Old... what's his name...

"So you approach the table enveloped in shadows near the back of the tavern. The figure at the table leans slowly forward and the guttering lamp's light reaches up to his face. He can see the many scars on his bare arms and the trace of elf linage around his eyes. He cocks his head and rasps, "Ah, the salvage team finally arrives in Stormreach. Well, welcome my name is... uh... uhmm... Gai... no wait... Titts... oh god... no... Kalistrumfilisthanatol... *sigh*."

Ok, so maybe you guys won't slip up that badly, but I have and I quickly found an easy cure for quick NPC names. Since I tend to think of NPCs uses first and names second I have frequently shown up to the table with major NPCs being nameless. It's all part of the illusionist play style to cover with a handy name that fits perfectly after the fact. It looks like you've had that name ready all along. This is where random name generators and a little prep time comes into play.

Here's my short list:

http://www.squid.org/rpg-random-generator
http://unique-names.com/word-mixer.php
http://www.namemasher.com/default.aspx
http://www.degraeve.com/invent-a-word/index.php
http://www.wordconstructor.com/index.php
http://www.unled.net/

As you can tell I'm a big fan of "realistic" sounding names. If the NPC has to be called some huge polysyllabic word everytime they show up it gets old quick. Also, player's will tend to nick name those NPCs and nothing makes your Titan Beholderlich Lord named Sparualiziltikk, seem more silly than having it renamed "Spunky". Of course a Titan Beholderlich Lord is pretty silly anyway.

So I like word combiners. It also lets me put in concepts and phrases. So I can put

• Zug
• Loktar
• Kek
• Thull
• Axe

Into http://unique-names.com/word-mixer.php and get back the awesome Ulthu. Now add a title like Orc Chieftain Ulthu and you're set. Maybe I'd throw an umlaut in there for extra awesome, but you get the point. The main thing I watch out for here is names that sound like snicker inducing mood breaks. The Medusa horror that has been terrorizing the village of Omletle being named Labias is going to possibly look fine on paper, but when the players arrive in the village they are going to be rolling. Then when the Medusa hisses out "You will pay for trespassing on the lair of Labias!" you might as well put away the Cheetos and call it a night. Learn from my pain.

Then there are name generators that try to be "authentic" that just always seem... well cheesy. Or unpronounceable. However, I still go to them now and then for base words.

http://rinkworks.com/namegen/
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20010208b
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~pound/

Finally I also like to generate a few hundred names now and then. I'll take the list and cull it for obvious problems and then save it somewhere so that if I need a name quickly I don't need to find my generator and hammer out a name. I'll just keep this giant pool of plausible names handy and when the time comes they are ready.