Renaissance Name Generator

Period-correct names from Florence to Elizabethan London

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Generate Renaissance names from across 1400s–1600s Europe: Florentine and Venetian patricians, Tudor courtiers, French poets, Spanish mystics and Flemish painters. Real historical figures sit alongside period-accurate invented names for novels, games and reenactment.

About Renaissance names

Renaissance names (roughly 1400 to 1600) follow a few conventions that make them instantly recognizable. In Italy, a person was identified by a saint's name plus a marker of who they belonged to: a patronymic (Donatello di Niccolò), a hometown (Leonardo da Vinci, Antonello da Messina), a family name with de' or degli (Lorenzo de' Medici, Isotta degli Atti), or a nickname that stuck, like Botticelli ("little barrel"). Honorifics went in front: Ser for a notary, Messer for a gentleman, Fra for a friar, Monna or Madonna for a married woman.

North of the Alps the same period produced Tudor and Elizabethan names (Thomas, William, Robert, Anne, Katherine, Margaret paired with English surnames like Cecil, Dudley, Walsingham and Sidney), French court names with de and du (Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay), Spanish names joined by de and y, and Flemish and German names with van, von and der. Across all of them, given names were drawn from a short list of saints and recycled through generations, which is why a Lorenzo di Piero di Cosimo carries three ancestors in one name.

This list mixes real artists, humanists, merchants, condottieri, reformers and queens with period-plausible invented names for original characters, so you can populate a Florentine workshop or a Tudor court without every name being someone famous.

How to choose Renaissance names

  • Pick the region first: Italian names use di, da and de' (Piero della Francesca), English ones use plain surnames (Mildred Cecil), French ones use de or du, and Spanish ones chain de and y.
  • For an original Italian character, take a common saint's name (Giovanni, Francesco, Lucrezia, Ginevra) and add either a father's name (di Matteo) or a hometown (da Prato) instead of inventing a surname.
  • Use honorifics to signal status at a glance: Ser for notaries, Messer for gentlemen, Fra for friars, Monna for married women, Maestro for a workshop master.
  • Nicknames were common and descriptive; giving a character one (Il Rosso for red hair, Lo Zoppo for a limp) feels more authentic than an elaborate surname.
  • If a name on this list belongs to a famous person (Machiavelli, Anne Boleyn), reuse only the given name or the surname for fiction rather than the whole identity.

Frequently asked questions

What makes a name sound Renaissance rather than medieval?

Renaissance names show hereditary surnames starting to settle (de' Medici, Sforza, Cecil, Walsingham), classical revival names like Cosimo, Lorenzo, Ercole and Cassandra, and humanist Latinized forms such as Erasmus or Melanchthon. Medieval names lean more on pure patronymics and occupational bynames.

Are these names Italian only?

No. Around half are Italian (Florence, Venice, Milan, Rome, Genoa), and the rest cover Tudor and Elizabethan England, Valois France, Habsburg Spain and Portugal, the Low Countries and the German lands, so you can mix a whole European court.

Can I use real historical names for a novel or game?

Historical figures from the 1400s and 1500s are in the public domain, so yes. For an original character it usually works better to borrow the structure (saint's name plus di, da, de or a hometown) and swap in a different family name.

How were Renaissance women named?

Women kept their birth family name for life; Lucrezia Tornabuoni stayed Tornabuoni after marrying a Medici. Popular female names included Lucrezia, Ginevra, Caterina, Isabella, Bianca, Costanza and Maddalena in Italy, and Anne, Katherine, Margaret, Elizabeth and Jane in England.

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All 500 Renaissance names

This is the complete list the generator above draws its random batches from, sorted A to Z and grouped by first letter.

Plain text, one name per line.

