About this generator

Naming fantasy characters requires a little creativity. Usually, they have names that sound similar to human names, but are ever so slightly altered. Another popular way of naming a fantasy character is to use an old name that is no longer in use, or to use long names that would not often be said in full. Some people like to misspell real names to arrive at new ones. Our robots use these techniques, along with some mystery algorithms, to find the perfect fantasy names for you.

Even with these techniques, there are two main reasons for a fantasy name to fail. The first is the unpronounceable: a clattering of apostrophes, hyphens and rare consonants that turns reading into crossword-solving. The second is that it's too boring - your wizard called Gandolf, your kingdom called Avalon, your dwarf called Borin - the kind of name that screams "I had the TV on when the inspiration struck". A good fantasy name lives somewhere between the two; it's distinct enough to feel invented yet simple enough to remember a hundred pages later.

The generator above gives you real control. Pick from 23 fantasy types - angels, demons, dragons, elves, fairies, goblins, vampires, witches and wizards, plus more - and combine as many as you want. You can base names on a real human name as a starting point, choose gender, and set how many examples to generate per type. If you want something more specific, the site has dedicated generators for villains, heroes, pirates and D&D characters, plus place-name generators for towns and countries.

How the suggestions are built

The fantasy generator pulls from a curated word list assembled over the years that the site has been running. The aim was always the middle ground described above - names that sound invented without sliding into unpronounceable. What you won't get is anyone's real name pulled from the phone book, or a transcription of an existing fictional character, or the kind of confidently-wrong invention that AI chatbots produce when asked for a fantasy name.

If a result feels too generic for your setting - too soft for a barbarian, too modern for a high-fantasy court - try one of the more specific generators linked above. The fantasy generator is a broad starting point; the specialist ones (villain, hero, pirate, D&D) lean harder into a particular archetype.

Choosing a name that fits the world

Fantasy names work best when they fit the broader feel of the setting. A grim, mud-and-blood world punishes names that sound airy or operatic. A high-magic, brightly-coloured world drowns harsh consonants. The generator can't read your draft - that's the part you do. Read each candidate aloud once. If it makes you wince, it's not the right name.

Three quick tests:

• Can you say it without trying hard? If your reader has to stop and parse, the name is in the way of the story.
• Does it survive being shouted? Fantasy characters get shouted about a lot. Names with too many soft sounds (Lythirelle, Vaeloriel) lose their edge in dialogue.
• Does it pair with the surname or epithet? "Brand the Bold" works. "Aelarionvariadyn the Bold" doesn't.

Editing what you get

Most generated names benefit from a small tweak. Swap one letter, drop a syllable, change a soft consonant to a harder one, glue two suggestions together. The generator's output is meant as a starting point - the version that ends up on the page is usually 80% generated and 20% your own edit. That 20% is what makes it feel like yours.

If you find yourself rejecting every result for the same reason - too smooth, too jagged, too European-sounding - that's useful information about what your setting actually needs. Once you know it, the next generation has a clearer target.

A note on the data

This site has been building generators since 2002. The fantasy generator's word list has been hand-curated and refined over that time, informed by extensive reading of the genre - including but not limited to Tolkien, Le Guin, Pratchett, Sanderson, Erikson, Abercrombie, and the various tabletop traditions (D&D, Warhammer, Pathfinder) that have shaped how fantasy names sound to modern readers.