Character name ideas: 280 names by genre, era and nickname

Good character name ideas come with a reason attached: a genre, a decade, a family. The 280 names below are first names and full names grouped by genre (fantasy, science fiction, romance, thrillers and mysteries, historical and contemporary fiction), followed by unisex names and the nickname patterns that turn one name into five. A table of the most popular US names for each decade from the 1900s to the 2010s helps you match a name to a birth year.

Every name has a one-line note on the kind of character it suits. Real given names are mixed with invented ones, and every full name is a starting point, not a finished character.

To use the list, pick two or three candidates and test them against the names already in the book. A worked example:

Fantasy character names

Fantasy names have to be sayable on the first read and distinct across a large cast. They are grouped here by the role they suit. Each culture in your world should still draw on its own set of sounds: the fantasy novel guide explains how to build one.

Heroes and wanderers

1. Wren: a small bird, and a short, fast name for a thief or a scout.
2. Bram: one short, blunt syllable; a blacksmith's son with a borrowed sword.
3. Tamsin: a real Cornish name, rarely used; a heroine who sounds grounded.
4. Corin: soft and quick; the younger brother who leaves home first.
5. Ione: three syllables (eye-OH-nee) readers will guess wrong, so give the pronunciation once.
6. Rook: a bird, a chess piece and a con; a name earned rather than given.
7. Ansel: an old Germanic name that sounds like a traveler.
8. Maren: Scandinavian, with the sea in its sound; a sailor or an island girl.

Nobles and rulers

9. Seraphine: four syllables, a name that needs a staircase.
10. Amaury: medieval French; a lord who never raises his voice.
11. Ottoline: an English aristocrat's name, borne by the Edwardian hostess Lady Ottoline Morrell; a hard middle and a soft end.
12. Isembard: old Germanic, heavy and armored.
13. Belisande: invented, long and liquid; a queen in a southern court.
14. Leontyne: it carries “lion” in it; a ruler who wants to be feared.
15. Thibault: French, said “tee-BO”; a duke's younger son.
16. Ermengarde: medieval and unglamorous, for a dowager who runs everything.

Mages, scholars and priests

17. Ambrose: a name with incense in it; an archivist who knows too much.
18. Celestine: from the Latin for heavenly; a temple oracle.
19. Thaddeus: three syllables of learning; a tutor with a past.
20. Aldric: old Germanic, with the weight of an order's founder.
21. Ysolde: an old spelling of Isolde; a witch with a romance behind her.
22. Orrin: plain and quiet; a hedge wizard who would rather be fishing.
23. Hesper: from Hesperus, the evening star; a stargazer.
24. Malachy: Irish; a monk copying books in a cold scriptorium.

Villains and rivals

25. Varek: invented; a hard V, a hard K and nothing soft between them.
26. Sabine: elegant and cold; the rival who is always better dressed.
27. Corvin: from the Latin for raven; a spymaster.
28. Morcant: an early Welsh name; a usurper with a real claim.
29. Lady Ashe: a title and a cinder; a courtier who burns bridges.
30. Drenna: invented; a smuggler queen.
31. Severin: from a Latin name built on severus, “stern”; an inquisitor.
32. Gallow: invented, from the gallows; the executioner's son.

Commoners and sidekicks

33. Hob: a medieval pet form of Robert; a stable hand.
34. Nell: short and warm; the innkeeper's daughter.
35. Tansy: a herb; the village healer's apprentice.
36. Dobbin: another pet form of Robert, and a farm horse's name; the loyal friend.
37. Mags: short for Margaret; a washerwoman with opinions.
38. Jory: a Cornish form of George; the ferryman's boy.
39. Wat: short for Walter; a cheerful cutpurse.
40. Bess: short for Elizabeth; the cook who notices everything.

Science fiction names

Science fiction names tell the reader how far from now the story is. Near futures use names we already know, mixed the way cities mix them. Far futures can let names drift. The drifted forms below are invented for this page, though some start from real nicknames.

