Make realistic full names, first names or surnames from 19 countries. Choose a gender, copy the list or download it as TXT or CSV.
Realistic names for 19 countries, ready to copy
Choose a country, a gender and a format, and the tool puts together a list of believable names in one click: "Hannah Weber", "Mateo Hernández", "Wang Wei". Use them for worksheet examples, story characters, role-plays, mock class lists and practice spreadsheets, anywhere a real student's name should not appear. The names are built in your browser from lists of common first names and surnames, so nothing is sent to a server and no real person is behind a result.
Features
- 19 countries, or all of them mixed. Albania, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam.
- Full names, first names or surnames. Full names come out in the order that country uses, so Chinese and Vietnamese names start with the family name.
- Any gender, male or female.
- 1 to 100 names at a time, with quick buttons for 10, 20, 30, 50 and 100.
- No repeats. A name never appears twice in one list, and first names and surnames are not reused until the list has run through them all.
- Copy or download. Copy the list, or save it as a .txt file or a .csv file with separate columns for first name, surname, country and gender.
- Instant results. Change the country, gender, format or number of names and a fresh list appears straight away.
How the names are made
Each country has 40 male first names, 40 female first names and 40 surnames, picked because they are common there. A full name joins one first name and one surname at random, which gives well over a thousand different combinations per country and gender. The lists are shuffled like a deck of cards with a secure random source, so each name is equally likely to come up.
A few details are handled the way the language works rather than the way English does:
- Chinese and Vietnamese full names put the family name first.
- Russian surnames change for women, so "Smirnov" becomes "Smirnova" when the first name is female.
- Names that use other alphabets are written in Latin letters: Chinese in pinyin without tone marks, Russian and Egyptian names in a common English spelling.
The options at a glance
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Country | Takes names from one country, or from all 19 mixed when you pick "Any country". |
| Gender | Limits first names to male or female names. "Any gender" mixes both. |
| Name format | "Full name" joins a first name and surname. "First name" or "Surname" gives just that part. |
| Number of names | Between 1 and 100. First names and surnames alone are limited by the size of the list (40 per gender for one country), and the tool tells you when it has fewer to offer than you asked for. |
Related use cases
Random Name Generator for Privacy-Safe Worksheet Examples and Global Name Diversity
A classroom use case for generating fictional sample names instead of using real student names on worksheet examples, practice datasets, roleplay personas, and geography or ESL lessons on na...
Read use caseWhat the lists are, and what they are not
These are lists of common names, not a statistical sample of any population, and a country's name does not say anything about a particular student or family. Pick a country because it suits the story, the lesson or the data you need, not because of who is in your class. If a generated name happens to match someone you know, that is chance: the tool has no connection to any real list of people.
The generator does not make fantasy, fictional-world or username-style names. For those, a word-based tool such as the Random Word Generator is a better starting point.
Ways to use the names
- Worksheets and slides. Maths problems, grammar exercises and case studies read more naturally with a name in them, and a mix of countries reflects a real class. The article on privacy-safe worksheet examples goes into this in more detail.
- Mock class lists. Download a .csv file of 25 names to practise sorting, filtering or a gradebook formula without touching real student data.
- Practice groups. Paste a list into the Random Group Generator to rehearse a group activity before the real class.
- Writing and role-play. Give each character in a story or a role-play a name from a different country, then change the country for the next round.
- Test data for forms. Names for a sign-up form or a database exercise. For matching emails or phone numbers, see the Random Email Generator and the Random Phone Generator.
For a realistic mixed class of 24, choose "Any country", "Any gender" and "Full name", set the number to 24 and press Generate. If the list is not quite what you pictured, press Generate again for a fresh draw, or narrow the country when a story needs names from one place. Once you have a list you like, copy it before you change an option, because every change makes a new set.
If you need to pick one person from a list rather than invent names, the Wheel Of Names does that.
FAQs
Are the names real people?
No. Each name is a first name and a surname chosen at random from lists of common names. Any match with a real person is a coincidence.
Can I use the generated names in worksheets and slides?
Yes. They are ordinary names with no owner, so you can use them freely in teaching materials.
Why are some Chinese names written with the family name first?
Because that is the order used in China and in Vietnam. The tool follows each country's own order for full names.
Why do I get fewer names than I asked for?
When you ask for first names only, or surnames only, a single country has just 40 per gender. Choose "Any country" or "Any gender", or switch to full names, to get up to 100.
Can I download the list?
Yes, as a .txt file with one name per line, or as a .csv file with columns for the full name, first name, surname, country and gender.
Does the tool save or send my choices?
No. The names are generated on your device. The only thing the page loads is the file of name lists.
Can I use it for baby names?
It is built for examples and test data, so the lists favour common names and cover 40 per gender and country. It is not a baby-name finder.
