Wild West Name Generator

Real Wild West names have a distinct sound because of who actually settled the frontier between the 1860s and 1890s. Most cowboys, homesteaders and lawmen were born in the American South, Midwest or the British Isles, so first names lean heavily on the Old Testament (Jedediah, Ezekiel, Silas, Amos) and surnames are hard Anglo, Scots-Irish or German: Boone, Tanner, Hollis, Rutledge, Voss. Women's names of the era favored short, sweet forms like Mae, Pearl, Nettie and Effie, often doubled up as Sarah Jane or Cora Lee.

What really gives the period its flavor, though, are the nicknames. Newspapers and wanted posters turned ordinary men into Curly Bill, Black Jack, Rattlesnake Dick and Three-Fingered Jack. Nicknames came from a home state (Texas Jack, Arkansas Tom), a physical trait (Big Nose George, Shorty), a habit (Bible Bob, Poker Alice) or the town that made someone famous (Deadwood Dick, Dodge City Dan). Many outlaws also went by "Kid" plus a surname, as with Kid Curry and Billy the Kid.

The list above blends real historical figures such as Bass Reeves and Belle Starr with invented names that follow the same rules, so you can pick a name for a gunslinger, a saloon owner or a marshal that would sit comfortably in an 1880s cattle town.