Edward Teach was christened Edward Teach. The crew called him Blackbeard, the trial records kept both, and the 1724 General History preserved the lot. Pirate names are a documented register: real people with receipts, epithets with a grammar, a cant vocabulary, and a fiction lane that fixed the costume. This table holds 83 of them, every row with its source named. Persons here. The ships are the pair page’s own.
The vessel register: pirate ship names. Every name comes with a receipt.
What are pirate names?
A young register with a paper trail. The Golden Age of Atlantic piracy ran roughly 1690 to 1726, and it produced court records, pardon lists, governors’ letters and one strange anonymous book, the 1724 General History of the Pyrates, signed Captain Charles Johnson. Those papers are where these names come from. The real lane is christened names: Teach, Rackham, Bonny, Every. The working lane is the epithet: a color or cloth plus the man. Around them runs the cant, the period’s own words, and after them the fiction that dressed the whole trade in Stevenson’s coat. Coinages are on this page too, labeled coined, because a name machine should show its own grammar honestly.
Grouped by layer. The layer stays on every row.
Pirate names with layer, build and meaning receipts
Name
Layer
Built from
Meaning
Copy
The Golden Age ledger: the Atlantic register, 1690 to 1726: the receipts are the trial records and the 1724 General History
Edward Teach
Golden Age ledger
Edward + Teach, also spelled Thach, Thache, Thatch
Blackbeard’s own christened name: the documents churn the spelling; killed at Ocracoke, 1718
Benjamin Hornigold
Golden Age ledger
the mentor’s name
founded the Flying Gang at Nassau, took the 1718 pardon, lost at sea in a hurricane
Samuel Bellamy
Golden Age ledger
Black Sam’s given name
ran the Whydah prize, lost off Cape Cod in 1717; the wreck was found in 1984
Charles Vane
Golden Age ledger
the refuser’s name
threw the king’s amnesty in the fire, hanged in Jamaica, 1721
Stede Bonnet
Golden Age ledger
the planter’s name
the gentleman who bought his own sloop, a thing pirates never did; hanged at Charleston, 1718
John Rackham
Golden Age ledger
Calico Jack’s given name
the printed-cotton coats; hanged at Jamaica, 1720
Bartholomew Roberts
Golden Age ledger
Black Bart’s given name
took some 400 ships in three years; killed off West Africa, 1722
Howell Davis
Golden Age ledger
the actor’s name
played the gentleman to take ports; killed at Príncipe, 1719
Edward England
Golden Age ledger
the merciful one
spared a captured captain and was deposed by his own crew for it
Christopher Condent
Golden Age ledger
the East Indies runner
took a rich Indian Ocean prize, then retired to Réunion under a pardon
Edward Low
Golden Age ledger
the cruel ledger
the violence even his own crew fled; vanishes from record after 1724
George Lowther
Golden Age ledger
Low’s partner
died by his own pistol on a desert island, 1722
John Gow
Golden Age ledger
the mutineer
took the Caroline galley in 1724, hanged at Wapping, 1725
Francis Spriggs
Golden Age ledger
the companion
sailed under Low and after him; flew the black flag with the skeleton
Walter Kennedy
Golden Age ledger
the failed orator
hanged 1721; the General History says he cursed the crowd in Welsh, sure none would understand
Henry Every
Golden Age ledger
also spelled Avery
took the Mughal’s Ganj-i-Sawai in 1695, sparked the world’s first pirate manhunt, then vanished
William Kidd
Golden Age ledger
the privateer’s name
hanged at Wapping, 1701; whether he had really turned pirate is still argued (flagged)
Thomas Tew
Golden Age ledger
the Rhode Islander
opened the Red Sea run; killed by a cannon shot off Madagascar, 1695
Henry Jennings
Golden Age ledger
the salvage raider
raided the 1715 Spanish treasure wreck crews, then took the pardon
Thomas Anstis
Golden Age ledger
the quarrel’s end
shot in his sleep by his own men, 1723
William Fly
Golden Age ledger
the last of the line
