Colonial Name Generator

Authentic names from 17th and 18th century colonial America

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Generate colonial American names from the 1600s and 1700s: Puritan New England, Virginia planters, Dutch New Netherland, Pennsylvania Germans and Quakers, Huguenots, Scots-Irish settlers and Maryland gentry. Built for historical fiction, reenactment personas and period games.

About colonial names

Colonial American names are not one style but several, because the thirteen colonies were settled by different people. New England is the sound most readers expect: Old Testament given names (Ebenezer, Jedediah, Hezekiah, Mehitable, Keziah, Jerusha) and Puritan virtue names (Thankful, Patience, Increase, Waitstill) on English surnames like Coffin, Starbuck, Sewall, Whitcomb and Stoddard. Virginia and Maryland gentry used plainer English given names with family surnames passed down as first names (Landon Carter, Carter Braxton, Mann Page), which is why planter names so often sound like two surnames.

The middle colonies add everything else. New Netherland left Dutch names with patronymics and -je diminutives: Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, Annetje Jans, Dirck Ten Broeck. Pennsylvania brought Germans and Swiss (Hans Herr, Anna Barbara Weiser, Melchior Brenneman) alongside Quakers, whose names were English but deliberately plain. Carolina had French Huguenots (Gabriel Manigault, Isaac Mazyck), and the back country filled with Scots-Irish Presbyterians named Campbell, McDowell, Patton and Calhoun.

The generator draws from all of these. Many entries are real colonists, from Mayflower passengers to Dutch patroons and Huguenot planters, included because their names are the best-documented examples of each tradition; the rest are composites of period given names and surnames. Pick the region first, then the name.

How to choose colonial names

  • Decide which colony your character comes from before you pick a name. Ebenezer Whitcomb is a Massachusetts name; in tidewater Virginia he would be Landon or Ryland, and in the Hudson Valley he would be Hendrick.
  • For women in New England, the rarer Old Testament names (Keziah, Huldah, Zerviah, Asenath, Mehitable) are more distinctive than Hannah, Mary and Sarah, which were extremely common but blend into the background.
  • Period forms of address carry a lot of flavor: Goodman and Goodwife (or Goody) for ordinary householders, Mister and Mistress for gentry, Deacon and Elder in church, and Widow as a standing title.
  • Keep spellings period-appropriate. Phebe, Susannah, Hepzibah and Abigail are the colonial spellings; Phoebe, Suzanne and Abbey are later.
  • Dutch and German names were often anglicized over a generation or two (Hendrick became Henry, Zug became Zook, Schumacher became Shoemaker), so a family in 1760 may carry a half-translated surname.

Frequently asked questions

What were common names in colonial America?

For men, John, William, Thomas, Samuel, Joseph, Benjamin and James dominated everywhere, with Old Testament names such as Ebenezer, Josiah, Nathaniel, Ezekiel and Jonathan especially common in New England. For women, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, Hannah, Abigail, Martha and Rebecca were the most frequent, joined in Puritan families by Mehitable, Thankful, Patience, Mercy and Lydia.

Why do so many colonial names come from the Bible?

Puritans and other Protestant dissenters rejected saints' names as Catholic and chose from scripture instead, favoring the Old Testament because those names had no church tradition attached. This is why obscure biblical figures (Jabez, Peleg, Keturah, Achsah, Shearjashub) turn up in New England records but almost never in England at the same time.

Are these real colonial people?

It is a mix. Many entries are genuine colonists whose names are well documented: Mayflower passengers, Puritan ministers, Dutch patroons, Pennsylvania German settlers and Huguenot families of Charleston, all of whom died well over two centuries ago. The rest are composites built from given names and surnames found in colonial records, so they read as authentic without belonging to anyone in particular.

Which time period counts as colonial?

For British North America, roughly 1607 (Jamestown) to 1776, sometimes stretched to 1783. Names from the 1600s lean heavily Puritan and Dutch; by the mid-1700s the virtue names were fading and classical and fashionable English names (Horatio, Lucretia, Clarissa) were creeping in. The 1700s and Puritan generators linked above narrow the range if you need one end of it.

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All 500 colonial names

This is the complete list the generator above draws its random batches from, sorted A to Z and grouped by first letter.

Plain text, one name per line.

