Feedback: Memorable Password Word List is Poor

Hello,

I’d argue that memorable passwords should be:

Unambiguous

Localized/regionalized

Phonetically intuitive

Unfortunately, the current 1Password word list is none of these.

As someone who doesn’t speak the King’s English, getting words like "fibres" instead of "fibers" is unintuitive and causes a moment of doubt. In a password context, I think that matters a lot.

Names, whether foreign or familiar, also don’t make great passphrase components. They introduce ambiguity, spelling uncertainty, and memorability issues. 

These are the first 5 passwords I generated using the memorable password setting for this post, no curation on my end:

blaring-goalie-horribly-bridger-xiao-coats

amore-colonel-statue-lockdown-table-russians

leftover-osaka-flame-fibres-lesson-useful

reduces-kolya-crimes-davis-strictly-velma

attain-alaska-riggs-nelson-moray-rochelle

Poor Words:

Bridger – Is this a name? A job? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it only appears as a noun in Middle English (1150–1500). Ambiguous and obscure.

Xiao – A Chinese given name. Difficult to spell or pronounce unless you’re familiar with it. Not helpful for a global English-speaking user base.

Kolya – A Russian diminutive. Same issue: name-based, culturally specific, and not intuitive.

Velma – A more recognizable name (Scooby-Doo), but still a name and not ideal in a password.

Riggs – Another surname. Easily confused with “rigs.” Unclear if it's a person, place, or object.

Rochelle – French name or city. Even if somewhat familiar, it introduces unnecessary spelling and pronunciation uncertainty.

Moray – Possibly referencing the moray eel. Unclear for many users. Adds ambiguity.

Osaka – A recognizable city, but still causes pronunciation issues.

Colonel – A real word, but it’s a well-known example of non-phonetic English. Pronounced like “kernel,” which leads to confusion. It’s also excluded from the EFF’s recommended passphrase word list for this reason. see: https://www.eff.org/files/2016/07/18/eff_large_wordlist.txt

Fibres – British spelling. For Americans like me, it looks like a typo and not what I'd first remember. Likewise, if it were spelled “fiber,” non-US users might feel the same.

My suggestions:

Offer regional dictionary options (e.g., US English vs. Canadian/British spellings).

Avoid proper nouns entirely — especially surnames, city names, and culturally specific given names.

Exclude words with non-phonetic or ambiguous pronunciation/spelling.

Focus on concrete, common, and universally intuitive words that can be easily spoken, typed, and remembered.

The current system creates friction in the exact areas it should be removing it. If the goal is memorability, the generator needs to be far more curated, especially for users across different English dialects and cultures.

Thanks