Cool Fish Names From Real Species, Myths and Colours

The coolest fish names usually come from four places: the fish's own scientific name, fish from myth, the fish's colour, and famous fish from film and cartoons. Twelve quick picks, with the story behind each further down the page:

• Auratus (gilded; the goldfish's species name)
• Splendens (the betta's species name)
• Arapaima
• Mola
• Matsya
• Oannes
• Bradán
• Persephone
• Diabolis
• Cardinal
• Dragonblood
• Bruce

A scientific name is the most unique name you can give a fish, because it belongs to that fish and no pet-name list repeats it. Some good ones, with the fish they come from:

• Auratus: the goldfish is Carassius auratus; FishBase says auratus means gilded, and Carassius comes from karass, an old Eurasian name for these fish
• Splendens: the betta, Betta splendens
• Arapaima: the giant South American river fish; see our arapaima page
• Mola: the ocean sunfish; see our Mola mola page
• Danio: from Bangla dhani, of the rice field (Wikipedia, see our zebra danio page)
• Aulonocara: the peacock cichlids of Lake Malawi
• Cichla: the peacock bass
• Symphysodon: the discus
• Paracheirodon: the cardinal tetra
• Melanotaenia: the Boesemani rainbowfish
• Tateurndina: the peacock gudgeon
• Phractocephalus: the redtail catfish
• Epinephelus: the giant and goliath groupers
• Eleutheronema: the fourfinger threadfin
• Boulengerochromis: the largest cichlid, close to 1 m long
• Cyprinodon: the pupfishes

All of these are genus or species names taken from the Wikipedia and FishBase pages listed below. A fun rule: name the fish after its own genus once you know what it is, so the name also works as a label.

Fish appear in myths on almost every continent, and the names make strong, uncommon pet names. From Wikipedia's articles on fish in culture and the Salmon of Knowledge:

• Matsya: the fish avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu
• Enki: the Mesopotamian god of water, for whom fish were a major symbol
• Atargatis: a Syrian goddess to whom fish were sacred
• Oannes: a Babylonian culture hero said to be dressed in the skin of a fish
• Ikatere: a Polynesian deity who takes the form of a fish
• Kāmohoaliʻi: a Hawaiian shark god
• Kar-Mahi: a pair of fish in Persian myth that guard the tree of life, a good name for two fish
• Ichthys: the early Christian fish symbol
• Bradán, Fionn and Finnegas: the Salmon of Knowledge (An Bradán Feasa) ate nine hazelnuts from the Well of Wisdom; the poet Finnegas fished for it for seven years, and his servant Fionn gained its wisdom when he burned his thumb cooking it

For a pair of fish, the Buddhist golden fish, a pair symbolising happiness and freedom (Wikipedia), gives you "Gold" and "Fortune".

A name borrowed from a genuinely rare fish is a conversation starter:

• Diabolis: the Devils Hole pupfish, Cyprinodon diabolis, lives only in one water-filled cavern in Nevada, the smallest habitat holding the whole population of any vertebrate. Wikipedia reports only 38 fish counted in spring 2025 after winter earthquakes; the species is at most 30 mm long.
• Persephone: Betta persephone, one of four Betta species listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN (Wikipedia). Its relatives B. miniopinna and B. spilotogena share that status.
• Coelacanth: the "living fossil"; see our coelacanth page.
• Itajara: from Epinephelus itajara, the Atlantic goliath grouper, reassessed from Critically Endangered to Vulnerable (Wikipedia).

These are rare fish, not rare names, so check the pet name is not already the name of your fish's own species.

Chewy's fish-name guide suggests starting from your fish's colour, and the aquarium trade already has good colour words:

• Red and orange: Cardinal (after the cardinal tetra), Cherry (cherry barb), Dragonblood (a peacock cichlid colour line), Ember (the ember tetra), Tangerine, Flametail
• Blue: Electric (electric blue acara), Neon, Cobalt, Sapphire
• Gold and yellow: Auratus, Lemon (from the Lemon Jake peacock), Canary, Sunshine
• Black and white: Panda (panda cory), Tuxedo (a guppy pattern), Platinum, Ghost

One caution: Starfire Red, Cosmic Blue and Galactic Purple sound like colour names but are trademarked GloFish colours (Wikipedia). Fine as a pet name, not as a description of an ordinary fish.

Chewy lists the famous fish most people reach for: Nemo, Dory, Bruce, Flounder, Ariel, Aquaman and SpongeBob, and funny puns such as Betta Midler, Gillbert, Mackerelmore and Swim Shady. Puns work best when they match the species, so here are some of our own built on real fish:

• Grouper Marx for a grouper
• Sole Man for a flatfish
• Clown Loach-ness for a clown loach
• Oscar Wilde for an oscar
• Pleco-casso for a pleco
• Cory-ography, a group name for a shoal of corys
• Betty Betta for a female betta

For a school of six or more fish, a themed set is easier than six separate names: planets for tetras, gems for rasboras, or the nine hazelnuts of the Salmon of Knowledge story.

• Know the species first. A name like Aulonocara or Cichla only works if that is what the fish is. FishLens identifies fish from a photo, and our guide to identifying fish from a photo covers taking a sharp picture through the glass.
• Pick unisex names for young fish. Many fish cannot be sexed young; Live Fish Direct notes that the sex of juvenile OB peacocks cannot be told from pattern, and female peacock cichlids and bettas look very different from males once grown.
• Match the fish's look or behaviour. Chewy suggests using colour and personality: a playful name for an active fish, an elegant one for a slow, graceful fish.
• Plan for size. A tiny juvenile called Minnow may become a 6-inch cichlid or a 16-inch goldfish; see biggest goldfish.

Research and drafting for this page were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed below. Every number names the organisation it comes from, and where sources disagree we say so instead of picking one silently. Prices are shop listings we checked on 25 September 2026; they change, so confirm before you rely on them. If you find an error, tell us and we will correct it.