Mary
Static source example: SSA spelling. Search to inspect versioned evidence.
Names that belong
in the story.
Build a family. Distinguish a cast. Hide an identity.
Find a name — and understand what it does for your work.
44 working task enginesRuns in your browserNo account or API key
A larger bank. Traceable records.
105,966 US given-name spellings · 162,253 US surnames · 333,043 retained JMnedict personal-component entries.
Counts use different source units and are not a combined global-unique total. Japanese written forms and supplied readings stay paired; no kanji reading is guessed.
Search by a prefix. Only the required partition loads; your query stays on this site.
SSA national data (CC0 metadata); 2010 US Census surname statistics. Japanese dictionary data © James William Breen and EDRDG, used under CC BY-SA 4.0; derivative dictionary shards carry the same licence. Dictionary inclusion does not establish legal availability, contemporary usage, etymology or suitability. Sources, changes & licences · 2026-11-01
START WITH THE DECISION
More than a random name.
Choose the task your story needs. Every workbench explains its rules and its limits.
Characters & families
Relationships
Family name planner
At the family table, one surname can suggest belonging while a different one leaves a question nobody wants to ask. Plan relatives together, following the inheritance links and generation markers you actually intend. Keep adopted ties, shared households and individual identities legible, and catch a locked-name conflict before it becomes a contradiction in the next chapter.
Open workbench ↗Evidence & character historyBirth-cohort name evidence
A character’s name can sit beside their age like a quiet piece of personal history. Turn the ages and story year you supply into a birth-year window, then examine published US name records within that scope. Compare the evidence for your shortlist without treating an absent record as zero, or letting a frequency table decide the life your character must have lived.
Open workbench ↗Family diagrams & identityFamily chart name layout proof
A child sees two boxes for one ancestor and draws two portraits. The chart needs more than tidy branches: it needs to show when a person appears twice. Separate identities from occurrences, measure literal labels in this browser and inspect crossings, obstructed names and frame overflow. Export an ID-labelled diagram whose caption can explain belonging without turning a drawing convenience into another person.
Open workbench ↗Cast & dialogue
Relationships
Cast distinction studio
A reader should be able to follow the person who opens the door without stopping to remember which nearly identical name belongs to them. Compare full names, dialogue forms and supplied readings across your cast, paying attention to who shares a scene. Preserve the echoes you chose deliberately while finding the accidental similarities that can blur a friendship, rivalry or reveal.
Open workbench ↗RelationshipsForms of address
A title can keep two people at a careful distance. A first name, used once after an argument, can show that something between them has changed. Work out the permitted form of address for a speaker, listener and public or private setting, using the relationship milestones you supply. Keep that small emotional shift consistent when the same people meet again.
Open workbench ↗Cast allocationJoint cast name allocation
A name that works perfectly for one role may leave another role with no usable choice. Allocate a supplied pool across the cast together, respecting locked selections, eligibility and shared-scene restrictions. See the consequences of the whole arrangement before committing, with search limits stated clearly, so a memorable lead does not accidentally make every supporting voice harder to distinguish.
Open workbench ↗Reader observationsName recall observation ledger
The name you remember easily as its author may leave a reader searching for the right spelling. Prepare separate exposure and response sheets, then enter the recall observations actually collected. Keep untested items, omissions and completed responses apart, with visible denominators, so a revision can respond to real evidence rather than an invented claim that everyone remembered the cast.
Open workbench ↗Cast exposition & revisionCast introduction scheduler
A crowded arrival scene can ask the reader to learn a stranger, a nickname and a hidden connection all at once. Separate the introduction of a person from the introduction of another form of a known name. Review scene budgets and a bounded scheduling proposal while protecting the entrances you have fixed, giving each important arrival a better chance to register.
Open workbench ↗Series production & collaborationThree-way cast naming reconciliation
One collaborator has renamed a character while another has revised the reading, and neither draft tells you which combination the next edition should inherit. Compare the shared base, current ledger and incoming version together. Respect locked forms and resolve concurrent edits explicitly, keeping a complete naming snapshot from silently containing a spelling and reading that never belonged together.
