Here’s a useful bookmark: click it and it will generate a first name and last name from the U.S. Census data. Refresh to try again.
So far, I’ve ended up with Michael Nickle, Sandra Gray, Jeffrey Silva and Tricia Lenz. Those might not be names for my theoretical deep-sea cowboy, but for That Guy in The Office? Perfect.
Thanks to kottke for the link.
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April 11th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Great link! Thanks!
April 11th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Gah! That’s so awesome. I’m working on a spec pilot, and I’ve been going bleary-eyed looking at the US Census popular name charts, trying to figure out what to name my characters. This is much more efficient and entertaining. Thanks, John & kottke!
April 11th, 2008 at 9:59 am
isn’t picking a name from the actual U.S. Census (i.e. real people) kinda dangerous?
the last network i worked for prevented me from including many a friend’s name in scripts if they had the same name as someone who lived in the state where the show was set…
April 11th, 2008 at 10:03 am
This could really come in handy, thanks for the tip!
April 11th, 2008 at 10:06 am
GOLD! I got the too-good-to-be-true “Bernardo Bologna” on my second try.
April 11th, 2008 at 10:07 am
That was fun. I got REX KETCHEM and ERLENE LOVELACE. Great names!
April 11th, 2008 at 10:11 am
I’ve heard that it’s safe to pick a name that nobody has in real life, or a name that multiple people in real life have (or at least multiple people in the area of the story). The only real issue is when there’s exactly one person with that name.
I know at least one of the local ad agencies generally had people pick character names out of the employee directory, don’t know if that’s necessarily a good idea but that’s what they did.
April 11th, 2008 at 10:29 am
I just call everyone in my scripts “Ugly American.” It does get repetitive, but I’ve had a lot of interest from Lars Von Trier.
April 11th, 2008 at 11:32 am
That was a great tip! Thanks for posting it.
April 11th, 2008 at 11:58 am
I like to use Fake Name Generator = fakenamegenerator.com.
It’ll give you fake names, addresses, and social security numbers for all ethinic groups/countries. It parcels them out one at a time. So as soon as you pick gender, and country simply keep hitting the “go” space and it’ll keep spitting them out.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
fakenamegenerator.com is blocked where I’m at as “dubious/unsavory”. I guess that’s due to the inclusion of fake addresses and SSN? Why would you need those generated anyway?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Thanks. I was actually going to write this exact program after I finished up my current script.
April 11th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Cool site. (Actually, it’s look is especially not-cool, what makes it kind of cool.)
I’m a German scriptwriter and we have a great site where you can access all the most popular first names of each year. So, if you need a name for a character, you just go to his fictional year of birth and get a variety of names who are typical for a person of that age.
If there are other german writers here, I can post the url.
Just let me know.
April 11th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
This is also great for naming your children.
April 13th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Cool…
And for those who really ARE naming Ostrich Jockeys & UNDERWATER COWBOYS…
I find the DISEASE DATABASE surprisingly inspirational.
:)
http://www.diseasesdatabase.com/
April 14th, 2008 at 12:24 am
Great link – and many thanks for the extras in the comments. I have already has serious fun with these. :-)
April 16th, 2008 at 12:46 am
Hey Milhouse, I’m from Germany to, so please post the link here or send me a mail…
Thanks for the Links to all Commenters till now.
Nice one.
GPSchnyder
April 21st, 2008 at 10:48 am
Interesting some of the names you may get…
MenNot based on percentage JOHNATHAN AUGUST
Based on percentage MARC MORRIS
WomenNot based on percentage JETTA BOWLEY
Based on percentage KELLEY STOLZ