Naruto Name Generator

Naruto names look Japanese but bend the rules in ways worth knowing before you build a character. Masashi Kishimoto gives most shinobi a real or plausible Japanese given name and a surname that doubles as a clan name – Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga, Shikamaru Nara – with the English release printing them given-name-first. Many first names are food or nature puns: Naruto is a fishcake, Sakura a cherry blossom, Kakashi a scarecrow, Shikamaru a deer, Ino a boar, Choji echoes 'butterfly'. Kishimoto's Sannin – Jiraiya, Tsunade, Orochimaru – come straight out of a Japanese folktale about a toad, slug and snake summoner.

Surname or no surname says something about status. Konoha's clan shinobi carry their clan name; wandering ninja, orphans and many Sand and Cloud characters go by one name (Gaara, Haku, Darui, Killer B, Yamato). Foreign-village names also shift in flavour: Kumo characters often get English or katakana names (Cee, Samui, Omoi), Iwa leans on earth words (Onoki, Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi), and Kiri names run cold and wet (Zabuza Momochi, Suigetsu Hozuki, Mei Terumi).

The list starts with the canon cast, then supplies two hundred usable OC combinations: authentic Japanese given names – Haruto, Akemi, Kaede, Ryusei, Tsubaki – matched to canon clans and to original surnames drawn from real Japanese place and family names (Kirigaya, Kurogane, Amagiri, Hattori). Change the surname to place a character in a different clan or village, and drop it entirely for a rogue ninja or an orphan.