Great City Name Ideas Advice

[Ryanrcc 0]

      What would be some great city names? I'm kinda runnin' out of names, and its driving me crazy trying to think of new ones . I wanted some neat names for my region. Any ideas??????

                                  Thanks,

                            

                                                             Ryanrcc

[ephorex_77 0]

Pity, there used to be a ciy name generator on ST, but I think it's gone now.

 

How about getting the phonebook or an atlas and start mixing up words?? Or alternatively if you're looking for the more interesting sort, try making anagrams with random words.

 

[sharkbait16 0]

I'm working on an old European region, and most of my city names come from simple Italian words.  There are tons of different places to help you come up with names, just look for some help from some where.

[FreewayofFlight 41]

If you can't think up of good city names, look at a map of the world. That's what I did, I looked through the maps in my World History book and pulle up names that were not really used and sounded cool (i.e. Dvina and Nicobar.) World atlases and history books are a great place to find city names, or just name your cities after your friends (I do!)

[pickled_pig 7]

Date: 12/16/2005 2:18:50 PM Author: FreewayofFlight I looked through the maps in my World History book and pulle up names that were not really used and sounded cool (i.e. Dvina and Nicobar.) World atlases and history books are a great place to find city names, or just name your cities after your friends (I do!)

quote>

Actually, for the last region I played (New Berlin), I took all my mayor names from my World History textbook.  One city had John Locke, one city had Jean Paul Marat, one city had Martin Luther, if I continued the region, Thomas Paine would have been my fourth mayor.  I had some emlightenment theme going on.

 

For my city names, I used to go boring and functional because most of the towns I am familiar with have boring and functional names derived from British names (Coventry, Kingstown, Newport...)  Personally, I like the town names and the county names in the South and the West better - they have more of an originality to them.  Why not you look at some of those for city names?

[QWERTYkid911 0]

An atlas. I never would of thought of that! Thanks for the advice. I was beginning to use names like Mountain River. XD

[ephorex_77 0]

Date: 12/16/2005 6:19:30 PM Author: QWERTYkid911 An atlas. I never would of thought of that! Thanks for the advice. I was beginning to use names like Mountain River. XD

quote>

LOL!! Don't worry, my old city was called Urbania.

 

Besides the atlas, you could use the phone book (directory). They usually give you great ideas for mayor names or even city names.

[Murakumon 1]

Well my names are kinda strange, but i also start with combinations of prefixes and suffixes

Here's some you could use:

Miakye
Kuanaoe
Amakuso

Prefixes:

Ana
Mia
Sau

Suffixes:

-eo
-o
-uso
-uma

I donna, just a thought

[Tolomar 5]

I wimp out and give all the cities the same name as the region, and number all the cities

 

eg...in my NYC region...NYC 01, NYC 02, NYC 03, etc etc

[joeynymets 19]

What I do is that I pick a name and name different cities the direction from the central city it is.  example: East (city name), West (city name), North (city name), South (city name).

[coolotter88 2]

lol, i am currently using elements from el periodic table of elements. the noble gases make really interesting names.

[Sam 163]

This is currently my favourite site for city names: Names by Chinaroad . All I do is pick a theme for the region from the lists, then start on the list of names and pick out the ones I like. Sometimes if I don't like the exact name I create variations of them. My current region is nature names, my previous region was Knights of the Round Table.

Maybe I will try the periodic table for my next region, that sounds like an interesting idea.

There was a huge thread of names here , and I think there is also an omnibus article here .

There are also some nice generators around, mainly from role playing websites, but my favourite of these has disappeared.

[winonanick 0]

I use a map currently, pick a region and go from there.

 

My other handy method from sc2k days was use combinations, such as I used japanese cities:

 

eg:  Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasakie gave

 

Toksama

Hiorkie

others combination included

Yushu

Kagakyima

those are about all the ones I can remember...

 

[Goldfish4209 9]

How about name them after people? Look in the phone book for interesting names. I saw Selena somewhere, and I named a city after it. (I accidentally named it Salina, but oh well.)

