Tell it about the bird — hen or rooster, what colour, what she is like — and pick the kind of name you want: a pun, an old-fashioned name, something cute, or a name with some swagger. Twelve names at a time, every one written for this page, and a new twelve whenever you ask. Naming a whole flock? Ask for a themed set.
Names for a hen
Beakoncé
Not many names fit all of that, so a few from the other styles are mixed in.
Tap a name to copy it. Written for Chicken Rise — no name here is a food the site tells you never to feed.
Quick answer: the best chicken names fit the bird. A black hen who runs the run is a Cleopatra or a Pecky Blinders; a fluffy buff one who follows you round the garden is a Custard or a Honey; a rooster who crows at four in the morning has earned Elvis Pecksley. Tell this generator what your bird looks like and how she behaves, pick the kind of name you want — a pun, an old-fashioned name, something cute or something mighty — and it gives you twelve. Ask again for twelve more.
Why the bird comes first
Most name lists are just lists. The trouble is that you are not naming “a chicken”, you are naming the speckled one who always gets out, or the enormous Brahma who is frightened of the cat. A name that fits the bird sticks; one picked off a list of 500 usually gets replaced by whatever the children start calling her anyway. So this generator asks three things first: is it a hen or a rooster, what colour is she, and what is she like. A colour name is never offered for a bird of a different colour — you will not get Snowball for a black hen — and a name that suits her personality goes to the top.
Four kinds of name, kept apart
- Funny — the puns: Hen Solo, Eggatha Christie, Attila the Hen, Cluck Norris, Albert Eggstein. Best for the bird with a big personality, and the ones people laugh at when you introduce the flock.
- Classic — old-fashioned people’s names: Henrietta, Mabel, Gertrude, Agnes, and for a rooster, Rupert or Reginald. There is something about a hen that suits a name nobody has given a baby since 1930.
- Cute — Nugget, Pip, Dumpling, Biscuit, Marshmallow. Good for small birds, bantams and anything fluffy.
- Mighty — Duchess, Boudicca, Valkyrie; Maximus, Thor, Napoleon for a rooster. For the bird at the top of the pecking order.
Pick “a mix” and you get all four together. Every name on this page was written for Chicken Rise, and none of them is a food this site tells you never to give a chicken — no Chocolate, no Onion, no Avocado.
Naming a whole flock
Choose “a themed set” and you get names that belong together: the Golden Girls for four hens of a certain age, the Brontë sisters for three, a spice rack for a red and brown flock, or Ebony and Ivory for one black bird and one white. A set makes it easy to add a bird later — there is always one more spice.
Hen or rooster — and when you are not sure yet
Chicks are hard to sex, and plenty of “hens” turn out to be cockerels at twelve weeks. If you are not sure yet, choose “not sure yet” and you get names that work either way — Pip, Nugget, Houdini, Sherlock Hens. Wondering about a particular breed’s temperament before you name her? The breed finder shows what each hatchery says about it.