It's not Shadowrun specific, but I thought it might come in handy.
I made a random name generator. In many ways it's just a conglomeration of the dataases from other name generators I could find on the web, although I've added nicknames to the options.
If you do want a nickname, be prepared to have to do a little mixing and matching though, as the nicknames don't conform to the source filter. For instance, generating 10 Chinese male names with nicknames got me:
1. Rongfang 'DiBi' Tsien
2. Xiumin 'Frankie Breeze' Hsiao
3. Yanjun 'Fat Vinnie' Jianbua
4. Shing 'Shorty' Fong
5. Fai 'Mongo' Lan
6. Jing-wei 'K.K.' Lau
7. Lok 'Madame' Chen
8. Yuying 'Jimmy Nap' Song
9. Shipeng 'Hippie' Shing
10. Xingjiang 'Underdog' Kou
Frankie Breeze, Jimmy Nap, and Fat Vinnie don't fit very wel, and if the guy's nickname is "Madame" he'll be an interesting character one way or the other. Underdog and Mongo could fit, as might some others if translated (either actually or by using my lazy man method of "his middle name is Tak Ban, which means Shorty").
If you know of a good website for names, please let me know. Right now I've got Middle Eastern, Spanish, Chinese, Egyptian, English (and Americanized), German, Greek, Hindi, Japanese, Latvian, Russian, African (mostly Swahili), Thai, and Viking names. For a bunch of those I'm having to use first names as a second lookup for a surname because I couldn't find a good list of surnames from that area. They look ok to my layman's eyes, but for all I know they're the equivilent of giving someone the last name of Jimmy or Sarah.
I'd like to keep the database growing, so if you've got any cool name resources you use please let me know, especially if they're sorted by region.
Full Version: Name Generator
Actually, I like the bizarre Engrish nicknames. They suggest a complete lack of depth and immersion in westernized pop culture.
That's awesome... you should cross-post that in community projects forum.
...most definitely. This is great especially when you really want names for NPCs rather than thug #1, Bar patron #6, "that troll at the corner table drinking a pitcher sized Long Island " etc.
I'll definitely be using it.
I'll definitely be using it.
I raid names off of files of people I've relocated at work, especially the funny sounding ones 
This is a cool toy though.
This is a cool toy though.
Thanks much! Names are my weakness 
Looks cool! I do get some 'interesting' names for female characters, though. Eg.:
Marvin 'Richie the Boot' Ewing
Sylvester 'Frankie Steel' Focell
Gutxi 'Johnny Sausages' Garbajosa
Yukio 'Little Man' Omaro
Marvin 'Richie the Boot' Ewing
Sylvester 'Frankie Steel' Focell
Gutxi 'Johnny Sausages' Garbajosa
Yukio 'Little Man' Omaro
You got Marvin as a female name?
English Female 10
1. Hank 'Butch' Warner
2. Charlyn 'Tony Bender' Whittier
3. Siu 'The Cat' Tennant
4. Chae 'Moonbeam' Shefelbine
5. Judie 'Raffie' Marrow
6. Melodee 'Annie' Ritchie
7. Imogene 'Terrorist' Bode
8. Lida 'Skinny Mike' Blackwell
9. Raymond 'Great White Hunter' Bould
10. Riley 'Mike Tally' Weien
English Female 30
1. Timika 'Boar Expert' Christman
2. Brittany 'Big Joey' Buttermore
3. Forrest 'The Player' Graham
4. Anibal 'God's Friggin' Gift to Humanity' Sybilla
5. Janella 'Tippy' Bickerson
6. Leslie 'Jimmy Blue Eyes' Atkinson
7. Madelaine 'Fat Fungi' Costello
8. Bethany 'Cavetown' Putnam
9. Paz 'Dr. Do Right' Book
10. Pansy 'The Bull' Aultman
11. Timmy 'Larry the Hood' Cowper
12. Elias 'Jadefinger' Deggeller
13. Donnie 'George' Thacker
14. Ray 'Tony Pep' Federle
15. Willis 'Fat Vinnie' Brauner
