Arrr, Captain Hook

July 8, 2008 9:23 AM

Short-story filter: What are your favorite pirate names? (Real or imagined)
posted by roomthreeseventeen to media & arts (21 comments total)

"One Eyed Willie" from the movie "The Goonies", mainly because it also works as a nickname for a penis.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:32 AM on July 8

Anybody with the appelation "the Freebooter" attached.
posted by Ironmouth at 9:46 AM on July 8

No specific suggestions, but the obvious literary/film resources for colorful names are Treasure Island and Pirates of the Caribbean.

See also.

Wikipedia is your friend.
posted by elendil71 at 9:51 AM on July 8

Long John Silver from Treasure Island is a favourite of mine (and also works as a nickname for a penis).

There have also been many real pirates with awesome names like Blackbeard (Edward Teach), Henry Morgan, Stede Bonnet, Black Bart (Bartholomew Roberts), Calico Jack/Jack Rackham, William Kidd, Francis Drake etc. (can't think of more off the top of my head). They were all, for the most part, pirates "of the Caribbean" as we see in pop culture (which I assume is what you are looking for).

Check out these links for a more varied selection.
posted by shoebox at 9:57 AM on July 8

The Dread Pirate Roberts- Princess Bride
posted by kimdog at 10:13 AM on July 8 [3 favorites]

If you have the time and inclination, The International Talk Like a Pirate Day site has a list of pirate name generators.
posted by xena at 10:13 AM on July 8

Can't go wrong with a beard of any color, but I'm a fan of Barnacles McGee, myself.
posted by rokusan at 10:15 AM on July 8 [1 favorite]

Roberto Cofresí y Ramírez de Arrellano.
posted by invitapriore at 10:27 AM on July 8

I've always found "Brownbeard" to be particularly funny... but I don't really know why.
posted by indiebass at 10:27 AM on July 8

Steve.

But really, you can take the term for any ship board item or device, combine it with a rhyming name and your set:

Bootstrap Bill
Forecastle Frank
Baggywrinkle Barney

And so on. There will be a natural assumption that their nickname originated with some incident related to that item.
posted by quin at 10:36 AM on July 8

Somebody's cat, he was called Captain Fishypants. Maybe it's just me.. but that is a tremendous name! (You said pirates. Real or imagined.)
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 10:37 AM on July 8

LeChuck, matey.
posted by JaredSeth at 10:44 AM on July 8

Frederic, a Slave of Duty.
posted by Sculthorpe at 10:45 AM on July 8

Seaman Staines
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 10:56 AM on July 8 [1 favorite]

You may actually want to look at the list of John Hodgman's hobo names (master list) for ideas. A lot of them seem like they would work well as pirate names too.
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:09 AM on July 8

Thanks, all, these are great.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:18 AM on July 8

Nigel.
posted by availablelight at 12:21 PM on July 8

Plunderin' Pete
posted by box at 2:21 PM on July 8

Also, Cervantes
posted by box at 2:22 PM on July 8

Davey Seasprout.
posted by Effigy2000 at 3:16 PM on July 8

Yellowbeard!

Pew from Treasure Island always freaked me out.
posted by ostranenie at 8:28 AM on July 9