Near-future Earth

41. Amara Lindqvist-Okoye: two heritages in one hyphen, no explanation needed.
42. Teo Marchetti: a drone pilot whose name sounds like now.
43. Priya Halvorsen: a climate engineer with a Norwegian father and an Indian mother.
44. Juno Castellanos: a goddess's name and a Spanish surname; a mission commander.
45. Dev Okafor: short and modern; the coder on the crew.
46. Hana Sato-Reyes: a doctor raised between Osaka and Manila.
47. Malik Brennan: an engineer whose name crosses two oceans.
48. Inés Varga: a pilot with a Spanish first name and a Hungarian surname.

Colonists and spacers

49. Jonno: what generations aboard one ship might make of Jonathan.
50. Elsabet: Elizabeth after two centuries in a closed colony.
51. Kit Seven: a first name and a birth-order number, in a colony that ran out of surnames.
52. Anneke Vos: a Dutch-founded colony that kept its Dutch names.
53. Tomasz Rye: a farmer on a grain world whose surname is the crop.
54. Saffi: a short, bright name for a deckhand born in transit.
55. Marlo: a name that could be anyone's, on a ship where everyone is related.

Officers, companies and call signs

56. Commander Rhea Calder: two syllables and two syllables, a voice that carries.
57. Lieutenant Oyelaran: a Yoruba surname the crew shortens to “Oye”.
58. Halden Price: a corporate fixer; the surname tells you what he costs.
59. Director Vashti Okon: a name with authority in both halves.
60. Stitch: a medic's call sign.
61. Ghostlight: a stealth pilot's call sign.
62. Specialist Bao Tran: the technician who fixes what everyone else breaks.

Ship minds and machines

63. Halyard: a ship's mind named after the rope that raises a sail.
64. Ninefold: a mind made of nine older ones.
65. Lantern: a navigation system that is also the crew's night-light.
66. Quorum: a committee that became one voice.
67. Verity: a virtue name for a ship's mind that cannot lie.
68. Wick: a maintenance unit, small and nearly burnt out.

Alien names

69. Vaath: one long vowel, for a species that speaks slowly.
70. Kesh-of-Seven: a name that includes its owner's place in the family.
71. Oruneth: three soft syllables for a gentle giant.
72. Tik: a click and a vowel, for a small, quick species.
73. Ilm: a name that is mostly hum.
74. Sarrow Who Waits: a name that is a sentence, for a culture that names by deeds.
75. Thessk: built from sounds English rarely puts together, without a single apostrophe.

Romance character names

Romance leads need names readers will enjoy hearing a few hundred times, usually short or with an easy nickname. Give the two leads different first letters and different rhythms. The romance novel guide covers the leads themselves.

Small-town and contemporary

76. Wyatt Calloway: a ranch, a pickup and a grudge.
77. Hallie Prewitt: the baker who never left town.
78. Beau Lassiter: a Southern name with a promise in it.
79. Molly Ashworth: warm, and home for the first time in ten years.
80. Sawyer Bell: a carpenter with a surname made for a wedding.
81. Josie Marquez: a vet with no time for the new doctor.
82. Holt Garrity: a firefighter; both names solid as a door.
83. Lainey Carver: a bookshop owner who reads the last page first.

Rom-com and city

84. Priya Malhotra: a lawyer with a five-year plan.
85. Max Feldman: a chef who burns everything except the soufflé.
86. Theo Aldana: an architect who designs houses he never lives in.
87. Georgie Lowe: a wedding planner who doesn't believe in weddings.
88. Ollie Szabo: a sound engineer who hears everything she doesn't say.
89. Imogen Hart: an advice columnist with no idea.
90. Nico Ferreira: the rival food-truck owner.

