Writing a character is tough, but picking out the perfect name is even tougher. For many writers, a character comes to life once they’re given a name. But a name is never enough because characters also need a surname. Picking the right one not only gives your main character’s name the right ring, but the meaning behind the surname can also clue the readers in about the family heritage of your character.
Naturally, your lead character won’t be the only named character in your story. You’ll also have to provide names and surnames for other characters like the sidekicks, the love interest, the rival, and of course, the villain. Of course, you can’t just pick out random names either because there is power behind the names you give. The impact of a character is based primarily on the way their name has a ring to it, whether it’s an alliterative name (like Sansa Stark or Marty McFly), rhyming names (like Jack Black or Lance Vance), or name combinations that just sound and mean the right thing for the character (like Sirius Black).
There’s a lot at stake when picking the right surname for each character!
For instance, if you give your character’s love interest the surname Mudd, what does this suggest? It suggests that he or she has the characteristics of mud – dirty, perhaps poor, bearing nothing noteworthy, and perhaps even ugly. Now what if you give him or her the surname Pyro? This gives a hint that this character has something to do with fire. Could it mean that this character is ultimately evil? Or maybe this character just has a penchant for fire?
In this list, we’ll be giving you the ultimate master list for picking out the perfect surnames for the characters of your story.
Assorted Surnames for Villains
Let’s start with the shorter list for surnames for villains. These surnames have quite a dark ring to them, whether it’s because of the words these surnames rhyme with or just the meaning of the surnames themselves. Keep in mind that surnames are neither inherently bad or inherently good; it’s the way they’re used and the way they sound that make a surname sound more villainous. Check out this list of villain surnames and pick out the one that’s perfect for your story’s antagonist.
Aberration
Apex
Atomic
Avalanche
Bedlam
Blackout
Blight
Blink
Blitz
Blur
Burnout
Buttons
Cascade
Cerberus
Checkmate
Crassus
Craster
Crimson
Crossfire
Crypto
Cyclone
De Ville
Diamondback
Diaspora
Discord
Ditch
Doom
Dreadfort
Drift
Dust
Engineer
Felon
Flatline
Flood
Flux
Frenzy
Frost
Genesis
Glitch
Grifter
Hades
Hex
Hexx
Imprint
Inferno
Le Strange
Limerick
Malice
Medusa
Menace
Mimic
Miracle
Misfit
Mockingbird
Moreau
Mort
Mudlark
Mutilator
Nemesis
Nocturne
Oblique
Omega
Overkill
Parallax
Persephonia
Pitfall
Pyro
Rampage
Ramsay
Recluse
Rewind
Rundown
Safari
Schism
Serpentine
Shivers
Smoker
Snake
Spasm
Spite
Standoff
Static
Surge
Sweeney
Tempus
Tortuga
Trace
Transonic
Tuco
Umbridge
Upagarde
Vader
Venom
Vex
Voodoo
Wendigo
Whip
Whistler
Whitewash
Zorg
Assorted Surnames for Your Characters
The next list is a long one! It contains various names that you can choose as your main character’s surname as well as for the rest of the characters in your story. This list has a ton of names from all over the world, so we’re sure that you’ll find the perfect surnames here no matter how diverse your cast!
