Criminal Name Generator

Outlaws, gangsters, grifters and cat burglars

Professions & Roles500 names

0 of 500 seen

Tap a name to copy it. The arrows swap one name.

Or browse all 500 names, A to Z

Generate criminal names from every corner of the underworld: Western outlaws, Prohibition gangsters with street nicknames, Victorian cracksmen, con-artist aliases, safecrackers, smugglers, hackers and jewel thieves, plus famous real and fictional crooks for reference.

About criminal names

Criminal names work differently from ordinary names because the underworld hands them out. A crook rarely picks his own nickname; it comes from the police blotter, the newspapers or the crew, and it usually records something concrete: a scar or a build (Scarface, Baby Face, Big Nose George), a tool or method (Machine Gun Kelly, Jack "Legs" Diamond, Slippery Sam), a trade disguise (the Accountant, the Surgeon, the Locksmith) or an ironic virtue (Gentleman Jim, Pretty Boy). In print the nickname sits in quotes between first name and surname: Tommy "Two-Times" Caruso reads like a rap sheet, Tommy Caruso like a neighbour.

Eras and crafts have their own flavour. Western outlaws go by a place or an animal plus a first name (Cimarron Cass, Rattlesnake Ruby, the Arizona Kid); Victorian thieves use cant words like cracksman, footpad, dipper and peterman; Prohibition gangsters favour Italian, Irish and Jewish surnames with one blunt tag (Greasy Thumb, Kid Twist, Mad Dog); con artists trade under invented titles (Count Vittorio Balestrieri, Dr. Cornelius Blake) or forgettable aliases like Mr. Green and John Doe; and cyber-criminals hide behind handles (Acid Burn, Zero-Day Zed). A good criminal name tells the reader what the character does before the first scene plays out.

The list mixes famous real outlaws, iconic fictional crooks and hundreds of original names in all of those styles.

How to choose criminal names

  • Match the era and the craft: a 1920s bootlegger, a Victorian cracksman and a darknet fence should not share naming conventions, and getting the slang right (peterman, yegg, dipper, wheelman) does a lot of the characterisation for you.
  • Give each character one nickname at most and make it reveal something specific; a scar, a method, a botched job. Stacked epithets read as parody.
  • Let different people use different names: cops use the full legal name, the crew uses the nickname, a mark hears the alias, and the character's mother uses the first name.
  • For con artists, choose an alias that is either grandly plausible (a baron, a reverend, a doctor) or aggressively bland (Mr. Brown, Jane Doe); anything in between is memorable for the wrong reasons.
  • Historical criminals such as Jesse James or Dutch Schultz are safe for period fiction, but invent names for original characters in published work so you are not borrowing a living person's identity.

Frequently asked questions

How do criminals get their nicknames?

Usually from other people: a crew, a rival, a detective or a newspaper. The tag tends to describe looks (Baby Face, Big Nose), a weapon or technique (Machine Gun, Legs, Slippery) or an ironic trait (Gentleman, Pretty Boy). Self-chosen nicknames are rare and mostly belong to con artists and hackers.

What is the difference between an outlaw, a gangster and a con artist?

An outlaw is a frontier-era robber working in small gangs (Jesse James, Butch Cassidy). A gangster belongs to an organised urban racket such as bootlegging or protection (Al Capone, Dutch Schultz). A con artist steals by persuasion rather than force and works under aliases (Victor Lustig, Charles Ponzi). Each tradition has its own naming style, and the list includes all three.

Can I use these names for a D&D rogue or a heist game?

Yes. The nickname-plus-surname format (Frankie "Fingers" DiNardo, Switchblade Sue Ferris) suits tabletop rogues and thieves' guilds, the trade tags (the Locksmith, the Chemist) make good crew roles for heist games, and the aliases work for any character who needs a second identity.

Are the famous names in this generator real people?

Some are. The list includes well-known historical outlaws and gangsters (Billy the Kid, Bonnie Parker, Lucky Luciano) and famous fictional criminals (Keyser Söze, Arsène Lupin, Omar Little) alongside hundreds of original names. Use the real and fictional ones for reference or period work and the original ones for characters you plan to publish.

