Kate Monk's Onomastikon

At Kate Monk's Onomastikon (Dictionary of Names) she has compiled and organized an extensive resource for naming foreign characters: first names, surnames and naming practices from around the world, past and present. Where else will you find 156 Mongolian first names? And 293 Anglo-Saxon names? And a list of not only Russian first names but also nicknames?

While baby name sites will eagerly provide you with a list of foreign names, often nicknames and English versions of the names are mixed in. Kate Monk has provided some well researched lists, originally intended for gamers: America, Ancient World, Africa, Celtic, England (divided into historical periods), Europe, Former Soviet Union, Inida, Middle East, Orient, Pacific.

The Native American and Pacific Islander names are a bit sketchy. And the lists are divided up a little too much (to find all the Russian male names you need to view six different pages: Greek, Latin, Biblical, Slavic, Germanic and Various. The lists were compiled 10 years ago so I suspect page load time was her concern at the time but all in all very useful.

(A few of the links are broken and you'll be directed to a page with some choices. The choices work just fine.)

Here's a few women's names pulled together in a few minutes:

Nyanath Kayra (Sudan)
Ethne Dinneen (Celtic)
Grazia Salutari (Italian)
Tereza Lucescu (Romanian)
Kolbrun "Kolly" Sigurbjornsson (Iceland)
Kifayat Chorakchi (Azerbaijan)
Kavika Revathi (India)
Damla Kazaz (Turkey)
Qori Dashyondon (Mongolia)
Natsuko Shizuma (Japan)
Nyree Rupuma (Maori)
Xetsa Donkor (Ghana)
Fientje Barberie (Netherlands)