Orks originally come to us from Tolkien. The source for the name he used starts out as Orcus the roman god of the dead. Over time this became orc a Latin word for a demon or a creature of the underworld. Eventually it finds its way into literature and the common speech through Tolkien.

Our Orks, the ultimate in macho stereotypes, were originally based on British football (soccer) hooligans by GW. This, however, has been expanded to include the likes of bikers, jarheads and jocks. All are stereotypically considered rugged, tough and not too bright. The action movies hero provides the ideals to which all Orks would aspire. Cool under a withering barrage, guns never running out of ammo and the ability to shrug off near lethal wounds like they were a scratch. Everything about them is very raw and unfocused.

There are other stereotypes used for Orks. Mad Doks would be the back alley doctor, while Mekboyz would be the gear heads who can’t stop tinkering with their cars. Nobz, singular nob, is a person of wealth and high social standing in Cockney Rhyming Slang.

A lot of other things about Orks are movie clichés. The monster that won’t die, the tough guy who is tricked into doing something so he won’t look afraid or stupid, huge bulging muscles with very little clothing and the ability to make something work by hitting it. Orks are the ultimate movie bad guys. Think about how often the hero confronts the villain and his cronies. What happens? They all shoot everything at their disposal and miss. Yet they always fair better when the fists start to fly, not that movie villains ever win though. The way primitive cultures were viewed in the early years of movie making must have been a strong influence for the feral army list. The speed freaks take a very strong inspiration from another series of movies, Mad Max.

The only thing that steps away from all of this bravado is the TV show Mork and Mindy. In the show Mork was an alien from a planet called Ork. As strange as it may be the Ork god Mork may get his name from this show.

Okay lets move on to the most infamous of all Orks; Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. The first word I've broken into its two syllables. The closest word to ghazgh is in Manx, gahagh which can mean pronged. Kull is close to skull. Mag is an abbreviation for magnitude and Uruk is from uruk-hai of Lord of the Rings fame, being taken as the ultimate ork. Thraka is close to the name Chaka who was a great chief of the Zulus. We have a tendency to name people after famous people. Why wouldn't orks do the same with their famous predecessors? So we could take the name and interpret the first two words as 'pronged skull of magnitude' or 'large/great pronged skull'. This fits well with a Goff but it could be a reference to his iron gob. Add in the ultimate ork from uruk and the name reference and you have Thraka(Chaka), the Ultimate Ork with the Great Pronged Skull (or Iron Skull). (Note: GW later translated the name in WD, February 2004 issue, as Metal-skull great/big Ork ruler.)