Open workbench ↗Character records & continuityDuplicate character record review
Two entries may describe one masked character; two identical names may belong to people who meet face to face. Screen similar records without deciding their identities from text alone. Record your same-person or different-person evidence, inspect conflicting paths and choose a representative only when the group is consistent, keeping every original note available when the story asks you to reconsider.
Open workbench ↗Character decisionsProtagonist name choice board
Three names remain, and each seems right in a different moment of the same scene. Place them in one shared passage, record direct comparisons and see where your preferences circle back or remain unfinished. Try one hypothetical change separately, then make an explicit choice with reasons, keeping the qualities you gave up beside the name you finally want the protagonist to answer to.
Open workbench ↗Identity & mystery
Identity
True name & alias
The name spoken at the inn may be a disguise; the one a friend almost says aloud may put that disguise at risk. Build a cover identity around an existing character and inspect what a particular observer is allowed to know at a chosen chapter. Give the reveal a clear boundary instead of letting an author-only connection slip into the wrong conversation.
Open workbench ↗IdentityFair-clue suspect roster
A name clue should change what the reader can reasonably suspect. Enter the clues you intend to disclose and watch which people remain possible after each one. If several suspects still fit, the roster keeps them visible. That lets you decide whether the scene needs another clue, a deliberate uncertainty or a later revelation, rather than quietly declaring your preferred answer solved.
Open workbench ↗Editorial continuityCharacter rename migration
You have found the right new name, but the old one is still written on a suitcase, hidden in a clue and quoted in a letter. Preview changes for one confirmed identity and inspect the dependencies that need separate attention. Protect intentional old forms and undo only matching recorded edits, so revising a name becomes a careful story decision instead of an indiscriminate replacement.
Open workbench ↗Planning & revisionCharacter naming decision brief
Before searching for a beautiful name, ask what it has to survive: a family connection, a concealed identity, a spoken line or an inscription the plot depends on. Turn those obligations into explicit requirements and inspect conflicts between them. Leave with a prioritized scene-testing brief, giving the next naming choice a purpose that can be explained to a collaborator.
Open workbench ↗Reputation & identityEarned epithet & audience ledger
A crowd may turn one deed into a lasting epithet, while the person at its center wishes the label would disappear. Trace a reputation name through the events and audience knowledge you author. Record adoption, rejection and hostile use separately, allowing the same words to carry gratitude in one scene and a burden in another without erasing either perspective.
Open workbench ↗Mystery & clue constructionName anagram transformation proof
A rearranged signature can make a revelation feel earned, but one missing repeated letter can undo the clue. Compare exact symbol inventories, trace declared additions or removals and inspect how the target is assembled. Keep the reader’s clue sheet separate from the private occurrence map, so you can share the puzzle without automatically sharing the mechanism behind its answer.
Open workbench ↗Ordered clues & revisionsName acrostic & line revision
A hidden name can run through a poem, a set of instructions or the lines of a farewell without making those lines feel like scaffolding. Trace the form through your authored sequence, compare selected alternatives and preserve locked wording. Check the extracted letters while remembering that a technically correct initial does not make the sentence meaningful or the clue fair on its own.
Open workbench ↗Forked identity & continuityForked identity reference audit
Two branches of one original mind may share a past and still need different answers to a message addressed to the old name. Preserve a signature at its original identity segment and inspect whether a later request selects an active branch explicitly. Let a shared beginning remain part of the story without silently deciding which descendant inherits every promise or instruction.
Open workbench ↗Identity across resetsNames remembered across time loops
After a reset, one character may remember a promise but lose the name of the person who made it. Track what each observer retains, forgets and learns again across your fictional loops. Keep sibling histories apart and compare an unapplied retention policy, letting a remembered name become a deliberate emotional clue without borrowing knowledge from a future the character has not lived.
