This troll name generator names a troll for a story, gives it a kind from the folklore of Scandinavia and the northern isles, and adds a habit. Every kind has one checked line on what the old tales say.
Read the full guide
Name one troll or a whole hillside
Press New troll name. Tap a part to lock it, then press again. Lock the kind on mound troll and each press names another of the family under one hill. Lock a name you like and press until the habit fits.
What the tales say
In Old Norse sources trolls live in lonely mountains, rocks and caves. In the Norwegian tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, one lives under a bridge. The trow of Orkney and Shetland leaves its earth mound only in the evening and is fond of music.
Tips
Fantasy troll names sound best heavy at the front: Grumbold, not Boldgrum.
Give two trolls the same habit and they become rivals.
Questions and answers
What are trolls in folklore?
Beings of Nordic folklore. In Old Norse sources they live in lonely rocks, mountains and caves and are rarely helpful to people. Later Scandinavian tales describe them as very old, very strong and slow-witted.
Why do trolls turn to stone?
In later Scandinavian folklore some trolls turn to stone when sunlight touches them. Odd rocks and landmarks are explained as trolls caught by the sun.
What is a good name for a troll?
One that sounds like a stone rolling downhill, such as Grumbold, or one built from the ground the troll lives on, such as Mossbrow or Pebblejaw. The names here are made up in both ways.
Is the troll under the bridge from a real story?
Yes. It comes from the Three Billy Goats Gruff, a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe and first published between 1841 and 1844.
Are these names from a game or a film?
No. The names are our own, and each was searched in a dictionary, in name files, on Wikipedia and on fantasy fan wikis; the ones that turned up were cut. Search a name before you publish it.
How this list was compiled: Our own list of 101 invented troll names, written on 2026-10-02: some are made-up sounds and some join a word for the ground to a part of the body. Each was screened by script that day: an English dictionary; first-name and surname files; GeoNames places (https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/, CC BY 4.0); every list on this site and its sister sites; a rude-word list read across the join (https://github.com/LDNOOBW/List-of-Dirty-Naughty-Obscene-and-Otherwise-Bad-Words); exact page titles on English Wikipedia; every page title of 16 fantasy fan wikis; and exact page titles on 9 more (lotr.fandom.com, forgottenrealms.fandom.com, elderscrolls.fandom.com, witcher.fandom.com, dragonage.fandom.com, wowpedia.fandom.com, pathfinder.fandom.com, criticalrole.fandom.com, harrypotter.fandom.com), and on seven wikis of other games, comics and films (starwars.fandom.com, warhammer40k.fandom.com, memory-alpha.fandom.com, marvel.fandom.com, dc.fandom.com, finalfantasy.fandom.com, naruto.fandom.com). 29 candidates were cut (8 a dictionary word; 6 taken out on a second reading; 5 a name from published fiction, or one letter from it; 4 a fan wiki page title; 2 a real first name or surname; 2 a Wikipedia page title; 1 a rude word inside or across the join; 1 on another list of this site), among them Brunk, Drumble, Snurgle, Wumble, Nubble, Ruddle. No list of fiction is complete, so search a name before you publish it. Licence: own work
Kind of troll: all 11 kinds of troll
By where the tales place it 5
bridge trollIn the Norwegian tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, a troll lives under the bridge the goats must cross.
forest trollIn the Prose Edda the poet Bragi meets a troll woman while driving through a forest late one evening.
mound trollIn Scandinavian folk tradition smaller trolls are said to live in burial mounds and in mountains.
Show all 11 kinds of troll (8 more)
By where the tales place it, continued
mountain trollIn Old Norse sources trolls dwell in isolated mountains, rocks and caves.
trowA mischievous spirit of Orkney and Shetland that leaves its earth mound only in the evening and loves music.
By what the tales say of it 6
giant trollNordic folklore often mixes up trolls and jötnar, the giants of Norse myth.
slow old trollMany tales describe trolls as extremely old, very strong, but slow and dim-witted.
small trollDepending on where a story comes from, trolls may be small, human-like beings or as tall as people.
stone-throwing trollScandinavian tradition explains some large local stones as the product of a troll's toss.
sun-shy trollIn later Scandinavian tales some trolls turn to stone in sunlight, and odd rocks are explained that way.
thunder-shy trollA Scandinavian folk belief holds that lightning frightens trolls away.
How this list was compiled: 11 kinds of troll. The labels are ours; the line on each is what northern folklore says, checked against the English Wikipedia article linked on it on 2026-10-02 (CC BY-SA 4.0). The wording of each line is ours. Licence: own work
Habit: all 50 habits
Collections 10
collects door knockers from houses that fell down
collects lost shoes from the riverbank
gathers round stones and names each one
has a drawer full of other people's keys
hoards spoons and has never owned a bowl
keeps a heap of bells that it is afraid to ring
keeps a single gold coin and polishes it daily
keeps every button it has ever found in a jar
picks up dropped mittens and never finds a pair
saves birds' feathers in an old boot
Show all 50 habits (40 more)
Tolls and travelers 10
asks every traveler the same question and forgets the answer
charges a toll of one riddle
counts travelers on its fingers and stops at ten
demands a song from anyone who crosses
guards a shortcut and tells everyone about it
lets goats pass free on Tuesdays
stamps the passes of passing hedgehogs
trades directions for gossip
waves at every cart and is hurt when no one waves back
will carry a traveler over the river for a turnip
Alone at night 10
argues with its own echo
counts the stars each night and loses count at twelve
hums the only tune it knows, slightly wrong
is teaching a boulder to sit and stay
practices smiling in a puddle
repeats its only joke to passing owls
sleeps through whole winters with its feet in the stream
snores loudly enough to start small landslides
talks to its reflection and loses the argument
writes poems in the mud and lets the rain edit them
Work 10
bakes bread as hard as the hills
brews nettle tea in a bucket
builds stone towers that fall down by morning
grows prize turnips behind a waterfall
keeps a goat that is cleverer than it is
keeps bees and is stung into good manners
knits scarves for trees
mends bridges at night so that no one can thank it
paints faces on boulders for company
sweeps the forest floor and is never finished
Fears and failings 10
blushes green when praised
cannot whistle and keeps trying
faints at the sight of a tidy room
gets lost in its own cave
has never once won at hide-and-seek
is afraid of sheep
is homesick after an hour away
is sure the moon follows it home
still sleeps with a pet pebble
thinks every scarecrow is a rival
How this list was compiled: Our own list of 50 habits, written on 2026-10-02 for a troll that a child can meet in a story: no one is eaten. Checked by script against every list on this site. Licence: own work