Lasso

  The rope, and the throw

• Canyon

  A gorge cut by patient water

• Mesa

  A flat-topped hill in dry country

• Prairie

  Grass to the horizon in every direction

• Stetson

  The hat that named itself

• Amarillo

  Spanish for yellow, and a Texas town

• Laredo

  A border town on the Rio Grande

• Rawhide

  Untanned leather, tough as it comes

• Trailblazer

  First one through, and the rest follow

Wild & Nature Horse Names

Landscape names suit horses better than almost any other animal, because a horse is the only pet that comes with a view attached.

• River

  Always moving, never in a hurry

• Aspen

  A pale tree that shivers in any wind

• Timber

  Standing wood, and the shout before it falls

• Summit

  The highest point of the climb

• Birch

  White bark, thin trunk, grows anywhere

• Cedar

  A tree that smells of warm resin

• Fern

  Green, old, and everywhere in shade

• Wildflower

  Nobody planted it and nobody has to

• Bramble

  Thorny, and worth the scratches

• Thistle

  Prickly on the outside, purple on top

• Boulder

  Not moving unless it decides to

• Creek

  A small stream you can hear before you see

• Ridge

  The line where the hill turns over

• Foxglove

  Tall purple bells, best admired not eaten

• Heather

  The low purple scrub of open moorland

• Harvest

  The gold end of the year

• Hollow

  A dip in the land where the wind drops

• Everglade

  Grass and water, as far as you can see

Famous Horses From History and Legend

Every name here belonged to a real or well-told horse. They carry weight for free, which is the whole reason to borrow one.

• Bucephalus

  Alexander the Great’s warhorse, "ox head"

• Marengo

  Napoleon’s grey Arabian, named after a battle

• Copenhagen

  Wellington’s chestnut, ridden all day at Waterloo

• Incitatus

  The Roman emperor Caligula’s absurdly pampered favourite

• Secretariat

  The 1973 Triple Crown winner who still holds the Derby record

• Man o’ War

  Won 20 of his 21 races in the 1920s

• Seabiscuit

  The undersized horse who beat War Admiral in 1938

• Phar Lap

  The Australian champion of the Depression years

• Red Rum

  Three-time winner of the Grand National

• Black Beauty

  The horse who narrates Anna Sewell’s 1877 novel

• Shadowfax

  Lord of all horses, in Tolkien

• Rocinante

  Don Quixote’s thin, hopeful mount

• Silver

  The Lone Ranger’s white stallion

• Trigger

  Roy Rogers’ palomino, billed as the smartest horse in movies

• Bullseye

  Woody’s loyal horse in Toy Story

• Hidalgo

  The mustang of the 2004 desert-race film

• Sleipnir

  The eight-legged horse of Norse legend

• Pegasus

  The winged horse of Greek myth

Cute Pony & Foal Names

Food names are the default here, and they work because a foal is round. Just check the name still fits when the pony is fifteen hands and opinionated.

• Peanut

  Small now, will not stay small

• Biscuit

  Golden brown and slightly crumbly

• Muffin

  Soft, round and warm

• Pumpkin

  Orange and a bit wide

• Waffles

  Cannot decide anything, ever

• Nutmeg

  Warm brown spice

• Pickles

  Finds trouble, then stands in it

• Mochi

  Soft, squishy and Japanese

• Jellybean

  Small, bright, and gone in one bite

• Noodle

  Legs too long for the body

• Pebbles

  Small enough to carry, briefly

• Bubbles

  Cheerful and easily distracted

• Buttons

  Neat, small and well turned out

• Snickers

  A chocolate bar, and what she does at you

• Churro

  Golden, sugary and slightly bent

• Pip

  A seed, and the smallest thing in the field

• Tulip

  Neat, bright and stands up straight

• Acorn

  Look what it turns into

Funny Horse Names

The joke lands hardest on a serious-looking animal. A tiny pony called Horsepower is nothing; a seventeen-hand warmblood called Horsepower is the joke.