Open workbench ↗Mystery clues & narrative evidenceMisfiled name clue workbench
A misplaced name in an archive can invite suspicion, but only if the reader can understand where it should have been filed. Define the fictional alphabet and two-part sorting keys, compare competing orders and inspect ties. Build a reader worksheet apart from the private solution, turning a shelf, list or costume rack into a clue with an explainable rule.
Open workbench ↗Identity & naming cluesName substitution path designer
The route between two names can become part of the mystery: a required tile, a blocked shortcut, or a second answer nobody expected. Find shortest substitution walks through your supplied forms, count the alternatives and inspect every changed code point. Validate a proposed route and prepare a reader exercise, keeping generated solutions and private story notes in their own exports.
Open workbench ↗Documents & plot disclosureName-bearing document disclosure
A dedication can leave the room while its envelope stays behind. Trace the exact surface that carried a private name, the hands that held it and the moment someone explicitly read it. Replay nested seals, custody changes and copy chains against your reveal windows. Preserve the difference between seeing a name and understanding its connection, so a continuity repair can keep the scene’s emotional question alive.
Open workbench ↗Japanese names
Language & localization
Japanese name & reading ledger
A written name and the way a character asks to be called are two decisions worth keeping together. Record the exact form, supplied kana and supporting evidence, and distinguish an invented story reading from an attested one. When a collaborator picks up the manuscript later, they can see what you chose, why you chose it and which questions still need checking.
Open workbench ↗Script & production continuityName glyph & asset continuity
A small difference in a written name can matter to the person who chose it, even when a production asset cannot display it correctly. Preserve the exact original, approve a fallback for a specific asset and font version, and keep the scope of that approval visible. A later font change can then reopen the proof instead of silently turning an accommodation into the character’s permanent name.
Open workbench ↗Japanese names & productionName ruby association & layout proof
A reading placed over a name can carry the first moment of recognition, especially when the written form alone is not enough. Keep the authored annotation attached to its exact base text and compare whole-name or segmented arrangements. Measure a horizontal or vertical browser frame without inventing a pronunciation, so the production proof preserves the association you meant the reader to make.
Open workbench ↗Translation
Language & localization
Bilingual identity map
A character may cross into another language, but the reader still needs to recognize the person who made a promise three chapters earlier. Map names across editions while keeping a stable identity underneath. Check target-name collisions and the clues that depend on spelling, so a translated letter, nickname or revelation does not quietly tell a different story from the one you intended.
Open workbench ↗Game dialogue & localizationPlayer-name dialogue slots
The player has chosen a name; a companion should be able to welcome them without the dialogue losing the form you intended. Test authored lines against explicit name and grammatical-form fixtures, including the cases you expect the game to handle. Keep missing forms visible rather than guessing them from a spelling, and protect the moment of recognition from becoming an awkward placeholder.
Open workbench ↗Comics & voice
Comics & performance
Comic name proof
A name called across a comic panel needs room to breathe. If it crowds the balloon or its reading support becomes hard to follow, the moment can lose the pause, urgency or tenderness you wrote into it. Proof approved text in a horizontal frame using the browser’s actual font measurements, then examine the fit before carrying the name into finished artwork.
Open workbench ↗Comics & performanceSpoken cast rehearsal
On the page, two names may look comfortably different. In a hurried exchange, a listener may have only a brief call to recognize who is being addressed. Prepare the pronunciations you have approved, compare identical supplied readings and review reported speaking times against your budget. Bring a clearer rehearsal brief to the microphone without mistaking a written estimate for a listening test.
Open workbench ↗Comics & performanceListening identity session
A voice calling a name may feel unmistakable to its creator, yet a listener can hesitate between two characters. Play local clips and record the identity choices actually made in a session. Preserve uncertainty, skipped questions and clips that never played, allowing the next recording decision to follow observed confusion instead of turning every missing answer into a mistake.
