Githyanki Names Guide

Mordekainnen’s Tome of Foes introduced us to a lot of creatures that we figured for mindless killing machines. Dungeons & Dragons 5E tends to allow you to find a diplomatic solution to enemies. That lets even the most brutish warriors join the ranks of adventurers. Warriors like the Githyanki are hard to come by, but are some of the most vicious and powerful creatures in whatever campaign they are introduced in. Our Githyanki Names guide will be here to make your name sound correct, since Wizards didn’t make it easy on us!

To understand the Githyanki, it’s important to get a small grasp on where they are coming from. While throwing your character in a naming generator could work, picking a name that your character’s “parents” would choose might be a cool pickup.

Culture and Naming Conventions

The Githyanki are tall, green individuals from the Astral Plane. They can have hair, though the men are often bald. Their body shape is closest to that of elves, even with the pointed ears, though they don’t have typical noses. They tend to be near 6 feet in height, though a similar weight to shorter humans.

The Gith (both -zerai and -yanki) are born from conflict. Early in their life cycles, they were taken control of by mind flayers, who inflicted their people with psionic power at the cost of their willpower. They are still used as slaves when a Mindflayer is able to retake command, but they have finally freed their communities.

While the Githzerai pursue peace and enlightenment, the Githyanki strive for revenge. They send out roving bands of Githyanki to pillage and enslave those they consider weaker than them. They want power, power that was stripped from them so long ago. They understand completely the irony that they seek the same tyranny that the illithids inflicted on them, and they couldn’t care less. They deserve this; they are powerful and free. During their pillagings, if they can bring back the head of a mind flayer as a trophy, they will gladly hunt down whatever illithid stands in their way.

This pillaging and raiding caused the Githzerai to battle the Githyanki. The two being at odds is a feud almost as long as they were enslaved by the Mindflayers. Because of this, the Gith are a divided race, which means that the Gith are unable to pull successful attacks on major Mindflayer encampments. Until an intermediary is able to bring the Gith back together, then they will still – in some respects – be under the control of the Mindflayers.

Examples of Githyanki Names

Githyanki names are long, melodic types. They pull a bit of inspiration from Elves, but utilize harsher syllables and vowels to sound more ready for combat. Apostrophes are common for both male and female name structures, tending to bridge the gap between two letters. Female names are a bit longer than male ones, usually by one syllable. However, gender matters a little less for the Githyanki than the Githzerai, and thus it’s not uncommon for men and women to be inseparable.

Male Githyanki Names

Ant’i’am
Dyl’e’min
Loc
Lykaldaath
Rak’i’th

Female Githyanki Names

Ga’alas
Jisseg
Trys’a’an
Varstuth
V’naindunal
Yk’a’ardoth

Hopefully, this helped you make a cool background for your Githyanki! Check out the Githyanki Race Guide if you want any more help building your character.

Githyanki Names Guide | Examples and Naming Conventions for 5E