Last Name Generator

How to use the last name generator

1. Pick an origin: American, English, Irish, Scottish, Italian, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, fantasy, noble and royal, or medieval. Leave it on Any origin for a fully random last name.
2. Pick a format: the last name alone, or a full name with a female or male first name from the same origin.
3. Optional: type your first name (or your character’s) to see it next to every surname.
4. Tap a name to copy it, and ♥ the ones you want to keep. Generate again for new names with no repeats.

The last name generator draws on 1,903 surnames written out by hand across 12 origins, 137 word parts for compound fantasy surnames, and 1,074 first names for the full-name formats. The real surnames are ones people carry today, so they work for novel and game characters, pen names, role-play, sample data, and baby-name research on how a first name sounds with different family names.

Most common last names in the United States

The U.S. Census Bureau counted every surname in the 2010 census. These were the 10 most common, in order. Garcia, Rodriguez, and Martinez are Spanish; the others reached America from England and Wales.

Also among the most common American last names:

• Hernandez
• Lopez
• Gonzalez
• Wilson
• Anderson
• Thomas
• Taylor
• Moore
• Jackson
• Martin
• Lee
• Perez
• Thompson
• White
• Harris
• Sanchez
• Clark
• Ramirez
• Lewis
• Robinson

More American last names from the generator, which holds 298 of the country’s most common surnames from every background:

• Walker
• Young
• Allen
• King
• Wright
• Scott
• Torres
• Nguyen
• Hill
• Flores
• Green
• Adams
• Nelson
• Baker
• Hall
• Rivera
• Campbell
• Mitchell
• Carter
• Roberts
• Gomez
• Phillips
• Evans
• Turner
• Diaz
• Parker
• Cruz
• Edwards
• Collins
• Reyes
• Stewart
• Morris
• Morales
• Murphy
• Cook
• Rogers
• Gutierrez
• Ortiz
• Morgan
• Cooper
• Peterson
• Bailey
• Reed
• Kelly
• Howard
• Ramos
• Kim
• Cox
• Ward
• Richardson
• Watson
• Brooks
• Chavez
• Wood
• James
• Bennett
• Gray
• Mendoza
• Ruiz
• Hughes

Last names with meanings and origins

Nearly every surname started as a plain description that neighbors used to tell two people with the same first name apart. These 40 have well-documented meanings:

The four types of last names

Surnames in most European languages fall into four groups, and the table above shows all of them:

• Patronymic surnames name a father or ancestor: Johnson, Rodríguez, Fernández, Murphy, O'Brien, MacDonald. The marker changes by language: -son in English, -ez in Spanish, Mac and O’ in Gaelic.
• Occupational surnames record a trade: Smith, Miller, Taylor, Clark, Walker, Cooper, Fletcher, Stewart, Müller, Schmidt, Schneider, Zimmermann, Ferrari, Lefebvre.
• Locational surnames say where someone lived or came from, either a landscape feature or a town: Hill, Herrera, Castillo, Torres, Romano, Dubois, Tanaka, Yamamoto, Takahashi, Kobayashi, Nakamura.
• Descriptive surnames began as nicknames for looks or character: Brown, Moreno, Campbell, Cameron, Klein, Rossi, Bianchi, Petit, Leroy.

English last names

Many English surnames are old village names. The ending -ton meant a farm or settlement, -ley a clearing in woodland, -ford a river crossing, and the northern -thwaite comes from an Old Norse word for a clearing.

• Allen
• Ward
• Turner
• Hill
• Parker
• Bennett
• Cook
• Shaw
• Bailey
• Carter
• Marshall
• Collins
• Bell
• Mason
• Hunt
• Palmer
• Holmes
• Mills
• Barnes
• Knight
• Butler
• Russell
• Barker
• Stevens
• Fisher
• Chapman
• Webb
• Ellis
• Matthews
• Fletcher
• Pearson
• Gibson
• Dixon
• Harvey
• Fox
• Saunders
• Lawrence
• Atkinson
• Hawkins
• Thornton
• Holland
• Dawson
• Booth
• Bradley
• Hartley
• Whitaker
• Ashworth
• Wainwright
• Holloway
• Braithwaite
• Hargreaves
• Sutcliffe
• Greenwood
• Blackburn
• Bancroft
• Crowther
• Entwistle
• Fairclough
• Oldfield
• Hawthorne

Irish and Scottish last names

In Irish names, O’ means “descendant of” and Mc or Mac means “son of”; Fitz is the Norman French word for “son.”

