Hawk Names: 300+ Ideas From Real Species, Falconry, Sky, and Myth

Hawk names tend to come from four places: the species itself (Rusty for a red-tailed hawk), falconry vocabulary (Jess, Eyas, Tiercel), the sky and weather (Zephyr, Gale, Cirrus), and other languages’ words for hawk (Taka, Hierax, Seabhac). This page covers all four and more, with 300+ names and a reason for each.

If you want a quick start, Rusty suits a red-tail, Jess suits a falconer, and Zephyr suits almost anyone.

Who Actually Gets to Name a Hawk?

In the United States, wild hawks are protected by federal law. A named hawk usually belongs to a licensed falconer, a rehabilitation center, or a raptor education program. Rules differ by country, and a hawk is not a casual pet.

People also land here to name story characters, mascots, game accounts, and animals with a hawk’s sharpness. If you also fly falcons, our falcon names collection covers that side.

Does a Hawk Respond to Its Name?

Many falconers say a hawk answers to the glove, a whistle, and food, not to the word itself. The name is mostly for people: the logbook, the vet, the club newsletter.

That’s a reason to choose something short and easy to write on a form. Pick a name you’ll still like when it’s printed on a record.

What Kinds of Hawks Are There, and Which Names Fit Each?

“Hawk” covers several groups of raptors. Accipiters, such as Cooper’s hawk and the northern goshawk (usually just called a goshawk), have short, rounded wings and long tails for chasing prey through trees. Buteos, such as the red-tailed hawk, have broad wings for soaring.

Hawk	What Stands Out	Names That Fit
Red-tailed hawk	Adults have a brick-red tail, and its scream is the one movies often dub over eagles	Rusty, Redtail, Ember
Cooper’s hawk	Long tail, short rounded wings, red eyes in adults, slips through trees after birds	Coop, Ruby, Dart
Sharp-shinned hawk	North America’s smallest accipiter, built to chase songbirds	Sharpie, Kit, Flick
Harris’s hawk	Chestnut shoulders and thighs, and a habit of hunting in family groups	Chestnut, Cast, Sonora
Red-shouldered hawk	Rusty barred chest, a loud repeating call, lives near wooded wetlands	Russet, Hollow, Bramble
Swainson’s hawk	A long-distance migrant that winters in South America	Swainson, Horizon, Autumn
Ferruginous hawk	North America’s largest buteo, with rusty legs, found in open country	Ferro, Prairie, Tumbleweed
Northern goshawk	Powerful forest hunter with a pale brow and dark eye stripe	Gos, Eyeliner, Fury

Match the name to the species you actually have, not the one you wish you had. A Harris’s hawk named Redtail will confuse everyone at the club.

What Are Good Hawk Names Based on Real Species?

Real hawk species give you names with built-in reasons, and birders already use some of these as shorthand.

• Rusty – adult red-tailed hawks have the brick-red tail the species is named for
• Redtail – birders’ common shorthand for the red-tailed hawk
• Sharpie – birders’ nickname for the sharp-shinned hawk
• Coop – the usual shorthand for Cooper’s hawk
• Harris – Harris’s hawk, named for Edward Harris, a friend of the naturalist John James Audubon
• Swainson – Swainson’s hawk, named for the English naturalist William Swainson
• Ferro – short for ferruginous, which means rust-colored
• Broadwing – the broad-winged hawk, known for migrating in huge swirling groups
• Kettle – what birders call a swirling group of hawks riding a thermal
• Gos – falconers’ nickname for the northern goshawk
• Buteo – the genus of broad-winged soaring hawks, which includes the red-tail
• Accipiter – the genus of long-tailed woodland hawks, from the Latin word for hawk
• Sparrowhawk – the Eurasian sparrowhawk, a small woodland hunter of songbirds
• Galápagos – the Galápagos hawk, found only on those islands
• ʻIo – the Hawaiian name for the Hawaiian hawk
• Zone-Tail – the zone-tailed hawk, which flies among vultures and resembles one
• Roughleg – the rough-legged hawk, feathered down the legs for Arctic cold
• Harrier – the northern harrier, a slim, low-flying hawk relative that hunts over marshes and fields

What Are Good Hawk Names Based on Feather Color and Markings?

