Greek Hero Name Generator

One press gives five real heroes or heroines of Greek myth, each with a line on who they are.

PolynicesSon of Oedipus; he and his brother Eteocles were left to rule Thebes together and went to war over it.
PenthesileaQueen of the Amazons and daughter of Ares; she came to help Troy in the war.
PhaedraA Cretan princess, daughter of Minos and wife of Theseus.
MedeaA princess of Colchis known as a sorceress; she aids Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece.
ProtesilausA hero of the Iliad, the first Greek to set foot on the shore at Troy.

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How it works

This Greek hero name generator draws real names from the myths: the fighters at Troy, the crew of the Argo, the houses of Thebes and Athens, Heracles and his circle, and heroines from Atalanta to Penelope.

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Choose a story

The Any story menu under the button keeps the draw to the Trojan War, the voyage of the Argo, Thebes, Heracles and his labors, Athens and Crete, or Other stories. A second row, Hero or heroine, sits behind More filters.

What the line on a card says

Whose child the hero was, what they ruled or the deed they are known for, worded from the opening of the hero's encyclopedia article. Bellerophon, for one, rode the winged horse Pegasus against the Chimera.

Tips

Heroines include Atalanta, Antigone, Ariadne, Medea, Penelope and the Amazon queens Hippolyta and Penthesilea.

Questions and answers

Are these Greek hero names real?

They are the names of heroes and heroines in ancient Greek myths, not of people known to history, and none was invented for this page. Each was checked against the hero's own encyclopedia article.

Who were the greatest Greek heroes?

Heracles is called the greatest of the Greek heroes. Wikipedia's article on Cadmus names him, Perseus and Bellerophon as the greatest heroes and slayers of monsters before the days of Heracles. Achilles, Odysseus, Theseus and Jason are on the list too.

Which Greek heroes were women?

Atalanta is called a heroine and huntress, and Hippolyta and Penthesilea were queens of the Amazons. The list also holds Antigone, Ariadne, Medea, Penelope and Andromeda, all under Heroines.

All 122 hero names

The Trojan War 34

Achilles Son of Peleus and the Nereid Thetis; the greatest of the Greek warriors at Troy and the hero of the Iliad.
Aeneas Trojan hero, son of Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite; Virgil's Aeneid follows him to Italy.
Agamemnon King of Mycenae, who commanded the Greeks in the Trojan War.
Ajax Son of King Telamon; a towering Greek warrior of the Iliad.
Ajax the Lesser Son of Oileus, king of Locris; called the Lesser to tell him from Ajax, son of Telamon.
Andromache Wife of Hector; her father Eetion ruled Cilician Thebe, where she grew up.
Antilochus A prince of Pylos, the youngest prince to command troops in the Trojan War.
Cassandra Trojan priestess whose true prophecies were never believed.
Clytemnestra Queen of Mycenae as wife of Agamemnon, and half-sister of Helen of Troy.
Deiphobus A Trojan prince; of Priam's sons only Hector was counted greater.
Diomedes Son of Tydeus and king of Argos, known for his part in the Trojan War.
Hector A Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy in the Trojan War; he leads the Trojans in Homer's Iliad.
Hecuba Queen of Troy, wife of King Priam during the Trojan War.

Show all 122 hero names (109 more)

The Trojan War, continued

Helen Called the most beautiful woman alive; her marriage to Paris of Troy set off the Trojan War.
Idomeneus King of Crete, who brought eighty black ships of Cretans to the war at Troy.
Iphigenia A princess of Mycenae, the eldest daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra.
Machaon Son of Asclepius and older brother of Podalirius; the two led an army from Tricca to Troy for the Greeks.
Memnon King of Aethiopia, son of Tithonus and the dawn goddess Eos; he came to fight for Troy.
Menelaus King of Sparta and husband of Helen, a leading figure of the Trojan War.
Nausicaa Daughter of King Alcinous of Phaeacia in Homer's Odyssey.
Neoptolemus Son of Achilles and the princess Deidamia; he was called Pyrrhus at birth.
Nestor King of Pylos, an old and respected leader of the Greeks at Troy.
Odysseus King of Ithaca; his ten-year voyage home from Troy is the story of the Odyssey.
Palamedes A prince of Euboea who went to Troy; dice, numbers and letters were said to be his inventions.
Paris Son of King Priam of Troy; his carrying off of Helen led to the Trojan War.
Patroclus The close companion of Achilles in the Iliad, son of Menoetius.
Penelope Queen of Ithaca and wife of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey.
Penthesilea Queen of the Amazons and daughter of Ares; she came to help Troy in the war.
Philoctetes Son of Poeas, a famed archer among the Greeks at Troy.
Priam Troy's last king, on the throne through the Trojan War; Hector, Paris and Cassandra were his children.
Protesilaus A hero of the Iliad, the first Greek to set foot on the shore at Troy.
Telemachus Son of Odysseus and Penelope, a central character of the Odyssey.
Teucer Son of Telamon, king of Salamis; at Troy he fought at the side of Ajax, his half-brother.
Troilus A young Trojan prince in the story of the Trojan War.

