King Crab Name Generator

Roll a name for the king crab in the beam

Imagine a light moving across a rocky bottom. First you see a claw, then the long legs around the shell. Roll a few names and read each one under a sketch of that moment. Polar Pincer draws attention to the claw. Ruby Frost might work if the person watching remembers color and cold water. Pick the name that could have occurred to someone after a single look.

Try the same name from the side

A red king crab has one claw bigger than the other. Draw the two claws from the front, then sketch the same crab rounding a stone from the side. Put your favorite name under both views. If you only recognize the crab in the first drawing, give the second drawing another clue. It might be a leg stepping across the edge of the beam or the crab pausing at a ridge in the rock. Save a second candidate for someone who saw the same encounter from a different angle and came up with another name.

Say the name before the crab arrives

Try Polar Duke as a name someone announces in a fable. Let another character use the same name as the crab comes into view. If it sounds formal in the announcement and unwieldy in the second line, decide whether that speaker would shorten it. Show both versions together once so the reader can make the connection.

If you are naming two crabs for a game, put the names on separate cards and announce them aloud in the order the crabs appear. Swap the order and read them again. If the two cards could be mixed up, roll a name with a different first sound. Keep a word about the claw, the shell, or the entrance with each card. You can use that cue when you read the names in a later scene where neither crab is in the light.