Pastor Name Generator
Believable pastor and preacher names for any congregation
Generate pastor names with the right title and feel: Pastor, Reverend, Rev. Dr., Brother, Bishop, Elder and Apostle, across small-town Baptist churches, Black church traditions, mainline pulpits, Pentecostal and nondenominational congregations, and immigrant churches worldwide. Useful for novels, screenplays, tabletop NPCs and church-setting fiction.
About pastor names
A pastor's name is really a title plus a name, and the title tells you the church before you ever see the building. Pastor followed by a first name only (Pastor Mike, Pastor Jen) is the nondenominational and evangelical default, deliberately casual. Pastor with a full name (Pastor Daniel Hargrove) reads Baptist or Pentecostal; Reverend and Rev. Dr. belong to mainline Methodist, Presbyterian and Lutheran pulpits and to the Black church, where the Rev. Dr. is a mark of real standing; Brother and Sister are Southern and Holiness traditions; Bishop, Elder, Apostle and Prophetess signal COGIC, Apostolic and African Pentecostal churches. Vicar, Canon and Dean are Anglican, Father is Catholic, Orthodox or Episcopal.
The given names carry the era and the region. Old Testament names (Ezekiel, Josiah, Hezekiah, Obadiah) suit historical preachers and revivalists; doubled Southern names (Jimmy Lee, Bobby Joe, Eula Mae) put you in a clapboard church off a county road; virtue names (Faith, Mercy, Blessing) and Yoruba, Igbo, Akan and Korean names reflect the immigrant congregations that now make up a large share of growing churches. Surnames work best when they sound like they came off a church sign: Whitfield, Holloway, Tolliver, Okonkwo, Castellanos.
Mix titles and traditions, and the right name for your story's pulpit will be in the list.
How to choose pastor names
- Choose the title first, because it sets the denomination: Pastor for evangelical and Baptist, Reverend or Rev. Dr. for mainline and Black church, Brother for rural Southern, Bishop or Apostle for Pentecostal and Apostolic.
- First-name-only titles (Pastor Dave) make a character approachable and modern; full names with Rev. Dr. make one formal, senior and a little intimidating.
- Match the given name to the decade the character was born: a 70-year-old preacher is Harold or Bernice, a 35-year-old church planter is Josh, Tyler or Kelsey.
- For historical fiction, lean on Old Testament and Puritan-era names (Ezekiel, Jedediah, Thaddeus, Hezekiah) and drop the modern Pastor title in favor of Reverend or Brother.
- Avoid the names of famous living preachers; a fictional pastor sharing a name with a televangelist pulls readers straight out of the story.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Pastor, Reverend and Minister?
Pastor describes the role of leading a congregation and is used as a title mainly in evangelical, Baptist and Pentecostal churches. Reverend is an honorific for ordained clergy in most Protestant denominations and is the formal written form (Rev. Daniel Hargrove). Minister is a generic term and is also a specific title in many Black churches for licensed but not yet ordained clergy.
Can women be pastors, and how are they addressed?
Many denominations ordain women, including Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal, Assemblies of God, Foursquare and much of the Black church, so Pastor Rachel Whitaker, Rev. Dr. Renita Gaskins and Bishop Vashti Holloway are all realistic. Southern Baptist and most Reformed churches do not, which matters if you want your setting to be accurate.
What makes a pastor name sound Southern or old-fashioned?
Doubled given names (Billy Ray, Willie Mae), Old Testament names (Ezekiel, Josiah, Amos) and the titles Brother and Sister all read rural and Southern. Names ending in -iah or -ias plus a Rev. (Rev. Hezekiah Stark) read nineteenth-century or Puritan, which is why they suit historical fiction and Westerns.
Are these names suitable for a novel or game?
Yes. Every name is an invented combination written to sound like a real clergy member in a specific tradition, not a real living preacher. Pair the name with a matching church name and a denomination, and a quick search will confirm you have not accidentally duplicated a public figure.
