Magician Name Generator

Enter how many names you want (1 to 10) and press Generate. The Magician Name Generator pulls from a list of 287 stage names written in the styles working magicians have used for a century: The Great Gandini, Professor Presto, Sorcerer Sammy, Master of Misdirection, Houdini's Heir, Señor Sorcery, The Stunning Stella. Each name shows on its own card. It is for anyone who needs a magician's name in a hurry: a parent running a birthday party act, a writer naming a side character, a D&D player rolling up an illusionist, or an actual amateur magician who has not settled on a billing.

What the names look like

Most of the list falls into a handful of patterns, and knowing them helps you pick or adapt one:

• Alliterative adjective plus first name: Mystic Max, Fabulous Felix, Marvelous Marcus, Spellbinding Spencer, Wondrous Walter, Mind-Bending Manny. This is the bulk of the list and the easiest to customize by swapping in your own name.
• "The" names: The Great Gandini, The Mystical Maverick, The Sly Showman, The Mysterious Maven, The Marvelous Marcella. The definite article is the oldest trick in magic billing.
• Titles: Professor Presto, Wizard Wilbur, Conjuror Colin, Thaumaturge Tyson, Card-Master Chris, Fortune-Teller Fred.
• Grand claims: King of All Conjurers, Grand Maestro of Magic, Master of Magick Mark, Miracle Man Mike.
• Jokes and references: MagiMacGyver, Merlin Jr, Houdini's Heir, Illusionist Illyasviel, Rhys the Rambunctious Ringmaster.

The list is mostly male first names with a smaller set of female ones (Stella, Marcella, Susanna, Marianne and others), and there is no gender filter, so generate 10 at a time if you are after a female magician name. Nothing is attached to a name beyond the text: no persona, catchphrase or act description.

How real magicians name themselves

Stage names in magic tend to do one of three things. They promise scale ("The Great", "The Amazing", "The Incredible": The Great Lafayette, The Amazing Randi, The Amazing Kreskin), they borrow prestige (Ehrich Weiss became Houdini in tribute to the French magician Robert-Houdin; Adelaide Herrmann kept her husband's famous surname and billed herself "Queen of Magic"), or they strip down to a single memorable word, which is the modern style: Dynamo, Blaine, Copperfield, Teller. Children's entertainers usually go the other way and lean into a title and a rhyme (Professor, Mister, Doctor), because a five-year-old will remember "Professor Presto" and not "Steven". Mentalists avoid the word magician altogether and use plain names with a modifier like "The Mind Master".

When picking from the list, say it into a microphone in your head. Two or three syllables per word, a hard consonant to start, and nothing that a parent has to spell for a booking form. Check the name is not already used by a working performer in your area before printing business cards.

Uses beyond the stage

• Tabletop characters. A traveling illusionist NPC, a carnival act in a Victorian campaign, or a bard who claims to be "Master of Misdirection". For a spell-caster with a darker edge, the Witch Name Generator fits better, and the Random God Name Generator covers the cosmic end.
• Fiction. A pulp-era magician, a failed stage act in a mystery novel, a kids' book hero.
• Party acts. The uncle who agreed to do card tricks at the birthday party needs a name for the introduction. The sillier the better.
• Usernames and gamer tags. Card-Crazy Carl and Sorcerer Seth make decent handles on a magic forum or a Hearthstone account.

Period settings pair well with the Medieval Name Generator for the rest of the cast, and the Gnome Name Generator is the other place on the site with names this whimsical. Browse all name generators for the full list.