Markov chain based name generator. Takes the name of a text file with names, delimited by spaces as an argument.

markov.py

import sys
import random

def process (text, length):
	for line in text.split("\n"):
		if len(line) < length+1: continue
		for i in range(len(line) - length):
			yield tuple(line[i:i+length+1])

def parse (text, length=2):
	db = {}
	for unit in process(text, length):
		key = unit[:length]
		val = unit[length]
		if key in db:
			db[key].append(val)
		else:
			db[key] = [val]
	return db

def generate (db, length):
	key = random.choice(list(db.keys()))
	lst = list(key)
	length -= len(key)
	while length > 0:
		if not key in db:
			break
		new = random.choice(db[key])
		lst.append(new)
		key = key[1:] + (new,)
		length -= 1
	return "".join(lst)

def main ():
	text = open(sys.argv[1],"r").read()
	db = parse(text, 3)
	for i in range(10): print(generate(db, 5))

main()