Film

Free Last Character Names list for Writers

A basic list of last names

When I write fiction, I can be plugging right along when I come to a point where I need a new character name. The name may be for a minor character (waiter, business associate, and so on) or fairly major (villian's right-hand-man). Either way, I don't want to slow down my writing. In the past, I would just pick a name out of the air.

Making up names on the spot had mixed results. It could be I'd used the name already. Other times, the name was too generic for good writing. To eliminate this problem, I created a fairly large list of last names. In conjunction with my male and female first name lists, I could generate a unique and interesting character name on the spot.

Here I have included these lists for your reference. You can print them and post them in your work area. Hopefully they will help you as much as they have me.

Last Name List in Microsoft Word format (.doc, 76K)

Last Name List in Adobe Acrobat PDF format (.pdf, 46K)

PS: I collected all of this information and more in a handy poster for easy reference. Click here to check it out.