Random fake names

Question

Some websites create random fake names when you create a project file. For example, creating a project within Heroku could generate "immense-bastion-4566" as a project name. I would like to know how they create those names, because I would like to use the same technique in an iOS app.

My guess is they have a DB with names they just randomly pick names, but where do they get these databases from? Any hints?

The number part seems fairly straighforward, I would imagine a PRNG would work for that part. As for the names, a noun list, with PRNG seems like it gets the job done. You can find noun lists online. I can't be sure if `Heroku` employs the same method though. — eazar001, Apr 17 '14 at 22:04

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 17 '14 at 22:10

It looks like it'd be two tables: one adjective table, one noun table. When creating a project, they could create a name by picking a random entry from each table, then appending a randomly-generated number to the end.

According to this site, one can efficiently pick a random entry from a table like so (assuming a table definition of id/word):

SELECT `word` FROM `nouns` 
    WHERE id >= (SELECT FLOOR(MAX(id) * RAND()) FROM `nouns`)
ORDER BY `id` LIMIT 1

Repeat for an adjective.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:48

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As you specifically asked for Heroku, you can read up on their implementation here How can I programmatically generate Heroku-like subdomain names?.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:48

Community

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answered Apr 17 '14 at 22:14

Thomas Obermüller

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 08 '14 at 06:13

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RandomUsername in Ruby uses cultivated lists of adjectives & nouns. It doesn't use a dictionary or general-purpose word database because many of those words have a strong negative connotation, and therefore not appropriate in a business context.

answered Sep 08 '14 at 06:13

m1foley

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Random fake names

3 Answers3