The voyage of the Argo 17

Acastus An Argonaut on Jason's crew who also hunted the Calydonian Boar.
Admetus King of Pherae in Thessaly; his name means the untameable.
Castor Twin of Pollux; the two are the Dioscuri, sons of Leda.
Euphemus An Argonaut and a hunter of the Calydonian boar, linked with the story of how Cyrene was founded.
Helle Called the daughter of Athamas; the Hellespont, the sea of Helle, is the strait named for her.
Hylas A young companion of Heracles; his carrying off by water nymphs was a subject of ancient art.
Idas A Messenian prince and one of the Argonauts.
Jason Leader of the Argonauts, son of Aeson; he sailed in quest of the Golden Fleece.
Laertes King of the Cephallenians, whose realm included Ithaca; counted among the Argonauts.
Medea A princess of Colchis known as a sorceress; she aids Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece.
Meleager A hero honored at Calydon in Aetolia, famed as host of the Calydonian boar hunt; also one of the Argonauts.
Orpheus A musician and poet who sailed with Jason and the Argonauts and went down to the underworld for Eurydice.
Peleus King of Phthia, husband of the Nereid Thetis and father of Achilles.
Phrixus His parents were Athamas, a king of Boeotia, and the cloud goddess Nephele; Helle was his younger sister.
Pollux Twin of Castor, one of the Dioscuri; Polydeuces is his Greek name.
Telamon Son of King Aeacus of Aegina; he sailed with Jason as an Argonaut.
Tiphys The helmsman of the Argonauts.

Thebes 17

Actaeon A famous Theban hero, son of the herdsman Aristaeus, trained by the centaur Chiron.
Adrastus An Argive king who led seven champions against Thebes; alone of them he was saved, by his horse Arion.
Alcmaeon One of the Epigoni and the leader of the Argives who took Thebes.
Amphiaraus A seer of Argos, son of Oicles, and one of the Seven against Thebes.
Amphion Twin of Zethus, son of Zeus and Antiope; the twins built the walls of Thebes.
Antigone A Theban princess, daughter of Oedipus; Sophocles named a tragedy after her.
Cadmus Founder of Thebes in Boeotia in legend; his father Agenor ruled a kingdom in Phoenicia.
Creon Ruler of Thebes in the story of Oedipus; his name means ruler.
Eteocles King of Thebes, son of Oedipus; he and his brother Polynices fought over the city.
Ismene A Theban princess, daughter of Oedipus and sister of Antigone.
Jocasta Queen of Thebes, best known for her part in the myths of Oedipus.
Oedipus A king of Thebes, the tragic hero of plays by Sophocles.
Pentheus A king of Thebes, grandson of Cadmus; Euripides tells his story in The Bacchae.
Polynices Son of Oedipus; he and his brother Eteocles were left to rule Thebes together and went to war over it.
Tiresias A blind prophet of Apollo at Thebes, an adviser there through seven generations.
Tydeus An Aetolian of the generation before Troy, one of the Seven who marched on Thebes; Diomedes was his son.
Zethus Twin of Amphion, son of Zeus and Antiope; the twins built the walls of Thebes.

Heracles and his labors 13

Abderus A companion of Heracles for whom the city of Abdera was named.
Alcmene Wife of Amphitryon and mother of Heracles.
Amphitryon Son of Alcaeus, king of Tiryns; the husband of Alcmene.
Deianira A Calydonian princess and the wife of Heracles.
Eurystheus King of Tiryns, a Mycenaean stronghold; Homer and Euripides make him ruler of Argos.
Heracles Son of Zeus and Alcmene, the greatest of the Greek heroes; twelve labors made his name.
Hippolyta An Amazon queen whose parents were Ares and Otrera; Heracles and Theseus both meet her in their myths.
Hyllus Heracles's son by Deianira; Iole was his wife.
Iolaus A Theban hero, famed as the charioteer and squire of Heracles, whom he helped with some of his Labors.
Iphicles Half-twin of Heracles on their mother's side; he joined the hunt for the Calydonian boar.
Megara A princess of Thebes who became the first wife of Heracles.
Omphale A Lydian princess of Asia Minor; in her best-known myth Heracles must serve her for a year.
Telephus Son of Heracles and Auge, later king of Mysia.

