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Well in my boredom from the quarantine I was thinking about the Primarch’s original names. Somewhere online it mentions that a Grey Knight once banished Mortorian back to the warp by using Mortorian’s original name somehow. But that had me wondering what were the other names for the Primarchs? I know Perturabo and Konrad Curze are their original names, but haven’t seen anything on the rest. So I decided to come up with a few just for fun and wanted to see other suggestions. Now since this is ripe for parody if people want to make a joke list that is fine as well, but hopefully it doesn’t go off the rails haha. Here is my serious attempt at a list, and I tried to change the spelling on some of them to make them more “futuristic” and I also included my idea’s for the lost Primarchs as well.

1.Jonson-Prihme(Prime)
2.lost-Crowley
3.Fulgrim-Achelless(Achilles)
4.Perturabo
5.Jaghatai-Drake or Draken
6.Russ- Fidelis
7.Dorn-Daedalos(Daedalus)
8.Konrad Curze
9.Sanguinius-Zariel
10.Ferrus-Hesphustus(Hephaestus)
11.lost-Malek or Malat
12.Angron-haven’t come up with one yet
13. Robute-Ariese(Ares? Not sold on this one either)
14.Mortorian-Res’ Neph
15.Magnus-Etrigan
16.Horus-Baal or Eneal
17.Lorgar-Jericho Marx
18.Vulcan-Cherion(Chiron)
19.Corvus-Roe
20.Alpharius and Omegon- Ramulus and Caster(not sold on these either)

Now I tried to avoid cliches but obviously couldn’t help myself haha. Also for some I gave two names but who knows if they all had two names? I also wonder if the Emperor named them all or did others help him? Maybe Malcador helped name a few and these names had a deeper meaning for them or a greater purpose?

The names were all jokes to begin with.
Seriously the setting was designed tongue in cheek with puns galore. why so serious now?

I'm pretty sure the emperor just named them one two three four. At least that's how he talks about Angron.

In pseudo fancy that would be Primis, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus etc (like the princes in Stardust).

Lorgar manged to bind Fulgrim using his true name in "Slaves to Darkness".

It's possible the "true name" of the Daemon Primarchs is something they adopt or are given when they ascend rather than a callback to their original names before they were taken from the Emperor. Given what we know of his attitude towards the Primarchs it seems unlikely the Emperor gave them any names at all.

I always assumed it was a true name in the same sense that true names exist in a lot of fantasy magic systems and in a lot of mythology regarding demons. A wizard of Earthsea is a prime example.

Aash wrote:
I always assumed it was a true name in the same sense that true names exist in a lot of fantasy magic systems and in a lot of mythology regarding demons. A wizard of Earthsea is a prime example.

Yep it works that way but also there are true names for people or things that they may not be aware of, the Emperor has a true name but his name and this is likely why he does not let anyone know what it is, names can also give you power over the owner to some degree, a custodes gets mind locked in this manner by a deamon.

It's also possible that their true names are actually Fulgrim, Angron, etc...it's just that the average space marine or Imperium citizen doesn't know that

Hellebore wrote:
I'm pretty sure the emperor just named them one two three four. At least that's how he talks about Angron.

In pseudo fancy that would be Primis, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus etc (like the princes in Stardust).

So the same way Talos named his slaves then?

Seems fitting.

Hellebore wrote:
I'm pretty sure the emperor just named them one two three four. At least that's how he talks about Angron.

In pseudo fancy that would be Primis, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus etc (like the princes in Stardust).

Remember at the time he's talking to Arkhan Land. Who sees him as a totally apassionate clinical scientist - the mechanicus' equivalent of 'golden warrior god' that the astartes see.... so that May or may not be accurate.

locarno24 wrote:

Hellebore wrote:
I'm pretty sure the emperor just named them one two three four. At least that's how he talks about Angron.

In pseudo fancy that would be Primis, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus etc (like the princes in Stardust).

Remember at the time he's talking to Arkhan Land. Who sees him as a totally apassionate clinical scientist - the mechanicus' equivalent of 'golden warrior god' that the astartes see.... so that May or may not be accurate.

well they were experiments and numbered 1-20. I doubt he picked out baby names for them.

