Character Name Generator
Generate character names for fiction across ten genres, with masculine, feminine or gender-neutral given names, surnames and optional one-line character sketches.
10 names generated.
How it works
Pick a genre and the generator draws a given name from that setting’s masculine, feminine or gender-neutral list, then pairs it with a surname from a matching pool — Victorian characters get Pemberton and Blackwood, cyberpunk characters get Voss and Sokolov, Japanese characters get Nakamura and Yoshida. Choosing Any picks one of the three given-name lists at random for each character, so a batch comes out mixed. Duplicates inside a single batch are filtered out.
Tick Add a one-line character sketch and each name also gets a role and a
quirk (“a night-shift radio host who counts stairs out of habit”) — a prompt to push
against, not a finished character. Leave the seed box empty and every click of
Generate names gives a fresh batch; type anything into it and the results
become reproducible, so the same seed with the same settings always returns the same cast list.
Copy the whole list to the clipboard or download it as a plain .txt file for your
story bible. No signup, no ads, no server — it is a few kilobytes of JavaScript and a word list.
Names are drawn at random from curated, deliberately compact name lists — a few hundred given names and surnames per setting rather than a full census — so results stay pronounceable and era-appropriate. Any resemblance to a real person is coincidence. Everything runs in your browser: nothing you generate is uploaded or stored.
Frequently asked questions
How do I pick a name for my character?
Start from the setting, not the sound. Pick the genre your story lives in — Victorian, noir, cyberpunk, Japanese, Nordic — so the name is plausible for that time and place, then generate a batch of ten and read them aloud. Names that are easy to say and visually distinct from the rest of your cast (different first letters, different syllable counts) are far easier for a reader to track. Tick the character sketch option if you want each name to arrive with a role and a quirk to react against.
Are these real names, and can I use them in a published book?
The given names and surnames are ordinary real-world names, drawn from curated lists chosen to suit each setting, and they are combined at random. Names themselves are not copyrightable, so a randomly generated combination is free to use in your novel, screenplay, game or tabletop campaign. Any resemblance to a specific living person is coincidence — if a generated name matches someone real and recognisable, just generate another.
Can I get the same list of names back later?
Yes. Type anything into the Seed box — a number, your working title — and the batch becomes reproducible: the same seed with the same genre, style, count and toggles always returns the exact same list, so you can note the seed and recreate your cast later or share it with a co-writer. Leave the seed empty and every click of Generate names gives a fresh batch. You can also copy the list to the clipboard or download it as a .txt file. Everything runs in your browser with no signup and nothing sent to a server.