16. Stacy 'Peanuts' Perkins
17. Laurence 'Frankie Flowers' Braunhardt
18. Joe 'Big Sam' Ashbaugh
19. Nona 'Petey Black' Harrigan
20. Danial 'Barbie' Orner
21. Raphael 'Fat Andy' Schneider
22. Fumiko 'Big Joe' Cano
23. Alison 'Little Caesar' Mullet
24. Rolanda 'Dick Terry' Chance
25. Modesto 'Little Sister' Rosenberg
26. Cami 'The Peacemaker' Elinor
27. Porter 'Jumbotron' Moonshower
28. Lucrecia 'Fish' Humphrey
29. Melina 'Joe Black' Stafford
30. Chere 'Dick Terry' Busk
English Female 30 no Nicknames
1. Carol Park
2. Domenic Peterman
3. Marc Beltran
4. Thurman Wheeler
5. Loyd Overholt
6. Preston Busk
7. Yadira Jelliman
8. Eddie Miner
9. ennith House
10. Antonette Folk
11. Thelma Dean
12. Enrique Aultman
13. Abraham Mens
14. Isaias Edelman
15. Martha Grayson
16. Dominique Askew
17. Diamond Cooper
18. Hubert McGarr
19. Elmer Gaskins
20. Annika Love
21. Alex Hansen
22. Ezekiel Sybilla
23. Jade Bollinger
24. Lowell Price
25. Eduardo Shotts
26. Candida Albright
27. Leonie Maugham
28. Mohammad Bass
29. Charlie Darrouzet
30. Vertie Bowman
1. Hank 'Butch' Warner
2. Charlyn 'Tony Bender' Whittier
3. Siu 'The Cat' Tennant
4. Chae 'Moonbeam' Shefelbine
5. Judie 'Raffie' Marrow
6. Melodee 'Annie' Ritchie
7. Imogene 'Terrorist' Bode
8. Lida 'Skinny Mike' Blackwell
9. Raymond 'Great White Hunter' Bould
10. Riley 'Mike Tally' Weien
English Female 30
1. Timika 'Boar Expert' Christman
2. Brittany 'Big Joey' Buttermore
3. Forrest 'The Player' Graham
4. Anibal 'God's Friggin' Gift to Humanity' Sybilla
5. Janella 'Tippy' Bickerson
6. Leslie 'Jimmy Blue Eyes' Atkinson
7. Madelaine 'Fat Fungi' Costello
8. Bethany 'Cavetown' Putnam
9. Paz 'Dr. Do Right' Book
10. Pansy 'The Bull' Aultman
11. Timmy 'Larry the Hood' Cowper
12. Elias 'Jadefinger' Deggeller
13. Donnie 'George' Thacker
14. Ray 'Tony Pep' Federle
15. Willis 'Fat Vinnie' Brauner
16. Stacy 'Peanuts' Perkins
17. Laurence 'Frankie Flowers' Braunhardt
18. Joe 'Big Sam' Ashbaugh
19. Nona 'Petey Black' Harrigan
20. Danial 'Barbie' Orner
21. Raphael 'Fat Andy' Schneider
22. Fumiko 'Big Joe' Cano
23. Alison 'Little Caesar' Mullet
24. Rolanda 'Dick Terry' Chance
25. Modesto 'Little Sister' Rosenberg
26. Cami 'The Peacemaker' Elinor
27. Porter 'Jumbotron' Moonshower
28. Lucrecia 'Fish' Humphrey
29. Melina 'Joe Black' Stafford
30. Chere 'Dick Terry' Busk
English Female 30 no Nicknames
1. Carol Park
2. Domenic Peterman
3. Marc Beltran
4. Thurman Wheeler
5. Loyd Overholt
6. Preston Busk
7. Yadira Jelliman
8. Eddie Miner
9. ennith House
10. Antonette Folk
11. Thelma Dean
12. Enrique Aultman
13. Abraham Mens
14. Isaias Edelman
15. Martha Grayson
16. Dominique Askew
17. Diamond Cooper
18. Hubert McGarr
19. Elmer Gaskins
20. Annika Love
21. Alex Hansen
22. Ezekiel Sybilla
23. Jade Bollinger
24. Lowell Price
25. Eduardo Shotts
26. Candida Albright
27. Leonie Maugham
28. Mohammad Bass
29. Charlie Darrouzet
30. Vertie Bowman
Thanks! It must be a problem with the GUI's queries, as those are all definitely male in the database. I'll poke around a bit and see what I can find.
Found and fixed. Thanks again!
Very nice tool James
But i'm afraid there a still some bugs contained.
I searched for male German names when an error occurred. So I checked the other languages with the same parameters (10 names, male, no nicks) and found the same bug when I selected Egyptian, Latvian and Russian.
When I searched for female names the same error occurred with all languages mentioned above except Latvian.
I thought it might interest you.
But i'm afraid there a still some bugs contained.