Their original names were numbers but their 'true' names were probably the ones given them by the cultures they grew into. Leman of the Russ is a truer name than Sextus....

Hellebore wrote:

locarno24 wrote:

Hellebore wrote:
I'm pretty sure the emperor just named them one two three four. At least that's how he talks about Angron.

In pseudo fancy that would be Primis, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus etc (like the princes in Stardust).

Remember at the time he's talking to Arkhan Land. Who sees him as a totally apassionate clinical scientist - the mechanicus' equivalent of 'golden warrior god' that the astartes see.... so that May or may not be accurate.

well they were experiments and numbered 1-20. I doubt he picked out baby names for them.

Their original names were numbers but their 'true' names were probably the ones given them by the cultures they grew into. Leman of the Russ is a truer name than Sextus....

except the Valdore novel implies he did indeed have some sentimentality for them.

 Gadzilla666 wrote:

Hellebore wrote:
I'm pretty sure the emperor just named them one two three four. At least that's how he talks about Angron.

In pseudo fancy that would be Primis, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus etc (like the princes in Stardust).

So the same way Talos named his slaves then?

Seems fitting.

Well why give fancy names for disposable weapons?

Most of the primarchs got names from their adoptive parents, that usually had some meaning in their culture and the Emperor didn't rename any of them, it seems.

But when the Emperor finds Curze, he doesn't call him "Night Haunter" even though that was the name he was given by the people of his homeworld.

That would kinda imply that the big guy had a list of names and thought "Night Haunter" was lame and "Konrad Curze" sounded better, but names like "Mortarion" or "Corvus Corax" were good enough to keep...

It seems like a lot of names in 40k are done tongue-in-cheek.

It's not a name exactly, but the Eldar derogatory slang term for humans, mon-keigh, basically is just derived from monkey.

And so on...

And then actual names like Ferrus Manus which means Iron Hands, the Primarch of the Iron Hands legion.

Or Sanguinius. Literally means Blood. Primarch of Blood Angels.

A lot of 40k naming is pun-heavy.

 Formosa wrote:

Aash wrote:
I always assumed it was a true name in the same sense that true names exist in a lot of fantasy magic systems and in a lot of mythology regarding demons. A wizard of Earthsea is a prime example.

Yep it works that way but also there are true names for people or things that they may not be aware of, the Emperor has a true name but his name and this is likely why he does not let anyone know what it is, names can also give you power over the owner to some degree, a custodes gets mind locked in this manner by a deamon.

Several space wolves get killed by a demon via names in the Burning of Prospero as well. Until Bjorn gets involved anyway.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

BrianDavion wrote:

Hellebore wrote:

locarno24 wrote:

Hellebore wrote:
I'm pretty sure the emperor just named them one two three four. At least that's how he talks about Angron.

In pseudo fancy that would be Primis, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus etc (like the princes in Stardust).

Remember at the time he's talking to Arkhan Land. Who sees him as a totally apassionate clinical scientist - the mechanicus' equivalent of 'golden warrior god' that the astartes see.... so that May or may not be accurate.

well they were experiments and numbered 1-20. I doubt he picked out baby names for them.

Their original names were numbers but their 'true' names were probably the ones given them by the cultures they grew into. Leman of the Russ is a truer name than Sextus....

except the Valdore novel implies he did indeed have some sentimentality for them.

If you have 1 piece of evidence for something and 10 against something then the 1 piece doesn't mean much.

It isn't one piece, Mortarian's Heart said that he had names picked out for them all, but obviously he never got a chance to name them. The HH books are filled with instances of familial moments between the emperor and a primarch. Master of Mankind just showcased the Emperor's 'appear as would make your audience respect you the most' trait. Unfortunately he spends the majority of the book around those who for different reasons disliked the primarchs. His real feelings are never made clear, as ever.

Naming something doesn't mean that you love it or care about it. I name things in video games that have almost literally no value to me.

Not universally true though. There's a reason why you name pets, but not livestock, for example.

Given the very initial post being joke names made up from boredom, I’m curious what this thread is trying to accomplish. I mean, if we want goofy stuff, I’m down:
Konrad Curze: Bruce Wayne
Vulkan: Charmander
Fulgrim: Fabio
Mortarion: Oscar the Grouch
Lorgar: Pope John Paul II
Angron: Tom Cruise (after in-closet attacks)
Magnus: Harry Butthole P***y Potter, courtesy of South Park
Jaghati Khan (spelling): Ghengis
Leman Russ: Ol’ Yeller
Sanguinius: Gabriel on the rag
Horus: General Patton
Lionel Johnson: Mr Sulu
Dorn: Donald Trump’s official wall-builder
Perturabo: all the guys from My Chemical Romance
Guilliman: Donald Trump himself
Alpharius and Omagan: Natalie Portman and Kiera Knightly
Corvus: all the guys from Fallout Boy
Ferrus Manus: Anthony Howard Stark

Yes I did not expect the discussion to go where it did but I am glad all the same. I like hearing about whether there is an evidence in either case if the Emperor saw the Primarchs as sons or weapons. The number idea is a good point but I was always under the impression that Perturabo was born knowing his name was Perturabo? Is that not right? If that is the case then someone named him, unless he chose that name?
As I said I thought it might be a fun thing to do to pass the quarantine.

This might be way off topic, but is there a chance that the Emperors feelings toward the Primarchs changed over time? Maybe he was closer to his sons early in the Crusade but over time, possibly even what happened to the other 2 Lost Primarchs, affected him so much he became cold and cinical even more then originally? This isn’t based on anything just wondering if he is always depicted the same way in the HH series.

And yes people can make up joke names are whatever you like, it was just meant to be fun and engaging.

It seems unlikely that his sentimentality could be properly parental when they were embryos in test tubes.

He never met them until they were fully grown with independently developed personalities.

If he made a bargain with chaos to help make them and was hinging his imperium on their existence I can see why he'd be very invested in their existence and the weight of their survival would weigh heavily on them.

But I think there are very different points in his life where his feelings towards them would be wildly different.

During creation: a feeling of massive investment, possessiveness and importance. They're pivotal to his plan and they are in a way his kids, but no one creating children this way could ever be considered a 'good' parent....

Once lost: he would feel quite angry and at a loss, having to redevelop his plans on the fly in order to continue without them. A lot of could have beens and potential futures lost


Recovered: Elation that his creations could be alive, determination that his plans can succeed and perhaps annoyance and the loss of opportunity he had, as they've all grown up without his control so he couldn't mould them into the child soldiers he wanted them to be.

If the emperor was going to use magnus as a battery, russ as an executioner etc, then he would have controlled their upbringing precisely to ensure that they complied willingly and joyously.

He didn't create them to be hippy individuals but cogs (albiet the biggest cogs) in his plans so they needed to be raised to fit their positions properly. What he got were feral children.



IMO the great crusade, space marines and primarchs are actually his last ditch effort in a lifetime of careful planning.

there's no evidence that he did anything as grandiose as the GC for the 38,000 years of his life before that point. He nudged and planned and guided etc.

IMO the primarch project was basically his last, exasperated gasp at trying to set humanity on the right track after his more subtle failures. the age of strife threw humanity backwards into atavistic savagery.

The emperor took his kid gloves off and finally got serious, but his frustration and anger made him act quicker than he normally would so his plans went awry.

His last big gamble was also going to be a big splashy last stand against the encroaching dark and he rolled the dice....

I'm not sure if it was frustration that guided the emperor's haste or a realization that there was no other alternative now and that time was running out. the fall of the eldar empire created a VERY narrow window for him to act

Musselman wrote:
This might be way off topic, but is there a chance that the Emperors feelings toward the Primarchs changed over time? Maybe he was closer to his sons early in the Crusade but over time, possibly even what happened to the other 2 Lost Primarchs, affected him so much he became cold and cinical even more then originally? This isn’t based on anything just wondering if he is always depicted the same way in the HH series.