hanged at Boston, 1726; Cotton Mather preached the sermon
Paulsgrave Williams
Golden Age ledger
Bellamy’s partner
a jeweler’s son who went to sea with Black Sam
Thomas Cocklyn
Golden Age ledger
the West African rover
held the Sierra Leone roadstead with Davis, 1719
John Martel
Golden Age ledger
the early rover
the 1717 Caribbean run; wrecked and taken
The documented women: Bonny and Read and the commanders beyond the Atlantic
Anne Bonny
the documented women
the Calico Jack crew’s own
fought in men’s clothes, pled her belly at the 1720 trial, then vanishes from record
Mary Read
the documented women
the soldier turned pirate
had served as a soldier before the sea; died of fever in prison, 1721
Zheng Yi Sao
the documented women
also known as Ching Shih
commanded tens of thousands in the South China Sea, then negotiated her own retirement in 1810
Grace O’Malley
the documented women
the Connacht chieftain’s line
the sea queen of the west; met Elizabeth I at Greenwich in 1593, and the state papers keep the meeting
Sayyida al-Hurra
the documented women
the title, the free woman
ruled Tétouan and raided the Portuguese coast with the Barbarossa alliance
Ingela Gathenhielm
the documented women
the Swedish licence holder
ran the Baltic privateering operations after her husband’s death, under royal letters
The wider seas: buccaneers, corsairs, privateers: the lanes around the Golden Age
Henry Morgan
the wider seas
the privateer, not a pirate in law
burned Panama in 1671, ended lieutenant governor of Jamaica, and sued his own biographer for the stories
L’Olonnais
the wider seas
François l’Olonnais, of the flibustiers
the terror of the Spanish Main, as Exquemelin’s book tells it (the book is the source)
Roche Brasiliano
the wider seas
the Rotterdam man gone Spanish
roasted prisoners, Exquemelin says; the drink was his, the story the book’s
William Dampier
the wider seas
the navigator
three circumnavigations, rescued Alexander Selkirk in 1709, elected to the Royal Society
Aruj
the wider seas
the elder Barbarossa
took Algiers in 1516 and died fighting the Spaniards at Tlemcen
Khair ad-Din
the wider seas
the younger Barbarossa, goodness of the faith
Ottoman admiral of the whole Mediterranean, the red beard remembered
Kanhoji Angre
the wider seas
the Sarkhel, the admiral
built the Maratha navy the Company could not sink; the pirate label is the losers’ word (flagged)
John Ward
the wider seas
Yusuf Reis after the turn
Elizabethan privateer turned Barbary captain; died in Tunis, 1622
Peter Easton
the wider seas
the Newfoundland commodore
commanded one of the largest fleets of the age out of Harbour Grace
The epithet machine: the nicknames history kept, and the grammar that made them
Blackbeard
the epithet machine
color + beard, the documented grammar
Teach’s working name: slow fuses burning under the hat
Black Sam
the epithet machine
color + given name
Bellamy, who wore his own black hair tied back instead of a wig
Black Bart
the epithet machine
color + short name
Roberts, the most successful of them all, under the plainest label
Calico Jack
the epithet machine
cloth + name
Rackham, for the printed cotton coats he liked
La Buse
the epithet machine
the buzzard, in French
Levasseur’s name; the cipher treasure legend is a legend (flagged)
the Arch Pirate
the epithet machine
the pamphlet title
Every, the poster the crown printed on
the Gentleman Pirate
the epithet machine
the class irony
Bonnet, the planter who bought a ship instead of stealing one
the Flying Gang
the epithet machine
the collective name
the Nassau crew of the 1710s: Hornigold’s alumni, Bellamy’s set
Black Caesar
the epithet machine
the legend-heavy name
said to be Teach’s prisoner turned chief; the sources are thin (flagged)
The cant lane: the period’s own vocabulary, glossed: words worn as name-stock
Buccaneer
the cant lane
boucan, the smoking frame (Tupi via French)
the hunters of Hispaniola first, the sea second
Freebooter
the cant lane
vrij + buiter, free booty (Dutch)
the sea’s honest job title
Filibuster
