unique-names-generator

What is unique-names-generator?

The unique-names-generator npm package is a utility for generating random names. It can be used to create unique names for various purposes such as testing, creating unique identifiers, or generating placeholder names.

What are unique-names-generator's main functionalities?

Basic Name Generation

This feature allows you to generate a random name by combining words from different dictionaries. In this example, it combines an adjective, a color, and an animal to create a unique name.

const { uniqueNamesGenerator, adjectives, colors, animals } = require('unique-names-generator');
const randomName = uniqueNamesGenerator({ dictionaries: [adjectives, colors, animals] });
console.log(randomName);

Custom Dictionaries

You can use custom dictionaries to generate names. This example uses custom arrays of fruits and colors to create a unique name.

const { uniqueNamesGenerator } = require('unique-names-generator');
const customDictionaries = [['apple', 'banana', 'cherry'], ['red', 'green', 'blue']];
const randomName = uniqueNamesGenerator({ dictionaries: customDictionaries });
console.log(randomName);

Configurable Separators

This feature allows you to configure the separator used between words in the generated name. In this example, a hyphen is used as the separator.

const { uniqueNamesGenerator, adjectives, colors, animals } = require('unique-names-generator');
const randomName = uniqueNamesGenerator({ dictionaries: [adjectives, colors, animals], separator: '-' });
console.log(randomName);

Length Constraints

You can specify the number of words to be used in the generated name. This example generates a name with two words.

const { uniqueNamesGenerator, adjectives, colors, animals } = require('unique-names-generator');
const randomName = uniqueNamesGenerator({ dictionaries: [adjectives, colors, animals], length: 2 });
console.log(randomName);

Other packages similar to unique-names-generator

chance

Chance is a utility for generating random data, including names, addresses, and other types of data. It offers more comprehensive data generation capabilities compared to unique-names-generator, which focuses primarily on name generation.

faker

Faker is a popular library for generating fake data, including names, addresses, and other types of data. It provides a wide range of data generation options and is more versatile than unique-names-generator.

random-words

Random-words is a simple utility for generating random words. While it does not offer the same level of customization as unique-names-generator, it can be used to generate random words for various purposes.

README

Unique Names Generator

More than 50,000,000 name combinations out of the box

What is Unique name generator?

Unique name generator is a tree-shakeable Node package for generating random and unique names.

It comes with a list of dictionaries out of the box, but you can also provide your custom ones.

Docs

This documentation is for the unique-names-generator v4.

If you are using a version 3.x of the library, please refer to the v3 Docs

For the version 1 & 2, please refer to the v2 Docs

Migrating to v4

If you want to migrate, from an older version of the library to v4, please read the Migration guide

Table of contents

• Unique Names Generator
  • What is Unique name generator?
  • Docs
    • Migrating to v4
  • Table of contents
  • Prerequisites
  • Installation
  • Usage
    • Typescript support
  • API
    • uniqueNamesGenerator (options)
    • options
      • dictionaries
      • separator
      • length
      • style
      • seed
  • Dictionaries available
    • Numbers
    • Adjectives
    • Animals
    • Colors
    • Countries
    • Names
    • Languages
    • Star Wars
    • Default dictionaries
    • Custom dictionaries
    • Numbers Dictionary
  • Numbers Dictionary API
    • generate (options)
    • options
      • min
      • max
      • length
    • Combining custom and provided dictionaries
  • Migration guide
    • Migration guide from version 3 to version 4
      • Mandatory dictionaries config
    • Migration guide from version 1 or 2
      • uniqueNamesGenerator
      • Separator
      • Short
  • Contributing
  • License
  • Contributors ✨

Prerequisites

This project requires NodeJS (at least version 6) and NPM. Node and NPM are really easy to install. To make sure you have them available on your machine, try running the following command.

$ node --version
v7.10.1

$ npm --version
4.2.0

Installation

BEFORE YOU INSTALL: please read the prerequisites

Install the package using npm or Yarn

$ npm i -S unique-names-generator

Or using Yarn

$ yarn add unique-names-generator

Usage

const { uniqueNamesGenerator, adjectives, colors, animals } = require('unique-names-generator');

const randomName = uniqueNamesGenerator({ dictionaries: [adjectives, colors, animals] }); // big_red_donkey

const shortName = uniqueNamesGenerator({
  dictionaries: [adjectives, animals, colors], // colors can be omitted here as not used
  length: 2
}); // big-donkey

Typescript support

This package export a type definition file so you can use it, out of the box, inside your Typescript project.