Not just a chance. The novel Valdor strongly implies this very thing. The following is an exchange between Valdor and Malcador just before the start of the Great Crusade, just after the Emperor has discovered the Primarchs survived the scattering.

"He is determined to hunt for them. He has taken to referring to them as his "sons". Can you imagine that? Neither could I until I heard it from his own lips. There might be some lingering attachment there, though how long it will last I cannot say"
Valdore hestitated "Then his human sentiments, they are still ebbing?"
"As he predicted. All things have their price"

I can easily see the Emperor bonding closely with the early Primarchs (especially Horus) but more loosely with the later ones. 10,000 years later and his cold, detached attitude to Guilliman on his return would be the logical conclusion of the process.

Valdor is such a strange novel. The Emperor actually having and understanding emotions makes so many decisions seem flat out silly.
The best answer I can think of is he called them his sons so if anyone got suspicious there'd be evidence to back up him caring but that's a bit far fetched.

timetowaste85 wrote:Given the very initial post being joke names made up from boredom, I’m curious what this thread is trying to accomplish. I mean, if we want goofy stuff, I’m down:

Perturabo: all the guys from My Chemical Romance
Guilliman: Donald Trump himself
Alpharius and Omagan: Natalie Portman and Kiera Knightly

These 3 are waaayyyyy too accurate to be a joke tho.

BrianDavion wrote:
I'm not sure if it was frustration that guided the emperor's haste or a realization that there was no other alternative now and that time was running out. the fall of the eldar empire created a VERY narrow window for him to act

Yeah there's a lot of different elements to it for sure. It just stands out that he was behind the curtain for 38,000 years, ~30,000 of which were in the space age and ~10,000 of that was post apocalyptic space age when humanity would have really needed him.

We don't get any reveals on his machinations during this time, but him stepping out into the light really seems very sudden and rushed and bombastic which is a complete 180 on his status quo for 99% of his existence. The eldar fall would have left a massive power vacuum and he obviously wanted to fill it, but he didn't NEED to fill it in order for humanity to survive and prosper. Being boss of the galaxy wasn't the only successful road he could take.

One of the things that strikes me about this time is the lack of orks. We see ork waaaghs fill the galaxy after the eldar fall and the 41st millennium is full of them. My supposition is that the eldar automata armies were basically culling the herds and keeping ork numbers suppressed. The eldar superheavy void spinner uses wraithbone parasites and engineered organisms to break down everything on a planet for reconstruction as a maiden world, so I imagine it was one of the only effecitve sporocides in the galaxy.

Cut to the galactic wide superculture imploding and all their automata stop functioning/are destroyed and the orks are no longer being held at bay.

This would definitely put pressure on the emperor to build a bulwark against the orks before they could expand to plague proportions. So I could see specifically the ork expansion post Fall as a pressure on him to act quickly. When you couple this with the design of space marine weaponry (bolters chainswords etc) is all very rip and tear, it seems pretty clear he was building them to fight orks. And he built them their own warbosses, because orks know that the biggest is da best so primarchs tell orks immediately who's in charge...

Anyway, it's IMO just really interesting to see a guy considered to be a demigod who slowly and methodically works his way towards unknowable goals getting pushed by external forces to act even when he may not have wanted to.

By the unification wars it seems as though the universe was moving faster than the emperor really wanted it to and he was trying to keep up, but his plans were imperfect and his creations flawed so he ended up with a pyrrhic victory.


As a further digression, a favourite movie of mine is called 'The Man from Earth' and I can see that totally being the early story of the Emperor...

Careful on the True Name thing.

When anyone ascends to Daemonhood, they receive a True Name.

In Jewish and Christian lore (I think?) it’s the word God spoke when you were created, or became destined to be.

In 40k? Could be a now Daemon Primarch’s batch number. Could be The Emperor’s pet name. Could (unlikely) be the name most would recognise. Could be their ‘baptism’ when a Primarch ascended to Daemon Primarch.

And hey....Most Daemon truenames are utterly unpronounceable by humans. Nice trick, huh