A: 48 names

  • Abraham Ortelius
  • Adam Kraft
  • Adrian Willaert
  • Adriana de Mila
  • Aertgen van Leyden
  • Agnolo Bronzino
  • Agnolo Doni
  • Agostino Barbarigo
  • Agostino di Duccio
  • Albrecht Altdorfer
  • Albrecht Dürer
  • Aldo Manuzio
  • Alesso Baldovinetti
  • Alfonsina Orsini
  • Alfonso de Valdés
  • Alonso Berruguete
  • Alonso Lobo
  • Alonso Sánchez Coello
  • Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
  • Alvise Contarini
  • Ambrosio de Morales
  • Amico Aspertini
  • Andrea Calmo
  • Andrea del Castagno

A, continued

  • Andrea del Verrocchio
  • Andrea Mantegna
  • Andrea Sansovino
  • Angelo Poliziano
  • Anne Askew
  • Anne de Bretagne
  • Anne de Montmorency
  • Annibale Bentivoglio
  • Anthony Munday
  • Antoine Caron
  • Anton Fugger
  • Antonello da Messina
  • Antonfrancesco Doni
  • Antonio Allegri da Correggio
  • Antonio de Cabezón
  • Antonio del Pollaiuolo
  • Antonio Tebaldeo
  • Antonio Toto del Nunziata
  • Antoniotto Adorno
  • Arbella Stuart
  • Argula von Grumbach
  • Ascanio Colonna
  • Augustin Hirschvogel
  • Augustine Phillips

B: 33 names

  • Baldassare Castiglione
  • Barnabe Barnes
  • Barthel Beham
  • Barthélemy d'Eyck
  • Bartolomé de Escobedo
  • Bartolomé de las Casas
  • Bartolomé Ordóñez
  • Bartolomea Pazzi
  • Bartolomeo Ammannati
  • Bartolomeo Cerretani
  • Bartolomeo Colleoni
  • Bartolomeo Veneto
  • Bartolomeu Dias
  • Battista Sforza
  • Beatrice d'Este
  • Beatrice of Naples
  • Beatriz Galindo
  • Benedetto da Maiano
  • Benito Arias Montano
  • Benvenuto Cellini
  • Bernard Palissy
  • Bernardino Luini
  • Bernardino Pinturicchio
  • Bernardino Telesio
  • Bernardo Bandini Baroncelli
  • Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena
  • Bernt Notke
  • Biagio d'Antonio
  • Bianca Maria Visconti
  • Bona Sforza
  • Bonaccorso Pitti
  • Bonifacio Veronese
  • Buonaccorso Ghiberti

C: 32 names

  • Camilla Gonzaga
  • Camilla Martelli
  • Camilla Pisana
  • Caritas Pirckheimer
  • Cassandra Venier
  • Catalina de Erauso
  • Caterina Dolfin
  • Caterina Sforza
  • Catherine Howard
  • Catherine Parr
  • Cesare Borgia
  • Cesare da Sesto
  • Charles de Bourbon
  • Chiara Gonzaga
  • Christoph Amberger
  • Christopher Hatton
  • Christopher Marlowe
  • Clarice Orsini
  • Clément Marot
  • Coluccio Salutati
  • Conrad Gessner
  • Contessina de' Bardi
  • Corneille de Lyon
  • Cosimo de' Medici
  • Cosimo Rosselli
  • Cosimo Rucellai
  • Costanza d'Avalos
  • Costanza Spinola
  • Costanzo Festa
  • Cristóbal de Morales
  • Cristofano Allori
  • Cristoforo Landino

D: 13 names

  • Desiderio da Settignano
  • Diamante Guidi
  • Dianora Bartoli
  • Diebold Schilling
  • Diego Hurtado de Mendoza
  • Diego Ortiz
  • Dirck Jacobsz
  • Domenico Beccafumi
  • Domenico Ghirlandaio
  • Domingo de Soto
  • Donatello di Niccolò Bardi
  • Donato Bramante
  • Dosso Dossi

