Femme Fatale Name Generator

A femme fatale name works by contrast. The first name is soft, glamorous, often ending in a vowel or a sigh (Vera, Gilda, Kathie, Phyllis, Vivian), and the surname carries the threat: something foreign, aristocratic or faintly sharp, like Dietrichson, Moffat, Tramell or Delacroix. Classic film noir perfected the formula with Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity, Kathie Moffat in Out of the Past and Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon, and neo-noir updated it with Catherine Tramell and Bridget Gregory.

The archetype predates Hollywood, so the names come from several traditions. Biblical and mythic seductresses (Salome, Delilah, Jezebel, Circe, Medea) give a character instant weight. French and Italian surnames were the 1940s shorthand for trouble, Russian and Hungarian names signal the Cold War spy, and a title (Countess, Baroness, Madame) suggests money and a past. Spy fiction added the pun-and-glamour school of Vesper Lynd, Xenia Onatopp and Honey Ryder, while burlesque gave us one-word stage names paired with a surname that sounds like a perfume.

This list mixes famous femme fatales from film, literature and myth with original names built on the same rules, so you can find a 1940s club singer, a Riviera con artist, a double agent or a modern-day heiress with a body count.