This lich name generator makes up one deathless sorcerer for a game or a story: a name, an epithet such as the Unhoused, the calling it had in life and the place where its life is hidden.
Read the full guide
Four parts, one villain
Press New lich name. Keep a name and press for a new past: once a court astronomer, once a keeper of tax rolls. The hiding place, such as a sealed inkwell, is what a party of heroes would have to find.
Where the idea comes from
Lich is an old English word for a corpse or dead body. In Russian folktales Koshchei the Deathless hides his death in a needle inside an egg, and that line is in the list.
Questions and answers
What is a lich?
In fantasy fiction, a lich is a type of undead creature with magical powers, often a powerful wizard who seeks eternal life. The word once simply meant a corpse or dead body.
Why is the life hidden in an object?
It is an old story idea. In Russian folklore Koshchei the Deathless cannot be killed because his death is hidden in a needle inside an egg, the egg in a duck, the duck in a hare, the hare in a chest.
Are these lich names from a game?
No. Every name is invented and was checked against Wikipedia and fantasy fan wikis, and the page uses no game's word for the hiding place. Search a name before you publish it, because no list is complete.
How this list was compiled: Our own list of 108 invented names, written on 2026-10-02. Screened by script that day against an English dictionary and two lists of real names (US Census 2020 surnames and the first names in the Social Security baby-name files); GeoNames places of 500 people and up with their alternate names (https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/, CC BY 4.0); every list on this site; a rude-word list; a list of well-known names from fantasy books and games; every word of every page title of 16 fantasy fan wikis, and names one letter from the first word of one; English Wikipedia page titles and a full-text search of English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/, CC BY-SA 4.0); and exact page titles on 12 fantasy fan wikis (lotr.fandom.com, forgottenrealms.fandom.com, elderscrolls.fandom.com, witcher.fandom.com, dragonage.fandom.com, gameofthrones.fandom.com, wot.fandom.com, harrypotter.fandom.com, wowpedia.fandom.com, pathfinder.fandom.com, criticalrole.fandom.com, zelda.fandom.com). 2 candidates were cut (1 a name from published fiction, or one letter from it; 1 a rude word inside or across the join), among them Ulthaz, Orzimeth. No list of names is complete, so search a name before you publish it. Looked up again as English Wikipedia page titles on 2026-10-03: no name is a title. Licence: own work
Epithet: all 48 epithets
C 3
the Candleless
the Cobweb-Robed
the Cold-Handed
D 2
the Dry Voice
the Dust-Crowned
E 1
the Ever-Counting
G 1
the Gray Scholar
I 1
the Ink-Fingered
Show all 48 epithets (40 more)
L 3
the Lampless
the Last Reader
the Long-Awake
M 2
the Margin-Writer
the Much-Postponed
O 18
of the Back Shelf
of the Borrowed Century
of the Cracked Lens
of the Final Footnote
of the Hollow Hourglass
of the Locked Almanac
of the Missing Hour
of the Ninth Seal
of the Pale Ledger
of the Quiet Vault
of the Sealed Wing
of the Seventh Stair
of the Shut Tower
of the Thousand Keys
of the Tilted Crown
of the Unlit Hall
the Outlasting
the Overdue
P 1
the Paper-Thin
R 2
the Rattle-Sleeved
the Rust-Ringed
T 4
the Threadbare
the Thrice-Dusted
the Tireless
the Twice-Forgotten
U 9
the Unanswered
the Unblinking
the Unexcused
the Unfaded
the Unhoused
the Unretired
the Unshadowed
the Unsleeping
the Unthawed
W 1
the Whisper-Kept
How this list was compiled: Our own list of 48 epithets, written on 2026-10-02. Checked by script against every list on this site and the page titles of 16 fantasy fan wikis. 14 candidates were cut (13 on another list of this site; 1 a fan wiki page title), among them the Unfinished, the Patient, the Uninvited, the Unpersuaded, the Unhurried, the Unbowed. Licence: own work
Once: all 44 callings
A 43
a binder of law books
a breeder of messenger pigeons