Abbott
Åberg
Abernathy
Abner
Abrahamsson
Abrams
Acker
Acosta
Acuff
Acuña
Adair
Adam
Adams
Adara
Adelson
Adkins
Adler
Agnew
Aguilar
Aguirre
Ainge
Åkesson
Albert
Albright
Alcott
Alexander
Alexandre
Algarotti
Allain
Allard
Allen
Allred
Alonso
Alstott
Alvarado
Alvarez
Alves
Anderson
Andersson
Andre
Andreasson
Andrews
Andrieu
Andrieux
Antoine
Armstrong
Arnaud
Arnold
Arnould
Arvidsson
Åström
Aubert
Aubry
Auger
Austin
Avila
Axelsson
Ayala
Bailey
Bailly
Baker
Baldwin
Banks
Barbe
Barber
Barbier
Barker
Barnes
Barnett
Baron
Barre
Barreau
Barrett
Barthelemy
Barton
Bataille
Bates
Baudry
Bayle
Bazin
Beck
Becker
Bell
Benard
Bengtsson
Bennett
Benoist
Benoit
Benson
Berg
Berger
Berggren
Berglund
Bergman
Bergqvist
Bergström
Bernard
Bernier
Berry
Berthelot
Berthier
Bertin
Bertrand
Besnard
Besse
Besson
Bigot
Billard
Bishop
Björk
Björklund
Black
Blair
Blake
Blanc
Blanchard
Blanchet
Blin
Blom
Blomqvist
Blondeau
Blondel
Blot
Bocquet
Bodin
Bonhomme
Bonneau
Bonnet
Bonnin
Bouchard
Boucher
Bouchet
Boulanger
Boulay
Boulet
Bouquet
Bourdin
Bourdon
Bourgeois
Bousquet
Boutin
Bouvet
Bouvier
Bowen
Bowman
Boyd
Boyer
Bradley
Brady
Brault
Breton
Brewer
Briand
Brooks
Brown
Brun
Bruneau
Brunel
Brunet
Bryant
Buisson
Burgess
Burke
Burns
Burton
Bush
Butler
Byrd
Cabrera
Calderon
Caldwell
Camacho
Campbell
Campos
Camus
Cannon
Cardenas
Carlier
Carlson
Carlsson
Caron
Carpenter
Carpentier
Carr
Carre
Carrillo
Carroll
Carter
Castaneda
Castel
Castillo
Castro
Cervantes
Chambers
Chambon
Chan
Chandler
Chang
Chapman
Chapuis
Charbonnier
Charles
Charpentier
Charrier
Chartier
Chatelain
Chauveau
Chauvet
Chauvin
Chavez
Chen
Chevalier
Chevallier
Chretien
Christensen
Clark
Clarke
Claude
Clement
Clerc
Cochet
Cohen
Colas
Cole
Coleman
Colin
Collet
Collin
Collins
Colon
Combe
Combes
Comte
Contreras
Cook
Cooper
Cordier
Cornu
Cortez
Costa
Coste
Coulon
Courtois
Cousin
Couturier
Cox
Craig
Crawford
Cros
Cross
Cruz
Cummings
Cunningham
Curry
Curtis
Da Costa
Da Silva
Dahlberg
Daniel
Daniels
Danielsson
David
Davidson
Davis
Dawson
Day
Dean
Delacruz
Delage
Delahaye
Delannoy
Delattre
Delaunay
Deleon
Delgado
Delmas
Delorme
Denis
Dennis
Descamps
Deschamps
Devaux
Dias
Diaz
Didier
Dixon
Dominguez
Dos Santos
Doucet
Douglas
Doyle
Drouet
Dubois
Dubreuil
Duchemin
Dufour
Duhamel
Dujardin
Dumas
Dumont
Dumoulin
Duncan
Dunn
Dupond
Dupont
Dupre
Dupuis
Dupuy
Duran
Durand
Durant
Duval
Edwards
Ek
Eklund
Ekström
Eliasson
Elliott
Ellis
Engström
Erickson
Eriksson
Espinoza
Estrada
Etienne
Evans
Evrard
Fabre
Faivre
Falk
Farmer
Faure
Favier
Favre
Ferguson
Fernandes
Fernandez
Ferrand
Ferre
Ferreira
Ferrer
Ferry
Fields
Figueroa
Fischer
Fisher
Fitzgerald
Flament
Fleming
Fletcher
Fleury
Flores
Fontaine
Ford
Forestier
Forsberg
Fortin
Foster
Foucher
Fouquet
Fournier
Fowler
Fox
Francis
Franco
Francois
Frank
Franklin
Fransson
Frazier
Fredriksson
Freeman
Fuentes
Fuller
Gaillard
Gallagher
Gallegos
Gallet
Garcia
Gardner
Garner
Garnier
Garrett
Garza
Gaudin
Gauthier
Gautier
Gay
Geoffroy
George
Georges
Gerard
Germain
Gervais
Gibson
Gilbert
Gill
Gilles
Gillet
Girard
Giraud
Girault
