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The Naming Library
The origins, meanings and construction of names. Every page cites its sources, and every example says whether the name is historically recorded, reconstructed by scholars, built by us from real word parts, or simply invented.
Etymology and origins
Where names come from and how their meanings are traced.
How names are built
Prefixes, suffixes, compounds and the sounds that make a name work.
English Place-Name Endings and What They Mean What -ton, -ham, -by, -thorpe, -ford, -wick and -chester mean, where they came from, and real examples from the place-name dictionaries.
→ Name Prefixes and Suffixes: The Real Building Blocks What -by, -thorpe, -ton, -ham, -wick, -ford and -ley mean in English place-names, and the Old English and Old Norse elements in personal names.
→ Patronymic Names What patronymic and matronymic names are, and how they work in English, Gaelic, Welsh, Norman, Icelandic, Russian and Arabic naming.
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Languages and cultures
Naming traditions from the languages behind many of our generators.
Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Names How Anglo-Saxon names like Æthelstan and Edith were built from two Old English words, what the parts meant, and which names survived 1066.
→ Old Norse Names: How Viking-Age Names Worked How Old Norse names were built: two-part names like Þorsteinn, patronymics, and bynames like Fairhair and Bloodaxe, plus what survives in England.
→ Roman Names: Praenomen, Nomen and Cognomen How Roman names worked: praenomen, nomen and cognomen, how women, freed slaves and adopted sons were named, and why Cicero means chickpea.
→ Welsh Names and Surnames How Welsh names worked: ap, ab and ferch, how Powell, Price and Bowen grew out of them, why Jones is so common, and what Welsh first names mean.
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Names through history
How given names and surnames changed over the centuries.
How Surnames Began in Britain How British surnames began: single names before 1066, Norman bynames, the four main types, and when names became hereditary, region by region.
→ Medieval English Names How the Norman Conquest changed English first names, why so few names covered so many people, and how pet forms like Hob and Wilkin became surnames.
→ Occupational Surnames Where Smith, Baker, Fletcher, Chapman, Walker and Webster come from, what the old trades were, and the debate over -ster names like Baxter.
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Fantasy and fiction
How invented names are made to sound right for a world.
Constructed Languages and Naming Languages How Tolkien, Marc Okrand, David J. Peterson and Paul Frommer built languages for fiction, and why a naming language is often all a story needs.
→ Dragon Names in Myth and Literature Where real dragon names come from: Fáfnir, Níðhöggr, Jörmungandr, Ladon, Python, the Welsh red dragon, the Lambton Worm, Smaug, and the words dragon and wyrm.
→ Fantasy Place Names: Borrowing the Structure of Real Ones How invented towns borrow real place-name patterns: English -by, -thwaite and -mere, Welsh aber-, llan- and pen-, and how Tolkien named Bree and the Shire.
→ How Fantasy Names Work: Sound Symbolism and Phonaesthetics Why some invented names sound gentle and others menacing: the bouba/kiki effect, sound symbolism research, and which naming tips are only advice.
→ Naming Fictional Characters: How Writers Have Done It How Dickens, Rowling and Tolkien named characters: telling names, notebooks of collected names, Norse dwarf names, and why to avoid real people's names.
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How we check this library
Each fact is checked against at least two sources, such as historical dictionaries, etymological dictionaries and academic works, and those sources are listed on the page. Where scholars disagree, we say so. Names our generators invent are always labelled as invented, so you never mistake a name that sounds Norse for one that is.