Names by country
Australian names for characters
Popular Australian first names by birth decade, common and regional surnames, pronunciation, and the naming rules writers trip over.
How Australian names work
Australians usually carry one middle name. Maree as a middle name is a distinctly Australian, often Catholic, spelling. Nicknames (Davo, Shazza, Macca) are everyday speech, not legal names.
First names by birth decade
Names drift in and out of fashion. Pick from the decade your character was born, not the year your story is set.
Born before 1950
Girls
- Margaret
- Patricia
- Joan
- Dorothy
- Betty
- Shirley
- Barbara
- Jean
Boys
- John
- Robert
- Peter
- William
- Kevin
- Brian
- Ronald
- Kenneth
Born 1950–64
Girls
- Susan
- Christine
- Jennifer
- Lynette
- Kerry
- Sandra
- Julie
- Deborah
Boys
- David
- Peter
- Stephen
- Michael
- John
- Graham
- Gregory
- Gary
Born 1965–79
Girls
- Michelle
- Lisa
- Nicole
- Kylie
- Rebecca
- Melissa
- Sharon
- Natalie
Boys
- Andrew
- Matthew
- Craig
- Darren
- Jason
- Shane
- Scott
- Brett
Born 1980–94
Girls
- Jessica
- Sarah
- Emma
- Rebecca
- Kate
- Amy
- Laura
- Stephanie
Boys
- Matthew
- Daniel
- Joshua
- Benjamin
- Luke
- James
- Nathan
- Thomas
Born 1995–2009
Girls
- Chloe
- Emily
- Jessica
- Olivia
- Ella
- Isabella
- Sophie
- Georgia
Boys
- Jack
- Joshua
- Thomas
- Lachlan
- Cooper
- Riley
- Liam
- Ethan
Born 2010 onward
Girls
- Charlotte
- Olivia
- Amelia
- Isla
- Mia
- Ava
- Grace
- Willow
Boys
- Oliver
- Noah
- William
- Jack
- Leo
- Henry
- Lucas
- Hudson
Common Australian surnames
- Smith
- Jones
- Williams
- Brown
- Wilson
- Taylor
- Johnson
- White
- Martin
- Anderson
- Thompson
- Walker
- Ryan
- Kelly
- O'Brien
- Murphy
- Campbell
- Mitchell
- Harris
- Robinson
- Clarke
- King
- Young
- Wright
Regional names
Where a character comes from inside Australia changes their surname, and sometimes their first name.
Irish-Catholic families (QLD, NSW, Victoria)
Catholic families often chose saints' names as middle names (Patrick, Joseph, Maree, Bernadette) and sent children to schools run by the Christian Brothers or the Sisters of Mercy.
Surnames: Ryan, O'Brien, Kelly, Murphy, Sullivan, Byrne, Kennedy, Brennan, Quinn, Moloney
South Australia (German-Lutheran heritage)
Lutheran settlers arrived in the Barossa and Adelaide Hills from the 1830s. Some families anglicised their names during the First World War.
Surnames: Schulz, Hahn, Kuchel, Hoffmann, Lehmann, Mattner, Klemm, Schiller, Kleinig, Graetz
Questions
What are common Australian surnames?
Some of the most common Australian surnames are Smith, Jones, Williams, Brown, Wilson, Taylor. Regional surnames differ, so check the regional lists before choosing one for a character from a particular area.
How do Australian names work?
Australians usually carry one middle name. Maree as a middle name is a distinctly Australian, often Catholic, spelling. Nicknames (Davo, Shazza, Macca) are everyday speech, not legal names.
Build a Australian character in one tap
InkBorn gives them a name from the right decade, a face card, a background, a personality and even their social media handles.