Sometimes when you're writing a novel, story or screenplay the characters' names pop into your mind easily. At other times, you might find the Random Thing Generator useful.
At the Random Thing Generator site you'll see three lists: names, addresses, and businesses. Each of them offers you ten items. For instance, when I looked at the site the first three names were:
Pamela Baker, Louise James, Gerald S. Thompson
The first 3 addresses were 1344 1st St, Eugene, VT, 257 Lincoln Blvd, Albuquerque, OK, and 1137 Walnut Lane, Charlotte, MI.
The first 3 businesses were Lillian's Fish & Fries, Heather's Mac & Cheese, and Chris's Dive Bar.
If you don't like any of the items, you can click on "Refresh" and you'll get ten more.
It's not perfect--there's a shortage of ethnic names, and all the businesses seem to start with a name (like the three above, or Jurgen's Words and Phrases Discount Outlet).
Also it's not clear whether the addresses are totally random--that is, one random street number plus one random street name plus one random town or city plus one state. I looked up the MI address and there is an 1137 Walnut Street (not Lane) in Charlotte MI. Even with the Street/Lane difference, I'd worry if I happened to be writing a thriller in which a crazed killer is found to be holed up at that address and somebody lived at the almost identical real location. If by chance the real person bore any kind of resemblance to my serial killer a lawsuit might be forthcoming.
However, as a way to prompty your own character names, street names, or business names, a few minutes with the Random Thing Generator could be useful.
