Did You Know?
- Enheduanna, a Sumerian priestess from around 2300 BC, is the world's earliest known author — she signed her hymns by name, making her the first person in recorded history to claim authorship.
- The Sumerian language is a 'language isolate' — it has no known relatives. Unlike Akkadian (which is Semitic), Sumerian is completely unique among all known languages.
- Sumerian kings often took throne names meaning things like 'The shepherd is faithful' (Shulgi) or 'The king is legitimate' (Ur-Nammu), turning their names into political propaganda.
This generator produces Sumerian-style names for historical fiction, tabletop campaigns and worldbuilding, built from the same Ur-, Nin-, Lugal- and En- elements found on cuneiform tablets. Below are 71 attested names from rulers, priestesses, gods and cities. The generator is the only part of this page that invents anything, and the end of this page lists what it will and won't do.
Rulers and Kings
| Name | Who / context |
|---|---|
| Ur-Nammu | Founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur, c. 2112–2094 BC; named after the god Nammu |
| Shulgi | Son and successor of Ur-Nammu, c. 2094–2046 BC; once transliterated "Dungi" |
| Amar-Sin | Later king of the Third Dynasty of Ur |
| Shu-Sin | Ur III king who built a wall against Amorite incursions; father of Ibbi-Sin |
| Ibbi-Sin | Last king of Ur III, c. 2028–2004 BC |
| Gudea | Ruler of Lagash, c. 2144–2124 BC; written Gu3-de2-a |
| Ur-Ningirsu | Gudea's son and successor at Lagash |
| Ur-Baba | Ruler of Lagash and Gudea's father-in-law |
| Lugal-zage-si | King of Uruk, c. 2358–2334 BC; conquered Kish, Ur, Nippur and Larsa; defeated by Sargon of Akkad |
| Ur-Zababa | King of Kish, overthrown by Lugal-zage-si |
| Urukagina | Last ruler of the First Dynasty of Lagash; also written Uru-inim-gina |
| Eannatum | Ruler of Lagash, c. 2450 BC; victor on the Stele of the Vultures |
| Ur-Nanshe | Lagash ruler, grandfather of Eannatum |
| Akurgal | Lagash ruler, father of Eannatum |
| Entemena | Lagash ruler, nephew of Eannatum |
| Enmebaragesi | King of Kish c. 2600 BC; read as "priest who permeates the throne" or "crown fit for a ruler" |
| Aga | King of Kish, son of Enmebaragesi; besieged Uruk in the poem Gilgamesh and Aga |
| Gilgamesh | King of Uruk; from Sumerian Bilgames, "the (kinsman) is a hero" |
| Lugalbanda | King of Uruk, "the shepherd" in the king list; Gilgamesh's father in Sumerian poetry |
| Enmerkar | King of Uruk, listed as the one "who built Unug (Uruk)" |
| Mesannepada | First king of the First Dynasty of Ur, an 80-year reign in the king list |
| Meskiagnun | Son of Mesannepada |
| Utu-hengal | Fifth Dynasty of Uruk king who defeated the Gutian rulers |
| Ishbi-Erra | First king of the Dynasty of Isin |
| Lugal-Ane | Ruler of Ur who rebelled against Akkadian rule and was later suppressed by Naram-Sin |
| Alulim | First king in the king list, ruling at Eridu |
| En-men-dur-ana | Antediluvian king at Sippar, said to have taught divination |
| Ubara-Tutu | Last antediluvian king, at Shuruppak; father of Utnapishtim |
Women, Priestesses and Literary Figures
| Name | Who / context |
|---|---|
| Enheduanna | Entu (high priestess) of Nanna at Ur, c. 2300 BC; daughter of Sargon of Akkad; earliest author known by name |
| Kubaba (Kug-Bau) | Tavern-keeper queen of Kish in the king list, probably legendary; name read as "radiant Baba" or "silver of Baba" |
| En-nirgal-ana | Daughter of Ur-Nammu, consecrated priestess of Nanna at Ur |
| Ama-barag | Another daughter of Ur-Nammu, who married a local man |
| Shulgi-simti | Wife of Shulgi, managed ritual animal selections for deities in years 32–47 of his reign |
| Nin-kalla | One of Shulgi's queens |
| Ninalla | Wife of Gudea, daughter of Ur-Baba |
| Sagsag | Wife of Urukagina of Lagash |
| Ninsun | Goddess and mother of Gilgamesh in Sumerian poetry |
| Siduri | Divine alewife Gilgamesh meets on his journey in the epic |
| Enkidu | Gilgamesh's companion; a servant in the Sumerian poems, an equal in the epic |
| Huwawa | Sumerian form of Humbaba, guardian of the Cedar Forest |
Gods and Goddesses
| Name | Domain |
|---|---|
| Enki | God of the fresh-water ocean, wisdom, magic and crafts; Akkadian Ea |
| Enlil | God of wind, air and storms; chief of the gods |
| Inanna | Goddess of love, sexuality and war; Akkadian Ishtar |
| Nanna | Moon god, patron of Ur; also Suen or Sin |
| Utu | Sun god of truth and justice; Akkadian Shamash |
| Ninhursag | Mother goddess; "mistress of the mountain ranges" |
| Ningal | Goddess, consort of the moon god Nanna |
| Dumuzi | Shepherd god tied to plant growth; Akkadian Tammuz |
| Geshtinanna | Sister of Dumuzi |
| Nammu | Goddess of the primordial waters |
| Ereshkigal | Queen of the Mesopotamian underworld |
