How to Name and Rename the Cards in Your Tarot Deck

Naming the cards in your Tarot deck means deciding what to call each of the seventy-eight cards. You can keep the traditional titles, gently rename the few that intimidate readers · Death, the Devil · or rework the court cards entirely into a system that fits your deck's world. Whatever you choose, the aim is the same: titles that carry the card's meaning and feel at home in the deck you are building.

Naming is where a deck begins to sound like itself rather than like a copy of something older. Pamela Steele works through naming alongside every other stage of deckmaking in her workshop, Creating Your Own Tarot Deck.

Why Deck Makers Rename Cards

For centuries Tarot's card names were remarkably stable · the Fool, the Magician, the High Priestess, and on through the four suits. When you make your own deck, you inherit that vocabulary, and most makers keep the bulk of it. But there are good, well-tested reasons to change some of the names, and three come up again and again.

• Accessibility. A few titles frighten newcomers before a single card is read. Makers often soften them · Death retitled as Transition or Rebirth, the Devil reframed as Materialism or The Shadow · so the image can do its real work without the name slamming a door.
• Thematic fit. If your deck is set in a forest, a kitchen, a city, or a myth cycle, the standard titles can sit awkwardly inside that world. Renaming brings the cards into the same voice as the art · a deck of seasons might call the Wheel of Fortune The Turning Year.
• Inclusivity. The court's King and Queen assume a particular hierarchy and gender pairing. Many contemporary decks rework those four ranks into roles anyone can occupy · a way of opening the deck to every reader who picks it up.

None of these reasons require you to reinvent the whole system. The most common pattern, by far, is to keep most titles traditional and rename only where there is a clear reason to · which keeps your deck legible to readers who already know Tarot.

Renaming the Major Arcana

The twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana are the deck's spine · the Fool's journey from innocence to wholeness. Because each card is so iconic, renaming here is best done sparingly. Change too many and an experienced reader has to relearn your deck from scratch.

In practice, two cards account for most Major Arcana renaming:

• Death (XIII). Rarely about literal death · it speaks to endings, transformation, and the clearing that makes new growth possible. Common retitles: Transition, Rebirth, Transformation, The Threshold.
• The Devil (XV). A card about bondage, compulsion, and the things that hold us · not literal evil. Common retitles: Materialism, The Shadow, Temptation, The Chains.

A handful of others are occasionally adjusted · the Hierophant becomes Tradition or The Teacher in decks that want to step outside a churchly frame, and the Judgement card sometimes becomes Awakening. The guiding rule is simple: change the title, keep the meaning. Your renamed card should still read the way an experienced reader expects, occupy the same place in the sequence, and carry the same number. The new name is a doorway to the old meaning, not a replacement for it. If the rename quietly shifts what the card means, write that shift clearly into your guidebook so readers are never guessing.

A good rename is a translation, not an invention. It says the same thing in a voice that suits your deck · and an experienced reader should still recognize the card on sight.

The Court Cards: Your Biggest Opportunity

If the Majors invite caution, the court cards invite play. The sixteen courts · Page, Knight, Queen, and King across the four suits of the Minor Arcana · are the single most renamed part of the modern deck, and for good reason. They are the cards readers find hardest to tell apart, and their medieval royal hierarchy fits many contemporary decks poorly.

The traditional ranks describe a kind of progress · the Page learning, the Knight acting, the Queen holding inner mastery, the King holding outer authority. When you rename the court, the craft is to keep that progression intact while changing the labels. Most reworked systems map cleanly onto the four traditional ranks, so a reader who knows Tarot can still feel the movement from beginner to elder even under new names.

Common approaches include:

• Life stages · Child, Explorer, Guardian, Elder · which trade royalty for a human arc of growth.
• Roles or vocations · Student, Traveler, Architect, Visionary · which frame the court as ways of working rather than ranks of power.
• Elemental or nature titles · Seed, Sprout, Bloom, Harvest · which fold the court into a deck's natural imagery.

A Comparison of Real Court-Card Systems

The clearest way to see the possibilities is to look at decks that have already done this well. The systems below are all from published decks · presented here as illustrative examples of how makers have rethought the court, not as a template to copy. Notice how each set still tracks the same four-step progression, from the learner on the left to the elder on the right.