a builder of lighthouses
a cheese inspector
a chess tutor
a collector of rare inks
a composer of marches
a counter of sheep
Show all 44 callings (36 more)
A, continued
a court astronomer
a dye maker
a ferryman's clerk
a gardener of a winter palace
a glassblower
a grader of pearls
a harbor master
a herald of small courts
a judge of riddles
a keeper of drawbridge accounts
a keeper of tax rolls
a keeper of the city gates
a lamplighter
a locksmith to three queens
a measurer of rainfall
a mender of astrolabes
a papermaker
a proofreader of prophecies
a puppet maker
a registrar of comets
a royal beekeeper's clerk
a royal mapmaker
a stargazer's cook
a surveyor of borders
a teacher of rhetoric
a teacher of sums
a translator of forgotten languages
a tutor to seven princes
a village schoolmaster
a warden of the salt stores
a weather prophet
a writer of almanacs
an alchemist's bottle-washer
an archivist of treaties
an examiner of wizards
M 1
the master of a royal mint
How this list was compiled: Our own list of 44 callings a lich might have had in life, written on 2026-10-02 to read after the word "once". Checked by script against every list on this site for repeats. 11 candidates were cut (9 on another list of this site; 2 a real first name or surname), among them the librarian of a mountain school, a copier of star charts, a bell founder, a keeper of the king's bees, a census taker, a lens grinder. Read again on 2026-10-03: 4 callings close to a line of another list of this site were cut and 7 new ones written. Licence: own work
Life hidden in: all 52 hiding places
A 34
a brass button on a scarecrow's coat
a chess pawn carved from jet
a coin under the tongue of a statue
a feather in a locked birdcage
a frozen drop of ink
a glass marble in a magpie's nest
a key baked into a brick
a kite caught in a tower window
Show all 52 hiding places (44 more)
A, continued
a knot in a ship's rope
a loose cobblestone in a market square
a marble at the bottom of a rain barrel
a marble held by a stone child
a moth kept in amber
a needle inside an egg
a pebble in a mountain stream
a pressed leaf in a dictionary
a ring at the bottom of a fish pond
a sealed inkwell
a sealed jar of sea fog
a seed that never sprouts
a shadow folded in a drawer
a silver spoon in a traveler's pocket
a single white chess king
a snow globe that never settles
a splinter in a church door
a star chart rolled in a brass tube
a teacup with a painted crack
a thimble sewn into a hem
a tin soldier with no paint
a walnut shell sealed with wax
a whistle no dog can hear
an acorn cap in a bird's nest
an hourglass with one grain left
an icicle that will not melt
B 1
the bookmark in a book nobody finishes
C 1
the cork of a bottle of vinegar
D 1
the dot of an i in an old deed
F 1
the first coin a miser saved
H 2
the heart of an onion
the hollow leg of a writing desk
L 2
the last candle in a locked chapel
the last pip of a pomegranate
M 1
the middle link of a well chain
N 1
the ninth bell of a sunken church
O 1
one bead on an abacus
P 1
the pip of a dried lemon
S 3
the second hand of a stopped watch
the smallest of nine nested dolls
the stopper of a perfume flask
W 3
the wax seal of an unread letter
the weather vane of an empty mill
the wick of a candle never lit
How this list was compiled: Our own list of 52 hiding places for a life kept outside the body, written on 2026-10-02. One line is from folklore: the needle inside an egg is where Koshchei the Deathless of Russian folktales hides his death (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koshchei, read that day, CC BY-SA 4.0). No game's word for the vessel is used. Checked by script against every list on this site for repeats. 13 candidates were cut (11 on another list of this site; 1 taken out on a second reading; 1 a real first name or surname), among them a thimble at the bottom of a well, a locked music box, the pendulum of a stopped clock, a page torn from an almanac, the eye of a stone lion. Read again on 2026-10-03: 6 hiding places close to a line of another list of this site were cut and 9 new ones written. Licence: own work