[ Models | Lore | Sources | Inspiration ]
With a rich background stretching back decades in time, the various Warhammer games contain a vast array of names (of people, places, items, and so on). Many of these names are original, but some happen to have a meaning in the real world, as obscure terms, foreign words, or cultural references. This page lists some of these underlying etymologies for your edification. Note that some of these are best guesses (speculative fan theory) rather than confirmed derivations.
Where a name is followed by the symbol ¹, if you hover over or click on that symbol you will see when that name was first mentioned in a publication.
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Alarielle | See: Ariel. [WHFB Elf HighElf AoS Order Aelf Sylvaneth God] |
| Amex ¹ | American Express (founded 1850), a payment card company. [WHFB Elf SeaElf God] |
| Cegorach | Scots Gaelic tè, "someone" + gòrach, "foolish". [WH40k Eldar God] |
| Gork | See: Gork and Mork. [WHFB BloodBowl Orc WH40k Ork God] |
| Gork and Mork ¹ | Blend of Gog and Magog (two individuals/peoples/lands from the Bible) and Ork. Later, Gogmagog, a giant in Welsh mythology. [WHFB BloodBowl Orc WH40k Ork God] |
| Gorkamorka | See: Gork and Mork. [AoS Destruction Orruk God WH40k SegmentumUltima Ork] |
| Hekarti | Hecate, goddess of magic in Greek mythology. [WHFB Elf God] |
| Isha | Aisha (c. 613-678), a scholar in the early history of Islam. [WHFB Elf WH40k Eldar God] |
| Khaine | Cain, a character from the Bible who was the first murderer. [WHFB Elf DarkElf AoS Aelf WH40k Eldar God] |
| Khorne | Possibly a clipping of Khornerstone, a computer performance testing benchmark created by Workstation Laboratories in 1986 (the same year that Khorne first appeared, in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay). Khornerstone is named in the same style as Dhrystone and Whetstone, two benchmarks that it incorporates, with an "h" inserted as the second letter, and the first letter changed to "k" to retain the pronunciation of "cornerstone". Dhrystone (1984) was named as a pun on Whetstone. The Whetstone (1972) benchmark gets its name from the Whetstone Compiler (1964) for ALGOL, which was developed in the village of Whetstone in the UK. [WHFB AoS BloodBowl WH40k Chaos Khorne God] |
| Kurnous | Cernunnos, god of nature in Gallo-Roman mythology. [WHFB Elf WH40k Eldar God] |
| Lileath | Lilith, the first woman in Judaic mythology. [WHFB Elf WH40k Eldar God] |
| Morai-Heg | The Morrígan, goddess of war in Irish mythology, associated with crows. [WHFB Elf WH40k Eldar God] |
| Mork | See: Gork and Mork. [WHFB BloodBowl Orc WH40k Ork God] |
| Nuffle | Sounding out of "NFL", the National Football League, an American football league formed in 1920. [BloodBowl God] |
| Nurgle ¹ | Nergal, a god of war and plague in Mesopotamian mythology. [WHFB AoS BloodBowl WH40k Chaos Nurgle God] |
| Rigg ¹ | Diana Rigg (1938-2020), an actress whose work includes The Avengers. This reference is confirmed by the illustration of the goddess Rigg which shows her with Diana Rigg's distinctive hairstyle. [WHFB Amazon God] |
| Sotek | Sobek, crocodile-headed god in Egyptian mythology. [AoS Order Seraphon God] |
| Yncarne | "Incarnate", embodied in physical form. [WH40k Eldar Ynnari God] |
| Inspiration | |
| Warhammer Setting | The Dark Tongue; Daemonic Names; Lexicon; Short Stories; Cut-ups; Cool Stuff |
| Art | Golden Demon; Nurglesque Music |
| Speculation | Chaos God Correspondence; Dark Heresy Backgrounds; Sevenfold Path; Sevenrot; Seven Deadly Sins |
| Real World References | Nergal in Mesopotamian History; Symbolism of Three Circles; Symbolism of Seven |
dedicated to the Master of Plague and Pestilence