Mafia Last Name Generator

Browse 500 last names for invented crime families in stories and games, from Sicilian and Neapolitan surnames like Cavallaro and Scognamiglio to Rafferty, Volkov and Onizuka.

About mafia last names

A crime story runs on family names. The surname on the social club door tells a reader which neighborhood the family came from, how old its money is and who its rivals are likely to be. This list holds 500 last names for invented crime families, and every entry is a surname on its own, so you can put any first name in front of it.

About half of the list is Italian: Sicilian names like Cavallaro and Randazzo, Calabrian and Neapolitan ones like Spadafora and Scognamiglio, closed-up Italian-American spellings like DeLuca and DelVecchio, and vivid compounds such as Mezzanotte, which means midnight. The rest follows the other traditions of crime fiction: Irish mob names, Russian and Ukrainian names, Jewish-American names in the style of Prohibition stories, British firm names, yakuza-style Japanese family names and a few American noir surnames such as Lawless and Kincaid.

Most of these are ordinary surnames carried by a great many law-abiding people, and a surname says nothing about the real people who carry it. The mob connection exists only in your story. The list was drafted to leave out the surnames of well-known real crime families and mobsters, and of the famous families of films and games, but with names this common you should still search any surname before you publish it.

How to choose mafia last names

• Match the surname to the family's roots. A Sicilian family in 1950s Brooklyn carries a name like Cavallaro or Randazzo, a Moscow crew a name like Volkov, a London firm a name like Harker.
• Say the name aloud with a rank in front of it: Don Mezzanotte, the Rafferty brothers, Old Man Tischler. A family name gets repeated in dialogue, so three or four syllables that are easy to say serve better than a tongue twister.
• Give rival families surnames that start with different letters and have different lengths, so readers can tell them apart at a glance.
• Use closed-up spellings such as DeLuca, DiMarco and DelVecchio for families that have been in America for generations, and spaced or accented forms like Del Gaudio or Munafò for characters fresh from the old country.
• Before you publish, search the surname together with your setting. These are common names, and you want to be sure your invented family does not match real people in the same city.

Frequently asked questions

What are some good mafia last names?

For an Italian-American family, try Cavallaro, DeLuca, Mezzanotte or Castiglione. For other crews, the list has Irish names like Rafferty and Tierney, Russian names like Volkov and Zaitsev, British firm names like Harker and Lomax, and yakuza-style names like Onizuka and Kurokawa.

Are these the names of real mafia families?

Not by design. The list is meant for invented crime families in stories and games, and it was drafted to leave out the surnames of the best-known real crime families and mobsters as well as famous fictional ones. Most entries are everyday surnames, so real people do carry them, and a surname says nothing about those people.

Why are so many mafia last names Italian?

The word mafia comes from Sicily, and American crime fiction grew up around Italian-American families, so readers expect surnames from Sicily, Calabria and Naples. About half of this list is Italian for that reason. The other half covers Irish, Russian, Jewish-American, British and Japanese crime fiction, where the word in use may be mob, bratva, firm or yakuza.

How do I turn a surname into a full crime family?

Pick one surname for the family, then give the boss, the heir and a cousin or two first names from the same tradition. Add a nickname for one of them and a front business that carries the name, such as Portanova Imports or Rafferty & Sons Haulage. The first name generators linked on this page cover Italian, Sicilian and Italian-American names.

Related generators

All 500 mafia last names