Sumerian Name Generator

Sumerian is the oldest written language we know, and its personal names survive by the tens of thousands on clay tablets from Uruk, Ur, Lagash, Nippur, and Girsu. Most are short phrases about the gods. The commonest patterns are Ur- ('man of' or 'servant of', as in Ur-Nammu, Ur-Nanshe, Ur-Bau), Lu- ('man of', as in Lu-Utu, Lu-Nanna), Lugal- ('king', as in Lugalbanda, Lugalzagesi), En- ('lord' or 'high priest', as in Enheduanna, Enmerkar), Nin- ('lady', used for both women's names and goddesses such as Ninhursag and Ninlil), Amar- ('calf of', as in Amar-Sin), and Shesh- ('brother of'). Add the name of a city god and you have a name a real scribe would have written: Ur-Ningirsu, Lu-Inanna, Nin-Nanshe.

Because Sumerian is written in cuneiform signs rather than an alphabet, spellings vary between scholars (Dumuzid or Dumuzi, Enheduanna or En-hedu-ana, Ningishzida or Ningizzida); either is acceptable, and hyphens simply mark the signs. Gods' names begin with the divine determinative, which is why so many start with Nin- or En-.

The list mixes famous names from the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Sumerian King List, deities of the pantheon, historical rulers of Lagash and Ur, high priestesses, and everyday names of scribes, farmers, and merchants pulled from administrative records, so a story or campaign can have both kings and commoners who sound like they belong to the same city.