diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index a0c5b75..db03bc7 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -82,6 +82,17 @@ version = "1.0.4"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "9330f8b2ff13f34540b44e946ef35111825727b38d33286ef986142615121801"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "chacha20"
+version = "0.10.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d524456ba66e72eb8b115ff89e01e497f8e6d11d78b70b1aa13c0fbd97540a81"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "cpufeatures",
+ "rand_core",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "clap"
 version = "4.6.0"
@@ -104,6 +115,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "strsim",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "clap_complete"
+version = "4.6.8"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b1f84a88507dbd05c695f2cb5e8558e747179134005e9893882dec964190ed89"
+dependencies = [
+ "clap",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "clap_derive"
 version = "4.6.0"
@@ -139,6 +159,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-sys",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "cpufeatures"
+version = "0.3.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "8b2a41393f66f16b0823bb79094d54ac5fbd34ab292ddafb9a0456ac9f87d201"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "dirs"
 version = "6.0.0"
@@ -234,6 +263,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "cfg-if",
  "libc",
  "r-efi",
+ "rand_core",
  "wasip2",
  "wasip3",
 ]
@@ -499,6 +529,29 @@ version = "2.3.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "9b4f627cb1b25917193a259e49bdad08f671f8d9708acfd5fe0a8c1455d87220"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "petname"
+version = "3.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "1201345ec6f6630308d0549e198c58aff61df8033afe094f072def1ebe43eafa"
+dependencies = [
+ "clap",
+ "clap_complete",
+ "petname-macros",
+ "rand",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "petname-macros"
+version = "3.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c9b4bcfb5a86125ae8f1342b95f8b64d050f0a4385c9533c5a17970b9e0479e7"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "potential_utf"
 version = "0.1.5"
@@ -542,6 +595,23 @@ version = "6.0.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "f8dcc9c7d52a811697d2151c701e0d08956f92b0e24136cf4cf27b57a6a0d9bf"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "rand"
+version = "0.10.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c7f5fa3a058cd35567ef9bfa5e75732bee0f9e4c55fa90477bef2dfcdbc4be80"
+dependencies = [
+ "chacha20",
+ "getrandom 0.4.2",
+ "rand_core",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "rand_core"
+version = "0.10.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "63b8176103e19a2643978565ca18b50549f6101881c443590420e4dc998a3c69"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "redox_users"
 version = "0.5.2"
@@ -1037,6 +1107,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "humantime",
  "humantime-serde",
  "insta",
+ "petname",
  "serde",
  "tempfile",
  "toml",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 61e198c..de160ad 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ anyhow           = "1"
 url              = "2"
 dirs             = "6"
 uuid             = { version = "1", features = ["v4"] }
+petname          = "3"
 humantime        = "2"
 humantime-serde  = "1"
 which = "8.0.2"
diff --git a/src/name_gen.rs b/src/name_gen.rs
index 28d8bd6..59fa24e 100644
--- a/src/name_gen.rs
+++ b/src/name_gen.rs
@@ -1,45 +1,12 @@
 //! Random human-friendly workspace name generator (e.g. `"bold_turing"`).
-use uuid::Uuid;
-
-const ADJECTIVES: &[&str] = &[
-    "bold", "bright", "brave", "calm", "clever", "eager", "fair", "gentle", "happy", "keen",
-    "kind", "lively", "merry", "noble", "proud", "quiet", "swift", "warm", "wise", "free",
-];
-
-const NOUNS: &[&str] = &[
-    "turing",
-    "neumann",
-    "lovelace",
-    "hopper",
-    "curie",
-    "darwin",
-    "euler",
-    "gauss",
-    "newton",
-    "pascal",
-    "ramanujan",
-    "knuth",
-    "dijkstra",
-    "boole",
-    "babbage",
-    "shannon",
-    "hawking",
-    "einstein",
-    "feynman",
-    "tesla",
-];
 
 /// Generate a random workspace name in `adjective_noun` format.
 ///
-/// Uses UUID v4 entropy so each call produces a unique name with high
-/// probability. Example outputs: `"bold_turing"`, `"calm_lovelace"`.
+/// Backed by the `petname` crate's curated word lists and RNG.
+/// Example outputs: `"bold_turing"`, `"calm_lovelace"`.
 #[must_use]
 pub fn generate_name() -> String {
-    let id = Uuid::new_v4();
-    let b = id.as_bytes();
-    let adj = ADJECTIVES[b[0] as usize % ADJECTIVES.len()];
-    let noun = NOUNS[b[1] as usize % NOUNS.len()];
-    format!("{adj}_{noun}")
+    petname::petname(2, "_").unwrap_or_else(|| "workspace".to_string())
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
@@ -47,19 +14,19 @@ mod tests {
     use super::*;
 
     #[test]
-    fn format_is_adjective_underscore_noun() {
+    fn format_is_two_words_joined_by_underscore() {
         let name = generate_name();
         let mut parts = name.splitn(2, '_');
-        let adj = parts.next().expect("adjective part");
-        let noun = parts.next().expect("noun part");
-        assert!(ADJECTIVES.contains(&adj), "unknown adjective: {adj}");
-        assert!(NOUNS.contains(&noun), "unknown noun: {noun}");
+        let adj = parts.next().unwrap_or_default();
+        let noun = parts.next().unwrap_or_default();
+        assert!(!adj.is_empty(), "missing adjective part");
+        assert!(!noun.is_empty(), "missing noun part");
     }
 
     #[test]
     fn generates_distinct_names() {
-        // 20×20 = 400 possible names; P(all 5 identical) ≈ (1/400)^4 ≈ 0
-        let names: std::collections::HashSet<_> = (0..5).map(|_| generate_name()).collect();
-        assert!(names.len() > 1, "5 calls all returned the same name");
+        // Curated word lists are large; 20 draws matching is effectively impossible.
+        let names: std::collections::HashSet<_> = (0..20).map(|_| generate_name()).collect();
+        assert!(names.len() > 1, "20 calls all returned the same name");
     }
 }