Howdy, y’all! This list can be used as a wild West name generator!

I had a list of names from the wild West in the original Master Lists for Writers, but I cut it from the new and expanded Master Lists for Writers: Gold Edition because I wasn’t sure it was being used as much as other lists. 

However…I figured that there might be a Western writer out there who bought the Gold Edition, so I wanted to make this available.

Of course, I couldn’t resist doing more research and making it longer than the original list!

These are authentic wild West cowboy names…and more…

from the Western U.S. in the 1800s. I obtained most of them from census records, and some from business and military records. They belonged to ranchers, outlaws, lawmen, buffalo soldiers, soldiers who fought at the Alamo, railroad laborers, gold prospectors, sex workers, business owners, rodeo performers, and other entertainers. 

Several names on this list of names from the wild West are unusual, and some sound like nicknames. They may still be given names. In some cases, a person’s nickname may have become so common that their legal name was forgotten. 

Many of these names are English or German in origin, and some appear to be American inventions. Names with an asterisk belonged to Mexicans or Mexican Americans. You probably know that literally any names from the Bible will be appropriate for white characters in the Wild West, and their Spanish versions will be appropriate for your Mexican characters, so I didn’t list all of them. 🙂 

Two asterisks indicates a Chinese name, as spelled in census records. With Chinese names, the family name actually comes first; I’ve included some real examples of full names for reference. There were many more men than women of Chinese descent in the “wild West” of the late 1800s. I didn’t find any female Chinese names, but I suspect there were some women who didn’t get recorded.

I’ve included some complete names of real Native Americans from “Indian census rolls” of the 1800s to inspire further research. I made that a separate list at the end because I have a few more notes there. I have no expertise in Native American names or history, and I highly recommend thorough research if this is part of your story.

Don’t forget to pin the post to Pinterest, or bookmark it, for future reference!

Wild West Names – Female

Adaline

Adelaide

Aleda

Alice

Almira

Alpha

America

Antonia*

Artemicia

Aurora

Banica

Barbary

Belle

Beulah

Birdie

Blanche

Caldonia

Calsey

Canderlaria*

Carmen*

Caroline

Caterina*

Charity

Cordelia

Cory

Della

Dina

Dixie

Dolly

Dolores*

Donita*

Drusilla

Edgarda

Effie

Elisa

Elvina

Ernestine

Eliza

Elnora

Etta

Eugenia

Fanny

Faustina

Faye

Flora

Freda

Fredricka

Guadelupe*

Gussie

Harriet

Hattie

Helentha

Helvina

Henriette

Hepsibah

Ida

Iola

Irene

Isadora*

Iva

Kittie

Jane

Jewell

Josephine

Josie

Jovenita*

Lena

Lenora

Lettie

Lissie

Lola

Lotta

Lovina

Lucinda

Lucy

Luella

Lulu

Magdalena*

Malena

Malinda

Mariah

Marietta

Martha

Mary

Mattie

Medina

Mina

Minerva

Missouri

Mittie

Myra

Nannie

Narcissa

Nellie

Nesta

Nettie

Nicolasa*

Parthenia

Patsie

Pearl

Philena

Pleasant

Polly

Reta

Reva

Rosalia

Rosetta

Sadie

Salina

Sallie (or Sally)

Sarah

Sirena

Solana

Sura

Temperance

Thresia

Tillie

Trinidad*

Una

Ursula

Versie Mae

Vesta

Victoriana*

Vina

Viola

Virginia

Wilhelmina

Zephyr

Zerelda*

Zola

Wild West Names – Male

Abraham

Adam

Adison

Alladin

Alexander

Allen

Alvis

Antone

Arthur

Axel

Bass

Bing

Boone

Bose

Bruno

Burrell

Buster

Calhoun

Camillus

Cassius

Chambers

Chancy

Chin** (Chin Lin Sou was a railroad worker who became a community leader in Colorado)

Chun** (Chun Ming was a successful prospector in the California Gold Rush)

Clinton

Cornelius

Cyrus

Dallas

Delton

Dewitt

Elfego*

Eli

Ellwood

Emil

Emmett

Ervine

Eselbert

Estevan*

Eulogio*

Fidelous

Fine

Fletcher

Floyd

Frank

Fredrick/Frederick

George

Gideon

Gregorio*

Grover

Gustave

Gustavus

Ham

Hamilton

Hampton

Henry

Herman

Hilliard

Hiram

Holden

Hugo

Hung** (Hung Lai Wah and Hung Jick Wah were brothers and railroad workers)

Isham

Jin**

Jackson

Jacob

Jake

James

Jasper

Jeremiah

Joseph

José*

Josiah

Jow** (Jow Kee had a contracting company that supplied labor to the railways; his name was sometimes Americanized to “Jow King”)

Judd

Julius

Lacon

Lafayette

Lamoyne

Larken (also Larkin)

Launcelot

Leander

Leland

Leonidas

Lester

Levi

Lewellyn

Li** (Li Chung and Li Shao were railway workers; Li Wong owned a successful shop in Deadwood)