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All 500 pastor names
A: 6 names
- Apostle Bernadette Okoro
- Apostle Cynthia Blackwell
- Apostle Delores Whitfield
- Apostle Ezekiel Boateng
- Apostle Jonathan Ferrell
- Apostle Samuel Adekunle
B: 34 names
- Bishop Alphonso Gaines
- Bishop Cornelius Blakemore
- Bishop Elijah Copeland
- Bishop Emmanuel Achebe
- Bishop Eunice Sharpe
- Bishop Ezekiel Thornton
- Bishop Ezra Pemberton
- Bishop Harold Tunstall
- Bishop Isaiah Rutherford
- Bishop Jeremiah Staples
- Bishop Josephine Crawley
- Bishop Leroy Blackshear
- Bishop Marlene Ferguson
- Bishop Nathaniel Strong
- Bishop Samuel Oyelowo
- Bishop Vashti Holloway
- Brother Amos Treadwell
- Brother Andrew Macias
- Brother Cecil Gentry
- Brother Clyde Harmon
- Brother Coy Beasley
- Brother Danny Spivey
- Brother Jesse Holcomb
- Brother Luther Pate
- Brother Marvin Oakes
- Brother Paul Alvarado
- Brother Randy Poole
- Brother Ray Bledsoe
- Brother Ricky Bowden
- Brother Tommy Newsome
- Brother Travis Dupree
- Brother Vernon Ellard
- Brother Wayne Tucker
- Brother Wendell Pratt
C: 7 names
- Canon Beatrice Langley
- Canon Josiah Whitmarsh
- Chaplain Joseph Nakagawa
- Chaplain Marcus Delgado
- Chaplain Naomi Whitcomb
- Chaplain Ruth Ann Bledsoe
- Chaplain Samuel Greer
D: 8 names
- Dean Edmund Woodbury
- Dr. Ellis Harcourt
- Dr. Frederick Osterhout
- Dr. Gilbert Ashmore
- Dr. Harlan Rusk
- Dr. Malcolm Strickland
- Dr. Tobias Whitcroft
- Dr. Winston Cartwright
E: 13 names
- Elder Darius Mobley
- Elder David Strong
- Elder Gwendolyn Tatum
- Elder Isaac Brantley
- Elder James Whitlock
- Elder Joseph Ainsley
- Elder Lucius Haywood
- Elder Malachi Tisdale
- Elder Octavia Pinkney
- Elder Patricia Longmire
- Elder Ruthie Mae Gaines
- Elder Samuel Redfern
- Elder Thomas Pritchard
F: 8 names
- Father Aidan Flannery
- Father Ambrose Penhaligon
- Father Anselm Greer
- Father Augustine Ferreira
- Father Benedict Oyelaran
- Father Declan Rourke
- Father Gregory Marchand
- Father Nicholas Stavros
M: 8 names
- Minister Aaron Pryce
- Minister Andre Thibodeaux
- Minister Calvin Roberts
- Minister Dwayne Stokes
- Minister Felicia Bowers
- Minister Jerome Pickens
- Minister Sandra Thornhill
- Minister Tameka Ross
P: 310 names
- Pastor Abel Northcott
- Pastor Abigail Ferris
- Pastor Abraham Calderón
- Pastor Akosua Frimpong
- Pastor Alvin Teague
- Pastor Amos Kirkland
- Pastor Amy Westergaard
- Pastor Ana Paula Camargo
- Pastor Ana Villanueva
- Pastor Anderson Carvalho
- Pastor Andre Fontaine
- Pastor Andrei Kuznetsov
- Pastor Andrei Popescu
- Pastor Andrés Palacios
- Pastor Andrew Sorensen
- Pastor Ansel Pruitt
- Pastor Antonio Reyes
- Pastor Arjan Dekker
- Pastor Arnel Magbanua
- Pastor Asher Caldwell
- Pastor Beatriz Galindo
- Pastor Ben Carver
- Pastor Benjamin Strand
- Pastor Benny Philip
- Pastor Bernice Tolliver
- Pastor Beth Runyon
- Pastor Bill Haskell
- Pastor Billy Ray Tolbert
- Pastor Bjørn Andersen
- Pastor Blessing Ndlovu
- Pastor Boaz Ssemakula
- Pastor Bob Hutchins
- Pastor Bobby Joe Sikes
- Pastor Boone Hatfield
- Pastor Brad Whitley
- Pastor Bram Mulder