Athens and Crete 14

Aegeus A king of Athens and the father of Theseus; the Aegean Sea carries his name.
Ariadne Daughter of King Minos of Crete; she helped Theseus get away from the Minotaur.
Cecrops A legendary king of Attica, called the founder and first king of Athens.
Daedalus A master builder: he made the Labyrinth for King Minos, and wings for himself and his son Icarus.
Erechtheus A king of Athens, called the founder of the city.
Europa A Phoenician princess, mother of King Minos of Crete; the continent of Europe may be named for her.
Hippolytus Son of Theseus and an Amazon; Euripides tells his story in a play.
Icarus Son of the craftsman Daedalus; he flew on wings his father made and went too near the Sun.
Minos A Cretan king whose parents were Zeus and Europa; after death he became a judge in the underworld.
Pasiphaë Queen of Crete and daughter of Helios, the Sun.
Phaedra A Cretan princess, daughter of Minos and wife of Theseus.
Pirithous King of the Lapiths of Larissa and best friend of Theseus.
Rhadamanthus A wise king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa, who became a judge of the dead.
Theseus A divine hero of Athens, famous for defeating the Minotaur.

Other stories 27

Aeacus King of the island of Aegina, famed for his justice; the heroes Peleus and Telamon were his sons.
Alcestis A princess of Iolcus famed for devotion to her husband; Euripides told her story in a tragedy.
Andromeda Daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, king and queen of Aethiopia; Perseus saved her from a sea monster.
Arcas A hunter turned king of Arcadia, remembered for teaching weaving and the baking of bread.
Atalanta A huntress with two tellings: Arcadia's joins the Calydonian boar hunt, Boeotia's is a famed runner.
Bellerophon A Corinthian hero who rode the winged horse Pegasus against the Chimera.
Calaïs One of the Boreads, the two wind brothers; Zetes is his brother and Boreas, the North wind, his father.
Cyrene A Thessalian princess and huntress; the Greek colony of Cyrene in Libya bears her name.
Danaë An Argive princess and the mother of the hero Perseus.
Danaus King of Libya, whose myth is a founding legend of the city of Argos.
Deucalion Son of Prometheus, at the heart of the Greek myth of a great flood.
Electra A princess of Mycenae, daughter of Agamemnon; Sophocles and Euripides each wrote a tragedy named for her.
Hippomenes A prince of Boeotia; Aphrodite helped him outrun Atalanta, and he married her.
Leda An Aetolian princess who became queen of Sparta by her marriage to King Tyndareus.
Melampus A seer and healer from Pylos who ruled at Argos; Herodotus says he understood the speech of animals.
Neleus A mythological king of Pylos and the father of Nestor.
Oeneus King of Calydon, said to be the first to receive a vine from Dionysus.
Orestes Son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, brother of Electra and Iphigenia; many Greek plays tell his story.
Orion A giant hunter, set in the sky as a constellation by Zeus or Artemis.
Pelops King of Pisa in the Peloponnese, whose name means Pelops's island; he was honored at Olympia.
Perseus Son of Zeus and Danaë and founder of the Perseid dynasty; he overcame the Gorgon Medusa and saved Andromeda.
Phaethon Son of the sun god Helios; he asked to drive his father's chariot for a day and could not hold the horses.
Pylades A prince of Phocis and the close friend of Orestes.
Pyrrha Daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, or in some accounts of Prometheus.
Sisyphus Founder and king of Ephyra, made to roll a boulder up a hill forever.
Triptolemus A hero of Eleusis, a central figure of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Zetes One of the Boreads, the two wind brothers from Thrace, sons of Boreas the North wind.

How this list was compiled: 122 heroes and heroines of Greek myth, every one a figure of an ancient story and none made up. Each has an article of its own in English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Greek_mythological_figures lists them), read on October 2, 2026. The line on a card is our own wording of what the opening of that article says: whose child the hero was, what they ruled, or the deed they are known for. A script checked the key words of every line against the article after this file was written, and a line that claimed more than its article's opening says was reworded or the hero was left out. As a second check, 36 of the 122 names were found on the Theoi Project's page of heroes (https://www.theoi.com/greek-mythology/heroes.html, read the same day). Left out: the gods, who have a list of their own; nymphs, giants and monsters; and heroes whose opening lines tell only of a violent death. The first six groups are the story cycle a hero belongs to, placed by what the article's opening says; Heroes and Heroines sort the same names a second way. Licence: Facts from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/); the selection and the wording of every line are ours.