The Names Database

The names database is a SQLite database used by mkname to store the data used to generate names. It consists of a single table:

names
(PK) id
name
source
culture
data
gender
kind

A description of each field can be found in Name Data.

Default Database

The default database is a names database that comes with the mkname package. It’s intended to provide a basic set of names data for the generation of names.

The default database is definitely biased towards the culture of the midwestern United States in 2025, but I’d be happy to expand its usefulness. The main limitation right now is my inability to read languages other than English well enough to be able to track down and understand census data in other languages. Though, admittedly, I haven’t looked at census data for Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, or New Zealand yet, either.

The data from Name Census looks promising, but it also looks like it requires licensing to use. This is understandable. Collecting name data from around the world isn’t easy. However, it means I can’t include data from Name Census in the default database. mkname.tools does have the ability to import data from Name Census to a new names database, though, so if you would rather use their data than the default database, you should be able to acquire the needed licenses and do so.