• Murphy
• Kelly
• O'Sullivan
• Walsh
• O'Brien
• Byrne
• Ryan
• O'Connor
• O'Neill
• O'Reilly
• Doyle
• McCarthy
• Gallagher
• O'Doherty
• Kennedy
• Lynch
• Murray
• Quinn
• McLoughlin
• O'Carroll
• Connolly
• Daly
• O'Connell
• Dunne
• Brennan
• Burke
• Collins
• Fitzgerald
• Maguire
• Nolan
• Flynn
• O'Callaghan
• O'Donnell
• Duffy
• O'Mahony
• Boyle
• Healy
• O'Shea
• Sweeney
• Hayes
• Kavanagh
• Power
• McGrath
• Moran
• Brady
• Casey
• Foley
• Fitzpatrick
• O'Leary
• McDonnell

Scottish surnames share the Gaelic Mac and include many clan names that are still tied to a tartan and a home region.

• Campbell
• Stewart
• Thomson
• Robertson
• Anderson
• MacDonald
• Scott
• Reid
• Murray
• Ross
• Watson
• Morrison
• Paterson
• Mitchell
• Fraser
• Henderson
• Hamilton
• Johnstone
• Duncan
• Graham
• Ferguson
• Kerr
• Davidson
• Cameron
• Hunter
• Allan
• Mackenzie
• Grant
• Simpson
• Mackay
• MacLean
• MacLeod
• Russell
• Wallace
• Gibson
• Kennedy
• Gordon
• Burns
• Sutherland
• Stevenson
• Munro
• Milne
• Watt
• Craig
• Muir
• Ritchie
• Sinclair
• MacMillan
• Dickson
• Cunningham

Italian last names

Rossi is usually listed as Italy’s most common surname. Many Italian surnames end in -i, a plural that marked a whole family, and De or Di means “of,” as in Di Marco, “of Marco.”

• Rossi
• Russo
• Ferrari
• Esposito
• Bianchi
• Romano
• Colombo
• Ricci
• Marino
• Greco
• Bruno
• Gallo
• Conti
• De Luca
• Mancini
• Costa
• Giordano
• Rizzo
• Lombardi
• Moretti
• Barbieri
• Fontana
• Santoro
• Mariani
• Rinaldi
• Caruso
• Ferrara
• Galli
• Martini
• Leone
• Longo
• Gentile
• Martinelli
• Vitale
• Lombardo
• Serra
• Coppola
• De Santis
• D'Angelo
• Marchetti
• Parisi
• Villa
• Conte
• Ferraro
• Ferri
• Fabbri
• Bianco
• Marini
• Grasso
• Valentini

German last names

The most common German surnames are job titles: Müller (miller), Schmidt (smith), Schneider (tailor), Fischer (fisher), Weber (weaver). Where umlauts are not available, ä, ö, and ü are written ae, oe, and ue (Mueller), and ß becomes ss.

• Müller
• Schmidt
• Schneider
• Fischer
• Weber
• Meyer
• Wagner
• Becker
• Schulz
• Hoffmann
• Schäfer
• Koch
• Bauer
• Richter
• Klein
• Wolf
• Schröder
• Neumann
• Schwarz
• Zimmermann
• Braun
• Krüger
• Hofmann
• Hartmann
• Lange
• Schmitt
• Werner
• Schmitz
• Krause
• Meier
• Lehmann
• Schmid
• Schulze
• Maier
• Köhler
• Herrmann
• König
• Walter
• Mayer
• Huber
• Kaiser
• Fuchs
• Peters
• Lang
• Scholz
• Möller
• Weiß
• Jung
• Hahn
• Schubert

Spanish and Hispanic last names

The ending -ez means “son of”: Rodríguez is the son of Rodrigo, Fernández the son of Fernando. In Spain and most of Latin America a person traditionally carries two surnames, the father’s first surname followed by the mother’s.