E: 11 names

  • Edward Kelley
  • El Greco
  • Elias Holl
  • Elisabeth Cruciger
  • Elisabetta Gonzaga
  • Elisabetta Malaspina
  • Elizabeth Woodville
  • Enea Silvio Piccolomini
  • Ercole d'Este
  • Étienne de La Boétie
  • Étienne Dolet

F: 38 names

  • Fabrizio Colonna
  • Federico da Montefeltro
  • Feo Belcari
  • Ferdinando Stanley
  • Fernando de Magallanes
  • Fernando de Rojas
  • Fernão Mendes Pinto
  • Fiammetta Michaelis
  • Fiammetta Soderini
  • Filippino Lippi
  • Filippo Brunelleschi
  • Filippo Maria Visconti
  • Florián de Ocampo
  • Fra Bartolomeo
  • Fra Filippo Lippi
  • Fra Mariano da Genazzano
  • Francesca Caccini
  • Francesco Botticini
  • Francesco de' Medici
  • Francesco del Giocondo
  • Francesco di Giorgio Martini
  • Francesco Filelfo
  • Francesco Gonzaga
  • Francesco Guicciardini
  • Francesco II Sforza
  • Francesco Mazzola Parmigianino
  • Francesco Petrarca
  • Francesco Salviati
  • Francesco Salviati Riario
  • Francesco Sassetti
  • Francis Drake
  • Francis Walsingham
  • Francisco de Vitoria
  • Francisco Pacheco
  • Francisco Pizarro
  • Francisco Suárez
  • François Rabelais
  • Frans Floris

G: 53 names

  • Gaspara Stampa
  • Gaspard de Coligny
  • Geertgen tot Sint Jans
  • Gentile da Fabriano
  • George Peele
  • Gian Galeazzo Visconti
  • Gian Giacomo Caprotti
  • Giannettino Doria
  • Gil Vicente
  • Giles Fletcher
  • Gillis van Coninxloo
  • Ginevra de' Benci
  • Gino Capponi
  • Giorgio Vasari
  • Giorgione da Castelfranco
  • Giovanna d'Aragona
  • Giovanna d'Austria
  • Giovanna degli Albizzi
  • Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio
  • Giovanni Antonio Dosio
  • Giovanni Antonio Sogliani
  • Giovanni Battista Guarini
  • Giovanni Battista Moroni
  • Giovanni Bellini
  • Giovanni Boccaccio
  • Giovanni Borgia

G, continued

  • Giovanni Caboto
  • Giovanni Cambi
  • Giovanni da Udine
  • Giovanni dalle Bande Nere
  • Giovanni di Paolo
  • Giovanni Gabrieli
  • Giovanni II Bentivoglio
  • Giovanni Morelli
  • Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
  • Giovanni Rucellai
  • Giovanni Tornabuoni
  • Girolamo Benivieni
  • Girolamo Cardano
  • Girolamo Fracastoro
  • Girolamo Mercuriale
  • Girolamo Priuli
  • Girolamo Savonarola
  • Giulia Farnese
  • Giulia Gonzaga
  • Giuliano de' Medici
  • Goro Dati
  • Grão Vasco
  • Gregorio Dati
  • Gregory Fiennes
  • Guglielmo de' Pazzi
  • Guido Panciroli
  • Guillaume Dufay

H: 15 names

  • Hans Holbein
  • Hans Holbein der Ältere
  • Hans Leu
  • Hans Memling
  • Hans Sachs
  • Hans Schäufelein
  • Hans Sebald Beham
  • Hans Süss von Kulmbach
  • Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
  • Henri Estienne
  • Henry Carey
  • Henry Wriothesley
  • Hernán Cortés
  • Hernando de Talavera
  • Humphrey Gilbert

I: 14 names

  • Iacopa Tornaquinci
  • Ignacio de Loyola
  • Imperia Cognati
  • Ippolita Maria Sforza
  • Irene di Spilimbergo
  • Isaac Oliver
  • Isabella Andreini
  • Isabella Cortese
  • Isabella d'Este
  • Isabella de' Medici
  • Isabella Whitney
  • Isotta degli Atti
  • Isotta Nogarola
  • Israhel van Meckenem

