Best Name Generators for Writers

How we evaluated

We looked at four things: (1) does the tool give real names or invented ones; (2) how many languages and cultures it covers; (3) can you shape the result by gender, style, period or people; (4) where it runs. We checked each tool's features on its own pages on November 14, 2026, and the sources are listed at the end; anything we couldn't confirm there, we left out. The numbers aren't a ranking. The two tools in first place are ours; we describe them by the same criteria, shortcomings included.

What should you expect from a name generator?

A name generator gives you options, not decisions. A good list puts sounds in front of you that you wouldn't have thought of; the choice is still yours, made with the character's home, their period and the rest of the cast in mind. Keep main characters from sharing a first letter or sounding alike, and give people from the same culture names built from similar sounds. Our character and place naming guide goes through these principles.

There are two kinds of tool, and most writers need both. Real-name tools pick from first names and surnames people actually use; they suit stories set today or in the recent past. Invented-name tools build new words from sound rules; they're for elves, kingdoms and other worlds. Whichever you use, run a quick search on a name you like to make sure it doesn't collide with a well-known person or another work.

1. yazar.io Name Generator and Fantasy Name Generator

The Name Generator picks from real first names, surnames and nicknames in seven name languages: English, Turkish, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Scandinavian. You set the purpose (everyday name, story character, novel character, game character or nickname), the gender, the style and the length; the novel character option can add a middle name, and the nickname option suggests aliases instead of full names.

The Fantasy Name Generator builds invented names: characters from elves, dwarves, orcs, humans and other fantasy peoples, plus kingdoms, cities and regions. Each people has its own sound rules, and the style you choose (noble, dark, ancient, mysterious, warrior) decides which sounds the names are built from. Results are checked against a list of names from well-known fantasy works, and matches aren't shown.

Both tools are free, need no account and use no AI; names are generated in your browser and aren't saved anywhere. The shortcomings: they don't show meanings or origins, real names stop at seven languages, and the fantasy side has no generators for gods, ships or taverns. Each list holds eight names, four on a phone. And no tool can promise that an invented name hasn't been used in someone else's work.

2. Behind the Name: real names with their history

Behind the Name is a site about the etymology and history of names, created by Mike Campbell in 1996; it lists more than 30,000 names in its database. In its random name generator you choose the gender, how many middle names you want and whether to add a surname. Its strength is the categories: dozens of languages and cultures, mythologies such as Greek, Norse and Egyptian, and names from the ancient world. You can avoid rare names and diminutives, and it will even attach an invented life story to the name if you ask.

For a historical novel, or a world that leans on a real culture, being able to check on the same site whether a name really belongs to that language is a real convenience. It has a few fictional categories as well, but the site's focus is real names; for an elf or an orc, another tool fits better.

3. Reedsy Character Name Generator: AI suggestions that start from the character

Reedsy's character name generator is AI-powered, and Reedsy says it also draws on a database of more than ten million names. You don't search by language or people; you start from the character: an archetype (hero, villain, sidekick or mentor), a personality from fifteen traits, a gender and one of twelve book genres, plus an optional description of the setting and any extra details in your own words. It returns ten names at a time, each with the meaning of the first name and the surname.

It's handy when you know a character's role and temperament but not their name. The form has no language option. Reedsy's generators for fourteen languages (Turkish among them), for fantasy types, for gods and for medieval names are separate pages, not options of the character name generator. To save your results for later it asks for your email address. If you'd prefer a tool that doesn't use AI, look at the others on this list.

4. donjon Fantasy Name Generator: every corner of a fantasy world

donjon describes itself as 'RPG Tools', and its name generator goes well beyond characters. Alongside human, dwarvish, elvish and halfling names it has draconic, drow and orcish ones, and it names towns and cities, kingdoms, castles, inns and taverns, ships, deities, festivals, wars and books. There are quasi-historical names too, under headings such as Ancient World, Medieval Europe and Asia; the site says these are generated from patterns in real names of a particular region and period, but are otherwise fictional.

When you need a name for an inn, a holy day or an old war, donjon has the widest choice on this list. It's made for roleplaying games, so treat names for things like inns and battles as raw material to adapt to your own world.

In a tool you already use: Scrivener's Name Generator

If you write in Scrivener, you may not need a separate site. According to Literature & Latte, the Name Generator is under Edit > Reference Tools on Mac and Edit > Writing Tools on Windows. It draws on thousands of common names, dictionary words that sound like names and names from literary classics, and includes name lists from various languages, such as German, Hindi and Japanese.

Its options are made with writers in mind: gender, alliteration between first name and surname, double-barreled surnames, initials-only forenames and a slider that moves from common names toward obscure ones. You can fix a forename or a surname and look for a partner that fits, and generate anywhere from 1 to 500 names at once. It only works inside Scrivener.

Don't lose the names you find

The shared weakness of name generators is that a name you liked is gone once you close the tab. The moment you pick one, attach it to its owner: who they are, which people they belong to, how the name is pronounced. In yazar.io every character and place has its own record, and the titles and place words you invent go in the Glossary. For names you like that have no owner yet, a list in Notes works too; the next time a minor character needs a name, look there first.