• García
• Rodríguez
• González
• Fernández
• López
• Martínez
• Sánchez
• Pérez
• Gómez
• Martín
• Jiménez
• Ruiz
• Hernández
• Díaz
• Moreno
• Muñoz
• Álvarez
• Romero
• Alonso
• Gutiérrez
• Navarro
• Torres
• Domínguez
• Vázquez
• Ramos
• Gil
• Ramírez
• Serrano
• Blanco
• Molina
• Morales
• Suárez
• Ortega
• Delgado
• Castro
• Ortiz
• Rubio
• Marín
• Sanz
• Núñez
• Iglesias
• Medina
• Garrido
• Cortés
• Castillo
• Santos
• Lozano
• Guerrero
• Cano
• Prieto

French last names

Martin is the most common surname in France. Many others begin with an article or preposition that has fused with the word: Dubois (“of the wood”), Dupont (“of the bridge”), Leblanc (“the white”).

• Martin
• Bernard
• Thomas
• Petit
• Robert
• Richard
• Durand
• Dubois
• Moreau
• Laurent
• Simon
• Michel
• Lefebvre
• Leroy
• Roux
• David
• Bertrand
• Morel
• Fournier
• Girard
• Bonnet
• Dupont
• Lambert
• Fontaine
• Rousseau
• Vincent
• Lefèvre
• Faure
• André
• Mercier
• Blanc
• Guérin
• Boyer
• Garnier
• Chevalier
• François
• Legrand
• Gauthier
• Perrin
• Robin
• Clément
• Morin
• Nicolas
• Henry
• Roussel
• Mathieu
• Gautier
• Masson
• Marchand
• Duval

Japanese last names

Most Japanese surnames are two kanji that describe a landscape, built from words such as yama (mountain), ta or da (rice field), kawa (river), mura (village), and naka (middle). Sato and Suzuki are the two most common. In Japan the family name is written first; this generator uses Western order for full names. For full Japanese names in either order, use the Japanese Name Generator.

• Sato
• Suzuki
• Takahashi
• Tanaka
• Watanabe
• Ito
• Yamamoto
• Nakamura
• Kobayashi
• Kato
• Yoshida
• Yamada
• Sasaki
• Yamaguchi
• Matsumoto
• Inoue
• Kimura
• Hayashi
• Shimizu
• Saito
• Yamazaki
• Mori
• Abe
• Ikeda
• Hashimoto
• Ishikawa
• Nakajima
• Maeda
• Fujita
• Ogawa
• Goto
• Okada
• Hasegawa
• Murakami
• Kondo
• Ishii
• Sakamoto
• Endo
• Aoki
• Fujii
• Nishimura
• Fukuda
• Ota
• Miura
• Fujiwara
• Okamoto
• Matsuda
• Nakagawa
• Nakano
• Harada

Fantasy last names

The fantasy option builds compound surnames from a nature or element word plus a place, an object, or a calling, and mixes in invented family names with no real-world meaning. They suit D&D characters, fantasy novels, and role-play. For first names by race, see the Fantasy Name Generator.

• Drakemarch
• Deepflame
• Crowmantle
• Swiftshield
• Eldermere
• Moonkeeper
• Copperblade
• Lumeris
• Wildcliff
• Lionweaver
• Starford
• Wolfhaven
• Copperbrook
• Flintbough
• Willowthorn
• Elderbane
• Grimspark
• Fairbrand
• Thorndown
• Whitemere
• Mirrowen
• Bearwatch
• Coppershade
• Shadowshade
• Elmborn
• Ravenmantle
• Veydris
• Cinderhurst
• Redmarch
• Goldhaven
• Cindervale
• Gravenor
• Staghunter
• Fenwarrow
• Valewyn
• Amberborn
• Redsong
• Eldershade
• Quenlow
• Selvarrow
• Elmsworth
• Foxford
• Grimbane
• Ysmere
• Lionhorn
• Dawnmoor
• Elderwick
• Owlhold

Noble and royal last names

Aristocratic surnames tend to point at land. The particles de (French), von (German), and di (Italian) all mean “of” or “from,” and double-barrelled names appeared when two families joined and neither name was allowed to die out. Reigning royal families are known by the name of their house rather than an ordinary surname, so the names here are noble-sounding family names for fictional dukes, countesses, and courtiers, not the names of real royal houses.

