tmtjohn/uinames

A simple tool to generate names for use in designs and mockups.

uinames.com

This is the repo for uinames.com. Feel free to contribute to the project by adding names. Keep in mind that more isn't better. Quality over quantity. Quality being the most common/popular names in a region.

The Algorithm

When the option to pick a region at random is selected, a region will be picked based on the amount of possible name-combinations for that region. A region with more names is more likely to be picked, and regions with less names are less likely to be picked. I propose having a maximum of 100 male names, 100 female names and 300 last names per region. That's 60.000 possible combinations per region.

The Layout (JSON)

[
  {
    "region": "Region",
    "male": ["Male", "First", "Names"],
    "female": ["Female", "First", "Names"],
    "surnames": ["Last", "Names"]
  },
  {etc}
]

The API

All responses are returned as JSON(P), with no request limit. Please keep the amount of calls to a minimum though, and cache responses whenever possible.

Basic usage

http://uinames.com/api/
---
{
  "name":"John",
  "surname":"Doe",
  "gender":"male",
  "region":"United States"
}

Optional Parameters

Amount of names to return, between 1 and 500:

http://uinames.com/api/?amount=25

Limit results to the male or female gender:

http://uinames.com/api/?gender=female

Region-specific results:

http://uinames.com/api/?region=germany

Require a minimum number of characters in a name:

http://uinames.com/api/?minlen=25

Require a maximum number of characters in a name:

http://uinames.com/api/?maxlen=75

For JSONP, specify a callback function to wrap results in:

http://uinames.com/api/?callback=example

Exception handling

Error messages have the following format:

{"error":"Region or language not found"}

Author

This project is initiated and maintained by @thomweerd.

Credit

This massive collection of names wouldn't have been as complete without the help of these wonderful people. Thanks for all the contributions and the continued support!

Special thanks to Claudio Albertin for his work on the API.