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Pirate names: 170+ famous, female and funny pirate names

170 names · Updated · By The Nomezo Editors · Save to Pinterest

Famous pirate names include Blackbeard, Anne Bonny and Calico Jack, all real sea robbers from the Golden Age of Piracy around 1700, and names like theirs are still the template for a great pirate name.

This page starts with history: Golden Age pirates, famous female pirates, buccaneers and corsairs, pirates from classic books and real pirate ship names, each with dates and places you can trust. After that come clearly labeled invented names for captains, female pirates, ships and crews, plus a batch of funny pirate names for costumes and games.

Can't decide? Shuffle 6 random picks

  • Murakami Takeyoshi

    Led a famous Seto Inland Sea pirate clan in 1500s Japan

  • Admiral Ignatius Barnacle

    Too important to scrape off, too stubborn to sink

  • Jean Lafitte

    Gulf pirate and privateer who helped defend New Orleans in 1814 and 1815

  • Knotty

    Can tie forty sailor's hitches with eyes closed

  • Juniper 'Jinx' Marlowe

    Bad luck for everyone who crosses her

  • Captain Kestrel Tidewrack

    Spots treasure from miles away, like a hawk

Find a pirate name on this page

Narrow 170 names by section, length or first letter, or search the notes.

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Want endless ideas? Try the pirate name generator and generate new names in one click.

Famous pirate names from the Golden Age

Real pirates of the Caribbean, Atlantic and Indian Ocean, roughly 1650 to 1730, with the facts behind each name.

  1. Blackbeard: Edward Teach or Thatch, killed in battle at Ocracoke, North Carolina, in 1718
  2. Black Bart: Bartholomew Roberts, a Welsh captain who took over 400 ships, most of them small; the nickname came later
  3. Calico Jack: John Rackham, hanged at Port Royal, Jamaica, in 1720
  4. Captain Kidd: Scottish privateer turned pirate, hanged at Wapping, London, in 1701
  5. Black Sam Bellamy: His ship, the Whydah Gally, sank off Cape Cod in 1717
  6. Henry Every: Long Ben, who seized a Mughal treasure ship in 1695 and vanished
  7. Stede Bonnet: The Gentleman Pirate, a Barbados landowner hanged in 1718
  8. Charles Vane: Took the king's pardon in 1718, broke it within weeks and fled Nassau; hanged in Jamaica in 1721
  9. Edward Low: Feared English pirate of the 1720s whose fate is unknown
  10. Benjamin Hornigold: Blackbeard's mentor, who later hunted pirates for the Bahamas governor
  11. Howell Davis: Welsh captain killed on the island of Príncipe in 1719
  12. Thomas Tew: Rhode Island pirate who pioneered the Pirate Round; died 1695
  13. Edward England: Irish captain marooned by his own crew on Mauritius in 1720
  14. Israel Hands: Blackbeard's second in command, whose name Stevenson borrowed for Treasure Island
  15. Olivier Levasseur: La Buse, the Buzzard, hanged on Réunion island in 1730
  16. Paulsgrave Williams: Black Sam Bellamy's sailing partner in 1716 and 1717
  17. Henry Jennings: Raided a Spanish treasure-salvage camp in Florida in 1716

Famous female pirates

Women who raided at sea, from ancient Illyria to the South China Sea. A few, marked in the notes, are legend or disputed.

  1. Anne Bonny: Said to be Irish-born; sailed with Calico Jack and was captured in 1720
  2. Mary Read: Sailed disguised as a man; died in a Jamaican prison in 1721
  3. Ching Shih: Led a pirate confederation of hundreds of junks off southern China; surrendered on terms in 1810
  4. Grace O'Malley: Irish clan leader and sea captain who met Elizabeth I in 1593
  5. Jeanne de Clisson: The Lioness of Brittany, who raided French ships after 1343
  6. Sayyida al-Hurra: Governor of Tétouan, Morocco, and corsair leader from 1515 to 1542
  7. Rachel Wall: Raided off New England; hanged in Boston in 1789
  8. Teuta: Illyrian queen whose raiders provoked a war with Rome around 229 BC
  9. Elise Eskilsdotter: Norwegian noblewoman who waged war on Bergen's German merchants after 1455
  10. Anne Dieu-le-Veut: French settler of Tortuga who married buccaneer Laurens de Graaf
  11. Jacquotte Delahaye: Legendary redheaded buccaneer, possibly invented by later writers
  12. Alfhild: Legendary princess turned sea raider in Saxo's history of the Danes
  13. Lai Choi San: Pirate chief near Macau in the 1920s, known only from Aleko Lilius's disputed account
  14. Lady Killigrew: Suffolk-born wife of a Cornish squire, whose servants seized a Spanish ship at Falmouth in 1582

Buccaneers, privateers and corsairs

Sea raiders who often sailed with a government license, from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean and the China coast.

