Ancient Chinese Name Generator

Surname first, then a given name of one or two characters. In the Zhou and Han periods most people had single-character given names (Liu Bang, Xiang Yu, Ban Gu), often paired with a courtesy name used in public. From the Tang dynasty on, two-character given names like Li Shimin, Wang Changling and Ouyang Xiu became the norm.

Both. Around two-thirds are genuine figures from the Shang through the Song dynasties, including philosophers, generals, poets, calligraphers, physicians, consorts and rebels. The rest are original names that use the same surnames and classical given-name conventions so they can be used for characters without borrowing someone's biography.

Those are compound surnames. Sima, Zhuge, Gongsun, Ouyang, Shangguan, Xiahou, Dongfang, Huangfu, Murong and Duanmu are two-character family names inherited from Zhou-era offices, fiefs or non-Han clans, so Sima Qian is surname Sima, given name Qian. They were rarer than single-character surnames even in antiquity and were strongly associated with noble or scholarly families.

Yes. The original names were written for exactly that, and the historical names work as background figures or as inspiration for naming patterns. For a cultivator or martial hero, pair a classical surname with a two-character given name drawn from nature or virtue, and consider adding a courtesy name or sect title for use in dialogue.