Markov Name Generator

I use something like this to generate names for stars and planets in my procedural universe game thingo.

import random

class Markov(object):
    def __init__(self, samples, order, minLength):
        self.order = order
        self.minLength = minLength
        self.chains = {}
        self.used = []
        self.samples = [i.strip().upper() for i in samples if len(i) > order]
        for word in self.samples:
            for letter in xrange(len(word)-order):
                token = word[letter:letter+order]
                entries = self.chains.setdefault(token, list())
                entries.append(word[letter + order])

    def next(self):
        s = ""; 
        while True:
            n = random.choice(self.samples)
            i = random.randint(0, len(n) - self.order)
            s = n[i:i+self.order]
            while len(s) < len(n):
                i = random.randint(0, len(s) - self.order)
                token = s[i:i+self.order]
                if token not in self.chains:
                    break 
                s += random.choice(self.chains[token])
            s = s[0] + s[1:].lower()
            if not (s in self.samples or s in self.used or len(s) < self.minLength):
                break
        self.used.append(s);
        return s;

    def reset(self):
        self.used.Clear()

You can seed it with any data you like to generate any sort of name. Eg:

starnames = """
Achernar Alpha Eridani \
Achird Eta Cassiopeiae \
Acrab Beta Scorpii \
Acrux Alpha Crucis \
Acubens Alpha Cancri \
Adhafera Zeta Leonis \
Adhara Epsilon Canis Majoris \
Ain Epsilon Tauri \
Aladfar Eta Lyrae \
Alamak Gamma Andromedae \
Alathfar Mu Lyrae \
Alaraph Beta Virginis \
Albaldah Pi Sagittarii \
""".split(" ")

m = Markov(starnames, 2, 6)
for i in xrange(10):
    print m.next()

Gives this output:

Siolphh
Hafere
Ammaam
Ammaka
Ittatartar
Chieri
Scooor
Araineaa
Feriisda
Achuih