How it works
This Christmas elf name generator pairs 60 first names with 60 last names. That makes 3,600 elf names, such as Gumdrop Tinseltoes or Nutmeg McSnowflake. Press New elf name for a random one. It also works as a Santa elf name generator by chart. Your first initial picks the first name and your birth month picks the last. Nothing is typed.
Read the full guide
Name the whole room from one phone
Press New elf name and both names change. Read the name out, point at the next person and press again. On a laptop the space bar does the same job. Each part deals all 60 of its names before it repeats one, so a class of thirty hears thirty different first names. If a child loves Pompom but not the last name, tap the padlock beside the first name and press again. Only the last name changes. The round arrows beside a part change that part alone. Copy puts the name on the clipboard for a place card or a gift tag.
The chart: first initial plus birth month
The chart gives each guest the one name that is theirs. Scroll to the lists under the tool and press Show all 60 first names. The first 26 run A to Z, so find the first letter of your own first name. The first 12 last names run January to December, so find your birth month. Sam, born in March, is Sprinkles Eiderdown. Zoe, born in December, is Zippy Tinseltoes. Nobody types anything. You read it like a menu. A house option: give the whole party the last name of the month you are in.
The printed list and what the phone keeps
Both lists sit under the tool in full: chart names first, then sweets, winter and workshop names. Print 30 elf names makes a sheet of thirty different names to cut into strips and draw from a hat. Save keeps a name under Saved, History holds your last 20, and Share copies a link that opens on the same name. The elf name of the day is the same for everyone who visits that day.
- Write the chart on poster board by the door: 26 letters down one side, 12 months down the other.
- For a classroom door sign, lock one last name and print. You get thirty elves from one family, such as the Snickerdoodles.
- Call elf names, not real ones, when it is time to pick a gift or take a turn. Buttons Northstar goes first.
- Two kids with the same initial and birth month land on the same chart name. Let the second one tap the round arrows beside the first name once and keep the family name.
- Naming a toy elf at home? Tap the padlock on the name one child likes, let the other child press New elf name, and save the pair you agree on.
Questions and answers
How many elf names are there?
There are 60 first names and 60 last names, and any first can land with any last, which makes 3,600 full names. The chart part is smaller: 26 first names, one per letter, and 12 last names, one per month. That gives 312 chart names, one for every pairing of first initial and birth month.
Are these names from a movie or a book?
No. All 120 names were made up for this page from candy, winter and workshop words. None is taken from a film, a book, a TV special or a boxed toy, and there are no reindeer names, because those belong to the reindeer. If a name happens to match a character somewhere, that is a coincidence.
Is it safe for a class or a young child?
Yes. The page asks for no names, no birthdays and no typing. The chart is read by eye and a new name takes one tap. Every name is a sweet, a winter word or a workshop word, with no drink words and nothing with a second meaning. Saved names and history are kept in the browser you are using and are not sent anywhere.
Can I print name tags?
The tool prints a plain list of 30 names, not badges. For name tags, print the list, cut it into strips and tape each strip to a sticker label, or have kids copy their chart name onto a tag that says Hello, my elf name is.
What do words like Eiderdown and Bobbin mean?
A few names are old workshop and winter words, and the full list explains each one in a line. An eiderdown is a quilt filled with soft feathers, a bobbin holds the thread on a sewing machine, and to whittle is to carve wood with a small knife. Marzipan, praline and nougat are all candies.