[haux 6]

I just go with names of cities I made in SC2K or SC3. Names of nearby streets or the streets in my childhood neighborhood are good, too.

[justox_freecz_dizaola 0]

Try these

 

bathermast

inagva

Malaparaiso

Sennora

Alia

Karpenthurst

Wirepho

Farmeplant

Commetradia

Houres

Highexpress

Chidu

snepir

Indusmoke

Chrisalbudna

Beseach

Portare

Fantale

Mocasral

Encantheria

Chemsics

Hygelt

Prauper

Petince

Drafenirin

Worex

Cistym

Globeldt

Suelen

Crizure

Swaustre

Cokija

Manibu

Mularina

Aorgent

Algenometry

Begio

Nushelly

Thamalita

Baman

Kamicospal

Mirodunque

 

 

 

[JBSimio 152]

In my cities, I'm not all that creative.  I usually use the N,S,E,W already mentioned, or I use names of suburbs that I'm familiar with in Detroit or Milwaukee (they're the ones I know).

In my outlying areas, I try to follow the geography and stay in general areas.  One part might be a bunch of bird names like Eagle Mountain, Sand Hill, Raven Ridge, etc.  Another might be trees (Walnut Creek, Deep Pine Valley), or just names that sound cool to describe the area I'm in (Bear Lick Creek, Pisgah Church Grove, Sharon Hollow).  It also helps me remember the names of the features instead of trying to come up with seperate town names.

 

JB

[SimTiki 4]

I usually use an atlas, but try flipping open random novels. Tom Clancy novels work pretty well, but I love using Lord of the Rings. Fantasy books have great city names.

[Joe 90 358]

The phone book is the best if your stuck. I find using existing place names from an atlas or book gives you pre-conceived ideas on what a city should look like (ie you don't imagine Paris as a bland industrial town).

 

I usually get a random name from the the phone book and add an appropriate suffix like -town, -ville, -ton, -wood, -s, -field etc. so you can end up with names like this:

Jackson, Jacksontown, Jacksonton (or Jackston), Jacksonhurst, Jacksonfield, Jacksons, Jacksonlea, Jacksonbury-upon-Woldercott... (although not all at once!)

 

I generally only use N, S, E, W, if the parent town is much bigger, otherwise I give it a separate name. Even then I don't use it much. I also occasionally name something (for example) East Fortuna without there actually being a Fortuna (imagine it's in the next region..).

 

But if you can, use your imagination. It'll win every time..

[Aleutiandude12 0]

I use in my Region city names from Europe or Canada, like Athens, Berlin, Rome, and some Canadian, Edmonton, Toronto, Quebec

[Rochefort 13]

Interesting topic Ryanrcc.

My current region is made up of cities named after football stadiums in England, so I have Molineux (Wolverhampton Wanderers FC) as my central city and then Saltergate (Chesterfield FC), Turf Moor (Burnley FC), Sixfields (Northampton Town FC), Oakwell (Barnsley FC), Selhurst Park (Crystal Palace FC)....well you get the idea.

A little off topic, but I choose my mayor names from a book on the battle of Waterloo (how much of a nerd am I?).

[berru 0]

I love to use french names from atlases and maps. Detailed roadmaps are available from the internet, and are an infinite source of names. Depending when you look at, you can give a different flavor to you region. Some examples:
Corsica:
Asco
Terello
Ominanda
Calacuccia
etc...

Provence:
Brignoles
Aups
Salerne
La Sigue
Les Nourradons
Les Clarettes
Masseboeuf
Vignaubiere
etc...

Basque country:
Navarrenx
Saint-Jean-Pied-De-Port
Urepel
Vera de Bidassoa
Ainhoa
St-Etienne de Baigorry
la Rhunne
etc...

Britany:
Meslouan
Kernascleden
Quelfenec
Kergedalen
Saint Karadec de Tregomel
Lochrist
Priziac
etc...

Northern France:
Airainnes
Quesnoy
Le Mesge
Fourdrinoy
Soues
Yseux
etc...

