Criminal Name Generator

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.