This Civil War name generator gives a name that an American of the 1860s could have carried, such as Abner Aston, an Ohio wheelwright. It deals names and homes only: no rank, no side, no unit and no battle.
Read the full guide
A civil war era name generator in three parts
Press New name. Tap a part, press its padlock, then press again. Lock the surname and press for a whole family, or lock the home and press for the neighbors of a Georgia schoolteacher. The first names are in two groups under the tool, men and women.
Where the names come from
Every first name and surname was carried by someone in Wikipedia's lists of the generals of both armies or of the nurses and other women of the war. The pairs are shuffled, and a pair that matched a person in those lists was taken out. The homes are the states of 1861.
Questions and answers
What were common first names during the Civil War?
In Wikipedia's two lists of the war's generals, the first names carried by the most men are John, William and James. This page leaves those out, because they make too many real people's names, and deals rarer ones, such as Gustave and Winfield.
Does it give women's names of the Civil War era?
Yes. The Women group of first names, such as Abba and Euphemia, comes from Wikipedia's lists of the nurses and other women of the war.
Are these real soldiers?
No. Each result is a shuffled first name and surname with no rank, side or unit. A pair that matched a person in the lists read, or the title of a Wikipedia article, was taken out. A real person may still have had the name.
Which states are in the Home row?
The states that had joined the Union by the end of January 1861, from Delaware to Kansas, each paired with a plain trade such as wheelwright or schoolteacher. A home state says nothing about which side a person took.
How this list was compiled: 155 given names, tallied on 2026-10-03 from English Wikipedia: the men's names are first names of people in its List of American Civil War generals (Union) and List of American Civil War generals (Confederate), each carried by one, two or three of them (78 of the 100 by one man), and the women's names come from the people in its categories American Civil War nurses and Women in the American Civil War (https://en.wikipedia.org/, CC BY-SA 4.0). The very commonest names, such as William and John, were left out because they make too many names of real people. Every first name was then paired with every surname: a pair that is a person in those lists, or the title of any English Wikipedia article, cost one of its two names its place. 184 candidates were cut (97 because a pair was a person in the lists or a Wikipedia page title; 75 taken out on a second reading; 8 to hold the men's names to 100, thinned evenly across the alphabet; 4 other reasons), among them Mary, Andrew, Arthur, Allen, Allison, Bradley. Names only: no rank, side, unit or battle is given. Licence: own tally and selection; names from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Surname: all 150 surnames
A 2
Alvord
Aston
B 19
Bagby
Barksdale
Barringer
Bartow
Bayard
Benham
Show all 150 surnames (142 more)
B, continued
Benning
Birge
Birney
Boggs
Boynton
Brannan
Bratton
Brayman
Brinton
Broadhead
Brogden
Burbridge
Burghardt
C 11
Cabell
Capers
Carlin
Chambliss
Champlin
Cheatham
Clanton
Clingman
Colquitt
Croxton
Cullum
D 6
Dandridge
Dearing
Deweese
Dockery
Doles
Dutton
E 4
Echols
Elzey
Emory
Etheridge
F 4
Fauntleroy
Ferrero
Forney
Fussell
G 10
Garlington
Gartrell
Gary
Gholson
Gilmer
Gist
Goggin
Govan
Gresham
Grierson
H 18
Hagan
Hagood
Hannon
Harland
Harney
Hartranft
Haskin
Haupt
Hawes
Hawthorn
Heckman
Heintzelman
Hester
Hindman
Hoge
Holstein
Holtzclaw
Humes
I 1
Imboden
J 1
Jameson
K 4
Keim
Kershaw
Ketcham
Knipe
L 6
Lander
Leadbetter
Lilley
Livermore
Lowrey
Lytle
M 13
Magruder
Maney
Marcy
Maxey
McCausland
McCleery
McComb
McCook
McGinnis
McKean
Milroy
Mitchel
Morell
N 2
Nagle
Negley
O 3
Oglesby
Orme
Osterman
P 6
Parsley
Pegram
Penrose
Pettus
Phifer
Porterfield
Q 1
Quarles
R 9
Ramseur
Rawlins
Risley
Roane
Rodes
Rosser
Rowland
Ruger
Rust
S 10
Sansom
Scurry
Shackelford
Shoup
Slocum
Starke
Starkweather
Stedman
Sully
Sweeny
T 7
Taliaferro
Tepe
Terrill
Tibbits
Tillson
Toombs
Twiggs
U 1
Ullmann
V 2
Vandever
Veatch
W 9
Wadleigh
Walthall
Warne
Wigfall
Willcox
Winborne
Withers
Wofford
Woodley
Z 1
Zook
How this list was compiled: 150 surnames, tallied on 2026-10-03 from the same four English Wikipedia lists as the first names: each was carried by at least one and at most four of the people listed (142 of the 150 by one person), and each is among the 30,000 commonest surnames in the 2020 US Census file (https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2020_names.html, a US government work). Screened in pairs with the first names, as the note on that list says; a surname also went when a first or middle name of someone who carried it is among the first names. 601 candidates were cut (515 because a pair was a person in the lists or a Wikipedia page title; 60 to hold the list to 150, thinned evenly across the alphabet; 22 taken out on a second reading; 4 other reasons), among them Brown, Wilson, Miller, Thompson, Campbell, Marshall. Two real names put together can still be the name of a real person: no result describes anyone. Licence: own tally and selection; names from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Home: all 56 homes
A 56
a California canal pilot
a California stonecutter
a Connecticut riverboat pilot
a Delaware miller
a Delaware newspaper editor
a Florida watchmaker
a Georgia schoolteacher
a Georgia stagecoach driver
Show all 56 homes (48 more)
A, continued
a Georgia tailor
a Kansas bricklayer
a Kentucky blacksmith
a Kentucky postmaster
a Louisiana bookbinder
a Louisiana hatter
a Maine bookkeeper
a Maine clerk
a Maryland potter
a Massachusetts teamster
a Michigan shipwright
a Minnesota quilter
a Minnesota telegraph operator
a Mississippi tinsmith
a Missouri ferry keeper
a Missouri quarry hand
a New Hampshire orchard keeper
a New Hampshire shoemaker
a New Jersey clockmaker
a New Jersey tanner
a New York drover
a New York glover
a North Carolina lighthouse keeper
a Pennsylvania harness maker
a Pennsylvania sawyer
a Rhode Island saddler
a South Carolina cooper
a South Carolina lawyer
a Tennessee carpenter
a Tennessee dairy farmer
a Texas typesetter
a Vermont glassblower
a Virginia ropemaker
a Virginia weaver
a Wisconsin music teacher
a Wisconsin surveyor
an Alabama baker
an Alabama printer
an Arkansas apothecary
an Arkansas cobbler
an Illinois papermaker
an Indiana sailmaker
an Iowa cabinetmaker
an Iowa farmer
an Ohio chandler
an Ohio storekeeper
an Ohio wheelwright
an Oregon net mender
How this list was compiled: 56 homes, each a state and a plain trade of the time, paired by us on 2026-10-03. The states are the thirty-four that had joined the Union by the end of January 1861, checked that day against English Wikipedia's List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_date_of_admission_to_the_Union, CC BY-SA 4.0). The trades are our own choice; a state says nothing about a side. Licence: own work