Good character names fit the story's world, sound like the person they belong to, and don't clash with anyone else in the cast. This character name generator makes fantasy, modern, historical, sci-fi and funny names for female and male characters, as a first name, a full name or a name with a role to spark a story.
Eight good character names
All eight came from the generator, across its five genres:
- Elowyn Whitlow: a female fantasy name: soft and flowing, with an English-sounding surname to keep it grounded.
- Vaelin Gildenleaf: a male fantasy name with an elvish ring and a surname you can picture.
- Rukhsana Okoye: a modern name that sounds like a real person in a real city today.
- Prudence Crowther: a historical name: Puritan families really did name daughters after virtues.
- Zacchaeus Nethersole: a historical name with a Bible first name and an old English surname.
- Orson Faraday: a sci-fi name that sounds like it belongs on a ship's crew list.
- Hester Scuttlebury: a funny name that still sounds like it could be real.
- Rosie Wong, a barista who knows everyone's order: a name with a role, so the character arrives with a job and a habit.
Five genres, three formats
Each genre follows the naming habits of its kind of story:
- Fantasy names pair an invented or rare first name with a landscape surname: Siona Moonbrook, Gareth Bramblewood.
- Modern names mix first names and surnames from many backgrounds, the way a real school register or office does: Kian Walker, Efua Danso.
- Historical names lean on older English choices. In the 1500s and 1600s Puritan families gave children virtue names like Prudence and Patience, and Bible names like Gideon and Ezra were common, so Gideon Whitmore sounds like he belongs in a period drama.
- Sci-fi names are short, international and easy to say over a radio: Katya Holm, Bram Haldane.
- Funny names sound almost plausible, which is where the joke is: Horace Snoozleby, Lettice Muddlestone.
Choose First name only when you already have a family name, Full name for a new character, or Name and a role for a quick NPC or a writing prompt.
Making the name work in your story
- Vary your cast. Give main characters different first letters and different lengths, so readers never mix them up.
- Say it out loud. If you'll read the story aloud or play it at a table, the name needs to be easy to say.
- Check it isn't famous. Search the full name before you publish, in case it belongs to a well-known person or character.
- Use the role as a prompt. "A detective inspector close to retirement" already has a plot.
For the craft behind it, read our guide: How to Create Great Character Names. For a surname on its own, try the Last Name Generator. For the people around your hero, there's the Villain, Sidekick and NPC name generators.
For more, see all the character name generators and the writing tools.