List of Professions, Titles, & Identities for Fantasy Brainstorming

Trying to come up with your character’s backstory? Can’t quite come up with a good title for your ruler? This list has got you covered for brainstorming purposes.

(Img by Michael Lim)

PARANORMAL/SUPERNATURAL
Godlets
Godling
Demigod
Demiurge:  Being responsible for creation of the universe
Mouthpiece of the gods (prophet)
Sibyl: any of several ancient prophetesses generally accredited as 10 in number and credited to widely separate parts of the ancient world
Eidolon (specter or phantom)
Seraph (an angelic being)
Sylphs (an imaginary spirit of air)Dryad (wood nymph)
Nereid (any of the sea nymphs fathered by Nereus
Undine (female spirit or nymph inhabiting water)
Pixies
Fairy godmother
A woods witch
Thaumaturge: a worker of wonders and performer of miracles; a magician

Practitioner
Mystagogue (teacher or propounder of mystical doctrine)

Gorgon
Hyperboreans: [ancient Greek mythology] mythical race of giants who lived “beyond the North Wind.”

Unquiet spirit
Cryptid (an animal that has been claimed to exist but no proof exists for it)

COMBAT/MILITARY
A drill sergeant
Shavetail (military slang; often derogatory; newly commissioned office)
Deserter
The rank-and-file
Foot-soldiers
Dragoons (mounted infantry)
His Majesty’s best (soldiers)
Guardsmen
Swordmaster
Honor guard
Duelist
Enforcers

The watch captain
Field colonel
Marshal a high-ranking military officer)
Cavalier (horseman; esp a cavalryman)
Brigadier (a rank of officer in the British army, above colonel and below major general)
A career officer
Junior officer
Outrider: mounted attendant; one who clears the way for a vehicle or person
Knight errant (knight in search of chivalrous adventures)
Banneret (a knight who commanded his own troops in battle under his own banner)
Sutler (person who followed an army and sold provisions to the soldiers)
Kettlehats: KJ Parker’s name for soldiers
A patrol of kettlehats
Commandant: an officer in charge of a particular force or institution)
Warband /warhost
Two companies of regulars
Adjutant: a staff officer in the army, air force, or marine corps who assists the commanding officer and is responsible especially for correspondence
Master-at-arms
Swordmaster 
Second-in-command
“Knights of every stripe”
Foot-soldiers “The Crimson Guard”Priam’s EaglesHonor guard 
 Noncombatants 
Auxiliaries 
Warhost 
Battalion (“a battalion of household slaves”)
Tactician
Strategist
Peltast
Standardbearer 
Grenadier 
gunner
Shield bearer
Shieldmen
Defenders
Camp followers
Lord Marshal
 High Constable”
Gateman
Bailiff: one who manages an estate or farm; official employed by British sheriff to serve writs and make arrests and executions) 
Guardsmen
 Gatekeeper 
Peacekeepers 
Turnkey (jailor)
—-
TOWNSFOLK
City-dweller|
Cityfolk
Citizenry
Burgher
Townsmen
Townspeople/folk


POLITICAL

Partisans (strong member of political group)
Lawmakers
Civil servants
Marshal ( a federal official having duties similar to those of a sheriff)
Notary
Jurist (an expert in or writer on law | a lawyer or judge)
Logothete: one of various functionaries [as administrators] of a Byzantine emperor
Publican: Jewish tax collector for ancient Romans; collector of taxes or tribute
Supernumeraries
Functionaries: person who has to perform official functions)MinistersCounselors
Backbencher (member of Parliament who does not hold offices or opposition/lesser house member)
Signatories
Draftsmen (person who draws plans or legal documents; a legal draftsman)Petitioners
Orator
Spokesman Participants/contestants
Contender
Dissenter
Sympathizers
Deputation (a group of people appointed to undertake a mission or take part in a formal process on behalf of a larger group)
Envoy (Royal envoy | minor plenipotentiary accredited to a foreign government who ranks between an ambassador and a minister resident; person delegated to represent one government in its dealings with another)
Peacemaker (“playing peacemaker”)
ClaimantsNOBLE HOUSEHOLD