Godard
Godin
Gomes
Gomez
Gonçalves
Gonzales
Gonzalez
Goodman
Goodwin
Göransson
Gordon
Gosselin
Graham
Grand
Grandjean
Granger
Granier
Grant
Gras
Graves
Gray
Green
Greene
Gregoire
Gregory
Grenier
Griffin
Griffith
Gros
Grosjean
Gross
Gueguen
Guerin
Guerra
Guerrero
Guibert
Guichard
Guignard
Guilbert
Guillaume
Guillemin
Guillet
Guillon
Guillot
Guillou
Guiraud
Gunnarsson
Gustafsson
Gustavsson
Gutierrez
Guy
Guyon
Guyot
Guzman
Hail
Håkansson
Hale
Hall
Hamel
Hamilton
Hammond
Hamon
Hampton
Hansen
Hanson
Hansson
Hardy
Harmon
Harper
Harrington
Harris
Harrison
Hart
Harvey
Hawkins
Hayes
Haynes
Hebert
Hedlund
Hellström
Henderson
Henriksson
Henry
Hermansson
Hernandez
Herrera
Herve
Hicks
Higgins
Hill
Hines
Hodges
Hoffman
Holland
Holm
Holmberg
Holmes
Holmgren
Holt
Hopkins
Horton
Howard
Howell
Huang
Hubbard
Hubert
Hudson
Huet
Hughes
Huguet
Humbert
Hunt
Hunter
Husson
Imbert
Ingram
Isaksson
Ivarsson
Jackson
Jacob
Jacobs
Jacquemin
Jacques
Jacquet
Jacquot
Jakobsson
James
Jamet
Jansson
Jean
Jenkins
Jennings
Jensen
Jimenez
Johansson
Johnson
Johnsson
Johnston
Jolivet
Joly
Jonasson
Jones
Jonsson
Jönsson
Jordan
Joseph
Joubert
Jourdain
Jourdan
Juarez
Julien
Jung
Karlsson
Keller
Kelley
Kelly
Kennedy
Khan
Kim
King
Klein
Knight
Labbe
Laborde
Lacombe
Lacoste
Lacroix
Lafon
Lagarde
Laine
Lambert
Lamy
Lane
Langlois
Laporte
Lara
Laroche
Larson
Larsson
Launay
Laurent
Lawrence
Lawson
Le
Le Corre
Le Gall
Le Goff
Le Guen
Le Roux
Le Roy
Leblanc
Leblond
Lebon
Lebreton
Lebrun
Leclerc
Leclercq
Lecocq
Lecomte
Leconte
Lecoq
Leduc
Lee
Lefebvre
Lefevre
Lefort
Legendre
Leger
Legrand
Legros
Lejeune
Leleu
Lelievre
Lelong
Lemaire
Lemaitre
Lemoine
Lemonnier
Lenoir
Leon
Leonard
Leroux
Leroy
Lesage
Leveque
Levy
Lewis
Li
Lin
Lind
Lindberg
Lindgren
Lindholm
Lindqvist
Lindström
Little
Liu
Löfgren
Logan
Loiseau
Lombard
Long
Lopes
Lopez
Louis
Love
Lowe
Lucas
Luna
Lund
Lundberg
Lundgren
Lundin
Lundqvist
Lundström
Lynch
Lyons
Mace
Mack
Magnier
Magnusson
Mahe
Maillard
Maillet
Maire
Maldonado
Mallet
Malone
Mangin
Mann
Manning
Månsson
Marc
Marchal
Marchand
Marechal
Marie
Marin
Marion
Marques
Marquet
Marquez
Marshall
Martel
Mårtensson
Martin
Martineau
Martinez
Martins
Martinsson
Marty
Mary
Mas
Mason
Masse
Masson
Mathieu
Matthews
Mattsson
Maurel
Maurice
Maurin
Maury
Maxwell
May
Mccarthy
Mccoy
Mcdaniel
Mcdonald
Mcgee
Mckinney
Mclaughlin
Medina
Mejia
Menard
Mendez
Mendoza
Mercier
Merle
Merlin
Meunier
Meyer
Michaud
Michel
Miles
Miller
Millet
Millot
Mills
Miranda
Mitchell
Molina
Monier
Monnet
Monnier
Montgomery
Montoya
Moore
Morales
Moran
Morand
Moreau
Morel
Moreno
Morgan
Morin
Morris
Morrison
Morvan
Moss
Moulin
Mouton
Muller
Mullins
Munoz
Murphy
Murray
Myers
Navarro
Neal
Nelson
Neveu
Newman
Newton
Nguyen
Nichols
Nicolas
Nilsson
Noel
Norberg
Nordin
Nordström
Norman
Normand
Norris
Nunez
Nyberg
Nyman
Nyström
Öberg
Obrien
Ochoa
Oconnor
Oliver
Olivier
Ollivier
Olofsson
Olson
Olsson
Ortega
Ortiz
Owens
Pacheco
Padilla
Page
Pages
Palmer
Parent
Paris
Park
Parker
Parks
Parmentier
Parsons
Pascal
Pasquier
Patel
Patterson
Paul
Payne
Pearson
Pelletier
Peltier
Pena
Pereira
Perez
Perkins
Peron
Perret
Perrier
Perrin
Perrot
Perry
Person
Persson
Peters
Peterson
Petersson
Petit
Petitjean
Pettersson
