Determining Place Names

[ClintonBrooks]

I am working on my first romantasy/fantasy book. I THOUGHT I came up with a name for the nation/kingdom (that exists on another world, similar to 15th century Europe). I've been using this name for a month or so in my writing/planning. I thought I'd check today to make sure I was good with it, only to find out a well known author (who I haven't read) already uses it in one of his stories.

So I'm trying to come up with a replacement. The online generators aren't really helping. I have figured out a language generator of my own, and, using the phrase "Golden Mountains", came up with "De Aur Muntagne".

It's a mouthful. I'm curious how others derive the place names for their stories. I need the name of the kingdom and the capital city. Thanks!

 

[TheRedChamber]

It's tough.

Either you go so far into linguistics, a la Tolkein, that you basically invent a new language to authentically name everything, you sling together some random syllabuls and hope for the best, or you mix together common prefix/suffixes for real-world places and roll the dice that a Google maps search comes up blank.

 

[Voboy]

I went the Pratchett route when I did fantasy: I just took English or English-sounding words and I repurposed them until they sounded suitably fantastic. I had a swampy area I called The Stews. A tall sea stack? The Standing Prick. The best ones suggested a deeper history, like a mountain I called the Witch's Tit. Nobody knows the etymology (even me), but that's the point: to a reader, it sounds like it should have a history.

The Edge. Lesser Ormold. Lurik's Rest. The Mearns. The Theads (both Upper and Lower). Scarsack. The Tangle. I had a long, long list at one point, my mind just shitting out place-names that sounded vaguely fantasy-ish. I used a lot of them, and nobody has complained. I think my guiding principle was to think about what kinds of names people would have come up with organically when they saw or established a place. You see a hill for the first time. What do you call it? Perhaps you name it after your wife, or a breadloaf, or something else it vaguely resembles.

SF is easier. Latin provides many names for planets and other space-based features.

 

[ClintonBrooks]

I figured I would have various words/names from this other world and I wanted to create something, thinking that would be safe.

So I thought, I'd take the Romanian word for some thing, and the Italian word for some thing, them combine them like this:


English = Sword
Romanian = Sabie
Italian = Spada
New word = Sabada


Now, there will be soft magic in this world, so they'll have something I'm calling either a Translator Stone or medallion that uses this soft magic for basic conversation between races. (mostly this one race I'm creating and Earth). But I wanted a few words in this other language, thinking it added to the flavor of the story.

 

[FromManyOne]

It's tough.

Either you go so far into linguistics, a la Tolkein, that you basically invent a new language to authentically name everything, you sling together some random syllabuls and hope for the best, or you mix together common prefix/suffixes for real-world places and roll the dice that a Google maps search comes up blank.

Tolkein actually used real-world languages for LOTR. For instance, the Eldar speak a slightly modified Finnish.

In "Beast" (WIP) I use ancient Sumerian for one language group, and a completely artificial conlang for another. My main human group speak "English" in the story context, but their names are ancient Roman ones (e.g. Dorius or Flavia).

 

[KittyOfSteele]

At least for my D&D world, I follow Elder Scrolls logic, though Forgotten Realms has some too, and I believe WoW as well. You know... Hammerfell, Whiterun, Daggerfall, High Rock, Summerset Isle, Winterhold, Solitude, The Rift, Dawnstar, Oblivion, Gothway Garden, Battlespire... Neverwinter, Baldur's Gate, Waterdeep, Icewind Dale, Silverymoon, Kingdom of Many Arrows, Candlekeep... Eversong Woods, Badlands, Wetlands, Ghostlands, The Barrens, Darkshore, Undercity, Thousand Needles, Silverpine Forest, Scarlet Monastery, Silvermoon, Hillsbrad Foothills, Plaguelands, Scholomance, Winterspring, Azuremyst Isle...

I really do my best to not try to come up with fictional language names for many reasons like dealing with exotic spelling, weird or unfortunate pronunciation (though, for one character in my Mass Effect fanfic it was completely intentional), or simply just saving me the headache for overcomplicating something when places are usually named after a descriptor. It could be either a hero hailing from that place (several places in this side of the world are named after heroes' surnames, and one place in my D&D campaign is named after a hero of its mythos), a feature from that place (like a river, local mines, a mountain, some weird monolith; the first city I designed in my world had its name because it was always winter there), something very specific with historical importance (could be a tree that's still alive in which someone from history took camp). You don't need to be too creative. Just look at the list above: Silverymoon and Silvermoon are only different by one letter. They're completely different places in completely different worlds, but the names are just too similar. I speculate the Silithus desert in WoW is named after silica.

Even WoW isn't too creative considering I listed three X-lands. Everything is pretty much reduced to adjective + noun either separated (Scarlet Monastery) or combined (Darkshore) into a single word, or just the + noun (The Barrens), or simply the noun alone (Scholomance). The noun in adjective + noun can be a verb that doubles as a noun, as seen in Daggerfall or Winterhold.