Historical and Regency

91. Miss Harriet Pell: a vicar's daughter with a sharp pen.
92. Lord Edmund Ashcombe: a duke's younger son who prefers his library; the courtesy title makes him Lord Edmund, never Lord Ashcombe.
93. Captain Thomas Lyle: a naval officer home with prize money.
94. Lady Cressida Hawes: an earl's daughter, still Lady Cressida after marrying a plain Mr. Hawes, and a widow who has finished being careful.
95. Kitty Beaumont: an heiress with a scandalous aunt.
96. Mr. Gideon Fane: a rake with debts and an old family name.
97. Miss Prudence Odell: a governess with a virtue name she doesn't live up to.
98. Sir Nathaniel Brook: a baronet who would rather be farming; Sir Nathaniel to his tenants, never Sir Brook.

Gothic and paranormal

99. Lucian Mercer: half light, half money.
100. Sable Draycott: a witch who runs an antique shop.
101. Ezra Kingsley: a hunter of the things that hunt.
102. Rafe Corrigan: the old way of saying Ralph, and a man with a family curse.
103. Elodie Marsh: a medium who hates séances.
104. Stellan Voss: cold consonants for a werewolf alpha.
105. Ravenna Lyall: a city's name for a woman who collects haunted houses.

Thriller and mystery names

Crime fiction names do two jobs. The detective's has to carry a series, and the suspects' have to be easy to tell apart on a list. The guide to writing a mystery novel covers building the cast around the crime.

Detectives and investigators

106. DS Maya Okonjo: a sergeant whose name the press keeps misspelling.
107. Inspector Tomas Rehn: a Swedish-born detective in a Scottish town.
108. Hattie Burke: a retired schoolteacher who solves murders in her village.
109. Gil Harrow: a private investigator; one syllable, then a farm tool.
110. Nell Castellan: an insurance investigator with an eye for fakes.
111. Detective Ray Abeyta: an Albuquerque cop a year from retirement, with a surname long rooted in New Mexico.
112. Dr. Simone Achterberg: a forensic pathologist nobody spells right the first time.
113. Jonah Kessler: a reporter who won't let a story go.

Suspects and villains

114. Julian Ashdown: a charming host with a locked study.
115. Corinne Vail: the widow who inherits everything.
116. Dr. Elias Marr: a surgeon with a perfect alibi.
117. Vivian Stroud: an art dealer who knows the forger.
118. Rex Talbot: the brother-in-law everyone suspects first.
119. Mrs. Delia Penhallow: a Cornish housekeeper who has watched three generations lie.
120. Lukas Brandt: the bodyguard who was there both nights.
121. Fern Atherley: a quiet secretary with a second phone.

Spies and operatives

122. Anna Reyes: a name common enough to vanish into.
123. Konrad Lisk: a handler with an old-country surname.
124. Ilse Markov: a defector's daughter.
125. Sam Hollis: a cover identity, forgettable on purpose.
126. Lark: a code name that sounds harmless.
127. Cora Lindqvist: a station chief who has outlasted four directors.

Witnesses and bystanders

128. Linda Kowalski: the neighbor who saw the car.
129. Gary Pruitt: the night clerk at the motel.
130. Denise Haddad: a nurse who noticed the wrong dose.
131. Pete Navarro: the tow-truck driver who found the body.
132. Joyce Albright: a crossing guard with a perfect memory for faces.
133. Ken Ochoa: a security guard who fell asleep once, that night.

Historical character names

Period names should sound right to readers of the period, and they rarely mean what they mean now. A Mayflower boy could be called Wrestling, and a Regency heroine's Fanny was short for Frances.

Medieval England

134. Agnes: medieval, and as plain and strong as it sounds.
135. Joan: the usual feminine of John in the Middle Ages, long before Jane.
136. Maud: the everyday form of Matilda.
137. Margery: a medieval form of Margaret.
138. Cecily: the English form of Cecilia.
139. Isabel: a medieval form of Elizabeth.
140. Emma: a Norman name, centuries before Austen.
141. Walter: Wat for short, as in Wat Tyler of the revolt of 1381.
142. Hugh: Norman, short and solid.
143. Geoffrey: Chaucer's first name.
144. Ralph: once said “Rafe”, and still said that way in some families.
145. Gilbert: Norman; Gib for short, hence Gibson.
146. Roger: Hodge for short, hence Hodgson.

