Family Name Crossword Generator

How the designer works

Pick the frame and the background, then type the names, one per line or separated by commas. The designer lays them out as a crossword: every name crosses another at a letter they share, and names only touch where they cross. It tries thousands of arrangements in a moment and keeps the ones that give the biggest tiles, so a short list gets big tiles and a long list gets smaller ones. Press "Try another layout" to see a different arrangement of the same names.

The preview follows the frame's real proportions: the title and subtitle across the top, the tiles in the middle and the SCORE line at the bottom. Each tile shows its letter value in the corner, and the score is the sum of the letter values of every name.

The names stay in your browser. They only leave it if you add the frame to your cart.

Tips for a good layout

• One word per name. Spaces, hyphens and apostrophes are removed, so "Mary Ann" becomes "MARYANN". Use the form the family actually says.
• Accents stay. Every letter gets its own tile, accents included: José becomes JOSÉ and Zoë becomes ZOË. An accented letter crosses only the same accented letter, so É meets É, not E.
• If a name does not fit, try another layout, add the family name (it gives short names new letters to cross), or use a nickname.
• Short names go anywhere. Two names that share no letter cannot cross; a third name that shares a letter with both connects them.
• Title and subtitle sit above the tiles: "Our Family" and "Est. 2011", or "Grandma's Greatest Treasures" with every grandchild inside. Add a heart, a paw print or one of 18 other symbols to either line, or leave either one empty if you would rather not have it.
• Up to 20 names fit in one frame.

For the method by hand, with a worked example, read how to make a family name crossword.

Download it, or put it on the wall

"Download PDF" saves a one-page preview with your frame, colors and names, ready to print or send to the family. The link at the bottom of the PDF opens the same design here again.

If you want it as a keepsake, our family name crossword frames turn the same names into laser-cut wooden letter tiles, hand-placed into a crossword inside an 11 × 11 inch (28 × 28 cm) shadow-box frame with a white mat and a clear acrylic front. "Add to cart" puts the frame in your cart with everything you chose: frame, background, title, subtitle and names, priced by the number of names (up to 5, 10 or 20). Every frame is made to order in 1–3 business days and ships free with express delivery.