| Nergal | God of the underworld, plague, fever and war |
| Ninurta | Warrior god and patron of farmers; also Ningirsu |
| Nisaba | Goddess of grain, later of writing and scribal knowledge |
| Ninlil | Wife of Enlil; shares the fixing of fates |
| Nanshe | Goddess of divination, dream interpretation, fish and waterfowl |
Cities and the Land of Sumer
| Name | Context |
|---|---|
| Eridu | One of the oldest cities; Alulim's seat in the king list |
| Uruk | Home of Gilgamesh; passed 50,000 inhabitants, the most urbanized city of its day |
| Ur | Seat of Nanna's cult and the Royal Cemetery; capital of Ur III |
| Lagash | Rich in monuments; centre of Eannatum's early empire |
| Girsu | Sister city of Lagash |
| Umma | Arch-rival of Lagash; Lugal-zage-si's power base |
| Kish | Northern city that "exercised the Sumerian kingship" |
| Nippur | The "holy city" of the king list |
| Isin | Seat of the dynasty founded by Ishbi-Erra |
| Larsa | Southern city conquered by Lugal-zage-si |
| Adab | Sumerian city-state |
| Shuruppak | City of Ubara-Tutu |
| Sippar | City of En-men-dur-ana (Zimbir) |
| Bad-tibira | City of En-men-lu-ana, En-men-gal-ana and Dumuzid in the king list |
| Kengir | The Sumerians' own name for their land, "country of the noble lords" |
Language isolate, used by the cities above
- Ur-Nammu
- Gudea
- Urukagina
Neighbouring tongue, not Sumerian
- Sargon
- Naram-Sin
- Hammurabi
How Sumerian Names Are Built
Sumerian is a language isolate with no known relatives, and it is agglutinative, so words are made by adding pieces together. Names work the same way. Ur-Nammu is a person tied to the god Nammu, and Nin- marks a lady. Parents often put a god's name in a child's name, which is why the divine elements in the gods table keep turning up in the rulers table.
Rulers sometimes used names to make a point. Ur-Nammu's name points to a goddess before it points to the king, while Lugal-zage-si and Eannatum are known mostly through their conquests. The names carry the politics of their day, and later kings kept borrowing the old heroes. Shulgi declared himself the son of Lugalbanda and Ninsun, so his claim reaches into the epic past.
Sumerian stopped being an everyday language around 1700 BC, but scribes in Assyria and Babylonia kept using it for ritual and scholarship until the 1st century AD. That is why Akkadian-speaking kings such as Sargon appear next to Sumerian gods. For the Semitic side of Mesopotamia, try the Babylonian names or Assyrian names generators.
What This Generator Does
The generator's instructions ask for a Sumerian meaning, the word elements, and the kind of person who might carry the name. Four settings steer it: gender, name type (god-bearing, descriptive, royal), social role (ruler, priest, scribe, merchant, farmer, warrior) and style. Traditional follows attested patterns closely. Modern is looser and shorter, for fantasy characters.
- Pick Traditional style for historical fiction
- Treat generated names as patterned on real ones, not as attested people
- Check any name you plan to publish against the tables above
- Reusing a famous ruler's full name for an ordinary character
- Sargon, Naram-Sin and Hammurabi, which are Akkadian rather than Sumerian
- Presenting a Modern-style result as historically accurate
For game characters, short names such as Gudea, Shulgi and Utu are easier to say at the table. Save compounds like Lugal-zage-si for rulers and lore.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Sumerian King List
- Wikipedia — Sumerian language
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Enheduanna
- Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (University of Oxford)
Common Questions
What are some Sumerian male names?
Attested male names include Ur-Nammu, Shulgi, Gudea, Lugal-zage-si, Urukagina, Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh. The rulers table above gives the city and role for each.
What are some Sumerian female names?
Few women appear in the record, so the list is short. Enheduanna, En-nirgal-ana, Ninalla, Shulgi-simti and Kubaba are attested, and Ninsun and Siduri come from literature. Nin- is the usual prefix for a lady.
Did Sumerians have last names?
Not in the modern sense. Records usually name a person alone, sometimes with a father or title, as with Ur-Ningirsu, son of Gudea. Generated names here are single names, so a surname is up to you.
Is there a difference between Sumerian and Mesopotamian names?
Mesopotamian is the wider region. It includes Sumerian, an isolate, and Akkadian, a Semitic language. Sumerian names suit the southern city-states above, while Sargon and Hammurabi belong to the Akkadian tradition.
Updated October 2026: replaced the essay with 71 attested names in four tables, added sources, and explained what the generator settings do.
