# Random Name Generator: Real Names, 30 Cultures - Feldar > Free random name generator: real first and last names picked at random from 30 cultures and several eras, each labeled. Choose a gender and how many. - URL: https://feldar.com/tools/random-name-generator - Site: [Home](https://feldar.com/) · [About](https://feldar.com/about) · [Blog](https://feldar.com/blog) · [Careers](https://feldar.com/careers) · [Pricing](https://feldar.com/pricing) · [Download](https://feldar.com/download) · [Changelog](https://feldar.com/changelog) - Machine index: [llms.txt](https://feldar.com/llms.txt) · [full site content](https://feldar.com/llms-full.txt) --- #### How the random picks work Every name here is a real one. Given names come from curated lists for each culture, built from national birth rankings where they exist (US Social Security data for American names, recent rankings for England and Wales for modern English names) and from historical records for older eras. Surnames come from each culture's common family names. Nothing is invented, so the names read as people, not as characters. With Any culture, each name in a set is drawn from a different culture until all 30 have been used, and from an older era where we have one (medieval and Victorian English, mid-century American, Showa-era Japanese). The small label beside each name says where it came from, so you can keep the pick or skip it in a second. Choose one region or one culture to narrow the draw. Turn off Include a surname for first names only. ##### What the generator keeps right for you - Name order. Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese names come family name first, as they are written in those languages: Yoshida Koharu, Tian Xinyi. - Two surnames. Most Spanish and Mexican names carry the father's surname and then the mother's (Pilar Moreno Marín); many Portuguese and Brazilian names carry two as well. - Surnames that change with gender. Russian, Polish and Greek surnames take a feminine form for women: Tarasov and Tarasova, Dąbrowski and Dąbrowska, Panagiotopoulos and Panagiotopoulou. - Accents and letters. Names keep their own spelling: Rasmus Dalgaard, İpek Bulut, Đỗ Văn Khang, Úna Gallagher. #### What a random set looks like These came from this generator. The middle column comes from the label on each card; the last says what the name tells a reader. NameCulture and eraWorth knowing Edith ArcherEnglish, MedievalArcher is an occupational surname: someone in the family once made or shot bows. Ethel MitchellEnglish, VictorianEthel was a common girls' name in late Victorian England and is rare today, so it dates a character at once. Bruce WrightAmerican, Mid-centuryA name for a man born in the 1940s to 1960s. Put it on a twenty-year-old today and readers will notice. Hayashi YutakaJapanese, ShowaFamily name first. In English prose many writers reverse it to Yutaka Hayashi; pick one order and keep it. Pilar Moreno MarínSpanishTwo surnames. Friends would call her Pilar; a form would file her under Moreno. Zofia DąbrowskaPolishThe feminine form of Dąbrowski. Her brother's surname ends differently. Kwaku QuayeGhanaian (Akan)Kwaku is an Akan day name for a boy born on a Wednesday. Đỗ Văn KhangVietnameseFamily name, middle name, given name. He would be addressed as Khang. #### When a random name is the right tool Most names in a novel don't need deliberation. The landlord in chapter three, the nurse on the night shift, the passenger in seat 14C: each needs a name that sounds like a real person and doesn't draw attention. That is what this page is for. Press G until one fits, click it to copy, and get back to the scene. - Walk-on parts and crowds. A class register, a list of the dead on a memorial, the names on a jury: generate 24 at once and take what you need. - Placeholders while drafting. Use a random name so you don't stall, mark it, and come back to choose properly later. - Test records and sample data. Real names with accents, apostrophes, two surnames and family-first order are a good check that a form or a database handles real people. - Game nights. A name for the shopkeeper your players just decided to question. For a main character, where the era, the family and the meaning of the name matter, the [character name generator](https://feldar.com/tools/character-name-generator) lets you set a culture and an era, keep a first name while the surname changes, and switch to fantasy styles. #### Pitfalls with random names - Real names belong to real people. A common first name and a common surname will match living people, and now and then a famous one. Search any name you give a character with a real job or a crime. - A name carries a family