I’ve seen a bunch of name generators, especially around generating random fantasy names, or names that look Tolkien-esque. However, this random name generator is for normal first and last names, as might be found in the USA. I can set an obscurity factor (from 1 to 100) and select a gender. It uses US census data as the source for the names.
The names
My character is going to be from the Midwest, so I want a reasonably common name – I’ve set the obscurity factor to 40 (to rule out names like Modesto and Britt). Here’s what I got:
- Toby Sandvik
- Darrin Ruta
- Dominick Purdon
- Emmett Krane
- Toby Rayne
- Cary Montpas
- Santos Gettle
- Winston Citrano
- Darnell Laskowitz
- Van Arnaud
I’ve opted for Toby Rayne. It’s nice and short and has a good ring to it, and I’ve been watching a lot of The West Wing lately. I also like the name Winston Citrano, so I’ll use that for his best buddy. I figure Toby’s middle name will be the same as his dad’s first name, so let’s find out who Dad is, using the name generator but ignoring the surname. I’ll run through Dad, Mom, Wife, Big Sister and Daughter:
- Dad – Charles (Charlie)
- Mom – Rebecca
- Wife – Joanna
- Sister – Erica
- Daughter – Catherine (Katie)
Given the names that have come up, I’ve decided that Mom is part-Jewish, but that the family are loosely Christian (i.e. church at Christmas). I also decided that Dad ran his own auto repair shop.
The updated R-map now looks like this:
