Githzerai Names Guide | Examples and Naming Conventions for 5E

The Gith are a race in Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, and haven’t been a playable race for a long time. Gith are tall, emaciated looking humanoids with yellow skin, though sometimes darker or lighter. They have almost elven skulls, though a bit larger up top. Their eyes are deep, their noses are flat, and their ears are as pointed as an elf’s. The Gith have had to deal with a long history of enslavement, and the Githzerai were the backbone of many armies, despite them not consenting. Wiser than their Githyanki brethren, the Githzerai have a long and painful history. It’s worth checking that out in our Githzerai Names guide, before naming your enlightened being.

Githzerai Names 5E Guide

Githzerai are the more intelligent half of the Gith race. This doesn’t change overmuch about their history; both the githzerai and the githyanki survived many years under the foot of their oppressors, and then had a civil war between each other. This is quite a creature, so if you can, please think about the name of your Githzerai! They have a huge history behind them, and are likely to know most of it.

Culture and Naming Conventions

The githzerai (and githyanki) have served under the feet of the mind flayers. After centuries of enslavement, the gith broke free of the mind flayer’s grasp and escaped. However, the githzerai have a more peaceful philosophy than the githyanki. So, the two sides went into a civil war that split the gith people.

Gith are latently psychic. The githzerai honed their psychic abilities to be more focused on defense and directly mental abilities. This causes githzerai to be naturally stubborn and mentally overwhelming, often to the detriment of their ability to create alliances; especially with hardy races like Dwarves. However, they are naturally fitting for more thoughtful races like elves or humans.

Githzerai live in an introspective society. That means they often become monks, wizards, and even clerics. All gith follow a similar goal of destroying the mind flayers (or illithids), their hated overlords. Thanks to the sustained efforts of the two gith races, the illithids were unable to conquer the thought plane. The githzerai do not take the primary credit for this, and continue to battle illithids as often as they can.

Upon first escaping, the githzerai moved to Limbo. They used their psychic powers to create fortresses and strongholds, where they lived in peace and isolation. Over time, they would move along chaotic planes and back into the material realm. They are constantly dealing with chaotic realms, despite their lawful tendencies.

See Also: Genasi Names Guide

Examples of Githzerai Names

The Githzerai have a somewhat strange language, only really making sense to them. It’s fairly gutteral, but lighter than something like an orc or goblin. Male names take fairly gutteral sounds and shorter names. Females are longer and more melodic, with less harsh sounds.