About hag names
Sweet old given names rot inside results like "Auntie Darlene Tallowcradler" and "Bony Madeline Beetlebone", where the adjective and surname tell you what the smile hides. Inspired by tabletop hags and their bargains, these fit coven antagonists, swamp witches, and the kindly neighbor your players should never have trusted. Read the surname first, since that is where the curse lives.
How hag names are built
A hag name is a three-part title: a mood word, a homely given name, then a sinister two-piece compound surname. "Blaring Cynthia Thatchdipper", "Auntie Darlene Tallowcradler" and "Snoopy Cheryl Filthnuzzle" all follow this frame, pairing an ordinary first name with a grotesque occupation-flavoured surname.
Blaring Cynthia Thatchdipper
Blaring (mood word) + Cynthia (given name) + Thatch (surname first half) + dipper (surname second half)
Auntie Darlene Tallowcradler
Auntie (mood word) + Darlene (given name) + Tallow (surname first half) + cradler (surname second half)
Snoopy Cheryl Filthnuzzle
Snoopy (mood word) + Cheryl (given name) + Filth (surname first half) + nuzzle (surname second half)
Naming notes
The contrast is the whole joke: a folksy given name (Cynthia, Darlene, Cheryl) from a 401-entry pool sits between an off-kilter modifier (Blaring, Auntie, Snoopy) and a repellent compound surname (Thatchdipper, Tallowcradler, Filthnuzzle). The surname is built from a 100-entry first half and a 126-entry second half, so it always reads like a swamp-witch's trade. Keep the wholesome middle name to sharpen the menace of the surname.
Questions about hag names
- Why does a hag have an ordinary middle name like Cynthia?
- The folksy given name is the point: an everyday "Cynthia" or "Darlene" between a strange modifier and a grotesque surname makes the hag feel unnervingly close to human.
- How is the surname built?
- It compounds a first half (Thatch, Tallow, Filth) with a second half (dipper, cradler, nuzzle), producing a repellent trade-name like "Filthnuzzle".
- What does the first word do?
- The mood word (Blaring, Auntie, Snoopy) sets a tone, sometimes mock-affectionate, sometimes harsh, that colours how the hag introduces herself.