Book title generator
Working titles for a novel or a story, by genre and by pattern: The X of Y, one word, a phrase from a line, a command, a genre staple. Every title is checked against a list of well known books, and each genre comes with notes on what its titles usually do.
Runs in your browser. No AI, no account, and nothing you save is sent anywhere.
Choose a genre to see what titles in that genre usually do. Every title is checked against a list of well known books.
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Redline
Thriller · One word
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We Said No Feelings
Romance · Phrase from a line
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Seventeen Dares Before Graduation
Young adult · Number and place
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The Pale Well
Horror · Adjective and noun
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The Hollow Engines of Callisto
Science fiction · The X of Y
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Pitch and Salt
Historical · Two things
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Count the Teacups
Mystery · Command
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The Hedge Witch's Bargain
Fantasy · Someone's something
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What We Owed
Literary · Genre staple
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Silence the Witness
Thriller · Command
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Unrehearsed
Romance · One word
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The Orbits of Port Ceres
Science fiction · The X of Y
Shortlist
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What makes a book title work
A title has three jobs. It tells a browsing reader what kind of book this is, it sticks well enough to be remembered and searched for, and it means a little more once the book is finished. Most good titles do two of the three well. Use these checks on anything you shortlist, from the generator or from your own notebook.
It signals the genre
Readers decide in a second whether a book is for them, and the title does half of that work with the cover. A title that sounds like a cozy mystery on a dark thriller sends away the readers who would have loved it. Read your shortlist beside the titles on the shelf where your book will sit; it should look as if it belongs there, and still stand out.
It survives being said out loud
People recommend books in conversation. If you have to spell the title, explain how to pronounce it or repeat it twice, it will travel less far. Say it to someone and ask them to write it down a day later.
It can be found
Search your shortlist on a bookseller's site and on Goodreads before you commit. Sharing a title with an older book is legal, but sharing it with a recent book in your own genre means readers find the other one first. The generator removes famous titles; it cannot know every book published last year.
It points at the heart of the book
The strongest titles name something the book is really about: an object, a place, a line someone says at the turning point. Write one sentence on what your book is about underneath the plot, then look for a title that names a concrete thing from inside that sentence.
It fits the series, if there is one
If you plan more books, pick a pattern you can repeat: one word, The X of Y, a number. Readers use the pattern to spot the next book in a series, and you will thank yourself at book four.
Title patterns, with examples from the generator
Most titles follow a handful of shapes. Knowing the shape helps you see why a title works and what to change when it nearly does.
| Pattern | Examples | Good for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| The X of Y | The Silk Maps of Edo; The Patience of the Lodger | Historical, fantasy, literary | Very common; the second half must be specific |
| One word | Mothlight; Tallow; Redshift | Thrillers, horror, science fiction, series | Hard to search; pick a word that is rare in book titles |
| Adjective and noun | The Pale House; The Hidden Mill | Almost every genre | Easy to forget unless one word is unexpected |
| Phrase from a line | Ask the River for Its Name; All the Rooms She Rented | Literary, YA, romance, short stories | Works best when the line appears in the book |
| Someone's something | The Hedge Witch's Bargain; The Pickpocket's Promise | Historical, fantasy, book club fiction | So common that near-duplicates are likely; search first |
| Two things | Bone and Feather; Starlight and Lemons | Fantasy, romance, literary | The pairing should hint at a tension in the book |
| Command | Count the Teacups; Ring the Bells for Calais | Thrillers, horror, mystery, YA | Implies a speaker; know who is saying it |
| Number and place | Twelve Widows of Halifax; Seven Knocks | Mystery, horror, historical | The number should mean something in the plot |
| Genre staple | The Upper Wraxby Murders; The Quarantine Protocol | Readers who want exactly that genre | Safe but crowded; the place or object has to carry it |
What titles do in each genre
The notes the generator shows under each genre, in one place. They describe common practice on the shelf, not rules.