Puritan and Mayflower names

147. Prudence: a virtue name, given in hope.
148. Patience: another, for a child who'll be tested.
149. Oceanus: Oceanus Hopkins, born on the Mayflower during the crossing.
150. Temperance: the hardest virtue to live up to.
151. Humility: Humility Cooper crossed on the Mayflower as a baby.
152. Increase: as in Increase Mather, the Massachusetts minister.
153. Love: Love Brewster came to Plymouth on the Mayflower as a boy.
154. Wrestling: his younger brother, Wrestling Brewster.
155. Remember: Remember Allerton, another Mayflower child.
156. Resolved: Resolved White, a Mayflower boy.
157. Peregrine: his baby brother, born aboard the Mayflower off Cape Cod.
158. Praisegod: Praisegod Barebone, a London leather-seller whose name critics pinned on a parliament of 1653.

Georgian and Regency

159. Elizabeth: the heroine of Pride and Prejudice (1813), Lizzy at home and Eliza to some acquaintances.
160. Jane: her elder sister, and the author's own name.
161. Fanny: short for Frances; the heroine of Mansfield Park (1814).
162. Kitty: short for Catherine; one of the Bennet sisters.
163. Harriet: Emma's friend and project in Emma (1815).
164. Marianne: the romantic sister in Sense and Sensibility (1811).
165. Anne: the heroine of Persuasion (1817).
166. Georgiana: Darcy's sister, and the name of a famous Duchess of Devonshire.
167. Fitzwilliam: Mr. Darcy's first name, a surname used as a given name.
168. Frederick: Captain Wentworth's first name in Persuasion.
169. Edmund: the young clergyman of Mansfield Park.
170. Charles: a gentleman's name all through Austen, from Bingley to Musgrove.

Victorian

171. Ada: Ada Clare in Bleak House, and Ada Lovelace.
172. Esther: Esther Summerson, who narrates half of Bleak House.
173. Dorothea: the heroine of Middlemarch (1871–72).
174. Florence: Florence Dombey, and Florence Nightingale, named for the city where she was born.
175. Lucy: Lucy Snowe, the narrator of Villette (1853).
176. Amy: Amy Dorrit, Dickens's “Little Dorrit”.
177. Tess: Tess Durbeyfield in Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891).
178. Arthur: Arthur Clennam in Little Dorrit.
179. Laura: Laura Fairlie in The Woman in White (1859–60).
180. Gabriel: Gabriel Oak in Far from the Madding Crowd (1874).
181. Edwin: Edwin Drood, of Dickens's unfinished last novel.
182. Albert: the Prince Consort's name; he married Victoria in 1840.
183. Septimus: Latin for “seventh”, for the seventh child of a large family.

Names by decade of birth

For a character born in the United States since 1880, the Social Security Administration publishes the most popular baby names for every year. Use the decade the character was born, not the decade the story happens in: a woman who turns 62 in 2026 was born in 1964, when her classmates were Lisas and Susans.

The top three are the safest bets for an ordinary character, but they are also the names a reader is most likely to share. For a character who should feel of their time without being generic, look further down the same decade's list, around rank 50 to 200, where names are familiar but not crowded. For a baby born in the story's present, the latest list, for 2025, is led by Liam and Olivia, with Noah, Oliver, Charlotte and Emma close behind.

Contemporary full names

Present-day characters with a family history built in. Each pairs a first name a parent might choose now with a surname that says where the family came from.

