Updated on February 23, 2022
Here are some resources for choosing and creating names for your characters. Reminder, Asia and Africa are land masses, not countries, and there are significant differences in culture and naming across these land masses.
A Guide to Names and Naming Practices
While obviously not the last word on naming practices, this 88-page guide covers some of the essential basics regarding names from around the globe. Trying to figure out if your Nigerian character would change their name after getting married? Need a basic introduction on the unique characteristics of names in mainland China? Want to understand how familial relationships impact names in Russia? This may be a good starting point.
Baby Name Wizard
Lists of popular names around the world. I’ve linked to the international list, so you can find all of them instead of the American default list. These are popular names now, so less useful for historical or less common names. Allows filtering for boys or girls, but not both at one time, and doesn’t list gender neutral names.
Baby Names
A standard American baby name repository. It’s a little too cutesy for me, and I really have no interest in celebrity baby news, but it’s still a potentially useful resource. If picking a Native American name, see the Wrong Names resource below so you can avoid names incorrectly attributed to these cultures.
Behind the Name
A database of names from around the world. Includes any meanings that go along with each name, and variations on names. Has some filtering for male, female, and unisex names. You can now search by meaning, pattern, and number of syllables in the advanced filters. While the database has moved beyond just European names, some lists don’t show up in the master list, and you may need to search. For example, Bengali and Indonesian surnames have their own lists that don’t appear in the master list.
Chinese Names and Naming Resources
These resources come from the Chinese language blog of Linghxr, a Chinese American individual studying Mandarin to better connect with their family background. This page describes three different resources, and the use of each of them.
Chinese Name Database
A database of Chinese surnames and Chinese given names from 1930-2008. It includes nationwide frequency statistics of 1,806 Chinese surnames and 2,614 Chinese characters used in given names, covering about 1.2 billion Han Chinese population (96.8% of the Han Chinese household-registered population born from 1930 to 2008 and still alive in 2008).
Chinese Surnames
Wikipedia lists common surnames in mainland China (and which provinces are most common places to find the names), Taiwan, and in the Chinese diaspora.
Fantasy Name Generator
Very simple name generator with some basic filters.
Fantasy Name Generators
This site features over 1200 name generators (real names, fantasy names, place names, pop culture names) and many description generators. While likely built with gamers in mind, it can be equally valuable to writers.
Filipino Surnames
Wikipedia lists the most common family names in the Philippines according to a genealogical research project in 2014.
Indian Surnames
Indian family names are most often derived from religion, occupation, region, and caste.
Kontinentalist – What Can We Tell From the Evolution of Han Chinese Names?
In addition to providing an excellent explanation of how Chinese names work (how they’re chosen, why the characters matter, etc), this offers insight into the changes in naming over time. It’s a valuable resource for those planning a historical or historical fantasy piece, and wanting the names to be accurate for the era.
Korean Family Names
Wikipedia lists the most common family names in the Philippines according to a genealogical research project in 2014.
Medieval Names Archive
Impressively thorough lists of names based on church and city records, so it’s great if you’re going for authenticity. It is delightfully NOT Eurocentric, which is unusual for most websites on this time period.
Mithril & Mages
This is a fantasy writer and role player’s playground that includes name generators for a variety of needs, utilities for role playing, and even a few generators using modern data (businesses, city blocks, college majors, criminal history, wound and disease prevalence).
Modern Mongolian Clans
This Wikipedia list includes the subset of the clans and the clan names within those subsets. There are also links to Mongolian rulers, states, and medieval tribal names, as well as the history of naming conventions in Mongolia and how they have changed over time. Surnames are a relatively new convention
Nameberry
This is a large name database and name generator. I’m not sure why sites like this specify that they are for “baby names,” since babies quickly grow to toddlers and teens and eventually adults, but if you’re able to ignore the baby pictures, this can be a useful site. You can search for names by origin, nationality, gender and starting letter. There’s a list of names that are not gender specific, which is nice to see. While this has some Hawaiian, Russian, Latinx and African names, the list tends to be pretty heavily European, completely lacking any Asian content.
Native Languages Wrong Names
Just as important as picking an accurate name, it’s critical to avoid names that are just plain wrong if you’re going for an accurate representation of an ethnic group. Apparently there are a fair number of names that are inaccurately attributed to Native Americans. This list will help you avoid some of those.
Pakistani Family Names
Wikipedia lists common family names coming from Arab naming conventions, tribal names, and ancestral names.
Seventh Sanctum
This site provides random generators to help name characters, design settings, and inspire people’s creativity. Generators include character types, equipment, names, magic, organizations, settings, and superheroes. Click Generator Types at the top of the page.
Syrian and Sephardic Jewish Surnames
Surnames collected from several Syrian Jewish databases in one place, including origins (when known) and definitions.
US Social Security Administration
You can find popular names by state, decade, or year for the United States.
Check out my other research and resources for writers posts here.
S.N.Arly 
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