My tips and tricks on naming places

So, I see a lot of posts here asking for help naming places. One thing that makes your worlds interesting is places that feel real, that seem to have histories, and the name of the place is a huge insight into that history. Everyone wants a cool place name like Morgan's Vigil(World of Warcraft), Lonetrek(EVE Online), or the Skyforge(ESV: Skyrim). The problem is, names that mean something and sound good are hard to come up with. So here's a couple tips and tricks I use to make interesting place names.

The main things places are named after are the follows:

• The environment around them: Hemlock Grove

• The person who discovered/created them: Renwild's Retreat

• The purpose it serves: Drakewatch

• The creatures that live there: Pixie Spring

• An event it was involved in: Giantsfall

Method One: Short Description

Taking this into account, start by describing the area in one or two sentences. Example:

• My town is a small village in a wood by a river. It was founded by Lord Harlack the Black and is plagued by wraiths.

Now pick out the details that make the area interesting. Let's say the important bit is the environment. Because it's in a wood by a river, we can call it Riverwood(Like from Skyrim). To avoid copyright infringement, we can pick different details to focus on, and we'll get different results. Here are some examples.

• Wraithbank

• Harlack Township

• Blackwater(After the Lord's title)

• Wraithwood

You can go on and on like this, but if you don't like those names or you can't think of any more, just add another detail. Example:

• Archmage Aldronon the Great stopped here once to rest, and cured the lord of a deadly illness.

Now it can also be Mage's Rest, Aldronon's Crossing, Plaguebreak, etc.

Method Two: Wikipedia Abuse

But let's say you don't have enough details to do this, so everything I've told you is worthless. Worry not! You can just "zoom in" on one specific detail. Example:

• It's a beach with palm trees.

Start with just that:

• Palm Beach(This one's so creative, it's a place in Florida.)

• Coconut Bank

• Leafy Strand

Then delve farther into the prompt. Palm trees, according to Wikipedia, have order Arecales. That's a pretty cool word, and would make an exellent place name. So would Areca, the type genus. Moving on, scroling down to the "selected genera" section, we can pull out other cool words that would make interesting(and meaningful) place names:

• Attalea

• Ceroxylon

• Elaeis

• Thrinax

Ad infinitum. This doesn’t work for everything (It might be a bad idea to name a town in a pine forest “Pinus”) but it helps often if you’re really stuck.

Naming for Different Genres

but u/solcaer, I have a sci-fi world!

Worry not! Sci-fi names are only slightly different. They tend to be named after their purpose, their founder, their symbolism, or even just what they are. Example:

• Ryder-Haltway Industrial Complex

• Shipwright’s District

• Mercy

• Western Long-Distance Stargate

Small towns can also be named similar to modern towns, but in whatever the language/dialect of your world is.

but u/solcaer, I have a modern world!

Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is modern place names are really easy, but the bad news is that they’re inherently kinda boring. Most towns are named for exactly what they are, in many English-speaking countries(not Ireland though, who names a town Three Mile Boris?). Examples:

• A town made by Jackson = Jackson

• Some land with a port on it = Portland

• A city called York, but not the original York = New York

• A place with a really cool bath = Bath

• A town with a guy named William Trent = Trenton(town becomes ton)

Obviously results will vary based on language and target audience, but you get the idea. Most modern place names are boring, because it’s what we’re familiar with.

Well, that concludes all the stuff I use to name places. Keep in mind that I’m just sharing my personal tricks for naming, and your results may vary. Good luck with your names!