Buffalo Name Generator

Match the name to the buffalo you have in mind

Roll a few buffalo names and picture the scene. A Cape buffalo at the edge of a herd may suggest a different name from a water buffalo someone knows by its usual route home. Cape Champion sounds like a title in a story. Brutus Waterhole suggests an animal someone remembers seeing at a particular spot. Try each in the line where the buffalo first appears and decide which fits the setting and the person who would say it.

Make one buffalo stand out from the herd

Tank of Mud could be a playful nickname for a buffalo pictured with mud on its back. Brutus Champion could become Brutus in a conversation. Compare the names under the same drawing. If the mud is already obvious, the name can leave room for another impression. In a later conversation, the mud can be exactly what helps a reader remember the first appearance.

Test a title and a short form in different places

Indomitable Shield has room to breathe in a storyteller's introduction. It may be long for a quick line about where the buffalo went. Read it as a title, then read a short form as if someone had to say it in a hurry. If you use both, let them appear together once. A caption with the full name and a line of dialogue with the short form can share the same drawing.

Save two favorites and try them when the buffalo is still and when it disappears among the others. Give the reader one detail that can survive the change, such as the shape of a horn or a place on the path. If two animals have names that start alike, roll again for one. Keep the choice that the person in the scene would use and that you can pick out beside the other names. Try it once more when the buffalo returns without the rest of the herd.