[ 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 |
|---|---|
| Anfingrimm | See: Scyla Anfingrimm. [WHFB Norscan AoS BloodBowl Chaos Khorne ChaosSpawn] |
| An'ggrath the Unbound | "Angry", feeling hostility + "wrath", great anger. [WH40k Chaos Khorne Daemon DaemonLord] |
| Angron | Contraction of "angry one". [WH40k Chaos Khorne Daemon Primarch WorldEaters] |
| Bloodcrusher | "Blood", vital fluid permeating a body + "crusher", one who pulverises. [AoS WH40k Chaos Khorne Daemon LesserDaemon] |
| Bloodletter | "Bloodletter", one who removes blood. [WHFB AoS BloodBowl WH40k Chaos Khorne Daemon LesserDaemon] |
| Bloodmaster | "Blood", vital fluid permeating a body + "master", person in control. [AoS WH40k Chaos Khorne Daemon Herald] |
| Bloodwrath | See: Skarr Bloodwrath. [AoS Chaos Khorne] |
| Invocatus | Latin invocatus, "invoked". [WH40k Chaos Khorne SpaceMarine WorldEaters] |
| Jakhal | Jackal. [WH40k Chaos Khorne WorldEaters] |
| Juggernaut | Juggernaut, an unstoppable force. The word is itself a corruption of Jagannath (lord of the universe), a god in Hindu mythology. [WHFB AoS WH40k Chaos Khorne Daemon] |
| Ka'Bandha | Kabandha, a demon (whose name means "headless torso") in Hindu mythology. [AoS WH40k Chaos Khorne Daemon GreaterDaemon] |
| Ka'jagga'nath | Jagannath (lord of the universe), a god in Hindu mythology. The "Ka" prefix is styled as per Ka'Bandha. [WH40k Chaos Khorne Daemon GreaterDaemon] |
| Khan'zhar the Red ¹ | Blend of khan (ruler of a Mongol horde) and "cancer" (disease causing tumours). [WH40k Chaos Khorne Daemon GreaterDaemon] |
| Khârn the Betrayer | Arabic خائن, "betrayer". [WH40k Chaos Khorne SpaceMarine WorldEaters] |
| 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] |
| Khorngor | Khorne + Gor. [WHFB AoS WH40k Chaos Khorne Beastman] |
| Max Spleenripper | "Max", maximum + "spleen", an organ of the body + "ripper", one who tears. [BloodBowl Chaos Khorne] |
| Samus ¹ | Possibly a clipping of "is among us". Note that the computer game Among Us was developed from 2017, over a decade after Horus Rising was published. [WH40k Chaos Khorne Daemon DaemonPrince] |
| Scyla Anfingrimm | Scylla, a monster in Greek mythology + German anfing, "I/he began" + Old English grimm, "savage". [WHFB Norscan AoS BloodBowl Chaos Khorne ChaosSpawn] |
| Skaarac the Bloodborn | Blend of "scar" (a permanent mark from a wound) and "rack" (cause pain). [AoS Chaos Khorne] |
| Skarbrand | "Scar", a permanent mark from a wound + "brand", a permanent mark from a burn. [WHFB AoS WH40k Chaos Khorne Daemon GreaterDaemon] |
| Skarr Bloodwrath | "Scar", a permanent mark from a wound + "blood", vital fluid permeating a body + "wrath", great anger. [AoS Chaos Khorne] |
| Skulltaker | "Skull", head bone + "taker", one who removes. [AoS WH40k Chaos Khorne Daemon Herald] |
| Spleenripper | See: Max Spleenripper. [BloodBowl Chaos Khorne] |
| Valkia | Valkyrie, one of those who choose who dies in battle in Norse mythology. [WHFB AoS Chaos Khorne Daemon DaemonPrince] |
| 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 Plague God Nurgle