the cant lane
flibustier, the same Dutch word said in French
the freebooter in French dress
Corsair
the cant lane
corsaire, from cursus, the run (Latin)
the licensed raider of the Mediterranean wars
Picaroon
the cant lane
picarón, the little rogue (Spanish)
the 17th century’s English word for a pirate
Maroon
the cant lane
cimarrón, the escaped one (Spanish)
the punishment and the punished: left on the sand with a flask of powder
Avast
the cant lane
houd vast, hold fast (Dutch)
the order to stop
Cutlass
the cant lane
coutelas, the knife word (French)
the short blade of the boarding lane
Doubloon
the cant lane
doblón, the double (Spanish)
the gold coin worth two escudos
Jolly Roger
the cant lane
the name first printed in 1724
the black flag; where the name comes from is debated (flagged)
Keelhaul
the cant lane
kielhalen (Dutch)
the under-keel drag, a Dutch punishment
Swashbuckler
the cant lane
swash + buckler, the shield banger
a 16th century word, older than the Golden Age (dated)
Gentleman of Fortune
the cant lane
the period’s own phrase
what a pirate called himself in the General History
Brethren of the Coast
the cant lane
the buccaneers’ phrase
whether a real order or only a phrase is debated (flagged)
The fiction lane: documented, public domain, named for what they are
Long John Silver
the fiction lane
Stevenson, 1883
the sea cook with a plan; Stevenson said in a letter he was drawn from the poet Henley
Captain Flint
the fiction lane
Stevenson, 1883
the dead captain whose map starts everything
Billy Bones
the fiction lane
Stevenson, 1883
the old buccaneer at the inn, the chest under his bunk
The Sea Cook
the fiction lane
Silver’s cover in the book
the title the innkeeper hires, the novel’s own first title
Barbecue
the fiction lane
Silver’s pirate name
what the crew called the cook
Captain Hook
the fiction lane
Barrie, 1904
the iron-handed captain of the Neverland; Barrie gave him a school and a last word
Smee
the fiction lane
Barrie, 1904
the boatswain everyone liked
Captain Blood
the fiction lane
Sabatini, 1922
the transported physician; Sabatini built him on a real surgeon’s memoir
Israel Hands
the fiction lane
the General History, then Stevenson
Teach’s real gunner, reused by Stevenson a century later: the bridge row
Captain Singleton
the fiction lane
Defoe’s name on the title, 1720
a whole roving life told as an autobiography (the Defoe attribution is as always debated, flagged)
Captain Misson
the fiction lane
the General History, 1724
the pirate utopia of Libertalia; scholars doubt he ever lived (flagged)
Coined epithets: built on the documented grammar, labeled coined on every row
Blackkeel
coined, labeled coined
color + ship part, the documented grammar
a made up epithet: no record carries it
Saltbeard
coined, labeled coined
the Blackbeard pattern, salt for color
coined for this page, labeled so
Ironshanks
coined, labeled coined
metal + legs
coined for this page, labeled so
Greywake
coined, labeled coined
color + wake
coined for this page, labeled so
Goldhook
coined, labeled coined
metal + hand
coined for this page, labeled so
Deadeye
coined, labeled coined
the rigging block, worn as a name
the block is real, the name is made up
Blacktide
coined, labeled coined
color + tide
coined for this page, labeled so
Deadlight
coined, labeled coined
the storm port’s lid, worn as a name
the lid is real, the name is made up
Fogcutter
coined, labeled coined
weather + blade
coined for this page, labeled so
Powderjack
coined, labeled coined
the powder monkey + jack
coined for this page, labeled so
Persons here, ships there
The guard line, above the fold where it belongs. This page owns the people: the pirates, their names, their epithets. The pirate ship names page owns the vessels: Queen Anne’s Revenge, Whydah Gally, Royal Fortune, the ships the men sailed and took. One register answers who, the other answers what they rode. Both pages name the other. For naming a vessel of your own, the ship name generator draws the other lane.
