Source for generating people data?
Question
This is only tangentially a programming question. Where can I find a simple-to-parse list of people names? This is really just filler material, so they don't need much rhyme or reason.
Alternatively, is there a programmer's equivalent to lorem ipsum for when you need to create a bunch of dummy accounts?
Solution
You could draw names randomly from names.txt (46 KiB, comma-separated values) from Project Euler problem 22.
EDIT: The U.S. Census Bureau has statistical data for first and last names.
OTHER TIPS
Check out http://www.generatedata.com
Benjamin Keen has created this terrific tool that would probably fit the bill for you.
You could always use a bunch of names and numbers:
firsts = [ "Dave", "John", "Jane", "Jack", ...];
seconds = [ "McMuffin", "Frontage", "Bush", "McProgrammer", ...];
for f in firsts {
for s in seconds {
for( i=0; i<10; i++){
tmp_user = f + "_" + s + i;
// Add user to database
}
}
}
That's quite alot of usernames if you add a few more :)
Good Luck
If you just need some text and dont care how it looks, you could use something like Excel to generate a big list of names.
eg: in cell A1 enter ="FirstName" & ROW(A1) then select however many rows you want and fill down. In column B do the same for surname, save as CSV and import into your DB.
Or you could get a little smarter: Put some first names in column A and some surnames in column B.
Formula for C1:
=OFFSET(A$1,INT(RAND()*[[number_of_first_names]]),0)
and something similar for D1:
=OFFSET(B$1,INT(RAND()*[[number_of_last_names]]),0)