Fantasy name generator with real sound rules for each culture
Building a world for a novel, game or D&D campaign means dozens of names that must sound like they come from the same place. This prompt has your todo.is agent design a sound style for each culture, then name characters, towns, rivers and gods so everything feels like it belongs.
The prompt
- Create fantasy names for my world. It is for [PROJECT]. The cultures or races I need: [CULTURES]. For each culture, first write a short sound guide: typical letters and syllables, how names end, and what real-world language it loosely echoes (without copying real words). Then give me [HOW MANY] names per culture: half for people (with male, female and neutral examples plus a family or clan name), and half for places (cities, rivers, mountains, a god or two). Add a pronunciation for each name and a short meaning in the world's lore. The tone is [TONE]. Avoid names that are hard to say, look like existing famous fantasy names, or use too many apostrophes. Deliver it as a Word file and as a CSV so I can paste it into my notes.
What to change
- [PROJECT]: e.g. "a D&D campaign", "an epic fantasy novel", "a video game".
- [CULTURES]: e.g. "forest elves, a desert human empire, mountain dwarves". Add one line of description each if you can.
- [HOW MANY]: e.g. 10 or 20 names per culture.
- [TONE]: e.g. "grim and old", "whimsical", "high fantasy", "Nordic and cold".
Example result
- Culture 1: The Vaelith (forest elves)
- Sound guide: soft consonants (l, v, th, s), long vowels (ae, ie), names end in -ith, -iel, -wen or -as. Loosely echoes Welsh in rhythm.
- People
- • Ilvaren Thessaly (IL-vah-ren THESS-ah-lee): "river-born". Male.
- • Saewen Ollith (SAY-wen OL-ith): "evening light". Female.
- • Ithas Morrow-of-Leaves (EE-thas): neutral; elves take a second name from where they were born.
- Places
- • Lethiel (LETH-ee-el): the old capital in the canopy
- • The Vael: the great river; the culture is named after it
- • Ossaren, the god of seasons who "sleeps in winter"
- Culture 2: The Kharrum Empire (desert humans)
- Sound guide: hard k, r, z and double consonants, short a and u, names end in -um, -ad, -esh. Feels older and harsher.
- People
- • Azrak Tumesh (AZ-rak TOO-mesh): "iron hand". Male.
- • Nadda Kerrum (NAH-dah KER-um): a noble house name. Female.
- • Shaz Ubarad (SHAZ OO-bah-rad): neutral; a merchant clan.
- Places
- • Kharrum-Esh: the capital, "the walled sun"
- • The Zuddar Flats: salt plains used as a trade road
- • Ammurak, god of contracts and debt
- Culture 3: The Hollen (mountain dwarves)
- Sound guide: heavy b, d, g, ending in -grim, -dur or -a for clan names; often two short syllables.
- • Bordur Ashgrim, Hela Stonbrand, Gorrim Deepa
- • Places: Durnhold, the Grey Teeth, Bael's Forge
- Using them well
- • Keep spelling rules strict inside a culture, so readers can guess where a stranger comes from
- • Give each main character a short name readers can say in their head on the first try
- • Save apostrophes for one feature of one culture, not every name
How to do it with todo.is
- Copy the prompt and list your cultures, the project and the tone.
- Paste it into todo.is on the Today screen, or send it to your agent on Discord or Telegram.
- Your agent writes a sound guide per culture, then the names with pronunciations, as Word and CSV files.
- Need more later? Ask "20 more Kharrum names for soldiers" and it follows the same rules.
Tips for a better result
- Describe each culture in one line (climate, values, history). Names feel more real when they come from somewhere.
- Keep the sound guide. When you need a tavern or a minor villain mid-session, the rules let you invent a matching name in seconds.
- Ask the agent to check that key names aren't already famous from other fantasy series, so readers don't confuse them.
- For a D&D table, ask for a printable one-page PDF of random names per culture to keep behind your DM screen.
fantasy name generator: FAQ
- How do you make fantasy names sound good? Pick a small set of letters and endings for each culture and stick to them. Consistency is what makes a set of names feel like a real language, even with no grammar behind it.
- Should fantasy names be easy to pronounce? For main characters, yes. Readers stumble over long names with odd spellings. Save the complex ones for ancient places or minor lore.
- Can I use these names in a published book or game? Invented names generally aren't owned by anyone, but check that a name isn't a trademark or a well-known character from another work before you publish.
- Can it name things other than people and places? Yes. Ask for ships, swords, spells, taverns, noble houses or months of the year, and it uses the same sound rules.
JavaScript is required to use the todo.is app.