Creating stories is an exciting process that needs you to think about every minute detail. Naming your fictional characters can be especially tricky, so it’s perfectly normal to seek help or just some inspiration.
The internet has many websites that generate random names for different reasons. For storytellers, however, the six choices below are the most productive, whether you’re a writer or filmmaker.
1. The Story Shack
Name generating websites that embrace all kinds of popular themes and genres are ideal for creative projects. If you need character names for elves, dragons, aliens, or even swords, you want platforms like The Story Shack.
Here you’ll find hundreds of categories, involving specific species and themes, such as fantasy, sci-fi, and Skyrim. Consider the style of name you’re looking for and take your pick.
Once you click through to a specific random name generator, The Story Shack automatically produces six names. If you don’t care for any of them, just click the refresh icon and six new names will appear.
Other tools on The Story Shack to look forward to are its featured short stories and the Taleforge, an app for creative writing practice. It gives you a prompt, target word count, and additional challenges as you progress.
2. Reedsy Character Name Generator
In addition to Reedsy’s many other services, you get a random name generator. There aren’t nearly as many options as The Story Shack, but what is available won’t disappoint.
There are five categories to choose from:
- Language
- Medieval
- God
- Fantasy
- Archetype
Each category has subgroups. Whichever you go for, you’ll find five names on offer that you can refresh by clicking the Generate names button. You can also specify whether you want male or female names.
Every step of the way, Reedsy also provides helpful tips on finding the right name for your character. This includes other random name generators, so see what each page has to say.
3. Name Generator
A simpler but no less productive option in pinpointing the best names for characters is the Name Generator website. It’s straightforward to use.
Once again, there are different categories available, including hero, villain, and pirate names. Alternatively, you can go straight for the Character Name button.
The generator you choose opens a new page where you can apply filters before you even get suggestions. Specify how many names you want, as well as their gender, personality, ethnicity, what letter they should start and end with, and more.
Fill in as much as you want and then click Write me some character names. The next page lists the names alongside links to character profiles, all meant to enrich these fictional people in your head.
4. Behind the Name
Another simple website to check out is Behind the Name. To start, just tick some boxes about your fictional character’s qualities, like gender, number of names, and style of name.
For the latter, you have many options, encompassing languages, cultures, mythology, fantasy, and more. Apart from these, you can also tick whether you want a randomly generated life story to go with the name.
After you click Generate a Name, a new page pops up with one suggestion and, if you asked for a life story, a concise breakdown of the character’s fictional details, including their age, dominant hand, blood type, and even cause of death.
Like Name Generator, Behind the Name is meant to inspire and help you visualize characters better so that it’s easier to flesh them out.
5. Name Generator Fun
Since you never know when inspiration will strike, it’s worth having a range of resources up your sleeve. So, keep Name Generator Fun in mind when you need extra help with your world-building.
You can go into the Character Names category or those related to superhero, fantasy, sci-fi, or funny stories. Either way, you get more options on the name generator page, as well as filters.
If you choose the sci-fi category, for example, you can set the name’s gender and narrow down its style to Star Wars, Time Lord, or steampunk.
Other categories, like fantasy or pet names, offer additional ways to filter the results, from name lengths to preferred letters.
6. Mithril and Mages
A final website to check out is Mithril and Mages. Its range of randomly generated content goes from Old West and D&D characters to ships, inns, and college majors.
Unfortunately, it lacks important categories that other generators have. If you’re looking for urban or epic fantasy ideas, for example, you can go for Modern Names, Medieval Names, and the NPC Generator for RPG and D&D games.
That said, what Mithril and Mages lacks in specifics, it makes up for in helpfulness. You can use it to name and enrich almost everything in your fictional world. Can’t think of your city’s street names or a secondary character’s criminal history? This site can save the day.
Find More Tools to Help Build Your Fictional World
You have lots of support when it comes to naming your characters and other parts of your story. What’s great is that available help doesn’t end there.
There are apps and websites galore for adding structure to your creative process. Whether it’s to organize your plot, timeline, or characterization, explore the best tools around and perfect your storytelling.