Horses in Red Dead Redemption 2 are more than just mounts. Instead of simply being a four-legged method of transportation, horses are companions to Arthur Morgan. They carry your items, your kills from hunts. They're portable wardrobes and inventories. Since bonding with a horse will grant you benefits, chances are you'll spend a lot of time with one - so what should you name it?
Naming characters in RPGs is a notoriously time-consuming process. While the case is different in Red Dead Redemption 2 - Arthur Morgan is a set character - a light version of the same problem can arise when faced with the prospect of naming your horse. One the one hand, you can always hit up some random name generator and roll with it. However, you can also check out this guide for some ideas.
In the months since the game's release, many players have asked this very question. Over at our forums, fans have come together to share horse names and suggestions in a pair of threads. Feel free to check them out, but we've taken some of the best suggestions and put them here.
When it comes to naming your horse, there are four sources from which to draw that are best.
Article Contents
Popular Culture
This may be the most obvious. Named horses appear in media all the time, spanning all kinds of mediums and genres. Whether it's from books or movies, whether from fantasy stories or one of those typically emotional "horse stories" that seem to be a gender on their own, there are plenty of options.
For White Arabians, Shadowfax is a particularly good pop-culture name. The horse of Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels, Shadowfax understands human speech and could run "faster than the wind". While the White Arabians of Red Dead Redemption 2 possess no magical abilities, the name is still cool.
Other good names include:
- Epona
- Bojack
- Spirit
- Maximus
- Pegasus
- Artax
Those hardly cover the vast breadth of pop-culture horse names, so there are plenty of choices if none of the strike your fancy. But for the love of god, don't use names from My Little Pony.
Geography
Horses being named after geographical locations isn't uncommon either. A particularly popular practice is to use the names of states in the USA for the horse. Dakota is a good example, since not all states lend themselves to horse names - take "New Jersey" for example. Looking outside the USA, one can check geographic names from South America and the Hispanic peninsula that could fit the game's setting nicely.
Real-life Horses
What better omen than to name your in-game horse after a real-life champion? As big an industry as horse racing was in its heyday, the top steeds were veritable stars. Horses like Secretariat, Seabiscuit, Eclipse, Ruffian, and Red Rum all stole headlines in their time. Looking at these names these days seem a tad strange, but considering how different the world was in 1899, a bit of weirdness adds to immersion, even if the horses themselves come from different eras.
Personal
We can't offer you any examples in this regard, since you know you best. Have you any pets? A place close to your heart? Draw upon your memories and experiences for a name for your horse. This way you'll possibly feel more attached to the virtual animal much like a real-life Arthur Morgan would to his real-life horse.
