Banshee Name Generator
Banshee names built from real Irish elements of grief, night and water, every fragment glossed, with the office-titles a keening woman carries.
2,432,700 combinations in this form
- Muiraceoil The Sudden Shade
Muira sea + ceoil music
sea music
The Sudden without warning + Shade departed spirit
without warning departed spirit
- Brasceol The Sudden Dirge
Bras swift + ceol music
swift music
The Sudden without warning + Dirge funeral song
without warning funeral song
- Luaithcomhra The Patient Warner
Luaith ashes + comhra coffin
ashes coffin
The Patient slow to leave + Warner one who warns
slow to leave one who warns
- Caoinemarbhna The Thin Portent
Caoine keening + marbhna elegy
keening elegy
The Thin wasted + Portent foreshadowing sign
wasted foreshadowing sign
- Muirtonn The Drenched Keener
Muir sea + tonn wave
sea wave
The Drenched soaked through + Keener one who laments
soaked through one who laments
- Neamhtairseach The White Shade
Neamh heaven + tairseach threshold
heaven threshold
The White bloodless + Shade departed spirit
bloodless departed spirit
- Monaceoil The Green Stranger
Mona bog + ceoil music
bog music
The Green moss-coloured + Stranger one not known
moss-coloured one not known
- Crannead The Hidden Keener
Crann tree + nead nest
tree nest
The Hidden unseen + Keener one who laments
unseen one who laments
- Leacgaoithe The Tall Guest
Leac flagstone + gaoithe wind
flagstone wind
The Tall long-limbed + Guest uninvited visitor
long-limbed uninvited visitor
- Gealascaile The Faithful Crone
Geala bright + scaile reflection
bright reflection
The Faithful never leaving + Crone old woman
never leaving old woman
- Golgrian The Faithful Mourner
Gol weeping + grian sun
weeping sun
The Faithful never leaving + Mourner one who grieves
never leaving one who grieves
- Beathadaite The Drenched Cry
Beatha life + daite coloured
life coloured
The Drenched soaked through + Cry loud call
soaked through loud call
- Laoiluachra The Hooded Shade
Laoi chanted lay + luachra rushes
chanted lay rushes
The Hooded covered-headed + Shade departed spirit
covered-headed departed spirit
- Torannamhran The Grey Wake
Torann thunder + amhran song
thunder song
The Grey ash-coloured + Wake death watch
ash-coloured death watch
- Eagnafuachta The Waiting Shade
Eagna wisdom + fuachta chill
wisdom chill
The Waiting biding + Shade departed spirit
biding departed spirit
- Deirgecra The Combing Nurse
Deirge redness + cra torment
redness torment
The Combing drawing a comb + Nurse one who tends
drawing a comb one who tends
- Corruaill The Old Wake
Corr heron + uaill howl
heron howl
The Old aged + Wake death watch
aged death watch
- Duibhreros The Thin Nurse
Duibhre darkness + ros headland
darkness headland
The Thin wasted + Nurse one who tends
wasted one who tends
- Gaoitheleine The Long-Haired Mourner
Gaoithe wind + leine linen shift
wind linen shift
The Long-Haired with loose hair + Mourner one who grieves
with loose hair one who grieves
- Glasfuil The Thin Lament
Glas grey-green + fuil blood
grey-green blood
The Thin wasted + Lament song of grief
wasted song of grief
- Duibhrecomhra The Tall Vigil
Duibhre darkness + comhra coffin
darkness coffin
The Tall long-limbed + Vigil night watch
long-limbed night watch
- Eaglaslua The Hidden Stranger
Eagla dread + slua host
dread host
The Hidden unseen + Stranger one not known
unseen one not known
- Iarannfearg The Bright Widow
Iarann iron + fearg anger
iron anger
The Bright shining + Widow bereaved wife
shining bereaved wife
- Luaithtairseach The Watching Voice
Luaith ashes + tairseach threshold
ashes threshold
The Watching keeping vigil + Voice uttered sound
keeping vigil uttered sound
How banshee names are built
¶Bean sídhe means woman of the mound, and every part of the name that follows is Irish. The first element sets the weather and the mood she arrives in: bán pale, liath grey, fuar cold, ceo mist, síon storm, oíche night, riasc marsh. The second element is the thing she brings or the thing she is: marbhna an elegy, olagón a wailing, uaill a howl, nighe washing, uaigh a grave. Bronamarbhna is sorrowing-elegy, and that is the whole announcement.
The forms differ by ending, as Irish names do. Feminine forms are vowel-final and slender — Bána, Ciara, Osna, Uisce — and take second elements that end the same way: marbhna, uaille, reilige, cuimhne. Masculine forms are bare and consonant-final: Ban, Ciar, Garbh, Sruth, closing on bás, glór, clog, uaimh. The older set keeps the abstract nouns a storyteller uses for the fairy host itself — aos, slua, sidhe, uaigneas — and is not marked for gender at all.
Her second name is an office rather than a family. Tradition gives the same woman three jobs and names her for whichever she is doing: bean chaointe, the keener who leads the lament at a wake; bean nighe, the washer seen at a ford wringing grave-clothes that belong to someone still living; and the comber, sighted at a stile drawing a comb through her hair. The title half of a banshee name is therefore an agent noun — Washer, Keener, Comber, Warner — with whatever qualifier the family agreed on.
Questions
What are good banshee names?
Pair a weather or grief element with a sound or water element and let the Irish do the work: Ciaraolagona, Fuaruaill, Osnamarbhna, Ceomhuaighe. Keep the first half concrete — grey, cold, mist, marsh — because the tradition names her for the night she comes on, not for a personality. Then add the office title, which is what people actually called her.
Are banshees male or female?
The bean sídhe is female by definition; the word means woman of the fairy mound, and no folklore collection records a male one crying for a family. The male set here is for the fear sídhe, the man of the mound, who appears in the same collections as a separate being, and the older set is for the aos sí, the fairy folk taken as a whole rather than as individuals.
What is the washer at the ford?
The bean nighe, best attested in Scotland and the Irish west, is seen at a river crossing at dusk washing bloodied linen. The clothes belong to whoever is about to die, and in some versions she can be compelled to name them if you get between her and the water. It is the oldest and least sentimental version of the banshee.
Which families does a banshee follow?
The tradition attaches her to the old Gaelic families — the ones with Ó and Mac in the name — and holds that she follows the line rather than the house, so emigrants were said to hear her abroad. That is why her name is an office and a description rather than a surname: she borrows the family's name, she does not carry one of her own.
How do you pronounce these banshee names?
The fragments use anglicised spellings, so read them as written. Broadly: ao is like the ee in seen, ea is a short e, bh and mh sound like v or w, ch is the soft rasp in loch, and dh is silent between vowels. Stress falls on the first syllable of the first element, which is why the names have a falling cadence.