- Pastor Brent Alcott
- Pastor Brian Kettering
P, continued
- Pastor Brooke Sandlin
- Pastor Caleb Brandt
- Pastor Carmen Delgadillo
- Pastor Cedric Vaughn
- Pastor Chris Holden
- Pastor Chuck Sweeney
- Pastor Chukwuemeka Eze
- Pastor Clarence Tillman
- Pastor Clément Rukundo
- Pastor Colt Rainwater
- Pastor Cornelius Tate
- Pastor Curtis Blackwell
- Pastor Dale Rumsey
- Pastor Dan Brumfield
- Pastor Daniel Choi
- Pastor Daniel Hargrove
- Pastor Daniel Mejía
- Pastor Daniela Petrescu
- Pastor Darnell Whitlock
- Pastor Dave Kessler
- Pastor David Kang
- Pastor Dawit Girma
- Pastor Débora Solís
- Pastor Deborah Langston
- Pastor Denise Whitmore
- Pastor Desmond Pembrook
- Pastor Dusty Greer
- Pastor Dwight Mabry
- Pastor Earl Tremont
- Pastor Eduardo Villanueva
- Pastor Eli Brannigan
- Pastor Elia Marino
- Pastor Elías Fuentes
- Pastor Elias Woldemariam
- Pastor Élie Fontaine
- Pastor Elijah Boone
- Pastor Elizabeth Carrow
- Pastor Emmanuel Adeyemi
- Pastor Emmanuel Ilunga
P, continued
- Pastor Esperanza Ruiz
- Pastor Esther Hwang
- Pastor Esther Kowalczyk
- Pastor Étienne Lefebvre
- Pastor Eun-Ji Moon
- Pastor Ezekiel Chirwa
- Pastor Ezequiel Navarro
- Pastor Ezra Coleman
- Pastor Faith Alderman
- Pastor Florin Rădulescu
- Pastor Folasade Ogundipe
- Pastor Francisco Aguirre
- Pastor Gábor Szabó
- Pastor Gary Pittman
- Pastor Geraldine Ashford
- Pastor Gideon Ashby
- Pastor Giovanni Ferrari
- Pastor Gloria Espinoza
- Pastor Grace Kimathi
- Pastor Grace Nakamura
- Pastor Greg Lassiter
- Pastor Hank Ledford
- Pastor Hanna Schneider
- Pastor Hanna Tesfaye
- Pastor Hannah Oduya
- Pastor Henrik Johansson
- Pastor Hiroshi Nakayama
- Pastor Homer Strickland
- Pastor Hope Brennan
- Pastor Hye-Jin Seo
- Pastor Hyun-Woo Kim
- Pastor Ifeanyi Obiora
- Pastor Isaiah Pruitt
- Pastor Ivan Mendoza Cruz
- Pastor Ivan Petrov
- Pastor Jack Merriman
- Pastor Jake Ferrell
- Pastor James Whitfield
- Pastor Jaroslav Novák
P, continued
- Pastor Javier Olivares
- Pastor Jean-Baptiste Koffi
- Pastor Jean-Luc Moreau
- Pastor Jeff Marlow
- Pastor Jen Halsey
- Pastor Jeremiah Holloway
- Pastor Jim Ballard
- Pastor Jimmy Lee Carden
- Pastor Jin-Ho Park
- Pastor Joanna Halvorsen
- Pastor João Batista Ferreira
- Pastor Joel Benítez
- Pastor John Mabry
- Pastor Johnny Mack Purvis
- Pastor Jonah Pettigrew
- Pastor Jonathan Goh
- Pastor Jonathan Nguyen
- Pastor Joost Bakker
- Pastor Jordan Ashcroft
- Pastor Joseph Kabongo
- Pastor Joseph Mwangi
- Pastor Joseph Yoon
- Pastor Josh Pruett
- Pastor Joshua Lau
- Pastor Joshua Lindqvist
- Pastor Josiah Ochieng
- Pastor Josiah Redmond
- Pastor Juan Carlos Medrano
- Pastor Jude Farrow
- Pastor Jukka Virtanen
- Pastor Jürgen Hoffmann
- Pastor Karen Oberlin
- Pastor Keisha Lambert
- Pastor Kelsey Moreau
- Pastor Ken Bright
- Pastor Kevin Mortenson
- Pastor Kim Ferrante
- Pastor Klaus Richter
- Pastor Kofi Mensah
P, continued
- Pastor Kwame Boateng
- Pastor Kyle Brannon
- Pastor Lamar Higgins
- Pastor Larry Oakes
- Pastor Lars Eriksson
- Pastor Laura Pennington
- Pastor Lazarus Phiri
- Pastor Leah Obi
- Pastor Leon Bridgewater
- Pastor Levi Thornbury