Related generators

More like this

Browse category

All 500 criminal 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: 18 names

  • A. J. Raffles
  • A.K.A. Kenny Moss
  • Abel Magwitch
  • Abilene Annie
  • Aces Adler
  • Acid Burn
  • Adam Worth
  • Agent Daniel Crowe
  • Al Capone
  • Alvin "Creepy" Karpis
  • Angelo "Cheeks" Lombardo
  • Anonymous Annie
  • Arizona Kid
  • Arnold Rothstein
  • Arsène Lupin
  • Art Thief Antonelli
  • Aunt Hattie Spooner
  • Avon Barksdale

B: 50 names

  • Baby Face Nelson
  • Babyface Delgado
  • Badger Bishop
  • Bagman Bellini
  • Bane
  • Bank Job Bannon
  • Baron Ernst von Hallberg
  • Belle Starr
  • Benny "The Hat" Licata
  • Big Baby Gardner
  • Big Ears Eddie Pruett
  • Big Jim Colosimo
  • Big Nose George Parrott
  • Bilge Rat Barlow
  • Bill Doolin
  • Bill Sikes
  • Billy the Kid
  • Birdie Bloom
  • Bishop Tully
  • Bitflip Baz
  • Black Bart
  • Black Jack Bancroft
  • Black Jack Ketchum
  • Blackie Delgado
  • Blind Joe Lacey

B, continued

  • Blockade Runner Bryce
  • Blondie Baxter
  • Blowtorch Billy Szabo
  • Blue Benny Bakshi
  • Bonnie Parker
  • Bookie Barzini
  • Bootleg Bertie Kessel
  • Bootlegger Bowman
  • Botnet Bobby
  • Bow Street Bess
  • Box Man Baxter
  • Boxcar Benny Shaw
  • Brandy Ben Bramwell
  • Brass Knuckles Bonnie Tate
  • Broken Nose Brody
  • Bronco Bill Slater
  • Brother Anselm
  • Brother Bones
  • Bugs Malloy
  • Bugs Moran
  • Bugsy Siegel
  • Bumpy Johnson
  • Bunco Bill Fairbanks
  • Burner Bolton
  • Butch Cassidy

C: 41 names

  • Cactus Jack Moran
  • Calloway Finch
  • Cannon Kowalski
  • Canvas Cutter Quayle
  • Captain Horatio Fenwick
  • Card Sharp Charlie Vance
  • Cargo Carla Menendez
  • Carmine "The Undertaker" Rizzo
  • Cat Burglar Cassidy
  • Cattle King Kessler
  • Cereal Killer
  • Charles Ponzi
  • Check Kiter Kincaid
  • Cherokee Bill
  • Chop Shop Charlie
  • Church Mouse Murphy
  • Cimarron Cass
  • Cipher Cyd
  • Claim Jumper Jessop
  • Claude Duval

C, continued

  • Clyde Barrow
  • Cobra Cortez
  • Cockney Jack Marlow
  • Coin Clipper Coleman
  • Cole Younger
  • Colonel Bartholomew Stagg
  • Colonel Sebastian Moran
  • Con Man Corrigan
  • Contessa Isabella Fiore
  • Contraband Connie Falk
  • Count Vittorio Balestrieri
  • Counterfeit Kate Corwin
  • Countess Olga Reznik
  • Cousin Eddie Pascarella
  • Coyote Carver
  • Crash Override
  • Crowbar Cal Pruitt
  • Crystal Calloway
  • Curly Bill Brocius
  • Curly Fenn
  • Cutpurse Cobbler

D: 30 names

  • D.B. Cooper
  • Daddy Longlegs Lacey
  • Danny Ocean
  • Dapper Dan Hollis
  • Darknet Dani
  • Deacon Delacroix
  • Dead Drop Dorsey
  • Dead Man's Hand Dooley
  • Diamond Dealer Devlin
  • Diamond Della Duval
  • Diamond Jack Ryker
  • Dimples Sweeney
  • Dino "Cadillac" Moretti
  • Dipper Donnelly
  • Doc Haskell
  • Dolly Dupree
  • Dominick "Big Dom" Scarpa
  • Doyle Lonnegan
  • Dr. Cornelius Blake
  • Drainpipe Dawson
  • Drill Man Dunne
  • Dry Gulch Dooley
  • Duchess Delphine Marchand
  • Duchess Dinah Royce
  • Dusty Dawson
  • Dutch Hennessy
  • Dutch Schultz
  • Dutch Van Rijn
  • Dynamite Dan Brannigan
  • Dynamite Dora Quist