One register, four engines. The ledger says who. The epithet says what the crew called him. The cant says what the trade called itself. The fiction says what the reading public kept:
The four systems behind pirate names
System
Grammar
Examples
What it says
The ledger
a christened name + a receipt
Edward Teach, Anne Bonny, Henry Every
who they provably were
The epithet
color or cloth + name or part
Blackbeard, Calico Jack, Black Sam
the name the crew used
The cant
a period word, glossed
Freebooter, Maroon, Avast
the vocabulary worn whole
The fiction lane
author + year, named
Long John Silver, Hook, Blood
the characters that fixed the image
The viking names page runs the same receipt-first shape for the other sea raiders, and the fantasy names hub tables this page beside the whole genre grid.
The General History is the spine
One anonymous book did half the preserving. A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates appeared in 1724 under the name Captain Charles Johnson, and nobody knows who Johnson was. Defoe has been argued and argued down. The book gave us Calico Jack’s coats, Black Sam’s hair, Israel Hands as Teach’s gunner, Bonny’s and Read’s trials, Captain Misson and his Libertalia, and half the epithets above. Where its stories are the only source, the row says so, and the Misson row carries the doubt outright.
The trial transcripts at Jamaica and Charleston, the pardon rolls of 1717 and 1718, and the governors’ letters carry the rest. A name is rowed here when a document or a documented book puts it on a real person. Everything else is labeled coined.
The epithet grammar
Blackbeard is a recipe, not a flourish. Take a plain word, usually a color, a cloth or a metal, and weld it to a body part, a name or a trade: Blackbeard, Black Sam, Black Bart, Calico Jack, La Buse. The set above is the documented one. The coined lane at the bottom of the table follows the same recipe, Blackkeel, Saltbeard, Goldhook, and every row there says coined on its face, because this page does not launder invention into history.
When you name a character, the honest move is the documented one: a period given name from the ledger, plus an epithet the crew could have coined. The character naming guide walks the same reasoning for the whole cast.
Pirate names questions, answered
Did pirates really have names like Blackbeard?
The epithets were real, and they sat on top of ordinary names. The man was christened Edward Teach (the documents also spell it Thach, Thache and Thatch) and the crew called him Blackbeard. Rackham wore calico, so Calico Jack. The grammar is always the same: a plain word for a color, a cloth or a trade, plus the man. The epithet machine table above shows the documented set, and every ledger row carries the receipt.
What is a good pirate name?
The documented machine is: a real person’s name, an epithet built from a plain word, or a cant word worn whole. Take a period given name from the ledger lane, hang an epithet on it in the Blackbeard grammar, or lift a cant word like Freebooter or Maroon with its gloss. The coined rows at the bottom follow the same grammar and are labeled coined, because no record carries them. This site does not pass made up names off as history.
Were there real women pirates?
Yes, and documented. Anne Bonny and Mary Read sailed with Rackham and were tried at Jamaica in 1720. Zheng Yi Sao commanded tens of thousands in the South China Sea and negotiated her own retirement. Grace O’Malley met Elizabeth I in 1593, and the meeting is in the state papers. Sayyida al-Hurra ruled the corsair port of Tétouan. Their rows sit above with the rest of the receipts.
Is Jack Sparrow on this list?
No, and that is deliberate. Jack Sparrow is a modern trademarked film character, and this site keeps such figures to nominative prose only, never in the name banks. The fiction lane here is the documented, public domain set: Long John Silver (Stevenson, 1883), Hook and Smee (Barrie, 1904), Captain Blood (Sabatini, 1922) and the older Captain Singleton. Every fiction row names its author and year.
Where these names come from.The Golden Age ledger follows the trial records (Jamaica 1720 and 1721, Charleston 1718, Wapping 1701 and 1725, Boston 1726), the pardon rolls of 1717 and 1718, and the 1724 General History of the Pyrates, whose anonymous authorship and Misson material are flagged where they carry a row alone. Exquemelin’s buccaneer accounts carry Morgan, L’Olonnais and Brasiliano, with Morgan’s own libel suit noted. Chinese and Indian Ocean figures follow the standard histories of Zheng Yi Sao and Kanhoji Angre, with Angre’s pirate label flagged as the Company’s word. The fiction lane names author and year on every row, and every coined row is labeled coined. No frequency ranking is claimed; none exists. Where every name’s receipt comes from →