Lin**

Lot

Loyal

Lucien

Lucius

Lyman

Mack

Major

Marlin

Marquess

Maximino*

Melchior

Merritt

Millard

Milo

Mitch

Mose

Newton

Orlindo

Paden

Patrick

Peter

Pious

Pliney

Preston

Prince

Prudencio*

Pryor

Quan**

Quincy

Ramón

Ransom

Roscoe

Sam

Samuel

Shelby

Septimus

Silas

Simeon

Socorro*

Stillman

Theodore

Temple

Tiburcio*

Tuck

Uriah

Valentine

Varney

Venturo*

Volney

Warner

Washington

Weston

Wiley

Willie

Wing** (Wing Tsue was a prospector in Deadwood)

Worth

Wright

Native American Names in the Wild West

Again, this is a tiny sampling! We are talking about so many indigenous​ nations here that there’s no way for me to do it justice without taking a year off and writing a book. I’m just including this because sometimes with research, it’s nice to have a place to start.

Some good information for you:

On the Indian Census rolls from the 1800s that I studied, the vast majority of the first names were European in origin—usually English, sometimes Spanish or French. A majority of the surnames were European as well. In some cases, maybe the European name recorded was not their only name, because here and there, I did see both a European name and a Native American name recorded.

Ketherethaiva (female, Apache Mojave, Arizona)

Purahavasua (male, Apache Mojave, Arizona)

Quavaquitas (male, Apache Mojave, Arizona)

Yida Yazzie (female, Navajo, Arizona) (I saw many instances of this last name among Navajo people.)

Cinnajinnie Begay (male, Navajo, Arizona) (I saw many instances of this one among Navajo people, too. Here’s a good guide to common Navajo surnames.)

Ten-Hi-Bou-Ney (male, Navajo, Arizona)

Lin-Toz-Noz (male, Navajo, Arizona)

Ku-Ney-Sh-Mah (female, Navajo, Arizona)

Singin-Oto-Pah (female, Navajo, Arizona)

Glen Ye Pah Jose (female, Navajo, New Mexico)

Maggie Danebah (female, Navajo, New Mexico)

Billie Roanhorse (male, Navajo, New Mexico)

Kate Paradise (female, Western Shoshone, Nevada)

Mack Winnemucca/Se-Ah-Pe-Hah Winnemucca (male, Piute, Nevada)

Chas Quartz/We-So-No Quartz (male, Piute, Nevada) (I also saw “Piute” spelled “Pah-Ute” and “Paiute”)

Nancy Cuthair (female, Ute, Colorado)

Eliza Hawk Chase (female, Ute, Colorado)

Primrose Tom Howe (female, Ute, Colorado)

Bill Coyote (male, Ute, Colorado)

Herbert E. Cloud (male, Ute, Colorado)

George Tree (male, Ute, Colorado)

Black Bull (male, Arapahoe, Wyoming)

Big Shield (male, Arapahoe, Wyoming)

Looks Down Hill (female, Arapahoe, Wyoming)

Runs Fast (female, Arapahoe, Wyoming)

Sings In the Water (female, Arapahoe, Wyoming)

Richard Medicinebear (male, Crow, Montana)

Barney Looksback (male, Crow, Montana)

Mazel Redwolf (female, Crow, Montana)

Fannie Fighter (female, Crow, Montana)

Jennie Smartenemy (female, Kite, Montana)

Bright Wings (female, Kite, Montana)

Lizzie Shane Yellowtail (female, Kite, Montana)

Rides Pretty (male, Kite, Montana)

William Stealbear (male, Kite, Montana) (I saw “bear” used many times in Native American names.)

Jennie Left Hand Thunder (female, Sioux and Assiniboin, Montana) (I saw “left hand” used several times, too.)

Lottie Bald Eagle (female, Ogala Lakota, South Dakota)

Oliver Plenty Stars (male, Ogala Lakota, South Dakota)

Julia Sleeping Bear (female, Rosebud Sioux, South Dakota)

Frank Four Horns (male, Rosebud Sioux, South Dakota)

Holy Door (male, Rosebud Sioux, South Dakota)

Wah-Gish-Co-Met (male, Pottawatomie, Kansas)

Mash-Kah-Shuck (male, Pottawatomie, Kansas)

Se-Be-Quah (female, Pottawatomie, Kansas)

Char-Co-Tha (male, Kickapoo, Kansas)

Kah-Be-Ah (female, Kickapoo, Kansas)

Bertha Wolf (female, Ho-Chunk, Nebraska)

James Yellow Bank (male, Ho-Chunk, Nebraska) 

William Big Fire (male, Ho-Chunk, Nebraska) 

Henry Blackbird (male, Ho-Chunk, Nebraska)

Ta Sa We Porter (female, Omaha tribe, Nebraska)

Se Gra No Ga (male, Omaha tribe, Nebraska)

Neda Sou We Penn (female, Omaha tribe, Nebraska)

Che We Quay (female, Abrintie Shawnee, Oklahoma)

Jennie Cigar (female, Abrintie Shawnee, Oklahoma)

Cora Beaver (female, Abrintie Shawnee, Oklahoma)

Wah-Sti-Pe-Mas-Ca-Co (male, Abrintie Shawnee, Oklahoma)

John Spybuck (male, Abrintie Shawnee, Oklahoma)