Wu-Name Name Generator - How It Works

The PHP script uses two plain text files. One file holds all the adjectives. The other consists of all of the nouns. The script reads these files into two arrays. The PHP function file(filename) reads the filename file into an array with each line being an element of the array.

Next, randomly pick an element from each array. However, I don't want this to be totally random because your Wu-Name should not change each time you enter generate it. Thus, I start the random number generator with a seed number, which is based on the name entered. I use the PHP function srand(seed_number) to generate a random number. (This works just like the Perl function.)

How to Generate the Seed Number
To generate the seed number, I take the name submitted and character by character convert it to its ASCII number, using the PHP function ord(chr). This would generate the same name for ab as it would ba, so to avoid that I multiply the ASCII number by its position in the name.

How to Set Up and Pick from Arrays
Here is the PHP code for setting up the two arrays and creating the random number:

U.S. Name Generator is based on wu-name name generator script. It basically switches out the adjective files for files consisting of first name and last name and uses a more complex form by adding a drop-down menu to select male or female.

Baby Name Generator is another name generator is based on wu-name name generator script. It switches out the adjective files for files consisting of first name and middle name and uses a more complex form by adding a drop-down menu to select boy or girl.

Get the full script here (wuname.phps)
View Adjective File
View Nouns File