Choose the kind of name your scene needs
For a person, start with Characters or a specific fantasy race. For a map, use Places: a city ending such as -ford suggests a crossing, while a tavern needs a name someone can ask for in conversation. Sci-Fi separates space opera, cyberpunk and post-apocalyptic sets. Titles adds an epithet to a character name.
Generate a batch, compare two or three options, and keep one that you can say aloud. The heart saves a result in this browser. Copy preserves its name and gloss; TXT and CSV export the current batch. Export anything you want to keep across devices, because favorites are not backed up to an account.
Need a method before choosing? Read the character naming walkthrough, build a small naming language, or check for names that are hard to distinguish.
Worked example: name the keeper of a sealed archive
The brief is a quiet official who protects records that the ruler wants destroyed. Choose a meaning that leaves room for that conflict. This result is available in Characters with Inspiration set to Any:
Ironamun
Iron (Unyielding) + amun (hidden one) → Ironamun.
These are the tool’s assigned creative glosses, not a verified translation.
Here, “unyielding” suggests a keeper who will not alter a record; “hidden one” suggests the cost of protecting it. One possible story is that the keeper works behind a wall and is known only by a seal on returned books. That story is a fictional interpretation of the gloss, not an Egyptian naming custom or a translation of Ironamun.
Test it in dialogue: “Ask Ironamun for the missing register.” If the whole name slows your table down, use “the keeper” in quick exchanges and save the full form for documents. If another important character is called Irona, choose a different opening sound. The right choice depends on the cast as well as this character.
Finish with a usable note: Ironamun, archive keeper; refuses to erase a dead person from the register; needs someone to recover the stolen seal.You now have a name, a principle and a reason to enter the next scene.
What the name and its meaning actually represent
The character dataset contains 272 openers and 255 endings. There are 21 culturally inspired sets, plus Other. With no inspiration selected, a general opener such as Iron or Shadow is joined to an ending from any set. That setting currently produces 5,032 distinct base spellings. Selecting an inspiration restricts both halves to that set where it has its own openers. The race, place and science-fiction modes use separate datasets.
Each fragment has an assigned creative gloss. Joining those glosses makes the displayed meaning. For example, Iron is assigned “Unyielding”, rather than the literal metal. Open “How this name is built” on a result to see the exact fragments. The joining rule writes an identical consonant at the boundary once; it does not apply the grammar of a real language.
Inspiration labels identify the selected dataset, not a character’s ethnicity or a certified linguistic origin. Male, Female and Neutral are sorting labels in this tool. Pronunciation hints are approximate English reading aids. A generated spelling may already exist, and its real meaning may differ. See the character element reference and the methodology and limitations for the full explanation.
Before you use a name
Can I use a result in a novel, game or commercial project?
This site permits you to use its generated suggestions without attribution. It cannot grant rights to an existing name, brand or fictional character that a result resembles. Check your final choice for the use you have in mind; no result has been cleared for commercial use. The terms of use explain those limits.
Will other people receive the same name?
Yes. Results come from a shared finite pool. A batch has no repeated base spellings, but names can recur in later batches and for other visitors. The initial examples stay the same on a page so you can return to them; Generate selects a new sample.
What if I need an authentic name from a living language?
Use a reliable source for that language and, where possible, ask a speaker to check the spelling and use. This tool is for fictional compositions. Its broad categories do not represent every language, region or naming tradition within them.
Browse the name sets
Fantasy races
Cultural inspiration
Places and worlds
Science fiction
About the project
Fantasy Name Generator is maintained by Luca Urti. It is a free creative tool with no account requirement. The About page explains how the datasets work and how AI-assisted editorial revisions are used. If a gloss is misleading or a result causes a problem, send the name, selected set and correction through the contact page.