Each of these systems makes a quiet argument. The Collective Tarot frames the court as a creative apprenticeship · you arrive as a Seeker and grow toward becoming a Mentor. Slow Holler chooses gender-neutral roles · Student, Traveler, Architect, Visionary · so no card is tied to King or Queen. The Gaian Tarot reaches for the cycle of a human life · Child, Explorer, Guardian, Elder. None of them throws away the underlying meaning; each keeps the four-rank arc and simply renames the steps to suit the deck's world.

You can borrow the shape of these approaches · a life-stage set, a vocational set, an elemental set · without copying any one deck's exact words. The most important thing is consistency: pick one logic for all four ranks and apply it across every suit, so a reader learns your court once and knows it everywhere.

Naming the Deck Itself

Renaming the cards is the primary task, but most makers eventually face a second, smaller one · what to call the whole deck. This is the name that goes on the box, the tuck card, and every listing where someone might find it. A few principles keep you out of trouble:

• Keep it short and memorable. Two or three words a reader can say aloud and recall later · The Wild Unknown, Light Seer's, Slow Holler · travel far better than a long descriptive phrase.
• Make it mean something. The best deck names point at the deck's heart · its mood, its world, or the journey it offers · rather than just describing Tarot generically.
• Check it isn't already taken. Search the name alongside the word "Tarot" before you commit · on shops, social platforms, and a general search · so you don't collide with an existing deck or an unavailable web address.
• Check it doesn't go wrong in another language. Tarot decks sell worldwide. A quick check that your chosen word isn't unfortunate or comic in another major language can save real embarrassment later.

Naming the deck is also where light legal care begins · a distinctive name you can use freely, and perhaps protect, is worth more than a generic one. That is a separate subject from card titles, and we cover it fully in the pillar guide below.

A Practical Method for Naming Your Cards

Whether you are retitling two cards or rebuilding the whole court, the same simple process keeps your naming consistent and saves you from late-stage confusion. Treat it as a thread that runs through the whole build.

• Keep a running list. A single document with all seventy-eight cards · traditional title on the left, your chosen title on the right · is the one place that holds your decisions. Update it the moment you change anything.
• Test names by reading with them. Lay out a few spreads using your new titles out loud. Names that feel clumsy in a real reading will feel clumsy to your readers · this is the fastest way to catch a title that looks good but doesn't work.
• Label your borders and text boxes consistently. If your cards carry titles on the art, set the wording, capitalization, and placement once and apply it to all seventy-eight. (How and whether to letter the card faces ties closely into your border design.) Read the full guide → Tarot Card Borders
• Let your art medium shape the lettering. Hand-lettered titles suit a painted or inked deck; clean set type suits a digital one · choose a treatment that matches how the cards are made. Read the full guide → Choosing Your Art Medium
• Write your chosen titles into the guidebook. For every renamed card, give the reader both names at least once · "Transition (traditionally Death)" · and explain any shift in meaning. This is what lets an experienced reader trust your deck and a beginner learn it.

Done this way, naming becomes one of the most satisfying parts of making a deck. The titles are where your voice and the tradition's voice meet · a chance to make seventy-eight familiar cards feel, unmistakably, like yours.

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From first spark to finished deck · with Pamela Steele, Tarot Grand Master

Naming your cards is one stage of a much bigger journey. Pamela Steele walks you through the whole path · concept and structure, art, printing, copyright and trademark, and getting your deck into readers' hands · drawing on four decades of designing and publishing her own decks.

Eight lessons · ten handouts · two live Q&As with Pamela Steele · final quiz and certificate of completion

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About the author

Pamela Steele

Tarot Grand Master · Creator of the Steele Wizard Tarot

Pamela Steele has spent more than forty years creating, publishing, and distributing her own Tarot decks, including the 88-card Steele Wizard Tarot and the Wizard's Pets Tarot. A self-taught artist and longtime teacher, she guides new makers through the whole journey in her workshop, Creating Your Own Tarot Deck.

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