Plumage hands you a ready-made palette. For more red-toned ideas, our red bird names page has a few that suit a rust-tailed hawk.

• Cinnamon – the rusty leg feathers of a ferruginous hawk
• Russet – the reddish-brown barring on a red-shouldered hawk’s chest
• Chestnut – the deep brown of a Harris’s hawk’s shoulders and thighs
• Mahogany – a dark, glossy brown for a dark-morph bird
• Umber – an earthy dark brown
• Sepia – a soft, faded brown for a young bird in streaky juvenile plumage
• Slate – the blue-gray back of an adult Cooper’s hawk
• Ash – a pale blue-gray, like an adult sharp-shinned hawk’s back
• Smoke – a hazy gray-brown for a bird with blurry streaking
• Dapple – a patch-by-patch pattern on a pale underside
• Freckle – the small dark spots on a speckled chest
• Bars – the horizontal bands across many hawks’ tails and chests
• Belly Band – the dark, streaky band across a red-tail’s belly
• Trousers – hawks’ feathered thighs are sometimes called trousers
• Pantaloons – the same feathers, with more flair
• Amber – the yellow-to-orange eye color of many hawks
• Saffron – a deep yellow, like the feet and cere of many hawks
• Ruby – the red eyes of an adult Cooper’s hawk
• Cap – the dark cap on a Cooper’s hawk’s head
• Eyeliner – the dark stripe through a goshawk’s eye, set off by a pale brow

What Are Good Hawk Names Based on Hunting and Flight?

Hawks hunt by watching from a perch or riding rising air, then dropping on prey. These names borrow that routine.

• Swoop – the dive, in one syllable
• Soar – hawks ride rising warm air in wide, lazy circles
• Glide – covering ground without a single wingbeat
• Thermal – a column of rising warm air that lets hawks climb without flapping
• Updraft – air pushed upward by a ridge, another free lift for soaring
• Ambush – woodland hawks often hunt by surprise
• Pounce – the last half-second of the hunt
• Strike – the moment the feet make contact
• Dart – a quick burst between trees
• Vantage – the high perch a hunting hawk picks
• Overwatch – watching the whole field from above
• Perch – where a hawk spends much of its day
• Scout – always the first to notice movement
• Sentinel – hawks on roadside poles keep a steady watch over fields
• Lookout – the post-sitter’s job title
• Quarry – the falconry word for the animal being hunted
• Orbit – a hawk in a thermal turns in slow circles
• Crosswind – the hawk’s weather on a windy ridge

What Are Good Names for a Female Hawk?

In most hawk species the female is larger than the male, which makes strong names a natural fit for hens.

• Huntress – a plain title for the bigger sex of the pair
• Duchess – nobility with a hooked beak
• Matriarch – for a hen who clearly runs the perch
• Empress – the top rank, no argument
• Artemis – the Greek goddess of the hunt
• Athena – the Greek goddess of strategy and war, among other roles
• Valkyrie – Norse figures who choose who falls in battle
• Juno – the Roman queen of the gods
• Hazel – a warm brown that matches many hawks’ feathers
• Juniper – an evergreen shrub common in dry hawk country
• Scarlett – the bright end of a red-tail’s palette
• Willa – a soft name for a bird that isn’t
• Maeve – the English form of Medb, a legendary Irish warrior queen
• Freya – the Norse goddess said to own a falcon-feather cloak
• Brynn – echoes the Welsh word bryn, meaning hill, where hawks hunt the slopes
• Sigrid – an old Norse name built from elements meaning “victory” and “beautiful”

What Are Good Names for a Male Hawk?

Males run smaller than females in most species, so a big name on a lean bird has an edge. Falconers also have a traditional word for a male, listed with the falconry terms below.

