Name Websites Ranked

Seventh Sanctum

This website is geared towards speculative fiction writers as opposed to prospective parents. It's advertised as a fantasy name generator. Not only can you name your characters, you can name their locations and organization. And it also has writing prompts, so if you're having a bad case of writer's block it can help you get out of it.

I hate having to tell people that although I recommend the website it has noticeable flaws, but here are some observations I want to share. Remember how I said earlier that you could bang your fingers on the keyboard and invent names inspired by the letter combinations you like? The key word is "inspired" because in doing so you should consider pronunciation of the name. Most names on Seventh Sanctum are syllables thrown together to almost-but-not-quite resemble a pronoucable name. For example, I searched under the Angels/Demon category and one name was Zerah. I would seriously consider using the name, but how would I pronounce it? The author should feel comfortable with their names.

Most of the names were inappropriate for my work, but I give Seventh Sanctum a shout-out for giving me the kick in the pants I needed and for exisiting especially for speculative fiction writers. Yes, I recommend using Seventh Sanctum if you get stuck.

Serendipity

Before Seventh Sanctum, this was my go-to name generator. The above link will lead you to the main page for an assortment of names, some of which are more character development suggestions than a basic name. Click on the link for the Fantasy Name Generator. It's advertised as "99% usable content" and all names are "guaranteed to be roughly pronounceable", which is fairly accurate from my standpoint. If you are writing a fantasy novel and want the names to be clearly fantastic but understandable for the readers ( as well as yourself), I highly recommend this generator site.

20,000 Names

Sometimes I want a fantasy name generator because I'm more than willing to invent the name's meaning and history, but sometimes I need real-world names. That's why I would recommend this website to writers in search of real-world inspired names as well as prospective parents. Say you're writing a fantasy world that is based on a real country and you want your fictional names to have basis in reality. The names are neatly arranged in categories and all categories are listed on the home page. This website offers country-of-origin categories as well as special categories (if you want the name to have meaning). One special category I personally considered was "fire names" where all the names related to fire. All the listed names have history, which is great for anyone wanting a "real" name.

I love this website, but not enough that I can overlook its flaws (note that some of these things wouldn't bother someone else). First, I would recommend that if you're going to make this your predominate name resource, be prepared to spend some time searching. The names are divided in neat categories which you can further separate by "male", "female", and "unisex" but there's no easy way to search for a specific name. Also note that on the main screen there is an annoying pop-up ad that sits in the very middle of the screen and won't go away unless it's closed. It's not hard to close the pop up, but when you're going into a website determined to get your information and go, closing a screen takes some of your valuable time. One thing that other baby name websites do well is offer articles about names and how to choose a name, but this website doesn't offer that. It's a good resource if you go in with the attitude that "I'm going to pick a name I like and I don't need articles telling me it's wrong!"

Babyhold

This begins the list of baby name websites (as opposed to fantasy name generator websites and websites that can be used for writers as well as prospective parents.

Although this website is geared towards parents (more on that in a following paragraph) I see some benefits for writers. The first page will show you links to country of origin names as well as articles about names. It has a forum if people want to get feedback on potential names (posts tend to be asking what others think of names they like). The first time I discovered Babyhold, I was impressed to see that writers as well as parents were welcomed in the forum. The biggest benefit to Babyhold is that if you have a name or naming convention in mind, it's easy to use. Writers who immediately need a name don't have time to search through pages and pages just to find an appropriate name.

One problem I saw with the site is that it's biased in some respects. If you choose to make an account and get a screen name for the website, the default image is an outline of a pregnant woman and as you plug in "How far along?" the image changes to match that. Never mind that the interested party may be a future father, an inspiration-drained writer needing some extra help, or people who are just curious about name meanings.

If this doesn't bother you, there's a few name-specific things to keep in mind. The website can get repetitive sometimes, like when you've specified country of origin and gender and the first two lines of the name say that it's a girl or boy name from the country of origin you selected. For example, I searched under the name Cacia (potentially a name for a character). The first two paragraphs said Cacia is a baby girl name and comes from Irish origin. If I specifically searched "Irish girl names", this is redundant. Also, the website doesn't seem to recognize valid variations of a name. I searched for "Callista" and found no results, but the name "Calista" had a link with more information.