Literary
An image or a phrase that means more once the book is read. Abstract openings (the weight of, the grammar of) are common, so the second half has to be fresh.
Fantasy
The size of the world in a few words: an object of power, an invented place, or A Thing of Things and Things, which readers now take as romantic fantasy.
Science fiction
The idea or the place: a station, a signal, a protocol. A human word next to a technical one tells the reader there is a person in the story.
Mystery
A puzzle and a place. Cozies favor a setting or a pun with murder or death in it; series often repeat one pattern so readers can spot the next book.
Thriller
Short and urgent, often with a threat or a clock in it. Role titles (the nurse, the driver) are crowded, so they need something extra.
Romance
Which kind of love story it is: bright and playful with a hook for contemporary, A Thing of Things and Things for romantic fantasy, a title or a scandal for historical.
Horror
Unease rather than explanation: a familiar thing made wrong, or a quiet instruction the reader wants to disobey. House and street titles are a long tradition.
Historical
A trade, a city or a year. The trade-plus-relative shape (the printer's widow) is so common that many books share near-identical titles.
Young adult
The narrator talking: a confession, a dare, a line of dialogue. Read it in a sixteen-year-old's voice; if it sounds like a parent, change it.
Worked example: choosing a title for one book
On our plot generator page we turn a generated premise into a fantasy novel about Wenna, a gravedigger who hears the dead and hides a creature that silences them. Here are five fantasy titles the generator offered, and how each one holds up.
- Nobody Crowns a Gravedigger. Says who she is and hints at rising above her place. But the book is not about a crown, so the promise is false.
- The Dead Keep Their Names. True to the world's central rule and easy to say. It tells a reader this is fantasy with a quiet, eerie tone. Strong.
- Steal the Gravedigger's Key. Sounds like a heist. Wrong genre signal for a slow, close book.
- The Lanterns of Ysmere. Pretty, and fits the shelf, but there are no lanterns in the story and nobody can be sure how to say Ysmere.
- Bonelight. Short, rare as a title, good for a series. It needs a reason to exist in the book: perhaps the faint glow of the newest graves, which the twist already depends on.
Two survive: The Dead Keep Their Names as the title, and Bonelight as a thing in the story that could name book two. That is the usual result. The generator rarely hands you the final title; it shows you which shapes fit your book, so you can write the one that does.
Questions writers ask about book titles
Can I use a title from the generator for my book?
Yes. In the United States titles are not protected by copyright (US Copyright Office, Circular 33), and you do not need to credit the generator. A series name used as a brand can be a trademark, so search before you build a series on one.
Does the generator check whether a title already exists?
It checks every result against a list of several hundred well known titles across the nine genres and skips any match. It cannot know every book in print, so search your favorite on a bookseller's site and on Goodreads before you commit.
How long should a book title be?
Most novels use one to five words, because short titles are easier to remember, say and read on a small cover image. Longer titles are common in literary fiction, YA and romantic comedy, where the voice of the title is part of the appeal.
Should I wait until the book is finished to choose a title?
Pick a working title now so the book has a name, then choose the real one when the draft is done. By then you know which image or line carries the book. Many published titles were chosen late, some by the publisher.
Does it work for short stories?
Yes. Short stories suit the Phrase from a line and Command patterns especially well, because a magazine reader meets the title and the first line almost together.
Is this an AI title generator?
No. Titles are built from word lists, patterns and hand-written lines for each genre, joined in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, and the same link always shows the same titles.
Wenna
Digs graves. Hears the dead. Has not slept properly in eleven years.
Her brother
Hunts for the bounty on the creature's head.
The forest
The dead keep their names, and their voices, for a year and a day.
Give the book a working title and start
A title is easier to choose once the book exists. In Feldar you can start a novel under a working title and keep the plan with the pages: scenes in each page's Outline, characters and places on the Canvas. If you are still at the idea stage, our guide to outlining a novel is the next step.
See how Feldar works