Decision tool
What fits
What fits
your last name?
Some surnames want a short first name. Some want the long one. Type yours and see which names from the library land cleanly.
Names that land cleanly
Type a last name to see which library names sit best alongside it.
How we think about this
The rough rule is contrast. A long last name leans toward a short first name. A short last name leans toward a longer first. We check syllable balance, the seam between the two names (vowel meeting vowel slurs, the same consonant on both sides elides), and look for clean rhythmic shapes.
The scoring is a heuristic, not a verdict. Said-aloud beats said-on-paper every time. The ranking is a starting place.
Common questions
How does the scoring work?
Three signals. Syllable balance (a long surname leans toward a short first name and vice versa), seam transitions (vowel meeting vowel slurs, the same consonant on both sides elides), and a rhyme proxy on the last two letters. Higher score means the pair reads more cleanly aloud.
My last name doesn't return many results.
The corpus is over 1,000 names. For very long or unusual surnames, fewer pairings hit the sweet spot. The library is growing; the results widen as it does.
What about hyphenated or multi-word last names?
Treat the full hyphenated or compound surname as one input. The syllable count and seam analysis work on the combined form. For maiden + married pairings, try each separately.