Behind the Name

The most important thing this website has going for it is a reader-friendly design. The layout is easy-to-read, the names are well-organized into country of origin (European and worldwide) as well as other categories, and if you don't like the name categories on the first page you can click on a link for name themes and find more options, the name history is to-the-point. One piece of advice: It helps to know ahead of time what country of origin or theme you want your name to be from and it wouldn't hurt to have a name in mind. This name website is less discovery than learning more information about a name you might be interested in.

The biggest downfall of this website is that it doesn't know who it's catering to. One would intially think "Oh, it's for propsective parents" based on the offered links. If you actually use the site, you might change that to "It's better for writers" because of its easy-to-use format. The thing with writers using it is that it would only be helpful if they already knew the character's personality and appearance and just wanted a name that fit.

Babycenter

Sometimes when you're searching for useful name websites, you stumble across ones that have all the elements you like as well as all the elements you don't like. Babycenter's name section was that website.

It did have benefits and those were so good I'd like to share. Under a name search feature you can either type in a name you like or search for names with a particular meaning. It has a message board section for name discussion, which makes it interactive. There are a variety of articles on how to choose the right name. Unlike the other name sites I've mentioned, Babycenter includes a section for polls. I also like that in the store section they list a name book I personally found particularly helpful.

Although this website is useful, it is very specific in its target audience. If the name Babycenter doesn't give it away, taking a quick look around the website shows it is very obviously a website for future mothers. It's not welcoming to writers (or heck, people curious about their own name meaning) and my whole mission was to expand the reasons people use name websites and offer suggestions for writers.

Baby Names

This website is worse than Babycenter, but I want to give it a shout-out for the few things it does well. If I'm looking for names that follow a certain theme but I don't want the same old-same old "Most popular names of such and such year", I would get use of a section called "Cool Names" with lists not found on most baby name websites. It is an interactive website with a message board for people to discuss names they want opinions on. Also important to mention is that it has a variety of decent links.

The bad outweighs the good, unfortunately. It claims to have a page of tips for how to name characters if you're a writer (which would make this a good website in my eyes) but when you click on the link it says the page does not exist. Therefore, I can't recommend it to writers because, well, there's nothing geared towards them. Let's say you are a writer wanting to name your fantasy-based character after real-world inspired names and there's a country-of-origin you're using as inspiration. You would want to search for origin-specific names, but there's no easy way to do that. This next thing isn't particularly bad, as other websites do it too, but it is necessary to have a name in mind before using this website. The kicker for me is that it is a highly feminine, pink explosion website. I'm not sure what the logic behind a pink-overload website is other than to designate it as female-only and I don't appreciate that line of thinking. What if I were a woman who was turned off by the color pink (which is true)? What if I weren't a woman? Unisex colors are preferred.

In short, this website is perfect for the pregant woman who loves pink but not for anyone else.

Think Baby Names

This website didn't have the content I wanted, but compared to two websites that had potential and didn't deliver I found some positives. The home page has a clean, uncluttered layout. If you like your website designs minimalist, this one will make your eyes happy. It has a statement on the main page at the bottom of the website saying that everything has been well-researched. While it isn't the most engaging website (a problem I'll address one paragraph down), if you want names that have history and you want said history to be accurate, I absolutely agree that these names have been researched. There are name generators including one for first and middle names, which is a nice feature because middle names are the most frustrating to come up with. The thing I liked most was that although the site is called Think Baby Names it is generic enough that everyone can feel welcomed.

I like this website if I already have a name in mind and want to be sure the name meaning conveys what I want, but otherwise this is not an engaging website. I do recommend it for people who are doing name research, however. One problem these folks may run into is that the name is not comprehensive. You'd be okay if you have or want to find a common name, but and it isn't an ideal first choice if you want an original name. The Random Name Generator may be a fun way to spend an hour seeing what names pop up but isn't as exciting as it is adverstised.

I didn't love every website on the list, but note that even the websites I disliked had their good points. That's because not every website will work or turn off a particular writer. I wouldn't use Seventh Sanctum if I wanted an easily-pronounceable name that has basis in real life and I may not be bothered by Baby Names if I liked the color pink and if I were pregnant as opposed to being a writer I might be over the moon about Babycenter.