  1. Henry Morgan: Welsh buccaneer who sacked Panama in 1671 and was later knighted
  2. Francis Drake: Called El Draque by Spain; sailed around the world from 1577 to 1580
  3. Hayreddin Barbarossa: Ottoman admiral who won the Battle of Preveza in 1538
  4. Oruç Reis: The first Redbeard, older brother of Hayreddin; died in 1518
  5. Turgut Reis: Ottoman corsair admiral killed at the Siege of Malta in 1565
  6. Klaus Störtebeker: Baltic and North Sea raider executed in Hamburg in 1400 or 1401
  7. Gödeke Michels: Fellow Victual Brothers captain, executed soon after, around 1402
  8. Piet Hein: Dutch admiral who captured a Spanish silver fleet in 1628
  9. Jean Bart: Dunkirk privateer and French naval hero, 1650 to 1702
  10. Robert Surcouf: Saint-Malo corsair who captured the East Indiaman Kent in 1800
  11. Laurens de Graaf: Dutch buccaneer who helped sack Veracruz in 1683
  12. François l'Olonnais: French buccaneer who sacked Maracaibo in 1666
  13. William Dampier: Buccaneer, explorer and naturalist who sailed around the world three times
  14. Koxinga: Ming loyalist sea lord who took Taiwan from the Dutch in 1662
  15. Zheng Zhilong: Pirate-merchant who ruled the China coast; Koxinga's father
  16. Murakami Takeyoshi: Led a famous Seto Inland Sea pirate clan in 1500s Japan
  17. Bartholomew Sharp: English buccaneer who raided Spain's Pacific coast from 1680 to 1682
  18. Jean Lafitte: Gulf pirate and privateer who helped defend New Orleans in 1814 and 1815

Pirates from classic books and plays

Characters from stories that shaped how we picture pirates.

  1. Long John Silver: Ship's cook and mutiny leader in Stevenson's Treasure Island, 1883
  2. Captain Flint: Buried the treasure in Treasure Island; a parrot shares his name
  3. Billy Bones: Old sea dog at the Admiral Benbow inn in Treasure Island
  4. Ben Gunn: Marooned pirate who dreams of cheese in Treasure Island
  5. Captain Hook: J.M. Barrie's villain, first on stage in Peter Pan in 1904
  6. Mr. Smee: Hook's bespectacled bosun in J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan
  7. The Pirate King: Swashbuckling pirate chief in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, 1879
  8. Captain Blood: Doctor turned pirate in Rafael Sabatini's 1922 novel
  9. Sandokan: The Tiger of Malaya, hero of Emilio Salgari's adventure novels from 1883
  10. The Red Rover: Mysterious captain of James Fenimore Cooper's 1827 novel
  11. Captain Singleton: Hero of Daniel Defoe's 1720 pirate adventure

Real pirate ship names

Ships that carried famous pirates and privateers, and who sailed them.

  1. Queen Anne's Revenge: Blackbeard's flagship, run aground near Beaufort, North Carolina, in 1718
  2. Whydah Gally: Black Sam Bellamy's ship; its wreck was found in 1984
  3. Adventure Galley: Captain Kidd's 34-gun ship, launched in 1695
  4. Royal Fortune: Name Bartholomew Roberts gave to several of his flagships
  5. Fancy: Henry Every's ship in the great 1695 treasure raid
  6. Golden Hind: Francis Drake's ship on his voyage around the world
  7. Revenge: Stede Bonnet's sloop, which later sailed with Blackbeard
  8. Ranger: The sloop Lark, renamed by Charles Vane's crew in 1718
  9. Amity: Thomas Tew's sloop on his 1693 voyage to the Red Sea
  10. Satisfaction: Henry Morgan's flagship, wrecked off Panama in 1671

Invented pirate ship names

Original ship names for your own crew, game or story. All invented.