• Atlas – the Greek Titan who holds up the sky
• Orion – the hunter of Greek myth, also a constellation
• Rowan – a tree with red berries and a woodland feel
• Ridge – the high ground hawks patrol
• Gideon – a biblical judge and warrior
• Ajax – a Greek hero at Troy
• Hector – the Trojan prince and defender
• Leif – Old Norse for “heir”
• Magnus – Latin for “great”
• Falk – a German given name from the word for falcon, a close relative of the hawk
• Gunnar – a Norse name built from elements for “battle” and “warrior”
• Thorne – a thorny shrub, and a sharp-sounding name
• Cassius – a Roman family name with a clipped sound
• Wyatt – an English-rooted name with a frontier feel
• Brooks – a soft name for a patient hunter
• Dane – short, clean, and easy to call

What Falconry Words Make Good Hawk Names?

Falconry has a vocabulary nobody else uses, and many terms double as short, distinctive names. Usage varies a little between regions and traditions, so check with your sponsor or club before using one as a formal label.

• Jess – the short leather strap fastened to a hawk’s leg
• Mews – the building where a falconer houses a hawk
• Creance – the light training line that keeps a young hawk from flying off
• Bate – to flap or fling off the fist in alarm or hunger
• Eyas – a nestling hawk, or one taken from the nest for training
• Passager – a wild hawk trapped in its first fall, still in juvenile plumage
• Haggard – a hawk trapped as an adult, in adult plumage; also a word for wild
• Tiercel – the male, traditionally said to be about a third smaller than the female
• Lure – the weighted, food-baited decoy used to call a hawk back
• Hood – a soft leather cap that calms a bird
• Bewit – the strap that holds a bell to a hawk’s leg
• Gauntlet – the heavy glove the bird lands on
• Cadge – a portable frame for carrying hawks
• Mantle – to spread wings and tail over food as if to hide it
• Rouse – to shake out the feathers
• Feak – to wipe the beak clean against a perch
• Imp – to repair a broken flight feather by splicing in a new one
• Weather – to sit outdoors on a perch in daylight
• Cast – two or more hawks flown together
• Hack – a method of raising young hawks with partial freedom
• Austringer – a person who flies short-winged hawks, as opposed to falcons
• Cere – the waxy patch at the base of the beak

What Is the Word for Hawk in Other Languages?

These are real words for hawk, or for a close relative such as a goshawk or sparrowhawk, and I’ve flagged where the meaning is narrower. If you choose one for a cultural reason, ask a speaker about pronunciation.

• Taka – Japanese for hawk (鷹); many Japanese names use that character, so a longer name’s meaning depends on its kanji
• Hierax – Ancient Greek for hawk
• Seabhac – Irish for hawk
• Haukur – an Icelandic given name that means hawk
• Hauk – a simplified spelling of the Old Norse word haukr
• Hebog – Welsh for hawk
• Gwalch – an older Welsh word for hawk or falcon
• Bāz – Persian for hawk or falcon, long used in falconry
• Mae – Korean (매) for hawk or falcon
• Lawin – Tagalog for hawk
• Elang – Indonesian and Malay for eagle or hawk
• Mwewe – Swahili for hawk or kite
• Shyena – from Sanskrit śyena, hawk or falcon
• Gavilán – Spanish for sparrowhawk, widely used for hawks
• Azor – Spanish for goshawk
• Épervier – French for sparrowhawk
• Astore – Italian for goshawk
• Habicht – German for goshawk
• Hafoc – Old English, the ancestor of the word hawk

What Are Good Hawk Names Inspired by Sky and Weather?

Hawks live in the weather, so sky names fit without much explanation.

