Random First Name Generator

The Random First Name Generator returns between 1 and 15 given names per click, drawn from the name lists of whichever of 36 countries you select. The default is the United States, which gives you names like Marian, Enrico, Alfreda and Samson; switch to Japan and you get 大和 and 美羽, switch to Finland and you get Erkki and Eveliina. Each name sits on its own card with a copy button, so filling a form, a spreadsheet or a character sheet takes a few seconds.

Options

• Number of names – any whole number from 1 to 15. Anything outside that range shows an error instead of results.
• Country – a dropdown of 36 entries, sorted alphabetically: Arabic, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam.

There is no gender filter on this page and names are not labeled male or female; you get a mix. If you need names with a gender, the Unisex Name Generator covers names that work either way, and the Random Last Name Generator uses the same country list for surnames if you want to build a full name.

Where the names come from

The names come from the locale data in the Faker library, the same open-source package developers use to fill test databases. Each locale is a list of common given names for that country or language, so the results are ordinary, realistic names rather than invented ones. A few things follow from that:

• Names for Japan, China, Taiwan, Arabic, Israel, Nepal and Georgia come back in their native script (kanji, hanzi, Arabic, Hebrew, Devanagari, Georgian), not romanized. Vietnamese names keep their diacritics.
• Mexico and Spain sometimes return two-part names such as Julio César or Ana María, which is normal for Spanish-speaking countries.
• Six entries fall back to the English list in this version of the library: Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Sweden, Indonesia and Switzerland return names like Kaleb, Edna and Rico rather than local ones. Turkey, Poland, Croatia, Finland and the other non-English countries return proper local names.
• Some European lists, notably Germany and Austria, include a good share of English-origin names (Emily, Tyler, Jesse) alongside traditional ones (Kurt, Alena), which reflects what parents in those countries have actually been choosing.

What people use it for

• Test data. Fifteen Indian or Brazilian first names to check that a signup form, a name field or a database column handles non-English input. The copy button makes it quick to paste them one by one.
• Fiction and games. A story set in Norway or a tabletop campaign with a Polish NPC needs names that sound right for the place. Pick the country and take the first name you like.
• Placeholder people. Mockups, slide decks and sample invoices need names that look real without belonging to anyone in particular.
• Baby name browsing. Not a dedicated baby-name tool, but scrolling through 15 Irish or Italian names at a time is a decent way to find one you had not considered.

Related name tools

For names from a specific country with more depth than one dropdown entry, try the German Name Generator or the Austrian Name Generator, which return full names. If you want something silly instead of realistic, the Goofy Ahh Names Generator and Stupid Name Generator are built for that. The full list is under all name generators.