randomname is a program (and library) that generates random names.
If you often need to create somewhat transient things with names that are easy to remember, like I do, you may find this helpful.
randomname can output names with 1 to 3 parts that are randomly chosen from lists of adjectives, animals, colors, periodic table elements, notable people, nouns and numbers.
The default output is a 2-part name in the form of adjective-noun.
Example:
$ randomname
sharp-proposal
There are presets for creating names that sound like Ubuntu releases, docker containers (the list of adjectives and notable persons are taken straight from the docker project) and heroku instances:
$ randomname --ubuntu
happy-hapuku
$ randomname --docker
relaxed_carson
$ randomname --heroku
unarmed-business-6349
but you can also specify options to adjust the output to your liking:
$ randomname --left color --middle element --right number
auburn-carbon-6428
$ randomname --left color --left-start a --right animal --right-start b
amber-bonobo
$ randomname --separator : --right color
clever:bittersweet-shimmer
Here is the help output so you can have an idea of all available options:
$ randomname --help
randomname - a random name generator
Usage: randomname [options]
Options:
-l, --left=WORDLIST What to use for the left part of the name.
See word lists below. Default: adjective
-m, --middle=WORDLIST What to use for the middle part of the name.
See word lists below. Default: none
-r, --right=WORDLIST What to use for the right part of the name.
See word lists below. Default: noun
--left-start=LETTER The 1st letter of the left word (a-z).
--middle-start=LETTER The 1st letter of the middle word (a-z).
--right-start=LETTER The 1st letter of the right word (a-z).
-s, --separator=SEPARATOR The separator to use between words. Default: '-'
Place separator inside quotes if it's a special
character that may be interpreted by your shell.
--no-dashes Do not allow words with dashes (e.g. bite-sized).
--docker Create names like docker containers.
--heroku Create names like heroku.
--ubuntu[=LETTER] Create names that sound like Ubuntu releases.
You can optionally specify the 1st letter to use.
Word lists:
none Do not use this part of the name.
adjective A list of adjectives.
adjective-docker A smaller list of adjectives as used by docker.
animal A list of animals.
color A list of colors.
element A list of periodic table elements.
noun A list of nouns.
number A four-digit number.
person A list of notable people as used by docker.
Help options:
-h, --help Show this help message.
Look into the librandomname.h header file for functions that you may
use to create random names in your own programs.
This project uses meson for compilation and installation. You can use something like the following from the top-level directory of the source code:
mkdir build
meson setup build
meson compile -C build
meson install -C build
You may use the --help options with any one of the meson commands to
show the available options:
meson setup --help
meson compile --help
meson install --help