Signet-bearer
Laundress / Washerwomen
Tweeny (a maid who assisted two other members of a domestic staff)
Wet-nurse
NursemaidHandmaidenMaidservant Chambermaid
Cupbearer
Armiger (a person entitled to heraldic arms)
Seneschal (an agent or steward in charge of a lord’s estate in feudal times)Retainers (a person attached to or owing service to a wing of the household)
Attendant 
Courtiers 
Majordomo (head steward of a large household)High ChamberlainPorter
His household knights
The family guards
Equerry (an officer of the British royal household who attends or assists members of the royal family/an officer of the household of a prince or noble who had charge over the stables)
Duenna (an elderly woman serving as governess and companion to the younger ladies in a Spanish or Portuguese family)
 Valet (man’s male servant who performs personal services such as taking care of clothing)
 Houseguest 
Chatelaine (wife of a castellan; mistress of a chateau; mistress of a household or large establishment) 
Caretaker/steward 
Housekeeper
Custodian
 Head of the household
 Master of the house
Servitors (a person who serves or attends on a social superior”)TRADES/MERCHANTS
Caraveeners
Gunrunner (arms trafficker)
Guildsmen
Saddle maker
Glassblowers
Vendors
Supplier
Wholesaler
Purveyor/purveying
Bootblack (person employed to polish boots and shoes)
Pawnbrokers
Fish hags
Bargain hunters
Needlemakers
Glaziers (profession is fitting glass into windows and doors)
Basket-weaver
Cheese makers
craftsmen/craftswomen
Bonecarver (selling spoons, buttons, penknives)
Carders (ppl who cleanse, disentangle, and collect together wool fibers)
Cutler (person or makes or sells cutlery)
Mercer (a dealer in textile fabrics, esp silks, velvets and other fine materials)
Weavers (Silk-weavers)
Seamstress
Spinster (woman whose occupation is to spin | woman who seems unlikely to marry | unmarried woman of gentle family)
Clothier
Cordwainer (a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The cordwainer’s trade can be contrasted with the cobbler’s trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes)
Milliner (a person who makes or sells women’s hats)
Cooper (one that makes or repairs wooden tubs or casks)
Wainwright (a maker and repairer of wagons)
Wheelwright
Metalworkers
Steelworker
Smithy
Farrier (a craftsman who trims and shoes horses’ hooves)
Saddler (person who makes saddles)
Watchmaker

Pawnbrokers
Lapidary (person who cuts, polishes, or engraves gems)
Knackerman (trading animals that have died on farms and unfit for consumption; where term knackered came from)
Hucksters (a person who sells small items, either door-to-door or form a stall or small store)
Ragman (someone who collects or deals in rags, old clothes, or oher items )
Mountebank ( person who deceives others, especially in order to trick them)
Ragpicker (a person who collected and sold rags
Costermonger (person who sells goods, esp fruit and vegetables, from a handcart in the street)
Dealt in (“Juba, who dealt in antiquities…”)
Dealer
 Shopkeeper
Pushers
Profiteers

In the _ trade (dye)
Furrier (fur dealer)
Druggist
Cheese makers
Vintner (wine merchant or winemaker)

RELIGION (LAITY)
A lapsed Catholic
Communicant (person who received the Holy Communion)
The faithful
“New convert”
Devotee
Adherents
Parishioners (“priests and parishioners”) 
Tithe-dodgers
Worshippers 
Congregation
Laity

RELIGIOUS (CLERGY)
Votaries (a person such as a monk or nun who has made vows of dedication to a religious service)
Precentor (person who leads a congregation or prayers)
Executor of the Throne’s Justice
Officiant (a person, typically a priest or minister, who performs a religious service or ceremony)
Prebendary (senior member of the clergy)
Postulant (person admitted to religious order on probationary level [postulancy])
Crucifer (one who holds a cross in a procession)

Catechumens (one receiving instruction in the basic doctrines of Christianity before admission to communicant membership in a church) 
Churchmen 
Verger (a church official who keeps order during service or serves as an usher/sacristan)
Archimandrite (head of a large monastery in Orthodox Church)
Provost (senior administrative officer in certain colleges and universities | head of a chapter in a cathedral)
Missionaries 
Parson (rector/clergyman)Anchorites (religious recluse)
Mystagogue (teacher or propounder of mystical doctrine)
Eremite (religious recluse; eremitical) 
Exegets (espouser or textual interpreter, usually of scripture)
Theologian 
Deacon (subordinate officer in the Catholic Church such as cleric ranking below a priest; layman given privilege to serve in worship)
Acolyte (one who assists a member of the clergy in a liturgical service by performing minor duties; one who attends or assists a leader)
Chaplain (clergyman in charge of a chapel; clergyman appointed to assist a bishop as at a iturgical function; clergyman officially attached to a branch of the military, to an institution, or to a family or court)
Your worship
Suffragan (bishop appointed to help a diocesan bishop)
Prelate (a bishop or other high ecclesiastical officer)
Curate (member of clergy serving as assistant of or leading a parish)
Sexton (a person who looks after a church and churchyard; bell-ringer and formerly a gravedigger)
Hierarch (a chief priest, archbishop, or other leader)

