Character Name Generator

How to use the character name generator

1. Choose a genre: modern and realistic, fantasy, sci-fi, historical, mystery and noir, western, or fairy tale. Each one has its own first names and surnames.
2. Pick a gender — female, male, or any — and a format: first and last name, first name only, or a full name with a middle name.
3. Press Generate for a new batch. Tap a name to copy it, or tap the heart to keep it on your shortlist.

This character name maker does not glue random syllables together. Outside the fantasy genre, every result is a real first name paired with a real surname, chosen from 1,213 first names and 802 last names that were sorted by hand into genres. In the modern genre, first names are matched with surnames from the same background, across 18 naming traditions, so a cast can be as mixed as a real city. Use it as a random character name generator for a novel, a screenplay, a tabletop campaign, or a game.

How to pick a name for a character

A good name for a character tells the reader something before the character has said a word. Five checks help when you go through a list of character name ideas:

• Era and place. First names go in and out of fashion, so a name dates the person who carries it. A Mildred or a Chester was probably born before 1930; a Jessica or a Brandon in the 1980s or 1990s; a Harper or a Mason after 2005. Work out the year your character was born and choose a name parents were using then, in that country.
• Sound. Say the full name aloud. Hard consonants such as k, t, d, and g sound abrupt and tough; l, m, n, and open vowels sound softer. A short first name sits well next to a long surname, and the other way around. If a name is awkward to say, a reader will stumble over it on every page.
• Meaning. A meaning that fits the character is a quiet bonus for the readers who look it up. Keep it subtle: a brave knight whose name means “brave” feels like a label.
• First letters. Readers recognize names by their shape, mostly by the first letter and the length. Give every major character a different initial, and avoid look-alikes such as Dan, Don, and Dean in the same story. A simple alphabet chart of your cast shows the clashes at a glance.
• Famous namesakes. Search the full name before you commit to it. A hero who happens to share a name with an actor, a politician, or the lead of another book pulls readers out of your story. The generator already skips 575 well-known combinations, but it cannot know every name, so do the search yourself.

One more check for a whole cast: people from the same family share a surname and usually a naming style. Siblings called Edmund, Cecily, and Jaxon need an explanation.

Book character names by genre

What each genre setting gives you:

• Modern and realistic: names in use today, from English, Spanish, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Arabic, Igbo, Yoruba, Ghanaian, Kenyan, South African, Italian, French, German, Scandinavian, and Hebrew naming traditions.
• Fantasy: invented names for humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, wizards, knights, and Norse-style warriors, with surnames to match.
• Sci-fi: a mix for near-future and space-opera settings: star and myth names (Nova, Orion), short clipped names (Kael, Jax), and surnames from every continent.
• Historical: English names for medieval, Regency, and Victorian settings, from Hawise and Ranulf to Georgiana and Algernon.
• Mystery and noir: the names of the 1930s to 1950s: Vivian, Lorraine, Walter, and Sal, with Irish, Italian, and big-city surnames.
• Western: names from the American frontier of the 1800s, heavy on the Old Testament (Ezekiel, Obadiah) and on virtue names (Charity, Temperance).
• Fairy tale: storybook names such as Marigold and Barnaby with surnames like Applewood and Thistledown.

Female character names

A sample of the female character names in the generator, by genre. Set the format to “First name only” to browse more of them.

Male character names

The same for male character names:

Character last names

A surname carries a family’s history: where it came from, what an ancestor did for a living, or the place the family lived. These are some of the character last names the generator uses. To pick surnames by country of origin, try the Last Name Generator.

Fantasy character names

Set the genre to Fantasy and this page becomes a quick fantasy character name generator that mixes several races, so you get a varied cast in one go. Female names:

• Bertrade Galebane
• Torey Hrafnsdottir
• Rosalind Goldspur
• Falda Goldcairn
• Zebena Candlewick
• Eldara Everwinter
• Gwenllian Swiftblade
• Hugerice Barleyworth
• Nettie Plumbottom
• Kelda Forgeheart
• Eirgerd Goldring
• Jorna Ironside

Male names:

• Hagmar Soothelm
• Kelvaris Thunderholt
• Tharnak Slatedelve
• Xanellus Rowanbloom
• Rannolf Rolfsson
• Berrich Thorne
• Varnek Marbleforge
• Wobbins Sootwick
• Stig Oakenbow
• Hallbjorn Leifsson
• Walter Falconvale
• Olvar Grimsson

To choose one race, add titles, or name orcs, demons, and gods, use the Fantasy Name Generator. For a tabletop character, the D&D Name Generator sorts names by race and also makes party and tavern names.

Character names with meanings

30 first names from the generator with what they mean, where they come from, and the genre you will find them under:

How to name a villain or a sidekick

• Villains in realistic stories are more unsettling with an ordinary name. A pleasant, forgettable name on a dangerous person works better than one that announces the danger.
• Villains in fantasy, pulp, and adventure can carry more weight: hard consonants, hissing s and z sounds, and a title or an alias the character chose for effect. The Villain Name Generator builds names of that kind.
• Do not give the secret away. If only one person in the cast has a sinister-sounding name, readers will know who did it by chapter two.
• Sidekicks usually get the shorter, friendlier name. Set it against the hero’s name in length and sound, and start it with a different letter: a Bartholomew next to a Kit, a Josephine next to a Nell.
• Nicknames show relationships. What the sidekick calls the hero, and the name only an old friend is allowed to use, say a lot in very few words. The Nickname Generator turns any name into short forms and pet names.

Anime character names

An anime character name is almost always a Japanese name, written with the family name first. The modern genre here includes some Japanese names; for a much wider choice of Japanese first and family names, in either name order, use the Japanese Name Generator.