Arabic Fantasy Name Generator

Classical Arabic names are built from parts, and understanding those parts is what separates a convincing Arabian Nights character from a generic 'desert' name. The core is the ism, or given name (Harun, Layla, Yusuf, Zaynab). To that a person could add a nasab, or lineage, using ibn (son of) or bint (daughter of): Ja'far ibn Yahya, Amira bint Zayd. A nisba marks origin or trade with the ending -i, so al-Baghdadi is 'from Baghdad' and al-Attar is 'the perfumer'. Finally a laqab is an honorific or nickname, often ending in al-Din ('of the faith'): Salah al-Din, Nur al-Din, Sayf al-Din. Parents were sometimes called by their eldest child, hence Abu al-Hasan or Umm Kulthum.

The Thousand and One Nights uses every one of these forms, and this generator draws heavily on that world: caliphs like Harun al-Rashid, heroines like Scheherazade, Marjana and Badr al-Budur, jinn like Dahnash and Maimun, and tradesmen identified by craft (Abu Sir the Barber, Ma'aruf the Cobbler). Pre-Islamic poets and warriors, Antar ibn Shaddad and Imru al-Qays, are here for epic heroes, and gemstone names (Yaquta, Fairuza, Zumurruda) for palace women.

When inventing your own, keep the vocabulary meaningful. Al-Sahra means 'of the desert', al-Qamar 'the moon', al-Bahr 'the sea'; a name that translates is a name that feels real.