How it works
This cowboy name generator deals an Old West name in four parts: a nickname, a first name that was common in 1880, a real American surname and a job on a cattle drive, such as drag rider.
Read the full guide
Names people really had
Every first name, such as Roscoe or Lucinda, ranked between 101 and 200 in the Social Security data for 1880 and has since left the top 1,000; the list under the tool shows each rank. Surnames come from the 2010 Census file. As a wild west name generator it invents only the nickname.
Jobs on a cattle drive
The last part is a real job. The trail boss ran the drive, the cook drove the chuck wagon, the horse wrangler kept the remuda of spare horses, and riders worked on point, on flank and on drag, the dusty rear.
Tips
- For a funny cowboy name generator, press until the nickname is from the Funny group, such as Biscuits or Wrong-Way.
- It works as an old west nickname generator too: every nickname is listed under the tool, in four groups.
Questions and answers
Is this an old west name generator or a western name generator?
Both. The first names are from 1880, inside the years when cattle were herded from Texas to railheads in Kansas, so a result suits a Western story, a game or a costume party.
Where do the surnames come from?
From the 2010 Census. The row holds real American surnames ranked just past 5,000, each with its rank, taken by rank and not by sound. The nickname in front does the Western work.
What did a drag rider do?
Rode at the back of the herd. The Handbook of Texas calls drag the dusty rear position, often reserved for greenhorns or handed out as a punishment.
Are these the names of real cowboys?
No. Each first name and surname pairing was checked against Wikipedia's lists of Old West lawmen, gunfighters and cowboys, and matches were cut. The nicknames are invented. A pairing can still match some other real person by chance.