J: 40 names

  • Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen
  • Jacob Wolff
  • Jacopo del Sellaio
  • Jacopo della Quercia
  • Jacopo Peri
  • Jacopo Pontormo
  • Jacopo Sansovino
  • Jacopo Tintoretto
  • Jacques Amyot
  • Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples
  • Jan Gossaert
  • Jan Kochanowski
  • Jan Mostaert
  • Jan van Eyck
  • Janus Pannonius
  • Jaume Huguet
  • Jean Bullant
  • Jean Cousin
  • Jean Hey
  • Jean Perréal
  • Joachim Beuckelaer
  • Johann Eck
  • Johann Tetzel
  • Johann Weyer
  • Johannes Kepler
  • Johannes Ockeghem
  • Johannes Oecolampadius
  • Johannes Trithemius
  • John Lyly
  • John Stow
  • John Webster
  • Jorge Manrique
  • Josquin des Prez
  • Juan de Ávila
  • Juan de Flandes
  • Juan de Juanes
  • Juan de Valdés
  • Juan del Encina
  • Juana de Castilla
  • Justus Jonas

K: 2 names

  • Katherine Willoughby
  • Konrad Witz

L: 34 names

  • Laudomia Acciaiuoli
  • Laura Cereta
  • Laura Peverara
  • Lavinia Fontana
  • Lena Strozzi
  • Leon Battista Alberti
  • Leonello d'Este
  • Leonhart Fuchs
  • Levina Teerlinc
  • Livia d'Arco
  • Lluís Dalmau
  • Lodovico Dolce
  • Lope de Vega
  • Lorenzino de' Medici
  • Lorenzo de' Medici
  • Lorenzo Ghiberti
  • Lorenzo Lotto
  • Lorenzo Monaco
  • Louise Labé
  • Luca Landucci
  • Luca Marenzio
  • Luca Pacioli
  • Luca Signorelli
  • Lucrezia Borgia
  • Lucrezia Crivelli
  • Lucrezia Gonzaga
  • Lucrezia Tornabuoni
  • Ludovico Ariosto
  • Ludovico Sforza
  • Luigi Alamanni
  • Luis de Góngora
  • Luis de Molina
  • Luis de Vargas
  • Luisa de Medrano

M: 39 names

  • Maarten van Heemskerck
  • Maddalena Cibo
  • Maddalena Strozzi Doni
  • Madonna Alessandra Bardi
  • Maestro Giovanni Lanfredini
  • Magdalena de Guzmán
  • Marcantonio Colonna
  • Marco da Gagliano
  • Margaret Beaufort
  • Margaret Hoby
  • Margaret of Austria
  • Marguerite de Navarre
  • Marguerite de Valois
  • Maria Portinari
  • Marietta Robusti
  • Marietta Strozzi
  • Mariotto Albertinelli
  • Marsilio Ficino
  • Martin Luther
  • Martin Schongauer
  • Mary Sidney
  • Masaccio di Ser Giovanni
  • Matteo Bandello
  • Matteo di Giovanni
  • Matteo Maria Boiardo
  • Matteo Palmieri
  • Matthias Corvinus
  • Matthias Grünewald
  • Maud Parr
  • Maximilian von Habsburg
  • Mayken Verhulst
  • Messer Tommaso Bellandi
  • Michael Pacher
  • Michael Wolgemut
  • Michel de Montaigne
  • Michelangelo Buonarroti
  • Mino da Fiesole
  • Monna Tessa Ridolfi
  • Muzio Attendolo