• Wellesley-Grey
• Blakeney-Ashby
• Winterbourne
• Verney-Bellamy
• Hartington
• Rosemont
• Addington
• Savile-Egerton
• Wynn-Fitzgerald
• Knox-Bellamy
• Delacourt
• Thynne-Blackwood
• Harcourt
• Ashby-Vavasour
• Leigh-Carrington
• Fortescue-Monck
• Ingram-Egerton
• Wentworth
• Ashcombe
• Wilde-Ponsonby
• Neville
• Trevelyan-Thynne
• Atherton
• Valmont
• Kingsley-Lumley
• Savile-Harrington
• Courtenay
• Lennox
• Whitmore
• Ashbourne
• di Montefiore
• Rhodes-Ponsonby
• Barrington
• Willoughby-Monck
• Wyndham
• Thorne-Northcote
• Hastings
• Dering-Percy
• Pelham
• Greville
• Wilde-Beauchamp
• Devereux
• von Eichenwald
• Aldridge-Fane
• de Warenne
• Blythe-Devereux
• Ellsworth
• Marlowe

Medieval last names

In medieval England a second name was a byname: it described one person and was not always passed on. Bynames turned into inherited surnames gradually between the 11th and 15th centuries. Most recorded a trade:

• Fletcher
• Cooper
• Thatcher
• Chandler
• Wainwright
• Cartwright
• Wheeler
• Arkwright
• Smith
• Baker
• Miller
• Carter
• Tanner
• Fuller
• Weaver
• Webster
• Dyer
• Shepherd
• Forester
• Parker
• Fowler
• Falconer
• Archer
• Bowman
• Bowyer
• Chapman
• Mercer
• Draper
• Glover
• Skinner
• Sawyer
• Carpenter
• Mason
• Tyler
• Turner
• Potter
• Cook
• Butler
• Chamberlain
• Steward

Others recorded where a person lived:

• Atwood
• Attwell
• Underhill
• Underwood
• Bywater
• Brook
• Ford
• Hill
• Wood
• Green
• Field
• Marsh
• Heath
• Moore
• Dale
• Fenn
• Holt
• Hurst
• Shaw
• Lea
• Grove
• Thorpe
• Thwaite
• Combe
• Cliff
• Bridges
• Townsend
• Westbrook
• Northcott
• Southwell
• Eastwood
• Ashby
• Thornton
• Norton
• Sutton
• Weston
• Easton
• Kirkby
• Appleby
• Whitby

Scribes often wrote these with atte (“at the”) or le (“the”), which is how “atte Wood” became Atwood. The generator includes some in that older form:

• atte Wood
• atte Brook
• atte Hill
• atte Well
• atte Mill
• atte Lea
• atte Ford
• atte Green
• atte Stone
• atte Bridge
• atte Grove
• atte Marsh
• atte Heath
• atte Gate
• atte Lane
• atte Church

First and last name generator: finding last names that go with a first name

Set the format to a female or male first name and each surname arrives with a first name from the same origin, so an Italian surname is paired with an Italian given name and a medieval byname with a name that was in use at the time. To test last names against one particular first name, type it in the box. A few checks help when you compare the results:

• Balance the syllables. A short first name carries a long surname well (Tom Wainwright), and a long first name is easier to say with a short one (Penelope Shaw).
• Watch the seam. When the first name ends with the sound that starts the surname, the two run together when spoken, and a rhyme between them can sound comic.
• Check the initials and the full name in a search engine, so the combination does not spell something awkward or belong to a well-known person.

How to choose a last name for a character or pen name

• Match the era and place. A surname tells readers where a family comes from. Pick the origin that fits the character’s background, and for historical fiction prefer names that existed then.
• Use the meaning quietly. An occupational or descriptive surname can hint at a family’s past without announcing it.
• Keep the cast distinct. Give main characters surnames with different first letters and lengths so readers do not mix them up.
• Say it aloud. A name that is hard to pronounce is hard to remember, which matters most for a pen name on a cover.
• For a pen name, check availability. Look for other authors with the same name and see whether a matching handle is free with the Username Generator.

More name generators

Build a complete character with the Character Name Generator, find a short form for any first name with the Nickname Generator, or explore names from other worlds with the Fantasy Name Generator and the Japanese Name Generator.