Phonetic

Generates unique, pronounceable names, random and seedable

Installation

In your project folder, type:

npm install phonetic

Usage

Just require it...

var phonetic = require('phonetic');

Need a name?

phonetic.generate();
// "Stratulis"
phonetic.generate();
// "Quibapop"

Need a shorter name?

phonetic.generate({ syllables: 2 });
// "Neelam"

Need to generate the same name based on some user info?

phonetic.generate({ seed: '127.0.0.1' })
// "Pokenoop"
phonetic.generate({ seed: '127.0.0.1' })
// "Pokenoop"

Details

Phonetic generates a randomized, pronounceable word. Use it to assign pronounceable hostnames to your server cluster so you don't have to refer to machines by random letters or numbers, or use it to suggest a unique username to your site's visitors. Keep the name the same every time by seeding it with a unique cookie, or maybe the user's IP + user agent.

Words are generated by transforming the seed using a series of MD5 hashes and calculations that make it impossible for users to game the system and coerce out a chosen word. The process is synchronous, but takes mere nanoseconds.

Generated words have an English-leaning format, using phonetics that are more common in the English language and avoiding more international sounds. This could be changed by packaging the phonetic sets and replacements into modules which can be selected through the options at run time. A hint to those who would like to get involved with the project!

The function call looks like this:

phonetic.generate([options])

Options

The following options are available:

syllables

Default: 3. The number of syllables to put in the resulting word.

seed

Default: (random). A string or number with which to seed the generator. Using the same seed (with the same other options) will coerce the generator into producing the same word each time.

phoneticSimplicity

Default: 5. The greater this number, the simpler the phonetics. For example, 1 might produce 'str' while 5 might produce 's' for the same syllable. Minimum is 1.

compoundSimplicity

Default: 5. The greater this number, the less likely the resulting word will sound "compound", such as "ripkuth" instead of "riputh". Minimum is 1.

capFirst

Default: true. true to capitalize the first letter of the word; all lowercase otherwise.

License

Phonetic is distributed under the MIT license. See LICENSE.txt for details.

Credits

Phonetic was created by Tom Shawver in 2013 to ease the transition from lurking to contributing.