Archdeacon
Almoner (an official distributor of alms)
Precentor (a leader in the singing of a choir or congregation)
Choirboy
Choirmaster

RELIGION (HEATHENS)
Enemies of the faith
Heresiarch (founder of a heresy of the leader of a heretical sect)Sinner Heathen
Schismatic 
Cultists
Doomsayers 
Fanatics
Apostate (person who renounces religious or political beliefs”)Nonbeliever
Cabalist (one skilled in esoteric doctrine or mysterious art)


FOOD/MEDICINE
Scullions
Scullery maid
Gastronome (lover of food)Costermonger (a hawker of fruit or vegetables)
Cheese makers
Vintner (wine merchant or winemaker)
Poulterer (dealer in poultry and game)
Fruitseller
Tapster
Tavern wench
Trencherman (a person who eats in a specified manner; usually heartily)Barmaid
Lodger
Turnspit (person whose job it is to turn the spit over fire)
Victuallers (person selling alcoholic liquor | (Dated) person selling food or other provisions)
Bonesetter
Oculist (oldschool eye doctor)
Medicine man
Practitioner (medicine/magic)
Medical acolytesSurgeon-Commander
Horse-doctor
Anatomist (an expert in anatomy; a dissector)
surgeon-barber
Physician 
Sawbones (surgeon; often humorous)
Convalescent (someone recovering after an illness)
amputee
TITLE ALTERATIONS

Arch-Sub- (Subdean)
Vice- (Vice-Patriarch)
Under- (Under-Prior, Underboss)
Lord _ (Lord Treasurer) Grand _ (Grand Maester Desmond)High _Chief (“the chief priest”)Senior _
First _ ([First Spear (number one soldier in ancient Roman army])
Master of _ (Master of Revelry)
Keeper of the _ (“keeper of the purse”)
Noble prefixes (Toa-Phelathon)
Live-in (tutor)
Off-dutyLate-night (workers)Honorary _Would-be _
_-trained (“court-trained scholar”)_ the Elder/Youngerlesser/minor (lords)
TITLE EXAMPLESHarbinger (one who pioneers something)
Catlinia the Deliverer!
Light of the East
Defiler (title)
The Virginal Queen
Roan the Grim
Ling Chi, the Death That Comes by a Thousand Cuts
She Who Waits Behind All Things

“Himerios the Boar – called that because of his beastly face.”
The Drowned God
High KingsThe Broken King
The Merling King
The Hooded Man (god)
Justin Milk-EyeDurran the Fair
Drox the Corpse-MakerDurran Half-Blood
Ser Joffrey Doggett – also known as the Red Dog of the Hills
King of the Rock
Tybolt Lannister (called the Thunderbolt)
“Curators of the Stomach whose duty it will be to watch over the pregnancy of Queen Clemence [pregnant”
“Mother of All”
Lord Reaper
The Vulture King
Tyanna of the Tower
Good Queen Alysanne
Conciliator
Quentyn Ball, the fiery knight called Fireball
Golden-Born
The Moonless Host
The Reckoner
Rasel, Scourge of the Black Veils, and Gelasira, the Savior of Ishmantep
Hemapoline League
The Dark Lady
Divine Prosecutors (peacekeepers)
The Lord Righteous
His Grace the Honorable Toa-M’Jest, Duke of Public Order
Knight Attendant
Sunlords
Christ the Redeemer
“Lord of Crows”
Lord of the Tides
Ser Garibald of the Seven Stars, the septon knight
Justin Milk-EyeDurran the Fair
Drox the Corpse-MakerDurran Half-Blood
The Barrow Kings
The Broken KingThe Merling King
The Graymantle King
Tyanna of the Tower
Savage Sam Tarly
Hugor of the Hill
Urron Redhand
Yorick  Yronwood, the Bloodroyal
Symeon Star-Eyes
Serwyn of the Mirror-Shield
Hannto the Scythe
“The Lion of Sirle”




ENTERTAINERS
Aerialist (a person who performs acrobatics high above the ground on a tightrope or trapeze)
Mesmerist
Trapeze artist
Contortionist
Stilt walkers
Fire-eater
Chanteuse (a female singer of popular songs)
A travelling show
They’d drawn up an old wagon to serve as a stage
sword twirlers who spun their blades
Songwriter
Songster
Rhymester 
Troupe (a group of dancers, actors, or other entertainers who tour to different venues) 

