Creating Strong, Memorable Passwords

Last updated: January 2023

While password managers are ideal, here are techniques to create strong passwords you can actually remember:

1. The Passphrase Method

Combine 4-6 random words with spaces or symbols between them. Example: "correct horse battery staple".

2. Sentence Transformation

Take a memorable sentence and use the first letters of each word. Example: "My dog Max was born in 2010!" becomes "MdMwbi2010!".

3. Keyboard Shifting

Type a word but shift your fingers one key to the left or right on the keyboard.

4. Personal Acronyms

Create acronyms from personal memories that only you would know.

5. The Padding Technique

Add a standard prefix/suffix to a base word that changes per site. Example: "fb!w3irdAlien" for Facebook.

6. Phonetic Replacement

Replace letters with similar-sounding numbers/symbols. Example: "Elephant" becomes "3l3ph@nt".

7. The Story Method

Create a short story and extract key elements for your password.

8. Visual Patterns

Use shapes or patterns you draw on the keyboard as a base.

9. The Diceware Method

Use dice to randomly select words from a predefined list.

10. Testing Your Creation

Use our password strength checker to verify your memorable password is actually strong.