Also, the Scholomance dungeon from WoW is named after a folk legend. Actually, the whole lore around the dungeon comes from that legend. Don't be afraid to take from folklore. I did it, Andrzej Sapkowski did it, Tolkien did it, even Terry Pratchett himself did it.

 

[Katie_Mae]

I once took the first letter of every word in a slogan on an anti-molestation poster, played with the sounds it made and that's how the kingdom of Imerria got its name.

(IYMWWA -> Imerria)

Edit: I should mention that I am not the first person ever to come up with this combination of letters and use it as a name for a place or person. There's a point where you just have to accept it. Google to make sure you're not accidently naming your magical school "Hogwarts" for sure. But I'm not sure each and every fantastical name needs to be wholly unique from every obscure use.

 

[StillStunned]

I went the Pratchett route when I did fantasy: I just took English or English-sounding words and I repurposed them until they sounded suitably fantastic. I had a swampy area I called The Stews. A tall sea stack? The Standing Prick. The best ones suggested a deeper history, like a mountain I called the Witch's Tit. Nobody knows the etymology (even me), but that's the point: to a reader, it sounds like it should have a history.

The Edge. Lesser Ormold. Lurik's Rest. The Mearns. The Theads (both Upper and Lower). Scarsack. The Tangle. I had a long, long list at one point, my mind just shitting out place-names that sounded vaguely fantasy-ish. I used a lot of them, and nobody has complained. I think my guiding principle was to think about what kinds of names people would have come up with organically when they saw or established a place. You see a hill for the first time. What do you call it? Perhaps you name it after your wife, or a breadloaf, or something else it vaguely resembles.

The Grand Tetons come to mind...

Going back to Terry Pratchett: "Your Finger You Fool".

 

[Writer61]

It's a mouthful. I'm curious how others derive the place names for their stories. I need the name of the kingdom and the capital city. Thanks!

Most of my stories are set in real places. For those which aren't, I have a couple of approaches depending on whether it is English or another language. For three villages in England, I mangled some cricketers' names. For other places, I mostly use a sensible English name, translated into the appropriate language.

 

[BeechLeaf]

I'm a linguist, so my natural move is to have a country like Keter Urun, and they speak Keterak there, and the capital is Zikunu, while in neighbouring Tsangwe they speak . . . which is of no use to someone who doesn't enjoy making up entire languages.

In a world where that's not important or helpful, I'd go for generic European-like names, if it's meant to look like Europe: Coronia and Favonia and Ormontania and Uttermark, capital Castle Belmore, then web-search to make sure it hasn't been used by anyone from William Morris to present-day litigious writers, and doesn't show up on free encyclopaedias. I personally wouldn't feel as confident doing this with faux Japanese or Indian names.

 

[Writer61]

web-search to make sure it hasn't been used by anyone from William Morris to present-day litigious writers

I second this.

 

[paribanu]

There is a fantasy name generator website which you may find helpful.

 

[Duil2]

I am working on my first romantasy/fantasy book. I THOUGHT I came up with a name for the nation/kingdom (that exists on another world, similar to 15th century Europe). I've been using this name for a month or so in my writing/planning. I thought I'd check today to make sure I was good with it, only to find out a well known author (who I haven't read) already uses it in one of his stories.

So I'm trying to come up with a replacement. The online generators aren't really helping. I have figured out a language generator of my own, and, using the phrase "Golden Mountains", came up with "De Aur Muntagne".

It's a mouthful. I'm curious how others derive the place names for their stories. I need the name of the kingdom and the capital city. Thanks!

Could you not take the name you've been using for a month and just tweak it a little to be different to the other author?

 

[ClintonBrooks]

There is a fantasy name generator website which you may find helpful.

Yeah, I've tried that. They are a little too creative for my tastes.

Could you not take the name you've been using for a month and just tweak it a little to be different to the other author?

I could. I may.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Most of my stories are set in real places. For those which aren't, I have a couple of approaches depending on whether it is English or another language. For three villages in England, I mangled some cricketers' names. For other places, I mostly use a sensible English name, translated into the appropriate language.

Conversely, I often use village names to name my characters - Laura Silsden is from Yorkshire, and Linford Shobley (a road sign in the New Forest) is a character waiting for an opportunity to make an appearance. He's about 60 and an eccentric scientist from a wealthy background.

 

[Writer61]

Conversely, I often use village names to name my characters - Laura Silsden is from Yorkshire, and Linford Shobley (a road sign in the New Forest) is a character waiting for an opportunity to make an appearance. He's about 60 and an eccentric scientist from a wealthy background.

My family and I often make up stories involving village names/road signs as characters.

A particular favourite is Cedez Le Passage, a.k.a. Sadie Le Passage, a French temptress.

That's what led me to Compton Dennis, etc.