Court poets
Playwright
Tragedian (actor who specializes in tragic roles)Puppeteer
Tightrope walkerA
crobat
A marketplace juggler

Majorette (drum majorette: a girl or woman who leads a marching band | a baton twirler who accompanies a marching band)
minstrel/bard
Troubadour (one of the class of lyric poets and poet-musicians of knightly rank who flourished from the eleventh to the end of the thirteenth century chiefly in the south of France and north of Italy whose major theme was courtly love; singer especially of folk songs)
Harpist/flutist/lutist/etc
Danseuse (a female ballet dancer)
Prizefighter Charioteer 
—-
FAMILY
Grandsire
A distant relation
His baby girl
His kid brother
Good-sister (in-laws)
Kinsmen
Mommie dearest
Cadet (a younger brother or son; younger branch of a family)
Dear ol’ dad
His old man

RULERS
The Queen Regent
Marchese (Italian marquis)
Potentates
Petty kings
The royal person
Archon (each of the nine chief magistrates of ancient Anthens)

Overlord: lord over other lords; lord paramount; an absolute or supreme ruler“My husband the king”
“My king”
“His queen-to-be”Rightful heir
Heir presumptive
The heir apparent
Deposed
Disgraced _ (“I am the son of a disgraced noble family”)
Pretender
Self-styled“High Fist Dujek Onearm”
Valley lord
“Earl Palatine of Westria”
Elector-Prince
Great One (emperor)
Sultana
Lawgiver (Apollo the lawgiver)the royal person
Personage (person of rank/note/distinction | impression of famous individual)
Lordling 
Ladyship 
Messire
Maestro (Italian addressing a master)
Magnates (wealthy, influential person)
Statesman (skilled, experienced, and respected political leader)Dignitary (person considered to be important because of high rank or office)e
“Civic dignitaries”
Scion (heir to a wealthy/powerful family)
 Bannermen
Householders
Landholders 
Liege lords
My liege
Headman (leading man in a village)

HIGH CLASS
Men of substance
The idle rich
In polite society
High-society parties
Presence of some old names
Aristos
Well-to-do
Moneyed fools
“Upper-crust Athenians”
Gentlefolk
“Most elite mileu”
Provincial nobility
The merchant fathers
Merchant families
Merchant prince
Mogul
A man of meansYour betters/his betters


LOW CLASS
Squatters
Drifters
The poor and downtrodden
Dregs of society
Guttersnipes (street urchin)
Bottom-feeders
Refugees
Vagrant (person without a settled home and makes a living through begging)
Wanderer
Strays
Castaways
WayfarerOut-of-towner
Lowborn
Low station (in life)
Underclass
Lower orders of society
Pauper
Commoners



—-

CHILDREN
Little bundle of joy
The little uns
Young’un
Short stuff
Squirt
Moppet (child)
playmate
Weasel 
Piglet 
Sprat (young, small, or insignificant person) 
Pup
Sprog (child humorous) 
underbred
“pimply little fart” 
Scamp (rascal; rogue; playful young person)
Inept (clumsy, having no skill)
Shaveling (often derogatory for a tonsured clergyman OR youth/stripling)grace
”Runt 
“slimy little turd”
Hellspawn
“The little savage”
Sprigs of nobility
Guttersnipes (street urchin)
Ragamuffin: a person, typically a child, in ragged, dirty clothesFoundling
Bad apple
Little one 
Tot
Orphan
Youngster
 Shaveling (youth/stripling)
 Playmate (also as insult)
Schoolboy
Moppet 
Foundling: an infant that has been abandoned and cared for by others
Waif: a homeless or helpless person; especially a neglected or abandoned child
The _ boy (“the Mortimer girl”)
“first flush of youth”

INDUSTRY
Millworkers
Collier (a coal miner)
Bricklayer
Grape treaders
(bricklayer’s trowel)
Stonecutter
Steeplejack (one whose work is building smokestacks, towers or steeples or climbing up the outside to paint or make repairs)
workmen
Foreman (first or chief person) 
Taskmaster
Drudges (person made to do hard, menial, or dull work)

Sawyer (person who saws timber ofr a living)



SEAFARERS

Oystermen
Passengers [in a boat]
Fishmongers
Fisherfolk
Shipmates (his boys)
Fish-wives (also insult for coarse-mannered
woman prone to shouting)
Pearl divers
Beachcombers
Naval officers
Scallywag
Anchorsmith
sea-robbers
Sailmakers
Cabin boys
Dockworker
Dockhand
Longshoreman (person who loads and unloads cargo at a seaport)
Landsman (landlubber ; someone inexperienced with sailing)Landlubber 