• Zephyr – the Greek god of the west wind
• Gale – a strong, steady wind
• Cirrus – high, wispy ice clouds
• Nimbus – a rain cloud
• Squall – a sudden, short storm
• Mistral – a cold, dry wind in southern France
• Sirocco – a hot wind blowing from the Sahara toward southern Europe
• Boreas – the Greek god of the north wind
• Tempest – a violent storm
• Zenith – the highest point in the sky
• Apex – the top of the food chain, where hawks sit in many habitats
• Crest – the top of a ridge
• Mesa – a flat-topped hill
• Bluff – a steep cliff face
• Canyon – a deep gorge where air currents funnel
• Tor – a rocky hilltop in English moorland
• Sierra – Spanish for “saw,” used for jagged mountain ranges
• Eyrie – a hawk’s or eagle’s nest, built high up
• Horizon – the line a hawk keeps scanning

What Are Good Hawk Names for a Woodland Hunter?

Cooper’s hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and goshawks hunt through trees, so forest names fit them best.

• Hickory – a hardwood of eastern forests
• Alder – a tree of damp woods and stream banks
• Birch – pale bark, bright against dark woods
• Cedar – an evergreen with a clean, sharp scent
• Sycamore – a big tree with mottled bark
• Aspen – leaves that flutter at the slightest breeze
• Bramble – the thorny tangle a hunting hawk flushes prey from
• Briar – a thorny shrub, and a short, snappy name
• Thicket – dense cover that accipiters slip through
• Hollow – a small valley, or a tree cavity
• Glen – a narrow wooded valley
• Fern – a woodland floor plant
• Moss – soft, green, and quiet
• Burr – a prickly seed case that sticks to everything

What Are Good Hawk Names for Desert and Prairie Birds?

Harris’s hawks live in desert scrub in the Southwest and hunt in family groups. Swainson’s hawks work open plains and migrate long distances to South America.

• Sage – the gray-green shrub of western plains
• Mesquite – a thorny desert tree that Harris’s hawks perch in
• Saguaro – the giant cactus of the Sonoran Desert
• Prairie – the open grassland itself
• Sonora – the desert region of the southwestern US and northwestern Mexico
• Arroyo – a dry creek bed that fills after rain
• Cholla – a spiny, branching desert cactus
• Ocotillo – a tall, whip-like desert shrub with red blooms
• Agave – a spiky desert plant
• Dune – a ridge of wind-shaped sand
• Mirage – the shimmer over hot ground
• Adobe – sun-baked clay, a warm earth tone
• Tumbleweed – the drifting plant of open country
• Sienna – a burnt-orange earth color

What Are Good Hawk Names Based on Time and Season?

Hawks hunt by daylight, and many species are on the move each fall. Night names belong to owls, and our owl names collection covers those.

• Dawn – when hunting often begins
• Dusk – the end of the hunting day
• Solstice – the longest or shortest day of the year
• Equinox – the two days of equal light and dark
• Autumn – the season of fall migration
• September – a peak month for hawk migration in much of North America
• Harvest – when mowed fields expose small prey
• Frost – the first cold mornings
• Thaw – the return of spring
• Gloaming – an old word for twilight
• Twilight – the soft hour between day and dark
• Vesper – Latin for evening
• Aurora – the light before sunrise
• Meridian – noon, when the sun is highest

What Are Good Names for a Young Hawk?

Nestling hawks hatch in white down and take weeks to look like anything impressive. Small, soft names suit that stage, and eyas, the falconer’s word for a nest-taken youngster, appears in the falconry list above.

• Fledge – the stage when flight feathers arrive
• Brancher – a young hawk that has left the nest and hops between branches before it flies well
• Downy – the fluffy white coat of a hatchling
• Tuft – a small clump of down
• Scrap – the smallest in the nest
• Wisp – barely there, for now
• Sprout – growing fast
• Smidge – a tiny amount, a short-term joke
• Nubbin – a small stub, like a wing that hasn’t grown in
• Biscuit – soft and round
• Peep – the chick’s first sounds
• Fuzzy – plain and accurate

What Are Strong, Fierce Hawk Names?

Hawks look the part: a hooked beak, strong feet, and a stare. For something even grander, our eagle names go bigger.

