Welcome to Reedsy’s Old Celtic Name Generator
A Celtic medieval name generator is a tool that helps writers find authentic or authentically-inspired names for characters from Celtic-speaking medieval cultures. Medieval Celtic naming is, of course, one of the richest and least exploited traditions available to historical and fantasy writers, and a character named Áedán, Caoimhe, or Gwenllian carries something genuinely different from any Norse or English equivalent.
Our Celtic medieval name generator takes your character's gender, social class, preferred name style, and specific story context, and returns ten names with reasoning for you.
How to use this name generator
Social class does significant work in medieval Celtic naming — the names of kings, warriors, bards, priests, and farmers occupied different registers and drew on different naming traditions. Name style is where you define your relationship to historical accuracy.
You can then use the additional details field to specify which Celtic tradition you're drawing on and the approximate period. (Early medieval Irish names look different from late medieval Welsh ones.) Include other character names already in your story so the generator can match their register!
So you want a good old Celtic name?
Medieval Celtic cultures are among the most thoroughly mythologized in popular imagination, and the gap between the mythology and the history is.
A few things worth knowing as you write:
- Irish and Welsh medieval naming are distinct traditions. Early Irish names such as Finn, Brigid, Cormac, Muirenn have a specific phonetic character shaped by Old Irish. Medieval Welsh names have an equally distinct character shaped by Middle Welsh.
- The ap/ab and ní/mac patronymic systems were structural. Medieval Celtic characters didn't have fixed hereditary surnames, and instead identified themselves through their parentage. Owain ap Gruffudd: Owain, son of Gruffudd. Gráinne ní Mháille: Gráinne, daughter of Máille.
- Social class shaped naming in specific ways. In medieval Irish society, certain names were associated with the nobility (fine) and others with lower social orders. Bardic and priestly classes had their own naming cultures. Getting social register right adds texture that readers familiar with the period will appreciate.
- Pronunciation is a genuine reader concern! Medieval Irish and Welsh names can be genuinely difficult for readers unfamiliar with those languages — Caoimhe (KEE-va), Siobhán (shih-VAWN), Llywelyn (hluh-WEL-in). If you're writing for a broad audience, the “Historically inspired” option may serve your readers better than strict accuracy, unless you're willing to provide some navigational help in the text.
A note on our use of AI
We built this tool for writers, which means we thought carefully about what AI should and shouldn't do here. The generator uses AI to produce names that better fit your character's specific context and needs — archetype, personality, genre, world — while explaining its reasoning for each one.
Here’s what it won’t do for you: it won’t write your story, name your character, or make creative decisions for you. It simply generates options for you.
More importantly, your inputs are not (and will never be) used to train any AI models. Treat whatever comes out as raw material: a starting point that belongs entirely to you. Every result is yours!
