Sopranos Name Generator

Names on The Sopranos sound real because David Chase built them from the actual Italian-American phone book of Essex County: Moltisanti, Gualtieri, Baccalieri, Cifaretto, Spatafore, Pontecorvo. Most are southern Italian surnames paired with the Anglicized first names a third-generation family would use. Anthony becomes Tony, Salvatore becomes Sal, Paul becomes Paulie, Christopher becomes Chrissy. The formal name still exists (Corrado, Silvio, Salvatore) and only shows up in court papers, on a headstone, or when somebody is angry.

The nickname is the piece that makes a Sopranos character. It sits between the first and last name in quotation marks and usually comes from a small, unglamorous detail: Paulie "Walnuts" (a hijacked truck full of walnuts), Bobby "Bacala" (salt cod), Big Pussy (a cat burglar, not what people assume), Johnny Sack (short for Sacrimoni), Little Carmine, Fat Dom, Philly Spoons, Joey Peeps. Jersey nicknames are food, body type, a surname clipped in half, or a job. They are never cool on purpose.

The list below mixes canon characters with original names built on the same rules: clipped first names, real southern-Italian surnames, deflating nicknames, wives and goomahs, the doctors, agents and lawyers who orbit the family, and the carting companies and pork stores that serve as fronts.