Amish Name Generator

Amish names are strikingly consistent because the population descends from a few hundred Swiss and Palatinate German Anabaptist families who arrived in Pennsylvania in the 1700s. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, roughly a quarter of all Amish carry the surname Stoltzfus, with King, Fisher, Beiler, Lapp, Zook, Esh, Glick, Riehl and Smucker rounding out the list. In Holmes County, Ohio and northern Indiana the pattern shifts to Miller, Yoder, Troyer, Hershberger, Raber, Schlabach, Weaver, Mast and Bontrager. Knowing which cluster a name belongs to tells an informed reader where the character is from.

First names come mostly from the Old Testament and older German usage: Amos, Levi, Jonas, Eli, Menno, Elam, Enos and Mahlon for men; Mary, Sarah, Katie, Fannie, Lydia, Lovina, Malinda and Sadie for women. Because so many people share the same names, Amish communities rely on double names (Katie Ann, Sarah Mae, Eli Ray), middle initials (Eli J. Yoder) and 'Jr.' to tell them apart, along with nicknames tied to a father or trade that never appear on paper.

The names here mirror those real conventions, drawing on the top surnames from the major settlements and pairing them with genuinely common Plain-community first names.