I have a very specific weakness as a GM.

I can prepare villains, encounters, locations, lore, plot hooks and whatever else for hours.

Then a player points at some completely irrelevant person I invented twelve seconds ago and asks:

“What’s their name?”

And suddenly my brain contains no names.

None.

This is how perfectly respectable fantasy NPCs end up being called things that sound suspiciously like John Guardman.

Online generators obviously exist and they're great, but I tend to run games with notes, books, dice and other physical stuff around me, and I really didn't want another reason to grab my phone or open a browser in the middle of a session.

So a while ago I started building my own lists.

Then the lists got bigger.

And bigger.

And eventually this got slightly out of hand and became an actual book:

The Physical Random Name Generator

It now contains over 10,000 fantasy names divided into 58 categories.

There are the obvious ones like humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, dragons and various character types, but also names for kingdoms, cities, villages, noble families, guilds, cults, taverns, shops, forests, mountains, dungeons, temples, deities, artifacts, weapons, magical items, spells, books, ships, festivals and a bunch of other things.

There's no 5e mechanics involved, so the entire thing is system-agnostic. For me it's basically just another reference book behind the screen: something unexpected needs a name, find the relevant section, steal one, pretend you planned it all along.

It has now somehow escaped my desk and exists as an actual paperback and hardcover.

So if you're also the kind of GM whose carefully constructed fantasy world is populated by people named Bob the Definitely Planned Blacksmith, you might find it useful:

The Physical Random Name Generator
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HDCWFVRV

AI disclosure

Generative AI was used during the creation process to help generate candidate names. Every name that ultimately made it into the finished book was then manually reviewed by me.

I started the project in 2024 and worked on it gradually rather than generating the finished book in one pass. The introduction and other written material, organization, layout, editing and final presentation were done manually by me.

I also built and worked through hundreds of Excel tables to compare the lists, identify duplicates and clean up the final selection.

So AI was one of the tools used during the initial name-generation stage, while the reviewing, selecting, checking, organizing and production of the finished book were handled manually.

You know what I'm talking about - we've all been there. It's one of the most classic moments of D&D and TTRPGs in general, and I'm 99% positive it happened at least once to every one of us.

The party enters a tavern. There is a Golden Dragon, a drunk Volo, 7 Liches dancing on a table, one human at the counter and the first thing they'll ask is "what's the human's name?".

Every time a merchant is supposed to exist for thirty seconds, every time a random new guy spawns because someone asks 'is there anyone passing by?'. Every time the most useless creature of the campaign becomes the new favourite and therefore the mascot of the party. They. Will. Ask. For. A. Name.

Sure, many GMs will come up with a perfect name every time, and sure, there are hundreds of random online generators. But I manage to call my random NPCs things like ManRegular Humanson and I like the shiny nerdy paper things full of words on the table.

So over time I ended up building a book: The Physical Random Name Generator.

The idea is intentionally simple: open the category you need, choose a name, and don't end up looking like you don't know what you're doing (even if you are).

It contains over 10,000 fantasy names organized into 58 categories, covering characters and creatures as well as cities, villages, kingdoms, guilds, cults, taverns, dungeons, deities, artifacts, weapons, spells, ships and a lot more.

Do you want something to keep behind your screen, nearly endless and ready-to-use? I've got you.

Do you want a new cool looking book for your collection? Today is your lucky day.

Your Game Master is like me and you want to make fun of them? Here's the perfect gift.

If anyone is interested, this is the book (available in paperback and hardcover):

The Physical Random Name Generator
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HDCWFVRV

And more importantly, please share with me your "ManRegular Humanson". Thanks for your attention and have a great day! :)

AI disclosure

Generative AI was used during the creation process to help generate candidate names. However, every single name that made it into the finished book was manually reviewed by me. The project began in 2024 and was developed gradually over the follouwing years rather than being generated as a finished book in one pass.

The introduction, written material, organization, layout, editing and final presentation were manually done by me. I also built and worked through hundreds of Excel tables during the process to compare names, search for duplicates and clean up the final lists. AI was therefore used as one tool in the name-generation stage, while the selection, checking, organization and production of the finished book were done manually.