Fish names

Fish don't come when called, which removes every acoustic constraint and leaves only the fun part. This is where the elaborate names go: the ones too long to shout, too odd to explain, too pleased with themselves to survive a dog park.

It's also the category where themed sets make the most sense, because you're usually naming several at once. Pick a world — gemstones, Greek myth, desserts, deep-sea vocabulary — and take everything from inside it. The name quiz filters by theme in one click.

What makes a good fish name

• Length doesn't matter. Neither does whether it rhymes with a command. Enjoy yourself.
• For a community tank, pick one theme and stay in it — it's the difference between a collection and a list.
• Colour and pattern names age well here, because a fish's markings rarely change much after maturity.

There's a longer version of this in the guide to What the origins mean, including the tests worth running before you commit to anything.

72 names, with what they mean

A cross-section of the 3,082 names tagged for fish, picked to span mythology, world languages, nature, food and screen. Every one of them, and 3,010 more, is filterable in the name quiz.

Keep looking

Stack filters in the name quiz — gender, personality, cultural origin, syllable count, sound — or start from a theme. Names for other animals:

• Dog names
• Cat names
• Bird names
• Small pet names
• Reptile names
• Amphibian names
• Farm animal names