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.
7,237,620 combinations
Male, female and neutral banshee names, each with a matching banshee last name and the meaning of every element shown.
- Muiraceoil The Sudden Lament
Muira sea + ceoil music
The Sudden without warning + Lament song of grief
- Brasceol The Sudden Dirge
Bras swift + ceol music
The Sudden without warning + Dirge funeral song
- Luaithcomhra The Patient Weeper
Luaith ashes + comhra coffin
The Patient slow to leave + Weeper one who weeps
- Caoinemarbhna The Thin Widow
Caoine keening + marbhna elegy
The Thin wasted + Widow bereaved wife
- Muirtonn The Drenched Keener
Muir sea + tonn wave
The Drenched soaked through + Keener one who laments
- Neamhtairseach The White Voice
Neamh heaven + tairseach threshold
The White bloodless + Voice uttered sound
- Monaceoil The Green Crone
Mona bog + ceoil music
The Green moss-coloured + Crone old woman
- Crannead The Hidden Keener
Crann tree + nead nest
The Hidden unseen + Keener one who laments
- Leacgaoithe The Tall Shade
Leac flagstone + gaoithe wind
The Tall long-limbed + Shade departed spirit
- Gealascaile The Faithful Shade
Geala bright + scaile reflection
The Faithful never leaving + Shade departed spirit
- Golgrian The Faithful Mourner
Gol weeping + grian sun
The Faithful never leaving + Mourner one who grieves
- Beathadaite The Drenched Lament
Beatha life + daite coloured
The Drenched soaked through + Lament song of grief
- Laoiluachra The Hooded Lament
Laoi chanted lay + luachra rushes
The Hooded covered-headed + Lament song of grief
- Torannamhran The Grey Wake
Torann thunder + amhran song
The Grey ash-coloured + Wake death watch
- Eagnafuachta The Waiting Voice
Eagna wisdom + fuachta chill
The Waiting biding + Voice uttered sound
- Deirgecra The Combing Voice
Deirge redness + cra torment
The Combing drawing a comb + Voice uttered sound
- Corruaill The Old Dirge
Corr heron + uaill howl
The Old aged + Dirge funeral song
- Duibhreros The Thin Guest
Duibhre darkness + ros headland
The Thin wasted + Guest uninvited visitor
- Gaoitheleine The Long-Haired Mourner
Gaoithe wind + leine linen shift
The Long-Haired with loose hair + Mourner one who grieves
- Glasfuil The Thin Vigil
Glas grey-green + fuil blood
The Thin wasted + Vigil night watch
- Duibhrecomhra The Tall Wake
Duibhre darkness + comhra coffin
The Tall long-limbed + Wake death watch
- Eaglaslua The Hidden Crone
Eagla dread + slua host
The Hidden unseen + Crone old woman
- Iarannfearg The Bright Nurse
Iarann iron + fearg anger
The Bright shining + Nurse one who tends
- Luaithtairseach The Watching Cry
Luaith ashes + tairseach threshold
The Watching keeping vigil + Cry loud call
Need a name that means something in particular? Build one from its meaning.
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, the colour or the ground she arrives on: bán pale, liath grey, fuar cold, ceo mist, síon storm, oíche night, riasc marsh, crann tree, leac flagstone. The second element is what she brings, what she is, or the place she is met in: marbhna an elegy, olagón a wailing, uaill a howl, nighe washing, uaigh a grave, nead a nest, gaoithe of the wind. 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.
More banshee names
Female banshee names
- Deorabhrat The Patient Crier tears cloak
- Coracior The Green Lament weir comb
- Sionagealai The Drenched Weeper storm moon
- Ceathageimhre The Thin Stranger rain shower winter
- Ruacra The Restless Omen red-haired torment
- Luaithecaointe The Hooded Voice ashes lament
- Fuaragaire The Sudden Crier cold laughter
- Marbhadile The Green Washer dead deluge
- Cumhacroi The Watching Caller longing grief heart
- Duibhetine The Little Singer blackness fire
- Maolagruaige The Green Attendant bare hair
- Maolafuaime The Kindly Voice bare sound
- Bronaseanchais The Nameless Comber sorrowing old lore
- Nealafainne The Combing Cry cloud ring
- Beathadile The Wandering Attendant life deluge
- Sionauaille The Green Widow storm howl
- Osnacnamha The Drenched Caller sighing bones
- Ruaghuth The White Token red-haired voice
Male banshee names
- Marbhbas The Old Cry dead death
- Scatholagon The Tall Follower shadow wailing
- Fiachcathair The Waiting Dirge raven stone fort
- Banrun The Patient Keener pale secret
- Fiachgaineamh The Restless Crier raven sand
- Fionnsliabh The Dark Cry fair mountain
- Doimhinath The Cold Messenger deep ford
- Fuarsliabh The Watching Cry cold mountain
- Muiroilean The Hidden Nurse sea island
- Fionnclog The Cold Guest fair bell
- Deorfuil The Drenched Attendant tear blood
- Tobartafann The Little Caller well barking
- Bronfuil The Patient Crier sorrow blood
- Donnaosc The Green Weeper brown snipe
- Gealnaosc The Silent Cry bright snipe
- Gaothleim The Dark Mourner wind leap
- Uiscguth The Red Nurse water voice
- Sruthfod The Ninefold Comber stream sod
Neutral banshee names
- Nochtglaise The Watching Singer bare streamlet
- Reoreidh The Waiting Herald frost level ground
- Dilefaille The Red Portent deluge sea cliff
- Laoiceatha The Little Lament chanted lay rain shower
- Samhainsaile The Tall Caller summer's end brine
- Draiochtfaille The Silent Singer enchantment sea cliff
- Cailltedeireadh The Waiting Omen lost ending
- Leacuaine The Green Crier flagstone green
- Oicheceatha The Dark Caller night rain shower
- Luaithtuar The Tall Vigil ashes omen
- Luaithmara The Ninefold Caller ashes of the sea
- Giletairseach The Bright Watcher whiteness threshold
- Aeruaine The Kindly Crier air green
- Uaigneasuaine The Waiting Omen loneliness green
- Duibhrecille The Green Washer darkness churchyard
- Doimhnefeasa The Red Washer depth hidden knowledge
- Ceoros The Watching Mourner mist headland
- Doimhneceatha The Young Cry depth rain shower
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, Ceathatonna. 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.