  1. The Salty Siren: Lures sailors in, then outruns the navy
  2. Kraken's Grin: A ship with a sea monster's attitude
  3. The Gilded Gull: Shiny, noisy and always after your lunch
  4. Sea Wraith: Slips through fog without a sound
  5. Storm Lantern: Sails straight into bad weather on purpose
  6. The Crimson Gale: Red sails and a fierce wind behind them
  7. Midnight Doubloon: Gold that only shines after dark
  8. The Wandering Compass: Never quite sure where it is going
  9. Thundertide: Loud cannons, louder crew
  10. The Rusty Anchor: Slow to leave port, impossible to sink
  11. Neptune's Folly: Named for the sea god, who is not amused
  12. The Sly Marlin: Fast, sleek and full of tricks
  13. The Jolly Biscuit: Friendliest ship on the seven seas, with the best snacks
  14. Leviathan's Lullaby: Rocks the crew to sleep, then rocks the enemy
  15. The Cutlass Queen: A flagship fit for pirate royalty
  16. The Merry Mermaid: A cheerful ship with a singing figurehead
  17. Gullwing: Light, quick and always circling back

Invented pirate captain names

Original captain names for books, games and costume parties. All invented for this page.

  1. Captain Rourke Saltblood: Born at sea and salty about everything since
  2. Captain Mara 'Riptide' Cinderwake: Drags rivals under before they see her coming
  3. Captain Thane Wreckwood: Builds his fleet from ships he has sunk
  4. Captain Corvina Saltmarsh: Named for a fish, feared like a shark
  5. Captain Bartlow Grimtide: Grim face, grim tide, surprisingly good singer
  6. Commodore Fennick Ironwake: Commands a fleet led by an iron-hulled flagship
  7. Captain Wrenna Stormcaller: Swears she can summon a squall on cue
  8. Captain Jago Blackreef: Knows every hidden reef in the Caribbean
  9. Admiral Ignatius Barnacle: Too important to scrape off, too stubborn to sink
  10. Captain Della 'Kraken' Marrow: Wraps up every battle with eight-armed efficiency
  11. Captain Silvertongue Sully: Talks his way out of every ambush
  12. Captain Lucan Dreadmore: Dread by name, cheerful by nature
  13. Captain Nell Gunwale: Lives on the edge, like the top rail of her ship
  14. Captain Bramble Hookfin: Prickly as a hedge, slippery as an eel
  15. Captain Orrin Saltcrest: Rides the crest of every wave and every rumor
  16. Captain Kestrel Tidewrack: Spots treasure from miles away, like a hawk
  17. Captain Hector Squall: Arrives like bad weather, leaves like worse weather
  18. Captain Ember Dawnbreaker: Attacks at first light, every single time
  19. Captain Fitzroy Fathom: Measures every problem in fathoms

Invented female pirate names

Original names for pirate queens, quartermasters and stowaways. All invented.

  1. Molly Brinehart: Salt in her veins and kindness in her heart
  2. Bess 'Cannonball' Carrow: Hits hard and laughs louder
  3. Ada Wavecutter: Slices through the sea faster than any sloop
  4. Lady Isla Seastorm: Traded her ballroom for a quarterdeck
  5. Nell 'Two Pistols' Harrow: Always ready, and always doubly ready
  6. Mira Tidebreaker: Breaks waves, rules and the occasional mast
  7. Saltwater Sal: Would not know what to do on dry land
  8. Kit Cutlass: Quick with a blade and quicker with a joke
  9. Rosalind 'Red Sails' Ferrow: Her ship is spotted long before she is
  10. Ottoline 'Otter' Reed: Swims better than she walks
  11. Lark Holloway: Sings shanties sweet enough to calm a storm
  12. Juniper 'Jinx' Marlowe: Bad luck for everyone who crosses her
  13. Greta Gunpowder: Explosive temper, excellent aim
  14. Wren Driftwood: Floats wherever the adventure is
  15. Delia Darkwater: Sails the deep water no one else will touch
  16. Pearl 'The Oyster' Finch: Hard shell, priceless inside
  17. Tessa Thunderbay: Her arrival sounds like a storm rolling in
  18. Coral Quickwind: Bright as a reef and fast as a gust
  19. Effie Hookline: Always lands her catch, fish or treasure
  20. Madame Vex of the Silver Sea: No harbor master has ever pinned her down

Funny pirate names

Silly, pun-filled pirate names for costumes, kids' parties and very relaxed crews.

