Regency Name Generator

The Regency proper ran from 1811 to 1820, when the future George IV ruled for his incapacitated father, though the label stretches from the 1790s to the 1830s. Naming in that world was conservative. Parish registers are dominated by Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah, Jane and Charlotte for girls and John, William, Thomas, George, James and Henry for boys. The gentry added fashionable or family-honouring names (Georgiana, Augusta, Arabella, Fitzwilliam, Horatio, Peregrine), classical and romantic names (Octavia, Lavinia, Lucius, Julian) were growing, and Puritan virtue names such as Patience and Mercy survived lower down the social scale.

Surnames and forms of address do the social work. Gentry families carried old place-derived surnames (Throckmorton, Pemberton, Ravenscroft) or Norman ones (Devereux, Molyneux, Beauchamp), and a title changed how a person was named entirely: an earl is "Lord Ashcombe", his wife "Lady Ashcombe", his daughter "Lady Georgiana" and his younger son "the Honourable Mr. Fortescue". Baronets and knights are "Sir Percival", never "Sir Grenville". The eldest unmarried daughter is simply "Miss Fanshawe"; her sisters need a first name.

A convincing Regency name pairs a period-typical given name with a plausible gentry surname and the correct title. This list mixes plain and titled names, naval and army ranks, clergy and some Scottish, Irish and Welsh gentry so a whole cast can come from one page.