E: 5 names

  • Eddie "the Elbow" Palermo
  • Enforcer Eads
  • Etta Place
  • Express Car Eckley
  • Ezekiel Pratt

F: 23 names

  • Face Fairchild
  • False Light Faraday
  • Fantômas
  • Fat Tony Scalise
  • Father Frank Moran
  • Fence Fernandez
  • Firewall Fiona
  • Flambeau
  • Flash Harry Pike
  • Flimflam Floyd Pickett
  • Footpad Farrell
  • Forger Fairlie
  • Four-Flush Fenton
  • Foxy Farrow
  • Frank James
  • Frank Nitti
  • Frank White
  • Frankie "Fingers" DiNardo
  • Frankie Knuckles Giordano
  • Freddy "Rent-a-Thug" Marcone
  • Free Trader Finch
  • Frenchy Dubois
  • Front Man Farley

G: 14 names

  • Gallery Ghost Garza
  • Gaspare "The Greek" Stavros
  • Gem Man Gerhardt
  • Gentleman Jim Fairweather
  • Getaway Gil Fontaine
  • Ghost Key Gorman
  • Ghost Mackey
  • Ghostwire Gus
  • Ginger Malloy
  • Granny Gertie Vance
  • Greasy Thumb Gianelli
  • Grifter Grace Tolliver
  • Guido "The Plumber" Trovato
  • Gunsmoke Gil Harper

H: 21 names

  • Half-Dollar Hattie Lomax
  • Hammer Hank Dolan
  • Handsome Harry Oduya
  • Hans Gruber
  • Hardluck Horace Greer
  • Harlan Voss
  • Harry Pierpont
  • Hatchet Harry Kovacs
  • Heisenberg
  • Henry Gondorff
  • Herr Friedrich Waldmann
  • Hexadecimal Hal
  • Highwayman Hollis
  • Holdup Hal Hastings
  • Holiday Harry Hurst
  • Homer Van Meter
  • Honey Sugarman
  • Hook Hallam
  • Horse Thief Hinton
  • Hot Wire Hennessy
  • Hustler Hal Greaves

I: 5 names

  • Ice Man Isley
  • Inside Man Innes
  • Inspector Alan Brisbane
  • Irish Pat Rafferty
  • Iron Mike Brannock

J: 23 names

  • Jack "Legs" Diamond
  • Jack Sheppard
  • Jackal Jenner
  • Jackie Brown
  • Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik
  • James Moriarty
  • Jane Doe
  • Jelly Jim Calder
  • Jemmy Jones
  • Jericho Slate
  • Jesse James
  • Jesse Pinkman
  • Jimmy the Duke Kearney
  • Joe Valachi
  • Joey "Cufflinks" Terranova
  • John Dillinger
  • John Doe
  • John Wesley Hardin
  • Johnny "Sideways" Russo
  • Johnny Ringo
  • Jonathan Wild
  • Judge Horace Wheeler
  • Jules Winnfield

K: 8 names

  • Keylogger Kai
  • Keyser Söze
  • Kid Blackwood
  • Kid Curry
  • Kid Twist Reles
  • Killer Kane O'Dowd
  • Kneecap Kelly
  • Knuckles McGrath

