Humor Title Generator
A funny book's title is its first joke, and readers judge the whole book by it. Generate titles for humor essays, parody guides and gift books that land on the first read.
- Sample
I Brought a Casserole to the Wrong Funeral
Essays on Midwestern manners gone wrong
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Circling Back Forever
Office essays from twenty years of open-plan living
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Did Anyone Else Hear That Raccoon?
A city couple's first year in a rural cabin
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My Aunt Delphine Has Opinions
Family essays starring one relentless Louisiana aunt
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Assembly Required
Essays on parenting, marriage and flat-pack furniture
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The Etiquette of Being Late
A mock-serious manners guide for the chronically tardy
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Fondue for One
Comic essays about dating again at fifty-three
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Please Stop Asking the Dog
A family's arguments, mediated by a confused beagle
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A Field Guide to Your Neighbors
Parody nature guide to suburban human species
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Overqualified for Brunch
Essays from a laid-off lawyer's year of free time
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Minivan
A dad's essays from the driver's seat
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Things I Have Said to the Self-Checkout
Short comic pieces about everyday indignities
Naming Humor books: what works
The humor genre spans a wide range of comedic styles and formats, from satirical commentary to light-hearted anecdotes, offering readers an escape into the world of laughter and joy.
Titles in this genre should evoke amusement and intrigue, hinting at the humor and entertainment that lie within the pages.
Put a strange sentence on the cover
Humor essayists often title books with a line that makes no sense until you've read it. David Sedaris's When You Are Engulfed in Flames and Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls are odd enough to make you pick them up. The stranger and more specific the line, the better it works.
Quote someone who said it
A line of dialogue or a complaint makes the reader hear a voice right away. Nora Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck is a confession in six words, and it tells you the whole tone of the book. Overheard phrases from your own life are the best source.
Try mock authority
Parody books borrow the shape of a serious genre: almanac, field guide, etiquette manual. John Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise sounds like a reference book, which is the joke. The more straight-faced the title, the funnier the contents feel.
Name the recipient on gift books
Gift humor is bought by someone thinking of a specific person: a new dad, a cat owner, a retiree. Put that person in the title or subtitle so a shopper recognizes them in two seconds. Inside jokes that only the author gets won't sell.
Well-known Humor titles
Titles that already work in this genre. Read them for shape and length: how many words, how much they give away, what they leave out.
| Title | Author | Published |
|---|---|---|
| Bossypants | Tina Fey | 2011 |
| Yes Please | Amy Poehler | 2014 |
| Me Talk Pretty One Day | David Sedaris | 2000 |
| Born a Crime | Trevor Noah | 2016 |
| Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? | Mindy Kaling | 2011 |
| Calypso | David Sedaris | 2018 |
| The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams | 1979 |
| I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons | Kevin Hart | 2017 |
| Let's Pretend This Never Happened | Jenny Lawson | 2012 |
| The Princess Bride | William Goldman | 1973 |
| Hyperbole and a Half | Allie Brosh | 2013 |
| Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim | David Sedaris | 2004 |
| Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal | Christopher Moore | 2002 |
| Good Omens | Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett | 1990 |
| The Diary of a Nobody | George and Weedon Grossmith | 1892 |
| Three Men in a Boat | Jerome K. Jerome | 1889 |
| Furiously Happy | Jenny Lawson | 2015 |
| Sh*t My Dad Says | Justin Halpern | 2010 |
| A Confederacy of Dunces | John Kennedy Toole | 1980 |
| Catch-22 | Joseph Heller | 1961 |
Art, Architecture, & PhotographyPhotobooks, architecture monographs, criticism and how-to-draw manuals all share this shelf, and each one names itself differently.
Astrology, Divination & TarotName your tarot guide, birth-chart workbook or rune handbook.
Biographies & MemoirsFind a title for your memoir, or for the biography you've spent years researching, that sounds like a life and not a resume.
Business & InvestingBusiness books live or die on a short title and a subtitle that states the promise.
Cooking, Food & WineA cookbook title has to tell a hungry browser what's for dinner and whose kitchen they're in.
Crafts & HobbiesKnitters, quilters, potters and whittlers all scan the shelf for their own craft first.
Current Affairs & PoliticsPolitical books argue, report or confess, and the title has to say which.
Diet, Health, & FitnessName your training plan, healthy cookbook or movement guide with a title that says what the reader will actually do.
Education & ReferenceTextbooks, handbooks, dictionaries and teaching guides need titles that tell a student or teacher exactly what's inside.
EngineeringEngineering books range from bridge histories to circuit design manuals, and their titles split the same way.
HistoryHistory titles usually make a promise twice: once in a short title that sets a scene, and again in a subtitle that names the period and the stakes.
Home & GardenGardeners shop for their conditions and decorators shop for a feeling.
Music, Film, & Performing ArtsRock memoirs, film criticism, acting manuals and theater histories each borrow from the art they cover.
NatureNature books are usually about one bird, one shore, one forest, watched closely.
New Age & Alternative BeliefsTitles for books on energy work, manifestation, crystals, channeling and the inner life.
Parenting & FamilyParents shop for these books at 2 a.m.
PetsTitles for dog training manuals, cat behavior guides, rabbit and reptile care, and the memoir about the dog who changed everything.
PhilosophyTitles for books that ask how to live, what we owe each other, and whether we can know anything at all.
Politics & Political ScienceTitles for books on elections, institutions, policy fights and the ideas behind them.
ReligionTitles for devotionals, Bible studies, theology, faith memoirs and books on Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu practice.
Role Playing & Fantasy GamesTitles for core rulebooks, setting sourcebooks, adventure modules, game master advice and histories of the hobby.
ScienceTitles for popular science on genes, galaxies, microbes, the brain and the people who study them.
Computers & TechnologyTitles for programming guides, engineering handbooks, security books and histories of the industry.
Self-Help & RelationshipsTitles for books on habits, confidence, boundaries, dating, marriage and recovering from hard years.
Social SciencesTitles for books on why people behave, gather, trade and believe as they do.
SportsTitles for athlete memoirs, season-long team stories, coaching manuals and histories of the game.
Study Aids & Test PrepTitles for exam prep books, study guides, flashcard sets and revision workbooks.
True CrimeTitles for books on murders, frauds, cold cases and the investigators who wouldn't let go.
TravelTitles for travel memoirs, walking books, road trips, food travel and practical guidebooks.
WeddingsTitles for wedding planners, budget guides, etiquette books, toast and vow helpers, and memoirs of a big day gone sideways.
Women's StudiesTitles for feminist essays, women's history, gender research and memoirs about women's work, bodies and power.
A plot, a first scene, a shelf
Questions about Humor titles
Should a humor book title tell the joke or set it up?
Either works, but the title must be funny without the book. A setup that only pays off in chapter six will read as random on a shelf. Read it aloud to someone who hasn't seen the manuscript and watch their face.
Do humor essay collections need a subtitle?
Many well-known ones skip it, because the author's name does the work. For a debut, a short subtitle like 'Essays' or a line about the subject helps readers know it's nonfiction and not a comic novel.
How do I title a parody book?
Mirror the form you're parodying closely enough that people recognize it, then twist one word. Keep the twist clear on its own. Avoid copying a specific bestseller's title exactly, since readers searching for the original will be confused and annoyed.
A title deserves a book.
Put it on a cover, write the first chapter under it, and see if it holds.
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