A: 47 names

  • Abiah Folger
  • Abiel Holmes
  • Abigail Wheelwright
  • Abraham Alexander
  • Abraham Brubaker
  • Abraham De Peyster
  • Abraham Op den Graeff
  • Achsah Bement
  • Adino Paddock
  • Aeltje Van Schaick
  • Alexander Breckinridge
  • Alexander Spotswood
  • Alida Livingston
  • Ammi Ruhamah Cutter
  • Amos Fortune
  • Andreas Hershey
  • Andrew Caldwell
  • Andrew Oliver
  • Andrew Pickens
  • Andrew Williamson
  • Ann Emlen
  • Anna Barbara Weiser
  • Anna Engel Rittenhouse
  • Anna Nitschmann
  • Anne Arundell Calvert
  • Anne Bradstreet
  • Anne Byrd
  • Anne Hutchinson
  • Anneke Lockermans
  • Annetje Jans
  • Anthony Morris
  • Anthony Neale
  • Antoine Bonneau
  • Apollonia Keim
  • Apphia Soule
  • Archibald Bulloch
  • Archibald Campbell
  • Archibald Cary
  • Ariaantje Coeymans
  • Arnoldus Vanderhorst
  • Asa Whitcomb
  • Asenath Pratt
  • Auguste Jay
  • Augustine Warner
  • Auke Jansen Van Nuys
  • Azariah Egleston
  • Azubah Eddy

B: 18 names

  • Barbara Brubaker
  • Barent Staats
  • Barnard Elliott
  • Bartholomew Dandridge
  • Bartholomew Pennock
  • Bathsheba Bowers
  • Benajah Church
  • Benedict Witmer
  • Benigna Zinzendorf
  • Benjamin Landis
  • Benjamin Marion
  • Benoni Stebbins
  • Bethia Hallett
  • Bethiah Folsom
  • Beverley Robinson
  • Brice Worthington
  • Bryan Fairfax
  • Burgess Ball

C: 31 names

  • Caleb Dorsey
  • Caleb Pusey
  • Caleb Strong
  • Carter Braxton
  • Caspar Hoffman
  • Caspar Wistar
  • Catalyntje Trico
  • Catharina Stauffer
  • Charity Hussey
  • Charity Plumb
  • Charles Carroll
  • Charles Chauncey
  • Charles Faucheraud
  • Charlotte Prioleau
  • Christian Heinrich Rauch
  • Christian Stauffer
  • Christina Hess
  • Christopher Gist
  • Claes Roosevelt
  • Clement Biddle
  • Coenraet Ten Eyck
  • Comfort Starr
  • Conrad Beissel
  • Conrad Weiser
  • Consider Tiffany
  • Constance Hopkins
  • Content Cushman
  • Cornelis Van Buren
  • Cornelis Vanderveer
  • Cotton Tufts
  • Cuthbert Potter

D: 14 names

  • Damaris Cromwell
  • Daniel DeSaussure
  • Daniel Huger
  • Daniel Wister
  • David Nitschmann
  • Deborah Norris
  • Degory Priest
  • Deliverance Dane
  • Dievertje Cuyler
  • Dinah Kirke
  • Dirck Keyser
  • Dirck Ten Broeck
  • Dorcas Hoar
  • Dudley Digges

E: 46 names

  • Ebenezer Whitcomb
  • Edward Lloyd
  • Edward Shippen
  • Edward Winslow
  • Elder William Brewster
  • Eleanor Darnall
  • Eleazer Wheelock
  • Eliakim Littell
  • Elias Boudinot
  • Elias Horry
  • Elijah Boardman
  • Elijah Clarke
  • Eliphalet Dyer
  • Elisabetha Herr
  • Elisha Cooke
  • Eliza Lucas
  • Elizabeth Ashbridge
  • Elizabeth Calvert
  • Elizabeth Churchill
  • Elizabeth Drinker
  • Elizabeth Gendron
  • Elizabeth Tilley
  • Elizabeth Timothy
  • Elnathan Chauncey
  • Elsje Tymens
  • Elspeth Lockhart
  • Engelbert Lott
  • Engeltje Kip
  • Enoch Poor
  • Ephraim Brevard
  • Ephraim McDowell
  • Ephraim Williams
  • Esther Marion
  • Esther Wake
  • Eunice Williams
  • Eva Rosina Brenneman
  • Evan Shelby
  • Evelyn Byrd
  • Everardus Bogardus
  • Evert Wendell
  • Experience Bigelow
  • Experience Porter
  • Eytje Gansevoort
  • Ezekiel Cheever
  • Ezekiel Polk
  • Ezekiel Tolley

F: 7 names

  • Faintnot Wines
  • Fear Brewster
  • Fielding Lewis
  • Francis Cooke
  • Francis Daniel Pastorius
  • Frederick Philipse
  • Freeborn Balch

G: 16 names

  • Gabriel Manigault
  • Gawin Corbin
  • Geertje Van Cortlandt
  • Georg Schumacher
  • George Emlen
  • George Wyllys
  • Gerardus Beekman
  • Gerrit Lansing
  • Gershom Bulkeley
  • Giles Brent
  • Giles Hopkins
  • Goosen Van Schaick
  • Grace Growden
  • Griffin Fauntleroy
  • Griffith Rutherford
  • Gurdon Saltonstall

