Why another Star Wars Name Generator?
I was trying to generate random names and I didn't really like the offerings I found on the web. Thing that I did not like about what I found:
  1. Ads on the page or other massive displays of graphics. I want something that loads super fast - just because it is random doesn't mean its good. I may need to scan through a few hundred names to get something I like.

  2. Small pool of names often results in many repeats. Like a site that lists "Boskk" twice for Trandoshans.

  3. You have to fill out forms to start generating names. I want something quicker. I don't want to keep having to say "100" names and clicking a button.

  4. The generator has no concept of the awkwardness of using famous names. Generating Skywalkers or Solos aren't what you'd realistically use this for. If you were designing a character that was somehow related to the Skywalkers, you wouldn't need a random name generator to create a name "something Skywalker."

  5. Some don't acknowledge the race of the name.
So the Coruscant Phonebook does a few things in response:
  1. Extremely minimalistic output. It spits out a clean table of 99 names.

  2. I gathered names from as many Star Wars sites, including Wookieepedia. I grabbed every name I could find for each race, the more obscure the better.

  3. Exceedingly simple forms. Don't see a name that catches your eye? Hit refresh (F5) and you get another 99 in a moment. If you filled out some criteria, you won't need to put them in again.

  4. I have historically significant names (per the Star Wars universe) in my database, but I've tagged them all as "legendary" so they are not used unless desired.

  5. I may have mundane names (like Steve or Bob) in my database, but I've tagged them all as "mundane" so they are not used unless desired.

  6. The first and last name database are aware of names that are race-specific.

Also, additional features:
  1. It knows planets for races, so it will provide a first and last name, with a species and sometimes include a planet, with a bias towards ones associated with the race.

  2. It understands that some races (from our perspective) use names that are made out of a series of parts rather than "Solo" or "Calrissian." So for instance, I don't store a last name for Aqualish called "Qual'shi'toth". I store "qual" "shi" and "toth" as separate components and then allow my program to construct new combinations on the fly.

  3. Races are configured to have an average number of first names or last names. So Chiss first names usually have about 3 pieces whereas humans have one. These are just averages, so it's possible a human could have 2 first names and a Chiss could have 2 first names.

  4. Also, the constructor is aware that some races use dashes and some use apostrophes as separators.

  5. Races are configured so some only have one name. So no Wookiees named Chewbacca Jones.

  6. For additional variation, names will randomly have some sounds or romanizations altered slightly - so while the database may have a name of "Maala", the process may decide to spell it "Mahla" this time around. Or "Nita" may become "Nida". About 5% of the names get this treatment allowing for even more variation.

  7. Races and planets will link and open a new window with the Wikipedia entry for that race or planet, so you can read up on it.
Also, some caveats:
  1. Some races don't have as many names as others. If you tightly configure the criteria to show only males for only one race, you may see some repeating data.

  2. It isn't a cool name generator, it's a random name generator. With randomness, you will get some silly names, but that's just like real life (although you'll probably get more silliness than in real life). For example, in United States phonebooks there are at least seven "Barney Rubbles" and at least ten "Kimberly Wimberlys." There is even someone named "Baptist P. Artichoke."


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