Open workbench ↗Names in verse & songName rhythm in an authored verse
A chorus can welcome someone by name and still erase their choice by shortening it for the tune. Compare the readings you supply against an authored beat grid, keeping every name unit intact. Trace optional positions, prominence conflicts and licensed pickups, then read the surrounding promise again. The lowest editing cost can clarify a compromise; the character’s relationship to that compromise remains yours to write.
Open workbench ↗Worlds & games
Worldbuilding & games
Persistent NPC names
The baker met on the first visit should still be the same person when the player returns with a difficult question. Generate NPC names from an invented grammar or source-backed US components, then preserve accepted identities with stable IDs and locks. Exclude unwanted forms and see when the finite pool runs short, keeping a growing world from casually renaming the people who live in it.
Open workbench ↗Worldbuilding & gamesInvented naming grammar
Names from one invented culture can feel related without all sounding interchangeable. Choose your own components, endings and ordered transformations, then follow the trace from a root to its finished form. Use the rules to give a village, a wandering family or a distant court a recognizable naming pattern, while keeping every cultural association an authored choice rather than a borrowed claim of authenticity.
Open workbench ↗Worldbuilding & institutionsFictional office & ceremonial styles
The same person may be a rightful officeholder to one audience and an unrecognized claimant to another. At a dated scene, resolve the ceremonial style supported by your fictional tenure records, disputed claims and courtesy rules. Keep the person’s identity stable while letting the title reveal allegiance, caution or refusal in the people who choose to use it.
Open workbench ↗Technical and chosen identityUnit tags & chosen personal names
A technical tag can tell the workshop where a unit came from; a chosen personal name can tell the reader who that person wants to become. Keep those references distinct, alongside shared production batches and individual name claims. Resolve what an inscription or prop actually points to without forcing two people who share a chosen name to surrender it.
Open workbench ↗Worlds & gamesPlayer name pipeline review
A player’s chosen display can pass through several technical steps before it appears beside a line of dialogue. Follow that exact text through the checks and transformations you declare, and compare the resulting storage keys. Find collisions without merging the people behind the fixtures, keeping the distinction between a name the player sees and a key the system uses.
Open workbench ↗Chronicles & reign namesFictional reign numeral ledger
A ruler’s number can compress a contested history into a few characters. Decide which reigns your fictional chronicle includes, how a returning ruler is counted and which crown a name belongs to. Trace the numeral from those explicit choices, while leaving unknown earlier history unresolved, so a disputed succession can remain a story question rather than an accidental numbering error.
Open workbench ↗World chronology & name continuityFictional calendar & naming timeline
A name may be given at a festival, taken up after a vow or used too early in a letter written under another calendar. Align naming events across the periodic calendars you define and inspect your same-day anchors. Keep an unknown epoch visibly unknown, allowing a meaningful anniversary or suspicious date to rest on explicit world rules rather than an invented conversion.
Open workbench ↗World language historyInvented name change through eras
An old name on a broken sign can resemble a living character’s name without proving that they are the same person. Trace invented roots through your own contextual change rules and inspect the effect of their order. Compare an unapplied alternative before revising the timeline, preserving the difference between spellings that converge and identities the story has actually connected.
Open workbench ↗Fictional grammar & identityInvented name inflection paradigms
A name may change form when a character is called, described or placed inside an invented language’s sentence. Build those functional forms from declared stems and literal rules, keeping the citation identity underneath. Record exceptions, intentional shared forms and missing entries, then tie authored reviews to exact outputs before treating the paradigm as ready for dialogue.
Open workbench ↗Invented writing & identityInvented-script name codec
A station sign welcomes one traveller and sends another toward the wrong destination. Before treating that misunderstanding as a plot twist, inspect what your invented symbols actually permit. Encode names with authored rules, trace competing segmentations and test every inverse reading of each displayed inscription. Keep a deliberate ambiguity as a clue, or repair a collision without erasing the story behind it.
Open workbench ↗A name is a choice.
Make the reasoning visible.
Facts, fictional rules and creative associations are different things. A local duplicate check is never a promise of worldwide uniqueness, legal clearance or reader approval.
Read the method ↗