Random name generator — made-up full names in American, British or Indian style

How to use the random name generator

1. Choose a Name style: Mixed, American, British or Indian.
2. Under First names, pick Any, Feminine or Masculine.
3. Set How many names you need, from 1 to 200.
4. Press Generate and use Copy all to take the list.

What it does and when to use it

Use it to name characters in a story or a role-playing game, fill a seating plan or class list in a template, give realistic names to people in a mock-up, a slide or a training exercise, or invent guests for a murder-mystery party. The style setting keeps names consistent with the setting of your story, and Mixed gives a varied, international list.

For full fake records with emails and addresses for software testing, the fake name generator is built for that. For online handles, use the random username generator. To split the names you get into teams for a practice exercise, paste them into the random team generator.

How it works

Each style has three lists: feminine first names, masculine first names and surnames. For every name the tool picks a style (at random when you choose Mixed), then a first-name list (at random when you choose Any), then one first name and one surname. Every pick uses crypto.getRandomValues with rejection sampling, so each name in a list has the same chance. In Mixed, each style is equally likely, whatever the size of its lists.

Worked examples

Three British-style names. One run gave Abigail Patel, Arthur Green and Isaac Wilson. British surnames include names common in the UK today, such as Patel. Every result ends with the note “Random combinations of common names — any match with a real person is coincidence.”

Feminine Indian-style names. Indian style with Feminine first names gave Neha Nair, Anjali Kulkarni and Rekha Jain in one run.

A mixed cast. Mixed with How many 10 mixes American, British and Indian names in the same list, which suits stories set in big cities.

Limits and tips

• Only three naming traditions are covered, with no middle names, titles or accents.
• Surnames are not matched to a region inside a country.
• Do not use generated names to pose as a real person or to sign up for services.
• Everything runs in your browser.