184. Maya Brennan-Osei: a hyphen between a Dublin father and a Ghanaian mother.
185. Daniel Park: a second-generation Korean American dentist.
186. Luísa Ferreira: a marine biologist from Porto.
187. Tomasz Wójcik: an electrician who moved from Kraków to Manchester.
188. Aisha Rahman: a British Bangladeshi family doctor.
189. Owen Mercer: an Ohio English teacher with a cloth trader's surname.
190. Grace Nakamura: a third-generation Japanese American architect.
191. Leon Petrosyan: a chess coach in Glendale, California, whose family came from Yerevan, hence -yan rather than the diaspora -ian.
192. Sofia Esposito: a pastry chef from Naples.
193. Jamal Okonkwo: a Houston engineer with an Igbo surname.
194. Ingrid Haugen: a Minnesota farmer with a Norwegian farm name.
195. Carlos Hernández: a Chicago firefighter with the most common surname in Mexico.
196. Nikhil Iyer: a Tamil software engineer in Seattle.
197. Hannah Goldberg: a New York divorce lawyer.
198. Rosa Dela Cruz: a high school principal in Los Angeles.
199. Erik Andersson: a ski instructor in Åre.
200. Farah Tehrani: an oncologist whose surname means “from Tehran”.
201. Kofi Mensah: a London barrister named for the day he was born.
202. Dmitri Volkov: a piano teacher in Brooklyn.
203. Yuki Tanaka: a game designer in Tokyo.
204. Liam O'Connor: a Boston paramedic.
205. Zeynep Yılmaz: an architect in Istanbul.
206. Siobhan Kelly: a sheep farmer outside Galway.
207. Noor Haddad: a pharmacist in Dearborn, Michigan.
208. Henrik Nielsen: a bicycle courier in Copenhagen.

Unisex names for characters

Names readers can't place by gender at a glance. They suit a narrator whose gender doesn't matter, and they confuse a scene where the reader's wrong guess would. Many are short forms, so the full name can settle the question later.

209. Alex: Alexander, Alexandra, or neither.
210. Sam: Samuel or Samantha, and the full name can be a reveal.
211. Charlie: Charles or Charlotte; the nickname carries both.
212. Frankie: Francis, Frances or Francesca.
213. Kit: Christopher or Katherine, short enough to hide either.
214. Jamie: James, or a name in its own right.
215. Robin: a bird and an outlaw, soft for anyone.
216. Jesse: biblical; Jessie is the more common spelling for girls.
217. Sasha: a Russian nickname for Aleksandr or Aleksandra.
218. Taylor: a tailor's surname turned first name.
219. Parker: a park keeper's surname.
220. Sawyer: a timber sawyer's surname, with a river and a raft in it.
221. Avery: an English surname, quiet and even.
222. Jordan: a river, and a name with no edges.
223. Morgan: Welsh, and old enough for a fantasy court.
224. Quinn: an Irish surname, one decisive syllable.
225. Riley: an Irish surname that sounds like a good time.
226. Casey: Irish, open and friendly.
227. Rowan: a tree with red berries, for a character from the country.
228. Sage: a herb and a wise person.
229. Reese: from the Welsh Rhys, one smooth syllable.
230. Emerson: a surname with a library in it.
231. Blake: one hard syllable and a poet.
232. Ellis: a surname from Elias, soft at both ends.
233. Marley: a place name with music in it.
234. Shannon: an Irish river.
235. Finley: Scottish, quick and light.

Nickname patterns for characters

Nicknames show relationships: the name a mother uses, the one a sergeant uses, the one only an old friend remembers. Many classic English nicknames come from rhymes: Rob became Bob, Will became Bill, Meg became Peg and then Peggy.

Classic English nicknames

236. Margaret: Maggie, Meg, Peggy, and Daisy, from the French marguerite.
237. Elizabeth: Liz, Beth, Betsy, Bess, Libby, Eliza.
238. Mary: Molly, Polly, Mamie.
239. Catherine: Kate, Kitty, Kit, Cathy.
240. Dorothy: Dot, Dolly, Dottie.
241. Sarah: Sally, Sadie.
242. Ann: Annie, Nan, Nancy.
243. Eleanor: Nell, Ellie, Nora.
244. William: Will, Bill, Billy, Liam.
245. Robert: Rob, Bob, Bobby, Bert.
246. Richard: Rick, Rich, Dick.
247. Edward: Ed, Ned, Ted, Eddie.
248. Henry: Harry, Hal, Hank.
249. John: Jack, Johnny.
250. Charles: Charlie, Chuck, Chas.
251. Theodore: Theo, Ted, Teddy.
252. Christopher: Chris, Kit.
253. Alexander: Alex, Xander, and Sandy in Scotland.

