How to choose good Celebrity game names
The best name pool is not simply the 100 most famous people in the world. Celebrity Salad works better when most of the room recognises the answers, but still has to think creatively about how to describe, reduce and act them.
A useful starting mix is mostly familiar names, a smaller group of medium-difficulty choices and a few wildcards that are funny rather than impossible.
Names nearly everyone in the room will know.
Recognisable, but not instantly obvious to every player.
The curveballs that create the best stories later.
Pick 10 names for me
Need a quick practice Salad? Shuffle ten names from this page. Tap again for a completely different mix.
Actors and TV personalities
- Tom Hanks
- Meryl Streep
- Dwayne Johnson
- Jennifer Lawrence
- Idris Elba
- Emma Stone
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Olivia Colman
- Ryan Reynolds
- Judi Dench
- Pedro Pascal
- Margot Robbie
- David Tennant
- Zendaya
- Hugh Grant
- Gordon Ramsay
- Ant McPartlin
- Declan Donnelly
- Claudia Winkleman
- Alison Hammond
Musicians and performers
- Taylor Swift
- Beyoncé
- Elton John
- Adele
- Freddie Mercury
- Lady Gaga
- Harry Styles
- Dua Lipa
- Ed Sheeran
- Rihanna
- Elvis Presley
- Britney Spears
- Stormzy
- Billie Eilish
- David Bowie
- Madonna
- Bruno Mars
- Shania Twain
- Post Malone
- Spice Girls
Sports stars
- David Beckham
- Serena Williams
- Lionel Messi
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Lewis Hamilton
- Simone Biles
- Usain Bolt
- Mo Farah
- Andy Murray
- Emma Raducanu
- Michael Jordan
- Rory McIlroy
- Mary Earps
- Tyson Fury
- Anthony Joshua
Historical figures and cultural icons
- Albert Einstein
- Cleopatra
- William Shakespeare
- Marie Curie
- Winston Churchill
- Frida Kahlo
- Charles Darwin
- Florence Nightingale
- Napoleon Bonaparte
- Amelia Earhart
- Isaac Newton
- Queen Victoria
- Nelson Mandela
- Jane Austen
- Vincent van Gogh
Fictional characters
- Harry Potter
- Hermione Granger
- James Bond
- Sherlock Holmes
- Spider-Man
- Darth Vader
- Wonder Woman
- Shrek
- Wednesday Addams
- Barbie
- Batman
- Paddington Bear
- Mr Bean
- Homer Simpson
- Elsa
- Willy Wonka
- Mary Poppins
- Indiana Jones
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Mario
Wildcard names
- David Attenborough
- Louis Theroux
- Alan Carr
- RuPaul
- Jeremy Clarkson
- Greta Thunberg
- Bear Grylls
- Simon Cowell
- Joe Wicks
- Richard Ayoade
Five tips for a better name pool
- Think room first. A name is only useful if enough players can recognise it.
- Mix generations. Avoid a pool that only one age group understands.
- Choose people with hooks. Distinctive jobs, voices, roles or mannerisms make later rounds better.
- Do not overload one category. Twenty footballers in a row can make the game repetitive.
- Let players surprise each other. The best Salads contain names nobody expected but everyone somehow knows.
How many names should each player add?
Celebrity Salad lets the host choose between two and five submissions per player. Larger groups usually work better with two or three names each; smaller groups can use four or five for a fuller Salad.
Once you have your names, read the official Celebrity Salad rules.