I searched for male German names when an error occurred. So I checked the other languages with the same parameters (10 names, male, no nicks) and found the same bug when I selected Egyptian, Latvian and Russian.
When I searched for female names the same error occurred with all languages mentioned above except Latvian.
I thought it might interest you.
...since there's Latvian, any chance TT/Tir na nOg and Serbo-Croatian might be added in the future? 
[...ducks]
[...ducks]
Moved this from the SR4 forum to the one for Community Projects. Hopefully this doesn't confuse those who knew of it where it was but hopefully you all find it now where it is.
Elven names (for the Tirs) could be harvested from various fantasy novels, I suppose. Maybe set it up to allow insert access to the databases to a few, trusted persons?
| QUOTE (Gelare) |
| Region: Latvian, Gender: Male, Nicknames: None, Number: 10 gives ten first names with the following error: Warning: mysql_result() [function.mysql-result]: Unable to jump to row 0 on MySQL result index 7 in /home/colugo/public_html/jmcmurra/generators/names/name.php on line 172 Might want to check that pesky line 172 wink.gif |
Gelare posted this bug in the Shadowrun forum thread and I didn't want it to get lost in the thread shuffle that I just did. So, here it is, reposted in all its glory.
Thanks for the bug find! I think fixing the English women problem broke the Latvians and germans. Pesky American chicks!
I'll hunt that sucker down, but as a consolation prize here's a much more comprehensive random NPC generator.
I'll hunt that sucker down, but as a consolation prize here's a much more comprehensive random NPC generator.
| QUOTE |
| ...since there's Latvian, any chance TT/Tir na nOg and Serbo-Croatian might be added in the future? |
If you can point me to a good source for the names I'll happily add them in.
| QUOTE |
| Elven names (for the Tirs) could be harvested from various fantasy novels, I suppose. Maybe set it up to allow insert access to the databases to a few, trusted persons? |
I'd like to keep the database hidden for now, although eventually I want to let people add names. But if you have a good source of names or want to email / pm some to me, I'll stick 'em in.
| QUOTE |
| Might I suggest including patronymics for the appropriate regions (Russian most obviously, but I think also Greek)? |
I'd love to. But, um... what's a Patronymic?
| QUOTE |
| Snow Fox compiled lists of names from news items-mainly sports teams and politics that have 100 male names, 100 female and 100 family names in French, Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic, Russian and Chinese. with my help she has a much larger list of Japanese names. |
Fork them over!!!!!! please?
Especially the French and Italian ones, as I currently have 0 names in the database for those regions.
It's fixed. The problem is that those region had no gender specific names for them, because the names I had came in a single large block of mixed genders. You'll end up getting some names from the wrong gender when using Egyptian, German, Latvian, and Russian genders, but at least it won't spout error messages.
So if I'm understanding correctly I'd grab a male name of the same region, check the ending letter to see if I need to add a vowel, and add one of the appropriate suffixes randomly picked from the ones available to the NPC's gender?
Pretty much. I'm not sure offhand which regions use patronymics, but they have vaguely similar construction rules in most languages.
Cool. It's on the todo list.
Neat app.
Got the following when I tried to get 10 female Egyptian names with nicknames in Firefox 2.0.0.7:
Got the following when I tried to get 10 female Egyptian names with nicknames in Firefox 2.0.0.7:
[ Spoiler ]
| QUOTE (eidolon) |
| Neat app. Got the following when I tried to get 10 female Egyptian names with nicknames in Firefox 2.0.0.7: [ Spoiler ] |
Use this one instead. I'll probably be removing the name only one at some point anyway, and continuing any upgrades on the full generator.
...now that is really cool. I especially like the quirks and interests.
Will French also be a forthcoming choice?
Will French also be a forthcoming choice?
As soon as I can find the time to compile a list of names. The other regions were chosen first because I found them first. In priority order, French would have come way before Latvia.
I know a GM of mine would love French names. Or... would have, anyway. He may have fulfilled his need the old fashioned way already, but there you go. I just emailed him the link. This is an awesome tool.
Also, you should consider patronymics for Arabic names. The Wikipedia article linked above talks about them. They could be last names or nick names (sometimes you see them as middle names, sort of). Basically, you get Name ibn Fathername or Name ben-Fathername, etc.
Also, you should consider patronymics for Arabic names. The Wikipedia article linked above talks about them. They could be last names or nick names (sometimes you see them as middle names, sort of). Basically, you get Name ibn Fathername or Name ben-Fathername, etc.