  1. Captain Soggy Socks: Has never once had dry feet
  2. Barnacle Barry: Sticks to the ship no matter what
  3. Long John Silverware: Insists on the good forks at every feast
  4. Captain Landlubber Lou: Prefers dry land, if he is honest
  5. Timber Tim: Shivers his own timbers daily
  6. Arrr-thur: A pirate named Arthur, which explains everything
  7. Captain Ahoy-Ahoy: Answers every hello twice
  8. Plankton Pete: Small fry with very big dreams
  9. Captain Scurvy Steve: Forgot the limes again
  10. Davy Bones: Keeps a locker at the very bottom of the ocean
  11. Kelpie Kate: Half sea horse, half trouble
  12. Captain Puddle: Has never sailed anything bigger
  13. Matey McMateface: Everyone's best friend on deck
  14. Bilgewater Bob: Swabs the lowest deck and loves it
  15. Doubloon Doug: Counts his coins, then counts them again
  16. Captain Calamari: Eight arms of pure chaos
  17. Captain Yo-Ho-Hoho: Laughs at every joke, especially his own
  18. Sir Francis Drake-a-Nap: Naps between every battle
  19. Anchovy Annie: Small, salty and everywhere at once
  20. Doubloon Dan: Richest pirate on the seven seas
  21. Captain Cheddar Beard: Loves cheese more than gold
  22. Captain Parrotphrase: Repeats everything you say, but shorter
  23. Pirate Pete the Polite: Says please before every plunder
  24. Captain Snackbeard: Keeps crackers in his beard for emergencies

Pirate nicknames for the crew

Short nicknames for deckhands, gunners and lookouts, a few of them real sailor words.

  1. Salty: For the deckhand with opinions on everything
  2. Bilge Rat: Classic insult, worn as a badge of honor
  3. Cannonball: Small, fast and impossible to stop
  4. Spyglass: Always first to spot land, or trouble
  5. Powder Monkey: Real name for the boys who carried gunpowder aboard warships
  6. Sharkbait: The crew member who always falls overboard
  7. Old Salt: Real slang for a seasoned sailor
  8. Swabbie: Keeps the deck spotless, mop in hand
  9. Riptide: Pulls everyone into trouble, cheerfully
  10. Squall: Calm one minute, stormy the next
  11. Knotty: Can tie forty sailor's hitches with eyes closed
  12. Barnacle: Clings to the crew through thick and thin
  13. Quartermaster Quinn: Shares out the loot fairly, down to the last coin
  14. Flintlock: Named for the pistols every crew carried
  15. Starboard Stan: Always on the right-hand side of the ship
  16. Port Side Polly: Starboard Stan's best friend across the deck
  17. Crow's Nest Cass: Lives up the mast and rarely comes down
  18. Hardtack: Tough as the ship's biscuit
  19. Scallywag: An 1840s American word for a rascal, not a pirate-era word
  20. Marlinspike: Named for the pointed rigging tool, sharp and handy

How to pick the right name

Use the three-part formula

Most great pirate names are a title, a name and a nickname: Captain, a first name, then something from the sea or a weapon. Captain Mara 'Riptide' Cinderwake works because each part adds a picture.

Let the nickname tell a story

Some nicknames came from looks: a witness described Blackbeard's very black beard, worn very long. Others, like Calico Jack and Black Bart, were added by writers after the pirate died. Pick a nickname that hints at your character's habit, look or legend.

Borrow from history carefully

Real names like Bartholomew Roberts or Grace O'Malley give a story instant weight, but they belonged to real people. For an original character, mix and match instead of copying.

Keep it shoutable

A pirate name should carry across a deck in a storm. Two or three strong syllables beat a long, fussy name every time.

