Before a big launch
Name waves go live and the creation screen is a battleground. Pre-validate your list the night before and walk in with three passing pairs.
Format Checker
WoW Forever Name Checker
Paste a first name and surname and see exactly which format rules they pass or fail — length, letters, capitals and repeated characters — with a cleaned suggestion when something is off.
4 Format RulesInstant ResultsFree · No Sign-Up
This tool checks format only. It cannot see the game database: it never knows whether a name is occupied, and it cannot see the private restricted-word list.
How to use the checker
Type the first name; add the surname if you have one. Press check and read each flag — green means the rule passes, a red row names the problem in one line, and the cleaned suggestion appears under any part that failed mechanically. Accept the fix by re-typing it into your notes, or head to the surname generator for a replacement part. Pairs that pass everything belong in your collection, which lives in this browser and exports to a text file whenever you want a paper copy for creation day.
What the checker validates
Two to twelve letters
Each part of a WoW Forever name is expected to run two to twelve letters. The checker flags anything shorter — single-letter names read as typos — and anything longer, which tends to get clipped on nameplates anyway.
Letters only
No spaces, digits, accents or punctuation inside either part. The full name renders as two separate words; anything else is a typical creation-screen rejection.
One leading capital
A single capital at the start and lowercase after. ALLCAPS and camelCase names read as spam in chat and are commonly rejected.
No three identical letters in a row
Runs like AAA or zzz trip Blizzard's repeated-character heuristics. The checker flags any triple — in any capitalisation — and collapses it in the cleaned suggestion.
What the checker cannot know
No external tool can query name occupancy: uniqueness of the full combination is confirmed only on the in-game creation screen, region by region. The checker also cannot see the restricted-word list, which is private — a perfectly well-formed name can still be rejected for containing or resembling a restricted term. Both parts are evaluated together, so splitting a restricted word across first name and surname does not slip through either.
Treat this page as a pre-flight, not a guarantee. It clears the mechanical failures so you never lose a character slot to a typo, and then the game makes the final call. Keep two or three passing backups in your collection before you start creating characters.
A worked example
Say you arrive with Alden Thornwick written on a forum post from 2019. Paste both parts: Alden passes all four rules immediately. Thornwick fails once — a stray space hides at the end of the string — and the checker strips it, reports a cleaned suggestion, and shows the pair as ready. Now try Zzzstorm: the tripled letter fails in any capitalisation, the cleaned form collapses it to Zzstorm, and you can decide whether the fixed version still feels like your name or whether the surname generator should offer something better. That loop — paste, read the flags, accept the fix or re-forge — takes less time than one character slot wasted on a typo.
Three myths about name availability
First myth: a checker can tell you a name is free. It cannot — occupancy lives in the game database and is confirmed only on the creation screen, so every availability claim outside the game is a guess dressed up as data. Second myth: unusual spelling guarantees uniqueness. The pair is what must be unique, so an exotic spelling of a common first name still needs an uncommon surname to be safe. Third myth: reserved means permanent. Names follow Blizzard service rules — changes and deletions free pairs up over time — so a taken name today can genuinely reappear later. Plan with backups, not assumptions.
Fixing a flagged name
Most failures are one edit away. A name over twelve letters loses its tail in the cleaned suggestion; stray spaces and punctuation are stripped; tripled letters collapse to two; a lowercase first letter is capitalised. When the cleaned result still fails — a one-letter name, for example — the suggestion stays empty and the honest answer is a new part. The surname generator and the family generator are one click away for exactly that moment.
When players run the checker
Copied-from-forum names
Bringing a name out of an old guild roster? The checker catches the stray space or accent that a decade-old forum post carried along.
Rule disputes
Is Zzztank allowed? See exactly which rule trips and decide whether the cleaned version is worth keeping.