history. If the random pick is Farah Zaki or Bram Mulder, the character's parents chose that name somewhere. Decide whether that matters to your story; if it does, write it in. - Era gives age away. Names rise and fall with birth years. A mid-century American name on a teenager reads as a choice, so make it one or pick again. - Too many first letters alike. Random sets don't check your cast list. Keep main characters on different first letters and lengths. - Mixed order on one page. If you keep family-first names for some characters and given-first for others, readers will wonder why. Choose one convention for your book. #### Questions writers ask Are these real names or made up? Real. Every given name and surname comes from curated lists for its culture and era, built from birth rankings and records. Only the pairing of a given name with a surname is random. Can I get only first names? Yes. Turn off Include a surname and every set is first names only, still labeled by culture and gender. Can I use this to draw a winner from a list of people? No. This page picks from its own lists of names, not from yours. To draw a winner from real entrants, use a list randomizer that takes your list as input. How is this different from the character name generator? This page is for quick picks: one press gives a labeled mix of cultures and eras. The [character name generator](https://feldar.com/tools/character-name-generator) is for choosing with care: one culture and era at a time, keeping a first name while the surname changes, and fantasy styles. Can I share a set of names? Yes. Copy a link to these names opens the exact same set for anyone you send it to, with the same culture and gender settings. #### Keep your names where the story is In Feldar each character, place and faction can be a card on the [Canvas](https://feldar.com/features/canvas), linked to the others and kept beside the pages you are writing. When Feldar helps you write, it draws on those cards, so its suggestions use the names you chose. [Start writing free](https://feldar.com/login) [See how Feldar works](https://feldar.com/novel-writing-software) #### More name generators - [Character names Real names from 30 cultures, plus fantasy styles.](https://feldar.com/tools/character-name-generator) - [Fantasy names All eighteen fantasy and science fiction styles in one place.](https://feldar.com/tools/fantasy-name-generator) - [Last names Real surnames from 30 cultures, and fantasy surnames.](https://feldar.com/tools/last-name-generator) - [DnD names Names for tabletop heroes: humans, elves, dwarves, tieflings, dragonborn and more.](https://feldar.com/tools/dnd-name-generator) - [Elf names High elf, wood elf and dark elf names with family names.](https://feldar.com/tools/elf-name-generator) - [Dwarf names Short, heavy dwarf names with clan bynames.](https://feldar.com/tools/dwarf-name-generator) - [Orc and goblin names Guttural orc names with clan bynames, and sharp goblin names.](https://feldar.com/tools/orc-name-generator) - [Dragon names Ancient dragons with titles, and young or bonded dragons.](https://feldar.com/tools/dragon-name-generator) - [Villain names Dark fantasy villains and supervillain codenames.](https://feldar.com/tools/villain-name-generator) - [Hero names Superhero codenames by power, each with a civilian name.](https://feldar.com/tools/hero-name-generator) - [Witch names Old-fashioned witch names, and names for covens.](https://feldar.com/tools/witch-name-generator) - [Fairy names Light fairy names, and titles for the fae courts.](https://feldar.com/tools/fairy-name-generator) - [God names Gods and goddesses with domains, and nameless old powers.](https://feldar.com/tools/god-name-generator) - [Town and city names English-sounding, Norse, fantasy towns and great cities.](https://feldar.com/tools/town-name-generator) - [Kingdom names Kingdoms, empires, duchies and marches.](https://feldar.com/tools/kingdom-name-generator) - [Tavern and inn names Village inns, dockside taverns and fantasy inns.](https://feldar.com/tools/tavern-name-generator) - [Planet names Colony worlds, catalogue designations and invented worlds.](https://feldar.com/tools/planet-name-generator) - [Pen names Realistic author names by genre, matching your initials.](https://feldar.com/tools/pen-name-generator) #### Keep reading [Free tool Word counter for writers Words, pages and reading time, with novel lengths by genre.](https://feldar.com/tools/word-counter) [Guide How to outline a novel A full worked example and a free template.](https://feldar.com/guides/how-to-outline-a-novel) [Feature The Canvas Characters, places and plot beats as linked cards.](https://feldar.com/features/canvas)