SummaryA parameterized stochastic model of near‐fault ground motion in two orthogonal horizontal directions is developed. The major characteristics of recorded near‐fault ground motions are represented. These include near‐fault effects of directivity and fling step; temporal and spectral non‐stationarity; intensity, duration, and frequency content characteristics; directionality of components; and the natural variability of ground motions. Not all near‐fault ground motions contain a forward directivity pulse, even when the conditions for such a pulse are favorable. The proposed model accounts for both pulse‐like and non‐pulse‐like cases. The model is fitted to recorded near‐fault ground motions by matching important characteristics, thus generating an ‘observed’ set of model parameters for different earthquake source and site characteristics. A method to generate and post‐process synthetic motions for specified model parameters is also presented. Synthetic ground motion time series are generated using fitted parameter values. They are compared with corresponding recorded motions to validate the proposed model and simulation procedure. The use of synthetic motions in addition to or in place of recorded motions is desirable in performance‐based earthquake engineering applications, particularly when recorded motions are scarce or when they are unavailable for a specified design scenario. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.