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, Config, adjectives, colors, animals } from 'unique-names-generator';

const customConfig: Config = {
  dictionaries: [adjectives, colors],
  separator: '-',
  length: 2,
};

const randomName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator({
  dictionaries: [adjectives, colors, animals]
}); // big_red_donkey

const shortName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator(customConfig); // big-donkey

API

uniqueNamesGenerator (options)

Returns a string with a random generated name

options

Type: Config

dictionaries

Type: array

required: true

This is an array of dictionaries. Each dictionary is an array of strings containing the words to use for generating the string.

The provided dictionaries can be imported from the library as a separate modules and provided in the desired order.

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, adjectives, colors, animals } from 'unique-names-generator';

const shortName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator({
  dictionaries: [colors, adjectives, animals]
}); // red_big_donkey

Read more about the dictionaries and how to use them, in the Dictionaries section.

separator

Type: string

required: false

Default: _

A string separator to be used for separate the words generated. The default separator is set to _.

length

Type: number

required: false

Default: 3

The default value is set to 3 and it will return a name composed of 3 words. This values must be equal or minor to the number of dictionaries defined (3 by default). Setting the length to a value of 4 will throw an error when only 3 dictionaries are provided.

style

Type: lowerCase | upperCase | capital

required: false

Default: lowerCase

The default value is set to lowerCase and it will return a lower case name. By setting the value to upperCase, the words, will be returned with all the letters in upper case format. The capital option will capitalize each word of the unique name generated

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, adjectives, colors, animals } from 'unique-names-generator';

const capitalizedName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator({
  dictionaries: [colors, adjectives, animals],
  style: 'capital'
}); // Red_Big_Donkey

const upperCaseName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator({
  dictionaries: [colors, adjectives, animals],
  style: 'upperCase'
}); // RED_BIG_DONKEY

const lowerCaseName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator({
  dictionaries: [colors, adjectives, animals],
  style: 'lowerCase'
}); // red_big_donkey

seed

Type: number | string

required: false

A seed is used when wanting to deterministically generate a name. As long as the provided seed is the same the generated name will also always be the same.

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, adjectives, colors, animals } from 'unique-names-generator';
const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [adjectives, colors, animals],
  separator: '-',
  seed: 120498,
};

const nameFromSeed: string = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // continuous-gray-dragonfly

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, adjectives, colors, animals } from 'unique-names-generator';
const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [adjectives, colors, animals],
  separator: '-',
  seed: 'you can use strings as a seed',
};

const nameFromSeed: string = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // stable-crimson-porpoise

Dictionaries available

Numbers

This is a dynamic dictionary. Read more in the Numbers Dictionary section

Adjectives

A list of more than 1,400 adjectives ready for you to use

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, Config, adjectives } from 'unique-names-generator';

const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [adjectives]
}

const characterName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // big

Animals

A list of more than 350 animals ready to use

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, Config, animals } from 'unique-names-generator';

const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [animals]
}

const characterName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // donkey

Colors

A list of more than 50 different colors

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, Config, colors } from 'unique-names-generator';

const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [colors]
}

const characterName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // red

Countries

A list of more than 250 different countries

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, Config, countries } from 'unique-names-generator';

const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [countries]
}

const characterName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // United Arab Emirates

Names

A list of more than 4,900 unique names

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, Config, names } from 'unique-names-generator';

const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [names]
}

const characterName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // Winona

Languages

A list of languages

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, Config, languages } from 'unique-names-generator';

const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [languages]
}

const characterName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // polish

Star Wars

A list of more than 80 unique character names from Star Wars

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, Config, starWars } from 'unique-names-generator';

const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [starWars]
}

const characterName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // Han Solo

Default dictionaries

By default, the Unique name generator library comes with 3 dictionaries out of the box, so that you can use them straight away. Starting from the version 4 of the library, however, you must explicitly provide the dictionaries within the configuration object. This is for reducing the bundle size and allowing tree shaking to remove the extra dictionaries from your bundle when using custom ones.

The new syntax for using the default dictionaries is the following:

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, Config, adjectives, colors, animals } from 'unique-names-generator';

const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [adjectives, colors, animals]
}

const characterName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // red_big_donkey

Custom dictionaries

You might want to provide your custom dictionaries to use for generating your unique names, in order to meet your business requirements.