H: 33 names

  • Hannah Callowhill Penn
  • Hannah Dustin
  • Hannah Pusey
  • Hannes Pannebecker
  • Hans Bär
  • Hans Bergen
  • Hans Herr
  • Harmen Gansevoort
  • Hatevil Nutter
  • Heinrich Muhlenberg
  • Heivert Papen
  • Hendrick Cuyler
  • Hendrick Suydam
  • Hendrick Van Dyck
  • Henri Peronneau
  • Henrietta Maria Lloyd
  • Henry Darnall
  • Henry Drinker
  • Henry Laurens
  • Henry Wolcott
  • Hephzibah Winship
  • Hepzibah Starbuck
  • Heyltje Lansing
  • Hezekiah Maham
  • Hezekiah Usher
  • Hilletje Wessels
  • Honour Pinckney
  • Hopestill Foster
  • Hopestill Leland
  • Hopewell Tilton
  • Hugh Roberts
  • Huldah Bishop
  • Humility Cooper

I: 12 names

  • Ichabod Wetherbee
  • Increase Nowell
  • Increase Sumner
  • Isaac Allerton
  • Isaac Dubose
  • Isaac Kauffman
  • Isaac Mazyck
  • Isaac Norris
  • Isaac Porcher
  • Isabella McClung
  • Israel Pemberton
  • Ithamar Conkey

J: 60 names

  • Jabez Bowen
  • Jabez Huntington
  • Jacob Beiler
  • Jacob Hiester
  • Jacobus Kip
  • Jacques Cortelyou
  • Jael Drake
  • James Bowdoin
  • James Logan
  • James Patton
  • Jan Aertsen Vanderbilt
  • Jan Bleecker
  • Jan Ditmars
  • Jan Lensen
  • Jan Stryker
  • Jane Colden
  • Jane Kirkpatrick
  • Janet Cunningham
  • Jannetje Wendell
  • Jared Eliot
  • Jean Louis Gibert
  • Jean Witherspoon
  • Jeanne Horry
  • Jedediah Strong
  • Jemima Wilkinson
  • Jeremiah Dummer
  • Jerusha Bingham
  • Jerusha Cole
  • Jerusha Spaulding
  • Jethro Coffin
  • Johann Martin Boltzius
  • Johann Peter Rockefeller
  • Johannes Hardenbergh
  • Johannes Keim
  • John Davenport
  • John Endecott
  • John Sevier
  • John Talcott
  • John Tayloe
  • John Worthington
  • Jonadab Mansfield
  • Jonas Clarke
  • Jonas Pelot
  • Jonathan Belcher
  • Jonathan Bryan
  • Jonathan Trumbull
  • Joris Brinckerhoff
  • Joris Rapalje
  • Joseph Wadsworth
  • Joshua Fisher
  • Joshua Sharpless
  • Josiah Pemberton
  • Josiah Quincy
  • Josias Dupre
  • Jost Hite
  • Jotham Bush
  • Judith Armistead
  • Judith Manigault
  • Judith Stuyvesant
  • Juliana Nagel

K: 5 names

  • Kerenhappuch Turner
  • Keturah Hatch
  • Keziah Folger
  • Keziah Hoyt
  • Kiliaen Van Rensselaer

L: 17 names

  • Lachlan McIntosh
  • Lambert Cadwalader
  • Landon Carter
  • Leffert Pietersen
  • Lemuel Haynes
  • Leonard Calvert
  • Leonard Vassall
  • Lettice Corbin
  • Lewis Burwell
  • Lois Wadsworth
  • Lorentz Nagel
  • Loruhamah Ingalls
  • Love Brewster
  • Lucretia Peabody
  • Lydia Chardon
  • Lydia Darragh
  • Lysbeth Ten Eyck

M: 39 names

  • Madeleine Mazyck
  • Magdalena Hershey
  • Magdalena Zug
  • Mahala Bartlett
  • Mahershalalhashbaz Dyer
  • Mann Page
  • Margaret Bechtel
  • Margaret Brent
  • Margaret Cochran Corbin
  • Margrietje Van Slichtenhorst
  • Maria Eicher
  • Maria Van Rensselaer
  • Marianne Gaillard
  • Maritje Rapalje
  • Martha Ballard
  • Martin Kendig
  • Martin Mylin
  • Mary Chew Paca
  • Mary Chilton
  • Mary Draper Ingles
  • Mary Dyer
  • Mary Pemberton
  • Mary Rowlandson
  • Matthew Griswold
  • Mehetabel Wyllys
  • Mehitable Coffin
  • Mehitable Parsons
  • Melchior Brenneman
  • Mercy Otis
  • Mercy Raymond
  • Micah Hawes
  • Michael Hess
  • Mildred Warner
  • Miles Standish
  • Mindwell Lyman
  • Moore Fauntleroy
  • Mordecai Cooke
  • Moses Fletcher
  • Myles Brewster