Nicknames in other languages

254. Aleksandr (Russian): Sasha, Shura.
255. Mikhail: Misha.
256. Dmitri: Dima, Mitya.
257. Yekaterina: Katya.
258. Ivan: Vanya.
259. José (Spanish): Pepe.
260. Francisco: Paco, Pancho.
261. Guadalupe: Lupe.
262. Ignacio: Nacho.
263. Dolores: Lola.
264. Giuseppe (Italian): Beppe, Peppe.
265. Johannes (German): Hans.
266. Friedrich: Fritz.
267. Margarete: Grete, Gretchen.

Kinds of nickname

268. The short form: Kate for Katherine, the default, which tells the reader nothing yet.
269. The childhood name: “Bunny” at forty, used only by her mother.
270. The rhyme: Bob, Bill, Peggy; old-fashioned, and that's information.
271. The surname nickname: “Mac” or “Hollis”, for teams, barracks and schools.
272. The initials: J.J. or A.J., for a family with two of the same name.
273. The ironic one: “Tiny” for the biggest man in the room.
274. The descriptive one: “Red”, “Lefty” or “Slim”, a trait that stuck.
275. The earned one: given after something happened, with the story inside it.
276. The private one: a name only one other character uses, and the reader learns why.
277. The refused one: the nickname a character won't answer to anymore.
278. The title as name: “Doc”, “Sarge” or “the Professor”, so long nobody remembers the real one.
279. The family echo: Junior, Little Al or Young Tom, a name that keeps a parent in the room.
280. The diminutive: Sashenka, Paquito, Gretchen, for tenderness or condescension.

Decide early who uses which form. If Margaret is “Margaret” to her boss, “Mags” to her sister and “Daisy” only to the husband who left, then the day her boss calls her Mags is a scene.

Make a name your own

A list gives you candidates. These checks turn one into a name that belongs to one character.

• Start from the family and the year. Who chose the name, and when? A first-generation family might choose a name that works in two languages; an old-money family might turn a family surname into a first name. Mr. Darcy's first name, Fitzwilliam, is also the surname of his cousin the colonel.
• Match the register of the genre. A romance lead called Ermengarde is a comedy; a fantasy dowager called Ermengarde is a person. Read the names in a few recent books in your exact subgenre before you choose.
• Say it with the names around it. Read a page of dialogue aloud with the new name in it. A name that's hard to say can slow every scene it's in.
• Separate the cast by shape. Different first letters, different lengths, different endings. Many readers skim names by their outline, so Mara, Marla and Marcus are likely to blur.
• Give it a nickname and an owner. Decide who uses the full name, who uses the short one and who uses the name nobody else may.
• Record it. Put every name, spelling and nickname in the cast list, the way a copy editor keeps a style sheet. The character profile template has a place for the name at the top and the voice further down.

Character naming mistakes

• Look-alike names. A common naming problem, and one of the easiest to fix. List the main cast and check the first letters, or ask the Strokes Assistant to review a finished draft for names that look alike and spellings that drift between chapters.
• Anachronisms. Madison was almost unknown as a girl's name until the film Splash (1984); by the 2000s it was the second most popular. A name that's wrong for the birth year can tell the reader the author didn't check.
• Names that explain the character. Meaningful names suit satire, allegory and children's books. In realist fiction, a surgeon called Dr. Cutter is likely to make readers smirk.
• Borrowed fame. A first name borrowed from a famous character brings that character with it. A detective called Sherlock reads as a joke or a reference, whatever the author intended.
• Unsayable names with no help. If readers can't tell how to say a name, give a hint early, in dialogue or a character's correction, and then trust them.
• Every name remarkable. Most people have ordinary names. A cast of Ravennas and Stellans makes the one character who needs to stand out disappear.