Surname Generator / Articles
Articles & Surname Guides
Long-form guides on real surnames from across history and culture — for fiction writers, worldbuilders, tabletop GMs, and anyone who wants a curated list to read instead of a generator to click.
100 Japanese Surnames Perfect for Samurai Characters
A curated list of real Japanese samurai surnames — Tokugawa, Oda, Takeda, Date, Shimazu, Yagyū and 90+ more — grouped by era, region and role, with brief notes on each clan.
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50 Italian Surnames for Mafia & Noble Family Fiction
Real Italian surnames grouped for fiction set in Renaissance noble courts or modern crime families — Medici, Borgia, Sforza, the Mafia clans of Sicily, and the everyday surnames that make your secondary cast feel right.
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75 Medieval English Surnames for Fantasy & Historical Fiction
Real Medieval English surnames — the great Norman baronial houses, Anglo-Saxon roots, and the four common surname types (occupational, topographic, patronymic, nickname) that emerged after 1066.
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60 Korean Surnames + How They Differ from Japanese
Side-by-side: why Korean surnames are tiny and shared (Kim/Lee/Park cover half the country) while Japanese has 100,000+. Real surname lists for both, plus how to tell them apart at a glance.
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200 Random Last Names for Quick Reference
A copy-paste-ready list of 200 real surnames from across 20+ cultures — for character names, mock data, test rosters and quick fiction casts. Sorted by region, sampled from real census frequency lists.
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