L: 29 names

  • Lady Arabella Wyse
  • Lady Lucy Lockhart
  • Lamplighter Lorne
  • Lantern Tom Bickersteth
  • Launderer Lambert
  • Lazarus Webb
  • Le Chat
  • Ledger Lil Hartigan
  • Lefty Lonergan
  • Legbreaker Lenny Sachs
  • Legs McCoy
  • Little Augie Feld
  • Little Caesar Valdez
  • Loaded Dice Dixon
  • Loan Shark Lombard
  • Lockbox Lopez
  • Lockpick Lenny Baum
  • Logic Bomb Lou
  • Lola LaRue
  • Long Meg Mackay
  • Lookout Lou Pardo
  • Lord Nikon
  • Lord Percival Ashcombe
  • Lorenzo "The Tailor" Esposito
  • Louie "Lumps" Cataldo
  • Lucky Lou Feeney
  • Lucky Luciano
  • Lucky Ned Pepper
  • Lucky Seven Lou Chen

M: 39 names

  • Ma Barker
  • Machine Gun Kelly
  • Mack the Knife
  • Mad Dog Moriarty
  • Madame Celeste Duval
  • Madame Ruby Rose
  • Magpie Nell Harker
  • Mail Sack Mason
  • Mama Rosa Benedetto
  • Mario "Meatballs" Pastore
  • Marked Deck Marcus Bellamy
  • Marlo Stanfield
  • Marquis Étienne Lacroix
  • Match Head Mattie Crowley
  • Maverick Mallory
  • Mercy Tallow
  • Meyer Lansky
  • Mickey Cohen
  • Mikey "Bagels" Cusumano
  • Miss Kitty Fontaine
  • Moll Cutpurse
  • Moll Flanders
  • Molotov Molly Reardon
  • Monsieur Lucien Faure
  • Moonshine Mattie Sikes
  • Morwenna Hask
  • Mother Malone
  • Mr. Black
  • Mr. Blonde
  • Mr. Brown
  • Mr. Green
  • Mr. Jones
  • Mr. Nobody
  • Mr. Pink
  • Mr. Smith
  • Mr. White
  • Muscle Mancini
  • Museum Mouse Moreau
  • Mustang Maisie Cole

N: 12 names

  • Nancy "The Fence" Dorrit
  • Ned Kelly
  • Neil McCauley
  • Newgate Harry Vane
  • Nickel Nose Nolan
  • Nicky "The Match" Santangelo
  • Nine-Lives Nate Horvath
  • Nitro Nate Harkins
  • Nucky Thompson
  • Null Pointer
  • Numbers Nate Feldman
  • Nurse Ruth Pemberton

O: 6 names

  • Omar Little
  • One-Eyed Sal Huggins
  • Ordell Robbie
  • Overflow Olly
  • Owler Oakes
  • Owney Madden

P: 26 names

  • Packet Pete Varga
  • Paperhanger Pollard
  • Paulie "No Neck" Gallo
  • Pawn Shop Paulie
  • Payday Paddy Keane
  • Payload Bea
  • Peaches Delmonico
  • Pearl Hart
  • Pearl Prentiss
  • Pecos Pete Hollister
  • Pegleg Mott
  • Peterman Pryce
  • Petey "Scissors" Farina
  • Phantom Phreak
  • Phantom Pryce
  • Phisher Phil
  • Pinky Feinberg
  • Plaster Saint Pascoe
  • Pliers Pete Grabowski
  • Poacher Pike
  • Policy King Pemberton
  • Pool Hall Pauly Desmond
  • Pretty Boy Floyd
  • Princess Katya Orlova
  • Professor Augustus Quill
  • Proxy Chain Sal

Q: 3 names

  • Queen Bee Bettina Sarno
  • Queenie Novak
  • Quiet Pete Rawlins

R: 21 names

  • Ransom Ray
  • Rat Riordan
  • Ratcliffe Bill Quinn
  • Rattlesnake Ruby Slade
  • Razor Ray Toomey
  • Red Rhiannon Glass
  • Reggie Kray
  • Reverend Josiah Crane
  • Richie "The Anvil" Bonfiglio
  • Road Agent Ramsay
  • Robin Hood
  • Rocco "The Baker" Ferrante
  • Ronnie Kray
  • Rooster Rawlins
  • Root Kit Rita
  • Roper Rawlings
  • Roxy Ramone
  • Rube Burrow
  • Ruby Rascal Rhodes
  • Rum Runner Rafferty
  • Rusty Ryan