• Usain Colt

  Quicker than he has any right to be

• Neigh Sayer

  Disagrees with everything, loudly

• Hay Fever

  Obsessed with breakfast

• Mane Event

  The reason everyone came

• Hoofdini

  Cannot be kept in any paddock ever built

• Sir Trots-a-Lot

  Refuses to canter on principle

• Al Capony

  Runs the yard, answers to nobody

• Buck Norris

  The ground gets out of his way

• Canter Believe It

  A commentator’s worst afternoon

• Hoof Hearted

  Say it fast, the oldest racecard joke there is

• Furlong Time No See

  Last seen somewhere near the back

• Oats Wilde

  Devastatingly witty, mostly about food

• Bad Mane Day

  Grooming has been attempted

• Horsepower

  One unit, measured directly

• Gary

  Enormous, terrifying, and yet: Gary

• Neighbour

  Lives over the fence, comments constantly

• Hot Trot

  Thinks very highly of himself

• Whinny the Pooh

  Sweet-natured, entirely food-motivated

Fantasy & Winged Horse Names

Two words joined together, one from the sky and one from the horse. This is where you go when the horse in question has wings.

• Aetherwing

  Wings built for the thin upper air

• Cloudmane

  A mane that trails like weather

• Stormhoof

  You hear it before the rain arrives

• Moonrunner

  Runs while everything else sleeps

• Sunmane

  A mane the colour of late afternoon

• Frostmane

  Hair stiff with ice at the tips

• Silvermane

  Grey that looks like polished metal

• Windrunner

  Faster than the air it moves through

• Skyborn

  Foaled somewhere above the clouds

• Nightmare

  The old word for a dark dream, and the boldest name here

• Galehoof

  Leaves a wind behind it

• Starstride

  One step covers a constellation

• Emberhoof

  Leaves scorch marks on the turn

• Duskrunner

  Only comes out as the light goes

• Lightfoot

  Lands without a sound

• Highflight

  Climbs until the ground stops mattering

• Ironhoof

  Nothing about this one is delicate

• Feathermane

  A mane light enough to lift

How to choose a horse name that lasts

Names that survive their first winter tend to follow the same handful of rules.

1. Name the coat, not the mood. Ebony, Sorrel and Dapple still describe the horse in five years. "Champion" describes how you felt the day you filled in the paperwork.
2. Two syllables, ending hard. Duke, Bandit, Luna and Onyx all carry across a field. Anything longer gets shortened by the rest of the yard whether you approve or not.
3. Check what it collapses into. Secretariat becomes Sec, Butterscotch becomes Butter, Sir Trots-a-Lot becomes Sir. Make sure you like the short form, because that is the one you will use.
4. Say it in an emergency. You will one day need to shout this name once, sharply, across a hundred metres. If it is soft or vowel-heavy, it will not travel.
5. Give a stable name and a show name room to differ. Plenty of horses run as Winning Streak and answer to Steve. That is normal, and it takes the pressure off both names.

Horse names by coat colour

Coat colour is the single most common way people search for a horse name, and it is also the most reliable, because it is the one thing about the horse that will not change. Find the coat, then take the row.

Build your own: the two-part horse name formula

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

Part one: colour, weather or landscape

Ember, Ash, Frost, Storm, Gale, Night, Dusk, Moon, Star, Sun, Iron, Silver, Copper, River, Ridge, Thorn, Wild, High.

Part two: the horse itself, or what it does

Mane, Hoof, Wing, Foot, Runner, Strider, Dancer, Chaser, Born, Fall, Song, Heart, Light, Wind.

Frostmane, Stormhoof, Moonrunner, Nightdancer, Emberheart, Highwind. It is an obvious formula once you see it, which is exactly why it keeps producing names that sound right.

Naming a flying horse in Flying Unicorn Simulator

Flying Unicorn Simulator 2024 is our free unicorn game for iPhone, iPad and Android. A unicorn is a horse with better equipment, so every name on this page works there: you fly, swim and race across more than eight open maps, from Crimson Valley to Sky Island and the Moon Map, and customise wings, horns, saddles and colours as you go.

That customising is why coat names beat mood names here too. Pick Frostmane and the name still fits after you have recoloured twice and swapped the saddle; pick something you chose in a hurry and you will be stuck with it in every multiplayer lobby you join.

There are 13 unicorn types including Star, Ice and Dracorn, and you can adopt pets such as baby dragons, cats, penguins and polar bears, which is a second round of naming. Picking a theme early pays off: a Frostmane whose pets are Flurry and Glacier reads as a set. A Frostmane whose pets are Gary and Waffles reads as a different, equally good, decision.

The game is free to download, rated 4+, and has optional in-app purchases for extra unicorns, pets and cosmetics.

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