Pirate names: 170 ideas from Nomezo

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Pirate names: the names on the record behind the nicknames, what pirates renamed their ships, and the myths to leave out

By The Nomezo Editors · Updated October 25, 2026 · How we research names

Several famous pirate nicknames were never used in the pirate's lifetime: Calico Jack first appears in print in 1728, after John Rackham was hanged, and Black Bart comes from a 20th-century Welsh poem. Pirates renamed captured ships too: Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge began as the French La Concorde.

The finder above narrows the names by section, length or first letter, so you can keep real history apart from invented names. The tables below give the names on the record and the ships' earlier names.

  1. Step 1Real, legend or invented?History first, invented names below.
  2. Step 2Know the name on the recordCalico Jack was John Rackham.
  3. Step 3Name the shipPirates renamed what they captured.
  4. Step 4Skip the mythsNo planks, and almost no buried treasure.

The nickname and the name on the record

Famous pirate nicknames and the people behind them
Known asName on the recordHow old is the nickname
BlackbeardEdward Thatch or Teach, killed 1718From his lifetime
Calico JackJohn Rackham, hanged 1720Later
Black BartBartholomew Roberts, born John Roberts, killed 1722Later
Black SamSamuel Bellamy, drowned 1717Later
Long BenHenry Every, last seen 1696From his lifetime
Zheng Yi SaoShi Yang, died 1844From her lifetime
Gráinne MhaolGrace O'Malley, died about 1603Name real, story legend
BarbarossaHayreddin, died 1546Uncertain

Sources: Wikipedia, for example Blackbeard and Calico Jack. Blackbeard's real surname is uncertain: Teach, Thatch, Thache and Thack all appear in records.

What pirates renamed their ships

Famous ships and the names they had before
Famous asEarlier nameWho renamed it
Queen Anne's RevengeLa Concorde, a French ship captured in 1717Blackbeard
FancyCharles IIHenry Every's mutinous crew, 1694
RangerLarkCharles Vane's crew, 1718
Royal JamesRevengeStede Bonnet, after his pardon
Golden HindPelicanFrancis Drake, 1578, to honor his patron

Sources: Wikipedia, Queen Anne's Revenge, Charles Vane, Stede Bonnet and Golden Hind. Drake was a privateer sailing for England, not a pirate in English eyes.

Pirate myths to leave out

  • No planks. Pirates threw captives overboard or marooned them; walking the plank comes mostly from Peter Pan and later films (Royal Museums Greenwich).
  • Almost no buried treasure. Pirates usually spent their loot fast. The one known exception is William Kidd, who buried some on Gardiners Island, New York, in 1699 (Royal Museums Greenwich).
  • No "arr". The pirate accent was popularized by Robert Newton as Long John Silver in Disney's 1950 Treasure Island; real pirates came from many countries (Royal Museums Greenwich).
  • When the Golden Age was. Historians usually date the Golden Age of Piracy from the 1650s to the 1730s (Wikipedia).

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Who is the most famous pirate?

Blackbeard, born Edward Teach or Thatch, is the best known, thanks to his fearsome image and his death in battle at Ocracoke, North Carolina, in 1718. Captain Kidd, Calico Jack and Bartholomew Roberts are close behind.

What are some famous female pirate names?

Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Grace O'Malley and Ching Shih are the best known. Ching Shih led a fleet of hundreds of ships off southern China in the early 1800s and retired with an amnesty in 1810.

What was the Golden Age of Piracy?

Historians usually date it from the 1650s to the 1730s, when pirates raided shipping across the Caribbean, the Atlantic coast of the Americas, West Africa and the Indian Ocean.

What is the difference between a pirate and a privateer?

A privateer carried a government license, called a letter of marque, to attack enemy ships in wartime. A pirate attacked anyone without permission. Some sailors, like William Kidd, started as privateers and ended up hanged as pirates.

How do I make up a good pirate name?

Combine a title, a first name and a sea-themed nickname, like Captain Mara 'Riptide' Cinderwake. For hundreds more ideas, try the pirate name generator.

What was Blackbeard's real name?

Nobody knows for sure. Records spell his surname Teach, Thatch, Thache and Thack, and his first name is usually given as Edward. The nickname is genuine, though: a witness described his very black beard, worn very long.

Did pirates really make people walk the plank?

Almost certainly not. Pirates threw captives overboard or marooned them, and the plank comes mostly from Peter Pan and pirate films, according to Royal Museums Greenwich.

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