S: 53 names

  • Safe Man Saunders
  • Safecracker Sam Okafor
  • Sal "The Ledger" Amato
  • Salvatore "Sally Bones" Ricci
  • Sam Bass
  • Sammy "Two Guns" Marchese
  • Scar Devereaux
  • Scarface Eddie Morrow
  • Scarlet Sumner
  • Scorpion Scully
  • Scotty Mackinnon
  • Second-Storey Sid
  • Selina Kyle
  • Señor Esteban Rivas
  • Shadow Sokolov
  • Shark Sharkey
  • Shark Sheridan
  • Shell Game Shelly Kahn
  • Shill Sheehan
  • Shiv Sally Rourke
  • Shotgun Sal Bianchi
  • Silas Grundy
  • Silver Sam Cantrell
  • Sir Reginald Thorne
  • Sister Agnes Cordero
  • Sister Mercy Kane

S, continued

  • Sister Sal Costigan
  • Six-Gun Sadie Flynn
  • Sixpenny Annie Sharpe
  • Sleepy Sid Harlow
  • Sleight-of-Hand Sandy Vogel
  • Slim Holloway
  • Slim Jim Sorrell
  • Slim Kowalski
  • Slippery Sam Jevons
  • Smoke Sadler
  • Smuggler Seth Marrow
  • Snake Eyes Sandoval
  • Sneak Thief Sykes
  • Soapy Smith
  • Spats Marconi
  • Spider Spadaro
  • Spotter Sparrow Spence
  • Spring-Heeled Ned Cobb
  • Stage Robber Stokes
  • Stephanie St. Clair
  • Stickup Stan Tierney
  • Still Man Stiles
  • Stringer Bell
  • Strongbox Strand
  • Swede Lindqvist
  • Swindler Sid Gruber
  • Switchblade Sue Ferris

T: 47 names

  • Teddy KGB
  • Tex Morrow
  • The Accountant
  • The Architect
  • The Artful Dodger
  • The Cat
  • The Chemist
  • The Dapper Bandit
  • The Duke of Brixton
  • The Gentleman Bandit
  • The Ghost of Burlington Arcade
  • The Irishman
  • The Lavender Bandit
  • The Lipstick Bandit
  • The Locksmith
  • The Phantom of Mayfair
  • The Professor
  • The Quiet Man
  • The Rooftop Burglar
  • The Silver Fox
  • The Sundance Kid
  • The Surgeon
  • The Tailor

T, continued

  • The Weasel
  • Thomas Crown
  • Three-Card Monty Pruitt
  • Three-Finger Louie Brasco
  • Tin Star Tully Crane
  • Tiny Tobias Grimm
  • Tobacco Tom Tregear
  • Toby Crackit
  • Tom Ripley
  • Tom Sweeney the Bludger
  • Tommy "Two-Times" Caruso
  • Tommy Gun Tess Whalen
  • Tommy Shelby
  • Tony "Ice" Vitale
  • Tony Montana
  • Tony Soprano
  • Torch Teddy Kessler
  • Train Robber Tanner
  • Trigger Tommy Greer
  • Trojan Tess
  • Tubby Malone
  • Tucson Tom Hadley
  • Tunnel Rat Tedesco
  • Two-Gun Charlie Rourke

U: 1 name

  • Uncle Sal Ferraro

V: 12 names

  • Vault Vaughn
  • Velvet Glove Vance Oduro
  • Velvet Mary Tremaine
  • Velvet Vivienne Marr
  • Verbal Kint
  • Victor Lustig
  • Vigorish Vic Marino
  • Vincent Vega
  • Vinnie "Half-a-Nose" Pallone
  • Viper Vickers
  • Vito "Three Hands" Bruno
  • Vito Corleone

W: 10 names

  • Wax Paper Wally Kurtz
  • Weasel Wexler
  • Wheelman Walsh
  • Whiskey Jack Roan
  • Whispering Jack Tully
  • Whitey Doyle
  • Wichita Wes Calloway
  • Wild Will Thornton
  • Willie Sutton
  • Wrecker Wade

Y: 1 name

  • Yegg Yablonski

Z: 2 names

  • Zero Cool
  • Zero-Day Zed