Roll d6+1 to see how many letter groups you will have. Then roll the prefix group, soft group, hard group, soft group, etc, up to the number you rolled. The C code is available as are some examples .
Prefix group - roll with a d50. 1 K 11 Lh 21 Pr 31-50 No prefix 2 Th 12 X 22 Sp 3 Sh 13 Sc 23 Cr 4 Cl 14 P 24 Sl 5 R 15 T 25 Tr 6 Qu 16 L 26 Fr 7 M 17 N 27 St 8 J 18 F 28 Gr 9 G 19 D 29 S 10 B 20 Br 30 Pl Soft Group - roll with d20 1 a 11 ai 2 e 12 ya 3 i 13 io 4 o 14 oo 5 u 15 ui 6 y 16 ou 7 ee 17 a 8 ai 18 e 9 ae 19 i 10 ea 20 o Hard Group - roll with a d50 1 h 11 lh 21 pr 31 ch 41 pp 2 Th 12 x 22 sp 32 fr 42 nm 3 sh 13 sc 23 cr 33 tch 43 mn 4 cl 14 p 24 sl 34 ph 44 j 5 r 15 t 25 tr 35 tz 45 w 6 qu 16 l 26 fr 36 vr 46 dl 7 m 17 n 27 st 37 rr 47 mr 8 j 18 f 28 gr 38 ss 48 rt 9 g 19 d 29 s 39 tt 49 lp 10 b 20 br 30 pl 40 ll 50 bl
Example:
Roll for number of groups (d6+1), 3. I roll for prefix (d50), 5. I roll soft group and hard group (d20 and d50), getting 1 and 37. This makes the name "Sharr".
This will produce silly names, but usually they will be OK. It's good to roll up a few `emergency names' before each session just in case, but to create names for main characters yourself.
Note that surnames were rarely a long running family name, but a profession. Hence if Sharr was a blacksmith the name would be "Sharr Smith", or if Sharr was an adventurer the name might be "Sharr Swiftblade". Likewise, if Sharr was a very stupid thief, the name might be "Sharr Pickpocket"! :)
Another historical method is to take the fathers first name. For example if Sharr's father was called "Branma", Sharr would become "Sharr Branmason" (this still happens in some countries, which makes telephone directories a pain).