- Pastor Li Ying
- Pastor Lisa Fairbanks
- Pastor Luca Bianchi
- Pastor Luis Alberto Rentería
- Pastor Luke Harrington
- Pastor Lydia Marchetti
- Pastor Makoto Hayashi
- Pastor Malachi Dunn
- Pastor Manuel Zavala
- Pastor Marco Rossi
- Pastor Marcus Boyd
- Pastor Marek Kowalski
- Pastor Maria Elena Soto
- Pastor Marisol Treviño
- Pastor Marites Bonifacio
- Pastor Mark Ellison
- Pastor Martha Delgado
- Pastor Mateo Serrano
- Pastor Mats Lindberg
- Pastor Matt Granger
- Pastor Matteo Greco
- Pastor Matthew Calloway
- Pastor Matthias Wagner
- Pastor Matthieu Girard
- Pastor Matti Korhonen
- Pastor Mei Lin
- Pastor Mercy Adebayo
- Pastor Mercy Varghese
P, continued
- Pastor Micah Sutherland
- Pastor Miguel Ángel Carranza
- Pastor Mihai Ionescu
- Pastor Mike Donnelly
- Pastor Mikhail Sokolov
- Pastor Mikkel Christensen
- Pastor Min-Jun Jang
- Pastor Ming Liu
- Pastor Miriam Castellano
- Pastor Moisés Arellano
- Pastor Monica Delaney
- Pastor Moses Kigozi
- Pastor Nana Yaw Owusu
- Pastor Naomi Brightwater
- Pastor Nate Ridley
- Pastor Nathaniel Greer
- Pastor Ngozi Ezenwa
- Pastor Nicole Arceneaux
- Pastor Nnamdi Okafor
- Pastor Noé Sandoval
- Pastor Noemí Escobedo
- Pastor Ole Kristian Hansen
- Pastor Oleksandr Bondarenko
- Pastor Olivier Dubois
- Pastor Paul Tran
- Pastor Paul Whitcomb
- Pastor Paulo Henrique Duarte
- Pastor Pavlo Melnyk
- Pastor Peter Kariuki
- Pastor Peter Otieno
- Pastor Peter Vandermeer
- Pastor Phil Gentry
- Pastor Philip Oyelaran
- Pastor Phoebe Sandoval
- Pastor Piotr Zieliński
- Pastor Precious Nyoni
- Pastor Priscila Monteiro
- Pastor Priscilla Ngata
- Pastor Rachel Whitaker
P, continued
- Pastor Rafaela Montalvo
- Pastor Ramón Estrada
- Pastor Ravi Prakash
- Pastor Ray Dean Lowery
- Pastor Rebekah Thorne
- Pastor Reginald Haywood
- Pastor Reuben Castellanos
- Pastor Reuben Tan
- Pastor Reynaldo Santos
- Pastor Ricardo Montes
- Pastor Rob Tanaka
- Pastor Roberto Salinas
- Pastor Ron Weatherby
- Pastor Rosa Quintero
- Pastor Rusty Culpepper
- Pastor Ruth Hensley
- Pastor Ruud van der Berg
- Pastor Samuel Chen
- Pastor Samuel Lozano
- Pastor Samuel Okonkwo
- Pastor Samuel Perrin
- Pastor Santiago Alcántara
- Pastor Sara Betancourt
- Pastor Sarah Lindgren
- Pastor Scott Ainsley
- Pastor Seth Wakefield
- Pastor Shane Hollister
- Pastor Shirley Copeland
- Pastor Silas Mercer
- Pastor Simeon Arrington
- Pastor Sipho Dlamini
- Pastor Skip Fairchild
- Pastor Solomon Haile
- Pastor Stefan Zimmermann
- Pastor Stephen Delacroix
- Pastor Steve Pulaski
- Pastor Sue Ellen Tidwell
- Pastor Sunday Olaleye
- Pastor Sung-Min Lee
P, continued
- Pastor Sunil Varghese
- Pastor Tabitha Greenwood
- Pastor Taras Shevchuk
- Pastor Taylor Brockman
- Pastor Ted Nichols
- Pastor Terrence Gaines
- Pastor Thabo Mokoena
- Pastor Thomas Abernathy
- Pastor Thomas Kurian
- Pastor Timothy Reddick
- Pastor Timothy Wong
- Pastor Titus Lockhart
- Pastor Tobias Hartmann
- Pastor Tobias Keller
- Pastor Todd Brinkley
- Pastor Tom Rutledge
- Pastor Tomáš Dvořák
- Pastor Travis Redding
- Pastor Tyler Dunaway
- Pastor Ursula Weber
- Pastor Vanessa Stokes
