This psychic name generator deals a character for a story or a game: a name such as Odile Greywick, a mind power from fiction and a tell. It tells no fortunes.
Read the full guide
Name a psychic character in one press
Press New psychic name. Lock telepath and every press names another mind reader for the same story. The given names are real and old; the surnames are invented.
What the talent words mean
A telepath reads thoughts and an empath senses emotions. A psychometer learns an object's past by handling it. A precog knows something before it happens, and a technopath reads the signals of machines. The list under the tool gives the dictionary meaning of every talent, from esper to oneironaut.
A tell works best when another character notices it before the reader learns the reason.
Give two characters the same tell and a reader will suspect they are related.
Questions and answers
What is a good name for a psychic character?
One ordinary enough to hide behind. The names here pair an old given name with an invented surname, such as Odile Greywick or Ansel Quietwell, and leave the strangeness to the talent and the tell.
What are the types of psychic powers in fiction?
The best known are telepathy (reading thoughts), empathy (sensing emotions), precognition (knowledge of the future), psychometry (learning an object's past by touch), telekinesis (moving objects by mind) and pyrokinesis (fire). The list under the tool explains each talent on this page.
What is the difference between a telepath and an empath?
A telepath reads thoughts; an empath senses emotions. Wiktionary describes a telepath as a person capable of reading the thoughts of others, and an empath as someone with an extraordinarily high capability of sensing the emotions of others.
Are these names from a book, a show or a game?
No. The surnames were invented for this page and searched on Wikipedia and on fantasy fan wikis; those found were cut. The talent words are common to much fiction. No list is complete, so search a name before you publish it.
How this list was compiled: Our own list, written on 2026-10-03 for this page: an old given name with an invented surname, for a character in a story or a game. The given names are real and old; the surnames are made up. Each surname was checked that day against an English dictionary, lists of United States first names and surnames, GeoNames place names for the world, the United Kingdom and the United States (https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/, CC BY 4.0), names from published fiction and page titles of sixteen fantasy fan wikis, every list on this site, a rude-word list read across the join, and the page titles and full text of English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/, CC BY-SA 4.0). 57 of 133 candidate surnames were cut: 43 were on another list of this site, in the dictionary, a real surname or place, or held a rude word, and 14 were found on Wikipedia as a title or in an article (among them Underhay, Mistlethwaite and Birchmere, each real). No name belongs to a real psychic, medium or stage performer that we know of, and trade marks were not searched, so search a name before you publish it. Licence: own work
Talent: all 24 talents
Mind and senses 11
clairvoyantSees things that cannot be perceived by the normal senses.
empathSenses the emotions of others to an extraordinary degree.
esperScience fiction's word for a person with extrasensory perception.
mind readerAnother word for a telepath: one who is able to read others' minds.
oneironautExplores dream worlds, usually through lucid dreaming.
Show all 24 talents (19 more)
Mind and senses, continued
precogScience fiction's short word for a precognitive person, one with knowledge of the future.
psionA person with psionic abilities. The same word names a particle in physics.
psychometerLearns an object's past, and its past owners, by handling it.
remote viewerGathers information about a distant, unseen target.
telempathSenses the emotions of others by paranormal means.
telepathReads the thoughts of the people nearby.
Moving things 5
levitatorRaises things with no apparent physical cause, by the power of the mind.
psychokineticHas the paranormal ability of psychokinesis: moving physical things by psychic power.
technopathReads the electrical signals of devices such as computers.
telekineticMoves objects through the power of the mind.
teleporterIn fiction, a person who teleports: from one point to another without crossing the space between.
Fire, ice, water and the rest 8
aerokineticFrom aerokinesis: the ability to control the movement of air.
chronokineticFrom chronokinesis: the ability to manipulate the flow of time.
cryokineticOne with the power of cryokinesis: controlling and creating ice and cold.
electrokineticFrom electrokinesis: generating electrical force using the mind alone.
geokineticFrom geokinesis: moving the minerals of the earth by psychic power.
hydrokineticFrom hydrokinesis: the psychic ability to control water.
photokineticFrom photokinesis: the ability to manipulate light with the mind.
pyrokineticFrom pyrokinesis: the ability to project fire by supernatural means.
How this list was compiled: 24 words for a mind power in fiction, each checked on 2026-10-03 against the English Wiktionary entry of the same word (https://en.wiktionary.org/, text CC BY-SA 4.0). The one-line meanings are ours and follow the entry. Seventeen are in the dictionary as a word for a person. Seven (pyrokinetic, hydrokinetic, aerokinetic, geokinetic, photokinetic, chronokinetic, electrokinetic) are formed here from the dictionary's word for the ability, as its entry cryokinetic is formed from cryokinesis; their meanings follow the entry for the ability. These are words of science fiction, fantasy and parapsychology. The page describes characters in stories and makes no claim that any such power exists; words for fortune tellers and for people who say they speak with the dead are left out. Licence: own work
The tell: all 52 tells
Habits 24
always takes the stairs
blinks slowly, as if reading something far away
bows instead of shaking hands
closes both eyes to listen
collects broken watches and never mends one
counts under their breath in busy places
eats enough for three after using the talent
goes very still, like someone listening to distant music
Show all 52 tells (44 more)
Habits, continued
hums one low note while concentrating
keeps a pocketful of smooth river stones to hold
keeps cotton in both ears at concerts
keeps the curtains closed on market day
never needs an alarm clock
never plays cards with friends
never sits in a chair someone else has just left
pauses on every doorstep as if listening to the house
rubs one temple when a room gets crowded
sits with their back to the wall in every room
sleeps for a whole day after using the talent
speaks so softly that people lean in
touches the doorframe on the way into any room
wears gloves indoors and out
writes with the other hand when the talent is working
yawns three times before the talent works
What happens nearby 18
a lamp flickers whenever they lose their temper
a small static shock for everyone they touch
birds settle on the fence when they sit outside
candle flames lean toward them
cats cross the street to follow them
compass needles swing a little when they hold one
dogs go quiet when they enter a room
every clock nearby runs two minutes slow
the houseplants on their windowsill all lean inward
light bulbs last half as long in their house
the neighbor's dog has never once barked at them
no wristwatch runs on their arm for more than a week
pencils roll toward them on a level desk
radios crackle when they walk past
soup goes cold faster at their table
teaspoons rattle in the saucer when they laugh
their shadow seems half a step late
wind chimes stir when they pass, wind or no wind
Marks 10
a faint smell of rain when they are tired
a headache in every crowd
a left hand that is always colder than the right
a ringing in the ears that people nearby can almost hear
a squint, as if every room were too bright
a streak of white hair that arrived overnight
breath that fogs in a warm room
fingers that drum a pattern nobody taught them
goosebumps on a warm day
pupils that widen like a cat's in the dark
How this list was compiled: Our own list of 52 tells, written on 2026-10-03: a habit, something that happens nearby, or a mark that gives the character away. The tool cannot block a combination, so no tell names a talent or depends on one: each reads after any of the 24. Every one is written to follow the words "The tell:" and says "they" where it needs a pronoun, so that it fits any name. Nothing here is frightening. Checked by script against every other list on this site: no line repeats one. Licence: own work