N: 17 names

  • Nanna Bardi
  • Nanni di Banco
  • Nencia da Barberino
  • Nera Mannelli
  • Neri Capponi
  • Neroccio de' Landi
  • Niccolò da Correggio
  • Niccolò Franco
  • Niccolò Machiavelli
  • Niccolò Piccinino
  • Niccolò Tribolo
  • Nicholas Hilliard
  • Nicholas Ridley
  • Nicolaus Copernicus
  • Nicolò da Ponte
  • Niklaus Manuel Deutsch
  • Nofri Tornabuoni

O: 6 names

  • Olympia Fulvia Morata
  • Oretta Tolomei
  • Orlando di Lasso
  • Orlando Gibbons
  • Ottaviano Petrucci
  • Ottavio Rinuccini

P: 33 names

  • Pantaleone Giustiniani
  • Paolo Giovio
  • Paolo Uccello
  • Paolo Veronese
  • Paris Bordone
  • Pedro Álvares Cabral
  • Pedro de Alcántara
  • Pedro Mexía
  • Pernette du Guillet
  • Peter Vischer
  • Petrus Christus
  • Philibert Delorme
  • Philip Sidney
  • Philipp Apian
  • Philipp Melanchthon
  • Pierfrancesco de' Medici
  • Piero Capponi
  • Piero del Pollaiuolo
  • Piero della Francesca
  • Piero di Cosimo
  • Pierre de Ronsard
  • Pierre Terrail de Bayard
  • Pietro Andrea Mattioli
  • Pietro Aretino
  • Pietro Bembo
  • Pietro Lando
  • Pietro Perugino
  • Pietro Pomponazzi
  • Plautilla Nelli
  • Poggio Bracciolini
  • Polidoro da Caravaggio
  • Prospero Alpini
  • Puccio Pucci

R: 14 names

  • Ranuccio Farnese
  • Raphael Holinshed
  • Richard Hakluyt
  • Richard Mulcaster
  • Richard Tarlton
  • Richard Topcliffe
  • Rinaldo degli Albizzi
  • Robert Cecil
  • Robert Devereux
  • Robert Dudley
  • Robert Estienne
  • Robert Greene
  • Robert Smythson
  • Rogier van der Weyden

S: 20 names

  • Samuel Daniel
  • Samuel de Champlain
  • Sancia d'Aragona
  • Sandra Ridolfi
  • Sandro Botticelli
  • Sante Bentivoglio
  • Santi di Tito
  • Sebastian Franck
  • Sebastiano del Piombo
  • Sebastiano Venier
  • Selvaggia Vergiolesi
  • Ser Bartolo di Tura
  • Ser Lapo Mazzei
  • Ser Piero da Vinci
  • Sigismondo Malatesta
  • Sigismund the Old
  • Simone del Pollaiuolo
  • Simonetta Vespucci
  • Sofonisba Anguissola
  • Spinello Aretino

T: 16 names

  • Taddea Malaspina
  • Théodore de Bèze
  • Thomas Bodley
  • Thomas Kyd
  • Thomas More
  • Thomas Morley
  • Thomas Nashe
  • Thomas Pope
  • Thomas Tallis
  • Thomas Watson
  • Thomas Weelkes
  • Tilman Riemenschneider
  • Tita Salvestri
  • Tiziano Vecellio
  • Tommaso Inghirami
  • Torquato Tasso

U: 2 names

  • Ulrich von Hutten
  • Ulrich Zwingli

V: 15 names

  • Vannoccio Biringuccio
  • Vasco da Gama
  • Vecchietta di Siena
  • Veit Dietrich
  • Veit Stoss
  • Veronica Franco
  • Veronica Gambara
  • Vicente Macip
  • Vincenzo Foppa
  • Vincenzo Galilei
  • Violante Visconti
  • Virgil Solis
  • Vittore Carpaccio
  • Vittoria Colonna
  • Vittoria Farnese

W: 4 names

  • Wendel Dietterlin
  • Wibrandis Rosenblatt
  • William Camden
  • William Cecil

Z: 1 name

  • Zanobi Strozzi