Name Generator like Windows please

I know this is a small thing but…

The Mac 3.0.1 Name Generator is actually less handy than the Windows 1.9.7 one (yes, I know those aren’t the latest and greatest versions, but they’re what I’m running) in that in Windows you can move names onto My Shortlist. That means if you go through the first bunch of names pulled up and kind of like one or two but go on looking for more names in additional searches, there is no easy way to store those first ones while looking for more. Copying them somewhere hides the whole Name Generator window and means a lot of clicking back and forth.

Also, the tabs for First Name Meanings, Import, and Restore Defaults are missing. I never used those, but they are missing. :slight_smile:

IMO this is a simplification that makes the Name Generator less, not better.

I have no history of this function on Mac since I only started using the Mac program when 3 came out, but IMO this is an area where the older Windows way is noticeably superior.

I agree that the old generator had some advantages.

Here’s a trick I learned by accident:

I was looking through the names and said one out loud to get a feel for it. The name appeared in the current document, as if by magic.

Turns out I had turned on dictation by accident (fn fn).

So, display your list of names, and then speak them followed by “new line.”

The Windows Name Generator tool is awesome. I’ve been using the Ancient Greek and Egyptian ones. Why is the Mac one so small compared to Windows? Is there a way to download the Windows one and upload to Mac? I’ve moved most of my writing to Mac and it’s a pain having to go back to the Windows version just for this. But I do, because it’s so good!

I recently switched from Windows to Mac and used the Name Generator for the first time today. Or rather, I tried to use it but abandoned it because it’s just not at all as useful as the Windows version. It didn’t even have Greek names loaded. What gives? And then when I found a list someone else created of Greek names and loaded it up, it STILL gives me non-Greek suggestions even though the Greek names are all I checked.

I just don’t understand how this is supposed to be useful. I don’t even see a name meanings option either. I’m so disappointed. :cry:

As a long-time Mac user I simply don’t use the name generator very often for most of the reasons cited above. Catalan names but no Mexican names? (the common Mexican forename Lupe, or Guadalupe is missing.) The results don’t come out sorted. Yeah, no meanings included.

Problem is, being a Mac user, I had no idea that Windows users were blessed with a more capable version of the Name Generator. For the first time, I plead for Mac feature parity with Windows—pretty please with sugar on it.

There are no plans for this, sorry. The Windows guys went their own way with this. :slight_smile:

That is very very clever. I can use that for lots of things.

Very odd. There are Irish surnames, but no Irish first names, and so I clicked the + button below to add a bunch, but it doesn’t seem to allow adding a section. (Incidentally, half of the very small list of ‘Irish’ surnames are apparently English. Not an O’Neill, an O’Donnell, a MacDonagh or a Maguire to be seen!)

Custom lists are easy to make, but you would do so in a text file (or spreadsheet), and then import that file. Instructions are provided in §20.3.1, Managing Your Own Name Lists.

I’m a longtime Mac Scrivener user and also teach folks how to use it at the local library. I stumbled onto your video of the Name Generator with the shortlist. You mentioned “…the Windows guys went their own way with this…” How does that serve those of us who want to assist/teach one another on different platforms?

Teach them to get names from Google. They’d have more and better choices, and context/meaning to go with it.

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