Would you use patronymics in place of the last name, or alongside?
Question: would it be useful to add the region they're from to the table if you selected "All"?
Some are pretty obvious (like Fadwa Al-Zeid), but others, such as the various Asian names, can be hard to tell. As more regions get added (French is up next) ot'll be even more difficult, especially for people like me who can't tell Russian from Polish without a cheat book.
Some are pretty obvious (like Fadwa Al-Zeid), but others, such as the various Asian names, can be hard to tell. As more regions get added (French is up next) ot'll be even more difficult, especially for people like me who can't tell Russian from Polish without a cheat book.
Very cool stuff. However, the German names set my teeth on edge -- they look like you raided a map and dictionary instead of a list of first names. 
I'd be happy to supply more correct names if you let me know how many you'll need for a working generator.
I'd be happy to supply more correct names if you let me know how many you'll need for a working generator.
That'd be sweet! I'll take as many as you want to provide.
Okay. Do you need a specific format for these names?
Just a list in a text file is fine, preferably either labelled male/female or in seperate files.
| QUOTE (Kyoto Kid) |
| ...now that is really cool. I especially like the quirks and interests. Will French also be a forthcoming choice? |
Ask and ye shall receive. French is now an option, thanks to Daghda over at White Wolf's forums.
Also thanks to Dagdha, an extra column for Occupation is on the todo list.
I've updated it to include more name sources including native americans, dwarves, elves, hobbits, orcs, and more. I've also added "All Fantasy" and "All Non-Fantasy" to the filter choices.
The exact list of what's there and how many names are in each category is here.
The exact list of what's there and how many names are in each category is here.
| QUOTE (James McMurray @ Oct 22 2007, 10:34 AM) | ||
Ask and ye shall receive. French is now an option, thanks to Daghda over at White Wolf's forums. Also thanks to Dagdha, an extra column for Occupation is on the todo list. |
...merci beaucoup.
As DLN pointed out I also have lists for several nationalities. the hardest are Chinese and russian due to a lack of names (In RL China they are trying to make new namesjust to avoid confusion over which , John Smith you're looking for in the phone book. Lots of hyphenated names. and arab names because of the clash of cultures and ethnicity- palastineans, persians, arabs, berbers etcs. similarly 'african names are a real hodge podge of different tribes
My lists were made from history books Walter Model, Irwin Rommel,but nothing older than mid 20th century.
News reports and sporting events (gotta love the world cup and Olympics)
I have noticed with those there is an issue with names that are modern but don't seem to fit the nationality they play for. At first that horrified me (A German with the last name of Martini? that'll sound stupid) but then I realized that does reflect the changing face of europe now and so in 2070 will be even more apt.
I've got lists for African, Mexican, French, Greek, Israli, Arab, Chinese, German,India, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Portugeuse(good for Amazonia runs).
I've tried to do at least 100 family, male and female names for each, some like china fall a little short short and russia has a real problem but that also reflects those nations have limited names, and Japan is something like 200 (thanks to DLN's family names and connections).
So if you want, contact me and I'll e-mail the particular excel sheet over.
My lists were made from history books Walter Model, Irwin Rommel,but nothing older than mid 20th century.
News reports and sporting events (gotta love the world cup and Olympics)
I have noticed with those there is an issue with names that are modern but don't seem to fit the nationality they play for. At first that horrified me (A German with the last name of Martini? that'll sound stupid) but then I realized that does reflect the changing face of europe now and so in 2070 will be even more apt.
I've got lists for African, Mexican, French, Greek, Israli, Arab, Chinese, German,India, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Portugeuse(good for Amazonia runs).
I've tried to do at least 100 family, male and female names for each, some like china fall a little short short and russia has a real problem but that also reflects those nations have limited names, and Japan is something like 200 (thanks to DLN's family names and connections).
So if you want, contact me and I'll e-mail the particular excel sheet over.
I'll take 'em all if you don't mind. The more the merrier.
send me a pm with an address and which ones you want and I'll send over the excell
did you get the e-mails? any help?
I tried the link. Page not found.
I love this tool; most of the results are pretty useful and the useless ones are so delightfully absurd that I'd actually hate to see them weeded out.
So far my favorites have been Junichi Fujii, AKA "The Rape Caves", Dick "Toothy Sonofabitch" Bloomfield and Kermit "Sassafras" Endelman.
So far my favorites have been Junichi Fujii, AKA "The Rape Caves", Dick "Toothy Sonofabitch" Bloomfield and Kermit "Sassafras" Endelman.
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