You can easily do that using the dictionaries option.

import { uniqueNamesGenerator } from 'unique-names-generator';

const starWarsCharacters = [
  'Han Solo',
  'Jabba The Hutt',
  'R2-D2',
  'Luke Skywalker',
  'Princess Leia Organa'
];
const colors = [
  'Green', 'Red', 'Yellow', 'Black'
]

const characterName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator({
  dictionaries: [colors, starWarsCharacters],
  length: 2,
  separator: ' '
}); // Green Luke Skywalker

Numbers Dictionary

You can easily generate random numbers inside your unique name using the Numbers dictionary helper.

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, NumberDictionary } from 'unique-names-generator';

const numberDictionary = NumberDictionary.generate({ min: 100, max: 999 });
const characterName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator({
dictionaries: [['Dangerous'], ['Snake'], numberDictionary],
  length: 3,
  separator: '',
  style: 'capital'
}); // DangerousSnake123

Numbers Dictionary API

generate (options)

Returns a string with a random generated number between 1 and 999

options

Type: Config

min

Type: number

required: false

default: 1

The minimum value to be returned as a random number

max

Type: number

required: false

default: 999

The maximum value to be returned as a random number

length

Type: number

required: false

The length of the random generated number to be returned.

Setting a length of 3 will always return a random number between 100 and 999. This is the same as setting 100 and 999 as min and max option.

Note If set, this will ignore any min and max options provided.

Combining custom and provided dictionaries

You can reuse the dictionaries provided by the library. Just import the ones that you need and use them directly in your app.

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, adjectives, colors } from 'unique-names-generator';

const improvedAdjectives = [
  ...adjectives,
  'abrasive',
  'brash',
  'callous',
  'daft',
  'eccentric',
];
const xMen = [
'professorX',
'beast',
'colossus',
'cyclops',
'iceman',
'wolverine',
];

const characterName: string = uniqueNamesGenerator({
  dictionaries: [improvedAdjectives, color, xMen],
  length: 2,
  separator: '-'
}); // eccentric-blue-iceman

Migration guide

Migration guide from version 3 to version 4

Unique names generator v4 implement a new breaking change.

Mandatory dictionaries config

You must now explicitly provide the library with the dictionaries to use. This is for improving flexibility and allowing tree-shaking to remove the unused dictionaries from your bundle size.

Read more about the dictionaries in the Dictionaries section.

v3

import { uniqueNamesGenerator } from 'unique-names-generator';

const randomName = uniqueNamesGenerator(); // big_red_donkey

v4

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, Config, adjectives, colors, animals } from 'unique-names-generator';

const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [adjectives, colors, animals]
}

const randomName = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // big_red_donkey

Migration guide from version 1 or 2

Unique names generator v3 implements a couple of breaking changes. If are upgrading your library from a version 1 or 2, you might be interested in knowing the following:

uniqueNamesGenerator

This will now work only when a dictionaries array is provided according to the v4 breaking change.

v2

import { uniqueNamesGenerator } from 'unique-names-generator';

const randomName = uniqueNamesGenerator();

v4

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, Config, adjectives, colors, animals } from 'unique-names-generator';

const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [adjectives, colors, animals]
}

const randomName = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // big_red_donkey

Separator

v2

import { uniqueNamesGenerator } from 'unique-names-generator';

const shortName = uniqueNamesGenerator('-'); // big-red-donkey

v4

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, Config, adjectives, colors, animals } from 'unique-names-generator';

const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [adjectives, colors, animals],
  separator: '-'
}

const shortName = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // big-red-donkey

Short

The short property has been replaced by length so you can specify as many word as you want

v2

import { uniqueNamesGenerator } from 'unique-names-generator';

const shortName = uniqueNamesGenerator(true); // big-donkey

v4

import { uniqueNamesGenerator, Config, adjectives, colors, animals } from 'unique-names-generator';

const config: Config = {
  dictionaries: [adjectives, colors, animals],
  length: 2
}

const shortName = uniqueNamesGenerator(config); // big-donkey

Contributing

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct, and the process for submitting pull requests to us.

1. Fork it!
2. Create your feature branch: git checkout -b my-new-feature
3. Add your changes: git add .
4. Commit your changes: git commit -am 'Add some feature'
5. Push to the branch: git push origin my-new-feature
6. Submit a pull request :sunglasses:

License

MIT License © Andrea SonnY

Contributors ✨

Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):

Andrea Sonny 💻 📖 💬 📆 🤔 🖋	Abhijit Mehta 🤔	Grant Blakeman 💻 🐛	Deepak 📖 🤔	Anurag Jain 🤔	Digibake 🐛	Chase Moskal 🤔
tholst 📖	Johan Gustafsson 💻 🤔	Alex Wild 🐛 💻

This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!