106 Pirate Town Names
By The PirateShipName editorial desk · Last updated August 2026
Here are 140 plus pirate town names for ports, free towns, hidden anchorages and islands, built for worldbuilding in games and fiction. They are grouped by what kind of place they suggest, since a lawless free port and a hidden cove need different names.
Real pirate havens were almost never named by pirates. They were existing ports that became lawless, which is why Port Royal, Nassau and Tortuga all have ordinary colonial names. That is the single most useful thing to know before you name one.
Or roll your own
Free port names
Ordinary colonial-sounding names, the way real havens actually sounded. These are the accurate choice.
Lawless haven names
For a town everyone knows is trouble. These lean into reputation rather than geography.
Hidden cove names
Small, concealed anchorages. Descriptive rather than grand, because nobody was advertising them.
Island names
For the island itself rather than the settlement on it.
Fantasy haven names
For settings where the sea is not entirely natural.
Short town names
For a map label or a chat message.
How real pirate havens got their names
Port Royal in Jamaica, Nassau in the Bahamas and Tortuga off Hispaniola were all established settlements before they became associated with piracy. Their names are colonial and administrative, not piratical, because the people who named them were governments rather than pirates.
That means the most authentic pirate town name in a story is a boring one. A haven called Port Fenwick reads more convincingly than one called Cutthroat Cove, precisely because nobody founds a town under that name. Reputation names get applied later, by outsiders, and often only in stories.
Using both kinds of name
The strongest approach in fiction is to give a place both. The official name is Port Fenwick. Everyone who sails there calls it the Fence. That single detail tells a reader the town has a formal existence and an informal reality, and it costs you one sentence.
It is also how real places work. Nicknames for ports, districts and anchorages are universal among sailors, and they usually describe what the place is actually for rather than who founded it.
Naming for a map
If the name will sit on a drawn map, length is the constraint. Long names either shrink to unreadable or crowd out the coastline, which is why real charts are full of short blunt labels. The Cut, Bone Key and Fogmouth all label cleanly at small size.
Save the longer names for towns your characters talk about but never visit. Those exist only in dialogue, where length costs nothing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What were real pirate towns called?
Port Royal in Jamaica, Nassau in the Bahamas and Tortuga off Hispaniola were the best known havens. All three were ordinary colonial settlements first, which is why none of them has a piratical name.
How do you name a pirate town?
Use an ordinary colonial name for the official one, since real havens were founded by governments rather than pirates. Then add an informal nickname sailors use, which is where the reputation belongs.
What are good names for a hidden pirate cove?
Descriptive and short works best, since nobody advertised these places: Quiet Cove, Fogmouth, Deadwater Inlet, The Blind Channel or The Slip.