Girl's Name Generator (thing)

Drawing a blank with respect to what to name your daughter? Don't like any of the usual names? Try the following C program. It creates names by combining the elements of the usual suspects.

<attachment name="makename.c">

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <time.h>  /* for srand(time(NULL)) */

#define MAX_ELEM_LEN 16
#define NUM_ELEMENTS 167
#define NUM_ENDINGS 10

const char elements[NUM_ELEMENTS][MAX_ELEM_LEN] =
{
  "be", "bell", "bern", "berth", "beth",
  "beul", "bonni", "bridgi", "brunild", "carinn",
  "cat", "cecili", "chlo", "clar", "claudi",
  "col", "colen", "consuel", "cor", "corneli",
  "cosett", "cyndi", "dan", "dari", "darl",
  "debor", "del", "dolor", "dor", "dorothe",
  "dulci", "edn", "ell", "ev", "fann",
  "fausti", "feli", "ferd", "fifi", "flor",
  "franci", "fred", "genev", "georgi", "gild",
  "gin", "giov", "giuli", "glori", "gret",
  "griseld", "gunill", "gwend", "helg", "henri",
  "hephzib", "herth", "honori", "horati", "huld",
  "hermi", "hest", "is", "jeann", "jemim",
  "jessic", "jo", "kristi", "laur", "le",
  "len", "lind", "lis", "livi", "lol",
  "lon", "lor", "lorn", "louis", "luci",
  "magd", "mari", "mir", "mil", "mind",
  "mon", "monic", "nad", "ness", "nicol",
  "non", "nor", "norm", "ori", "priscill",
  "penel", "polli", "raciel", "rebecc", "regin",
  "rhod", "robert", "ros", "sand", "shirl",
  "sib", "son", "stell", "steph", "sus",
  "sylvi", "tar", "tess", "tiff", "trici",
  "ver", "vinni", "viv", "wilm", "yol",
  "abig", "ad", "adri", "agard", "agath",
  "aid", "elaid", "albert", "alethe", "alexi",
  "alfred", "alm", "alt", "althe", "alv",
  "alvir", "amand", "ameli", "anc", "and",
  "andre", "angel", "ann", "anthe", "antoni",
  "aren", "arb", "arci", "aric", "arili",
  "arit", "arlen", "arlott", "aronic", "arri",
  "arth", "ashli", "astasi", "athsheb", "atild",
  "atri", "audre", "august", "aureli", "auror",
  "avel", "averli"
};

const char endings[NUM_ENDINGS][MAX_ELEM_LEN] =
{
  "a", "abel", "alison", "amy", "chen",
  "ie", "ietty", "icia", "ietta", "ina"
};

int main(const int argc, const char **argv)
{
  int seed = -1;
  char strout[3 * MAX_ELEM_LEN] = {0};
  int elemno_first, elemno_second, elemno_ending;

  if(argc >= 2)
  {
    if(argv[1][0] == 'r')
      seed = time(NULL) % (NUM_ELEMENTS * (NUM_ELEMENTS - 1) * NUM_ENDINGS);
    else
      seed = atoi(argv[1]);
  }
  if(seed < 0)
  {
    fputs("usage:   makename 12345   or, for a random name,   makename r\n", stderr);
    return 255;
  }

  /* pick the elements */
  elemno_ending = seed % NUM_ENDINGS;
  seed /= NUM_ENDINGS;
  elemno_second = seed % (NUM_ELEMENTS - 1);
  seed /= (NUM_ELEMENTS - 1);
  elemno_first = seed % NUM_ELEMENTS;
  seed /= NUM_ELEMENTS;
  if(elemno_second >= elemno_first)
    elemno_second++;

  /* assemble them */
  strcpy(strout, elements[elemno_first]);
  /* separate two consecutive consonants with a vowel */
  if(strchr("aeiou", elements[elemno_second][0]) == NULL)
    strcat(strout, "a");
  strcat(strout, elements[elemno_second]);
  if(strout[strlen(strout) - 1] == endings[elemno_ending][0])  /* if the last
      * letter in the second element matches the first letter in the ending */
    strout[strlen(strout) - 1] = 0; /* drop it */
  strcat(strout, endings[elemno_ending]);

  /* put it into stdout */
  puts(strout);
  return 0;
}

</attachment>

This is actually the second version of this program. The first was in QBasic and was much uglier because I failed to see the symmetry of the problem because I wrote it quickly right after seeing a film on TCM with a character named Annamanda. The main reason I wrote this in C was because I didn't know Perl. But if you're going to use one of the Perl versions listed below, use the one by m_turner, who wrote: "I wrote the 'right' perl in response to the wrong perl. It should be fully explained, if you have any questions ask."