Pham
Philippe
Phillips
Picard
Pichon
Picot
Pierce
Pierre
Pineau
Platt
Plunkett
Poirier
Poisson
Pollock
Ponce
Pons
Porter
Post
Potier
Potter
Pottier
Poulain
Powell
Powers
Prado
Prat
Previn
Prevost
Prevot
Price
Prieto
Prigent
Prost
Prunk
Pruvost
Pujol
Puller
Pulman
Punch
Putnam
Quaice
Quaid
Quall
Quarters
Quick
Quimby
Quinn
Quiroga
Race
Radiguet
Rafus
Rainwater
Ramirez
Ramos
Ramsey
Rand
Rault
Ray
Raymond
Raynaud
Redgrave
Redman
Reed
Reese
Reeves
Regnier
Reid
Remy
Renard
Renaud
Renault
Renfro
Renshaw
Rey
Reyes
Reynaud
Reynolds
Rhodes
Ribeiro
Ricard
Rice
Richard
Richards
Richardson
Richter
Riddle
Rifkin
Rigby
Riggs
Riker
Riley
Rios
Riou
Ripa
Ripley
Ripperton
Rivas
Rivera
Rivero
Riviere
Robbins
Robert
Roberts
Robertson
Robin
Robinson
Robles
Roche
Rocher
Rodgers
Rodrigues
Rodriguez
Roger
Rogers
Rojas
Roland
Rolland
Roman
Romano
Romero
Romirez
Romo
Root
Roques
Rosales
Rose
Rosenberg
Ross
Rossi
Rossignol
Rousseau
Roussel
Rousset
Roux
Rowe
Rowland
Roy
Royer
Rudd
Rude
Ruiz
Russell
Russo
Ruster
Ryan
Sabanthia
Sabatier
Salaun
Salazar
Salinas
Salmon
Samuelsson
Sanchez
Sandberg
Sanders
Sandoval
Sands
Sandström
Santiago
Santos
Sasai
Saunders
Sauvage
Savage
Savoy
Saxon
Scardino
Schmidt
Schmitt
Schneider
Schroeder
Schultz
Schwartz
Scott
Seagate
Seguin
Seibert
Sellier
Sereno
Serrano
Serre
Sharp
Shaver
Shaw
Shea
Sheehan
Shelton
Sherman
Shields
Shippen
Shivers
Shock
Shute
Silva
Silver
Simerly
Simmons
Simon
Simpson
Sims
Sinclair
Singh
Sjöberg
Sjögren
Skills
Skinner
Skirth
Sloane
Small
Smith
Snyder
Söderberg
Söderström
Solis
Soria
Sorrow
Sosa
Sotelo
Soto
Spacek
Spencer
Spieth
Spinks
Stamper
Standifer
Stanley
Stapleton
Steele
Stelly
Stepfan
Stephens
Stevens
Stevenson
Stewart
Stiner
Stitchen
Stockton
Stone
Stoneking
Story
Strickland
Strode
Ström
Strömberg
Stroud
Suarez
Suggs
Sullivan
Sundberg
Sundström
Surrett
Sutton
Svensson
Swanson
Swiatek
Swift
Sykes
Tait
Tanaka
Tanguy
Tanner
Tapp
Tardy
Tate
Taylor
Taymor
Tellier
Temple
Templeton
Tepper
Terry
Tessier
Texier
Thain
Theo
Thibault
Thiebaut
Thierry
Thiery
Thomas
Thompson
Thornton
Tibbs
Tippett
Todd
Toller
Torres
Tournier
Toussaint
Townsend
Tracy
Tran
Trapp
Trench
Tripper
Trujillo
Trumbo
Truth
Tucker
Turner
Turpin
Tussac
Tway
Twigg
Udder
Underhill
Unger
Vaccaro
Vaillant
Valdez
Valencia
Valentin
Valette
Vallee
Vallet
Varela
Vargas
Vasher
Vasquez
Vasseur
Vaughn
Vazquez
Vega
Vegas
Velasquez
Vera
Verdier
Vess
Vestine
Vial
Vickers
Vidal
Villalba
Vincent
Voight
Voisin
Volek
Vroman
Wadd
Wade
Wagner
Wainwright
Walcott
Walker
Wall
Wallace
Wallin
Walsh
Walter
Walters
Walton
Wang
Ward
Warner
Warren
Warrick
Washington
Waters
Watkins
Watson
Watts
Weaver
Webb
Weber
Webster
Weeks
Welch
Wells
West
Wexler
Whalen
Wheeler
Whesker
White
Whitner
Wight
Wilde
Williams
Williamson
Willis
Wilson
Winchell
Winchester
Winding
Winters
Winthrop
Wire
Wise
Witt
Wixx
Wolf
Wolfe
Wolfenstein
Wong
Wood
Woodard
Woods
Woodson
Wooster
Wooten
Wright
Wu
Xavier
Ximinez
Yadao
Yaeger
Yale
Yanetta
Yang
Yarborough
Yates
Yearwood
Yellen
Young
Youngblood
Zabik
Zabinkski
Zade
Zader
Zahn
Zale
Zant
Zapf
Zasso
Zavaroni
Zeagler
Zeck
Zedillo
Zeller
Zhang
Zimmerman
We hope that you find the perfect surnames for all your characters in this list!