• Talon – the grasping claws that do most of the work
• Hook – the curved beak
• Razor – sharp edges and a sharp gaze
• Fury – a short, loud name for a bird that hits hard
• Havoc – what a hawk does to a field of mice
• Marauder – a raider that arrives without warning
• Reaper – a hunter’s grim nickname
• Savage – blunt and unsubtle
• Outlaw – answers to no one
• Rogue – a lone operator
• Maverick – a bird that ignores the flock
• Warhawk – a term for someone eager for a fight
• Wrath – an old word for fierce anger
• Menace – the neighbors’ opinion of it

What Are Good Hawk Names Inspired by Warriors and Lawmen?

Roles that watch, patrol, or fight from a distance suit a bird that spends the day scanning the ground.

• Marshal – an officer who keeps the peace
• Ranger – patrols open country
• Paladin – originally a knight of Charlemagne’s court, later any champion
• Centurion – a Roman officer commanding roughly a hundred soldiers
• Ronin – a masterless samurai
• Archer – a fighter who works from a distance
• Lancer – a cavalry soldier carrying a lance
• Vanguard – the front of an advancing force
• Warden – a guardian of a place
• Sheriff – the local lawman, patrolling the fields
• Deputy – the sheriff’s second
• Outrider – a mounted scout who rides ahead of a group
• Gunslinger – an old West gunfighter
• Herald – a messenger and announcer

What Are Good Hawk Names Inspired by Fire and Embers?

Rust and red feathers make fire names a natural fit for red-tails and ferruginous hawks.

• Ember – the glowing last bit of a fire
• Cinder – a small, burnt remnant
• Blaze – an open fire, and a bright burst of color
• Flare – a sudden flash of light
• Kindle – to start a fire
• Spark – the smallest start of a flame
• Scorch – a burn mark, also a hot color
• Smolder – a slow burn without flame
• Pyre – a stack of wood for burning
• Brand – a burning stick or a mark made with one
• Torch – a handheld flame
• Hearth – the fireplace, a warm and steady name

What Are Good Hawk Names Based on Stones and Minerals?

Stone names borrow color and hardness, so pick one that matches the bird’s plumage.

• Obsidian – glossy black volcanic glass, for a dark-morph bird
• Granite – a speckled gray rock
• Basalt – a dark volcanic rock
• Onyx – a black stone
• Garnet – a deep red gem
• Jasper – a stone that comes in red, brown, and yellow
• Agate – a banded stone with soft color shifts
• Quartz – a clear, hard crystal, for a pale bird
• Topaz – a yellow-gold gem, close to a hawk’s eye color
• Tiger’s Eye – a golden-brown banded stone that resembles some hawks’ plumage and gaze
• Carnelian – an orange-red stone
• Hematite – a dark, metallic gray stone

What Are Good Hawk Names for a Sharp-Eyed Bird?

Hawks spot small movement from far away, and their eyesight is far sharper than ours.

• Argus – the hundred-eyed watchman of Greek myth
• Vigil – a period of careful watching
• Keen – sharp-sighted
• Focus – locking on to the target
• Aim – the point before the strike
• Seer – someone who sees what others miss
• Oracle – a source of foresight
• Ward – a guard or watcher
• Clarity – a clear view
• Sentry – a guard on duty
• Lucid – clear-headed and sharp
• Beacon – a light that can be seen from far away
• Spyglass – an old telescope
• Monocle – a single lens, with a dignified air

Which Mythic and Pop Culture Names Suit a Hawk?

Some of these come from old stories and some from comics and landmarks. Not affiliated with, licensed by, or endorsed by any publisher, studio, or sanctuary mentioned.

• Horus – the Egyptian sky god usually shown with a falcon’s head, often described loosely as hawk-like
• Montu – an Egyptian war god also shown with a falcon’s head
• Apollo – in Homer’s Odyssey, the hawk is called his swift messenger
• Daedalion – in Ovid’s retelling, a grieving man turned into a hawk
• Gawain – an Arthurian knight whose name some sources link to Welsh Gwalchmei, glossed as “hawk of May” [VERIFY]
• Hawkeye – the name of a well-known comic-book archer and of other fictional characters
• Hawkman – a long-running comic-book hero
• Hawkgirl – his partner in the comics
• Hawkins – a surname meaning “son of Hawk”
• Hawk Mountain – a Pennsylvania ridge made a raptor sanctuary in 1934

What Are Short Hawk Names That Are Easy to Call?