N: 9 names

  • Naomi Dimmock
  • Nathaniel Bacon
  • Nathaniel Ward
  • Nehemiah Grew
  • Nicholas Bayard
  • Nicholas Stoltzfus
  • Nicholas Waln
  • Noble Goodnow
  • Noble Jones

O: 6 names

  • Obadiah Hatch
  • Obadiah Holmes
  • Obedience Robins
  • Oceanus Hopkins
  • Onesiphorus Marsh
  • Orpah Sherman

P: 21 names

  • Patience Bunnell
  • Patience Lovell
  • Patrick Calhoun
  • Peleg Sanford
  • Peregrine White
  • Persis Sibley
  • Peter Faneuil
  • Peter Groff
  • Peter Guerard
  • Peter Timothy
  • Petrus Stuyvesant
  • Phebe Bliss
  • Phebe Chittenden
  • Philip Key
  • Philip Schuyler
  • Philip Yarnall
  • Phineas Lyman
  • Pieter Wyckoff
  • Preserved Fish
  • Priscilla Alden
  • Prudence Chester

R: 33 names

  • Rachel Donelson
  • Rachel Kierstede
  • Rachel Warfield
  • Ralph Wormeley
  • Rebecca Biddle
  • Rebecca Boone
  • Rebecca Brewton Motte
  • Rebecca Nurse
  • Relief Hawes
  • Rem Remsen
  • Remember Allerton
  • Remember Brewster
  • Remembrance Underwood
  • René Ravenel
  • Resolved White
  • Return Jonathan Meigs
  • Reuben Colburn
  • Rhoda Chase
  • Richard Saltonstall
  • Richard Snowden
  • Richard Taliaferro
  • Richard Warren
  • Robert Beverley
  • Robert Bolling
  • Robert Goldsborough
  • Roelof Schenck
  • Roger Conant
  • Roger Ludlow
  • Roger Williams
  • Rosanna Fenn
  • Ruhamah Perkins
  • Rutger Van Brunt
  • Ryland Randolph

S: 25 names

  • Sabra Kittredge
  • Salome Zercher
  • Samuel Prioleau
  • Samuel Whiting
  • Sarah Harrison
  • Sarah Kemble Knight
  • Sarah Logan
  • Sarah Tasker
  • Seaborn Cotton
  • Shearjashub Bourne
  • Shubael Dummer
  • Silas Deane
  • Silence Trask
  • Simeon Olcott
  • Simon Bradstreet
  • Solomon Legare
  • Stephen Bordley
  • Stephen Delancey
  • Stephen Hopkins
  • Submit Cutler
  • Submit Tuttle
  • Supply Clap
  • Susanna Witmer
  • Susanna Wright
  • Susanne Le Serrurier

T: 29 names

  • Tabitha Tenney
  • Tamar Frisbie
  • Tarleton Fleming
  • Temperance Flowerdew
  • Thankful Grout
  • Thankful Hubbard
  • Thankful Pond
  • Thankful Sears
  • Thankful Strong
  • Thankful Tupper
  • Théodore Gaillard
  • Théodore Gourdin
  • Theodorick Bland
  • Theodorus Van Wyck
  • Theophilus Eaton
  • Thomas Ballard
  • Thomas Dudley
  • Thomas Hooker
  • Thomas Hutchinson
  • Thomas Mifflin
  • Thomas Ringgold
  • Thomas Stone
  • Thomas Tinker
  • Tirzah Holcomb
  • Tjerck De Witt
  • Tobias Lear
  • Tobias Pettibone
  • Tryntje Claes
  • Tryphena Hoadley

U: 4 names

  • Ulrich Zercher
  • Unite Wing
  • Uriah Oakes
  • Ursula Beverley

V: 2 names

  • Valentin Eckert
  • Veronica Landis

W: 19 names

  • Waitstill Chapin
  • Waitstill Strong
  • Warner Lewis
  • Wealthy Ames
  • Welcome Vial
  • Welthea Hobart
  • Wendel Bowman
  • Wessel Ten Broeck
  • Wigard Levering
  • William Claiborne
  • William Fitzhugh
  • William Penn
  • William Pitkin
  • William Preston
  • William Pynchon
  • William Rittenhouse
  • William Stephens
  • Wouter Van Pelt
  • Wrestling Brewster

Z: 7 names

  • Zebadiah Towle
  • Zenas Bliss
  • Zephaniah Swift
  • Zerviah Newcomb
  • Zilpah Wadsworth
  • Zipporah Gould
  • Zuriel Waterman