Hortator (slave who gave drumbeats to a Roman trireme)
Oarmaster“There was work for all hands able to do it.” (naval/identity)


ACADEMIC
Logician
Naturalist (an expert in or a student of natural history)
Literati (well-educated people who are interested in literature)
receptors: the headmaster or principal of a school | The head of a preceptory of Knights Templars)
Geometer (person skilled in geometry)
Provost (chief dignitary of a collegiate or cathedral chapter | keeper of a prison)Census clerks
Collegian
Magisters: a title or form of address given to scholars, especially those qualified to teach in a medieval university
Undersecretary
Copyist (scribe)
Archivist 
Antiquarians
Scholars
Star pupil
Prize pupil
Best and brightest
A second-year student
Taxonimist (the branch of science concerned with classification; esp with organisms)
Cosmogonist (branch of science dealing with origin of the universe, especially the solar system)

PROSTITUTES
Doxies (a lover or mistress/a prostitute)
Strumpet
Ponce (a man who lives off a prostitute’s earnings)
Streetwalkers (prostitue who seeks customers in the street)
Trull (a prostitute)
Proprietress
Procuress
Whoremaster
Loose woman
Rent boy

LOVE/ROMANCE

My lady
My beloved
Lover/beloved
Ladykiller Beauties
Temptress
Minx (impudent, cunning, or boldly flirtatious young woman)Sweetling
My dove
My sweet
Dearest husband
His darling/their darlingMy dear
Loose woman
Suitor 
Husband-to-be
Well-dowered
Dowerless
Unwed
Newlyweds
With child (pregnant)Paramour (a lover; esp the illicit lover of a person)
Consort
Pretty-boy
Swain (a male admirer or suitor | rustic, peasant; shepherd)
Philanderer (having illicit sex with many people)

NEGATIVE MORALITY
Lowlifes
Minion
Waif (a homeless or helpless person; especially a neglected or abandoned child)
Flatterers
Admirers
Slavelord
Cardsharp (person who cheats in cards to make money)
Undesirables|
Riffraff
Ne’er-do-wells
Evildoers | wrongdoers
Footpad (highwayman operating on foot rather  than horse)
Robber barons
Outlaw
Reaver (person who carried out raids in order to plunder)
Marauder (raider)
Pillagers/raiders
Warband / warhost
Loose woman
Drifter
Outcasts (pariah)
Deserter
Renegade (person who deserts and betrays another organization)
Cretin
Cutpurse 
Looter
 Bandit chiefs
Reaver (person who carried out raids in order to plunder)Renegade (person who deserts and betrays another organization)Insurgents (person who revolts against civil authority; person who reacts in contrary opinion to one’s own political party)
Pillagers/raiders Marauder (raider)
 Freebooter (a pirate or lawless adventurer)Libertine (a person who acts without moral responsibility)
Hireling
Street brawler
Deserter
Persona non grata (an unacceptable or unwelcome person)
Bravos (villain; desperado; especially a hired assassin)
Interlopers (a person who becomes involved in a place or situation where they are not wanted or are considered not to belong)

RURAL
Sportsman
Fieldhand
Plowmen (The manorial plowman was responsible for the well-being of his plow animals and the maintenance of his plows and harness; intelligence in a plowman, who was also expected to be versed in digging drainage ditches.)
Swain (a male admirer or suitor | rustic, peasant; shepherd)
Milkmaid
Herdsmen
 Cowherds
Beekeeper
Farmholder
Goatherd
 Swineherd
 Cowhands
 Fieldhands 
Drover (one who drives cattle or sheep)
Beekeeper
Forester (person in charge of a forest or skilled in planting or caring for trees)
Trappers 
Prospector 
Pioneer 
Sharecropper (tenant farmer provided with credit for seeds/tools/living quarters/food and gets an agreed amount of profit from the crop minus charges)
Sawyer (person who saws timber ofr a living)

TRAVEL

Ferryman
Camel-driver
Postilion: one who rides as a guide on the near horse of one of the pairs attached to a couch or post chaise especially without a coachman
Boatman (for ferries)
Muleteer: one who drives mules
Ostler: man employed to look after the horses of people staying at an inn
Postmaster 
Courier 
Messenger boy
Stableboy
 Coachman


GEOGRAPHIC/ENVIRONMENTAL
Forester [an inhabitant of a forest | person trained in forestry]
Marshmen
Mountaineer
Lowlander
 Coldlander F
renchmen/Dornishmen/_-menPlainsman (inhabitant of the plains)
nativesCountryfolk
Islander
Riverlord