Short names are easy to write on a log sheet and shout across a field. Hard consonants like Kit, Dart, and Flint tend to carry better in wind than soft ones.

• Kit – quick and small, good for a sharp-shinned hawk
• Flint – the hard stone that sparks
• Jett – black, for a dark-plumaged bird
• Dash – speed in four letters
• Pike – a long spear
• Quill – a feather’s hollow shaft
• Flick – a quick wing movement
• Zeb – a punchy nickname for Zebulon
• Sky – where the bird spends its time
• Rae – a soft counterpoint to a fierce bird
• Reed – a thin marsh grass
• Tuck – the wing fold before a dive
• Finn – short and friendly
• Wick – the string in a candle, a small flame
• Zip – quick and cheerful
• Bo – two letters, easy to shout

What Are Funny Hawk Names?

Hawks are serious hunters, which makes puns a good contrast. If the hawk in question is the one eyeing your hens, our chicken names page covers the other side of the fence.

• Hawkward – a pun on awkward, for a landing that didn’t go to plan
• Hawkus Pocus – a magic-trick pun
• Talonted – a pun on talented, for a bird with a good grip
• Talon Show – a talent-show pun, staged on a fence post
• Lunch Money – what the local mice pay
• Squirrel Patrol – red-tails do take squirrels
• Vole Patrol – voles are a common prey of red-tails
• Drive-By – the hawk’s strike on a field edge
• Fly-By – a quick pass over the yard
• Beaky – plain and affectionate
• Sky Marshal – patrols the sky, no badge needed
• Wingman – the loyal sidekick
• Glove Hog – for a falconry bird that won’t share the fist
• Fist Bump – the gloved landing
• Jess Kidding – a pun on “just kidding,” plus the leg strap
• Perch Perfect – a pun on a movie title, for a bird that sticks every landing
• Hawk Talk – a bird with opinions
• Rodent Control – a job title the bird already holds

What Are Good Names for a Pair of Hawks?

Falconers call two hawks flown together a cast, and Harris’s hawks are known for working as a team. Pick two names that read as a set.

• Bow and Arrow – one aims, one flies
• Sun and Shade – a light bird beside a dark one
• Wind and Rain – the weather a hawk works in
• Thunder and Lightning – a loud pair
• Sword and Shield – offense and defense
• Peak and Valley – the high perch and the low ground

How Do I Choose From These Hawk Names?

Start with the species or the job, then narrow. This keeps you reading three sections instead of twenty.

1. Pick the family first. A red-tail points to species and color names, a falconry bird to the falconry list, and a story character to myth and languages.
2. Hold sex-specific names for later. Tiercel and Huntress only work once you know the sex.
3. Keep the everyday name to one or two syllables. The long version can live in the logbook.
4. Say it outside. Try it across a yard or field before you commit.
5. Check trademarks for anything commercial. A name for a mascot or business is a different job from a name for a bird.

My bias: names that describe what the bird does beat names that describe what you want it to be. Updraft will outlast Marauder.

What Mistakes Should I Avoid When Naming a Hawk?

• Naming for a color the bird doesn’t have yet. A young red-tail has a brown, banded tail, and the brick-red arrives with adult plumage, often in its second year. Rusty can wait.
• Using a sex-specific name too early. Tiercel on a hen is the kind of mistake that gets repeated at every club meeting.
• Borrowing a word from a specific Native nation’s language without checking the source. Meanings and spellings vary by language, and online lists often mix them up, so I left them out here on purpose. If you want one, ask a speaker or the nation’s cultural office.
• Putting a pop culture name on a logo or product. Hawkeye is fine for a bird, but a business or mascot needs a trademark check.

Go back to what the bird does on its best day, whether that’s a long glide, a fast dart, or a patient hour on a post. A name built from that tends to survive the second season.

What Else Do People Ask About Hawk Names?