- Pastor Vinod Kumar Sahu
- Pastor Virgil Cobb
- Pastor Wei Zhang
- Pastor Wendell Crump
- Pastor Wesley Tavares
- Pastor Wilfred Okumu
- Pastor Willem de Jong
- Pastor Willie Mae Hargrove
- Pastor Wisdom Ogbonna
- Pastor Wolfgang Schäfer
- Pastor Wyatt Strickland
- Pastor Yolanda Mims
- Pastor Young-Soo Han
- Pastor Zach Bellamy
- Pastor Zechariah Flint
- Prophet Elijah Odunayo
- Prophet Isaiah Emmanuel
- Prophetess Deborah Ihejirika
R: 92 names
- Rev. Aaron Blessing
- Rev. Alma Hargett
- Rev. Asa Hollingsworth
- Rev. Cornelius Dabney
- Rev. Cyrus Blankenship
- Rev. Elias Crabtree
- Rev. Emmett Stroud
- Rev. Ephraim Goodale
- Rev. Eula Mae Thigpen
- Rev. Ezekiel Mott
- Rev. Hattie Coleman
- Rev. Hezekiah Stark
- Rev. Horace Pettigrew
- Rev. Ida Bellamy
- Rev. Isaac Greenleaf
- Rev. Jacob Overholt
- Rev. Jedediah Crowell
- Rev. Jesse Landrum
- Rev. Josiah Ledbetter
- Rev. Lowell Hatcher
- Rev. Milton Farrow
- Rev. Moses Cartwright
- Rev. Nehemiah Rutledge
- Rev. Opal Strickland
- Rev. Pearl Covington
- Rev. Ruby Jean Hasty
- Rev. Rufus Pickering
- Rev. Thaddeus Burwell
- Rev. Viola Redding
- Rev. Warren Loomis
R, continued
- Reverend Alice Wetherell
- Reverend Alistair Buchanan
- Reverend Ambrose Tisdale
- Reverend Anders Lindholm
- Reverend Angus McPherson
- Reverend Arthur Blakely
- Reverend Barbara Nethercott
- Reverend Carol Ashbury
- Reverend Catherine Stroud
- Reverend Claire Whitlow
- Reverend Clayton Marsh
- Reverend Conrad Mueller
- Reverend Dr. Angela Fordham
- Reverend Dr. Augusta Pennell
- Reverend Dr. Augustine Pryor
- Reverend Dr. Bartholomew Sills
- Reverend Dr. Beatrice Marlow
- Reverend Dr. Calvin Presley
- Reverend Dr. Cornelius Whitfield
- Reverend Dr. Cynthia Whitehurst
- Reverend Dr. Dorothy Bell-Hastings
- Reverend Dr. Evelyn Stanbridge
- Reverend Dr. Ezekiel Bramble
- Reverend Dr. Gloria Tennant
- Reverend Dr. Harriet Cole
- Reverend Dr. Ignatius Bell
- Reverend Dr. Luther Grange
- Reverend Dr. Marcus Thorne
- Reverend Dr. Martin Okolie
- Reverend Dr. Nathaniel Crowe
- Reverend Dr. Renita Gaskins
R, continued
- Reverend Dr. Solomon Ashby
- Reverend Dr. Theodore Lancaster
- Reverend Dr. Vernon Haskins
- Reverend Dr. Wesley Draper
- Reverend Duncan Craig
- Reverend Edmund Carrington
- Reverend Eleanor Whitcombe
- Reverend Emily Grantham
- Reverend Erik Haugen
- Reverend Franklin Dorsey
- Reverend Gwilym Pryce
- Reverend Hamish Sinclair
- Reverend Harold Beaumont
- Reverend Heinrich Baumgartner
- Reverend Helen Marsden
- Reverend Hendrik Van Dyk
- Reverend Howard Finch
- Reverend Ian Drummond
- Reverend Janet Pemberton
- Reverend Julia Fenwick
- Reverend Lars Gustafson
- Reverend Leonard Ashworth
- Reverend Malcolm Kerr
- Reverend Margaret Holcombe
- Reverend Nancy Halloran
- Reverend Owen Llewellyn
- Reverend Patricia Lindell
- Reverend Pieter de Vries
- Reverend Rhys Tudor
- Reverend Susan Blakemore
- Reverend Walter Pennypacker
S: 8 names
- Sister Bertha Mae Rollins
- Sister Clara Pendergrass
- Sister Ethel Strong
- Sister Josephine Hardy
- Sister Loretta Banks
- Sister Lula Bell Freeman
- Sister Odessa Wiggins
- Sister Rosetta Pinkney