Eastern France:
Toul
Metz
Foug
Blenod
Dieulouard
Gondrecourt
Gerbeviller
Rambervillers

Around Lyon:
La Contamine
Saint Blaise
Blandins
Chabons
Virieux
Plan-bois
etc...

Alps (long names are more frequent):
Saint-Jean De Maurienne
Saint-Julien Mont Denis
Saint Martin de la Porte
La Bachellerie
Montamarfrey-Montpascal
Bonneval sur Arc
Les Avanchez-Valmorel
La Forclaz
La Traversaz
La Perousaz
La Setaz
La Clusaz
etc...

Central plateau:
Yssingeau
Chambon
St Paulien
Monistrol sur loire
Monistrol sur allier
Mezenc
Amplepuis
Le Monastier
Riom
etc...

the same can be said for other european countries: there are tons of +-100km areas in europe with a specific set of names attached to it. Giving such names give your region a certain unity. And I prefer this much more than "centralia" and other pompous names, or "paradisia" "ecologia" or other dreamland names. A city also needs heavy industry. A city also have history: for example a tiny town in rhone valley (Cruas) is both a renown medieval village and an heavy industry center (I mean cement factories and nuclear plants).

[Gnargenox 6]

Fantasy or fictional stories have great names for cities and or regions; i.e. Lord of the Rings, Conan's Hyboria (currently working on a map to upload of Hyboria). Just take a stroll thru your local library or book store for books with maps in the front.

This is what I've come up with for city names from research online about Conan's world. Some places are still blank thou.

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/9343/myhyboriaiiinamed22kd.jpg

[AIX 270]

My of my names originate from here in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Lots of native American names. Here are a few: Skagit Stilliguamish Swinomish Tulalip Tukwila Duwamish Suquamish Okanogan Samish Samammish etc etc etc

[spa 970]

I tend to pull my names from everywhere. I actually keep a note pad next to the comptuer which I use for jotting down dimensions when I'm batting, but there is also a page for city names. Whenever something occurs to me I put in the book so I can usually keep ahead of demand. My names comes from all over. Some are real places (Amherstburg), some are modified words (Navistagotti) and some are just sounds that go together (Wyvernanitch). I have found that the local street maps can be good sources. The phone book suggestion is a good one that I hadn't thought of. 

On the rare occassion that I actually use real cities or towns, I only do so if they're small and fairly unknown. Big well known cities come with too many connotations that only serve to box me in (I won't ever name something Paris or Chicago etc because it wouldn't really be my city I would be thinking of its namesake). There are only three real world place names in my current region.

Amherstburg, is a small town in Southern Ontario near Windsor and Detroit. It was a key fort in the War of 1812 which is how I heard of it.
Darlington is also a small place in Ontario that is known because it has a nuclear power plant.
Napa is a valley in California known for its wines.

[MrVegetable 2]

Well for my next CJ I have different themes for my regions. For instance, the first and main secotr is to do with moods, therefore I will have names such as Envytown (next to the Jelou Sea ), Cryers Bridge, etc.

[dulcimer man 0]

Names can be a headache - but in one region I used a map of the roman empire(Aquileia, Caesarea etc). It made everything quite neutral I believe, since that empire is long gone.

[Wilderkin 0]

I have a region named Northwoods and all the cities have tree names such as Tamarack, Aspen, Alder, Cedar, etc. I also have a regian named Outer Limits with silly names for cities such as Ballyhoo with a mayor named Betty Boo.

[Saint Andrew 6]

I just take real names (I hate stuff like Kirtewooloo City lol) but only names of small US and Canadian towns so that they aren't weel-known.

[spa 970]

Originally posted by: Wilderkin

I have a region named Northwoods and all the cities have tree names such as Tamarack, Aspen, Alder, Cedar, etc. I also have a regian named Outer Limits with silly names for cities such as Ballyhoo with a mayor named Betty Boo.quote>

You must be the guy who named Halifax's streets! Around Dalhousie University there is a neighbourhood where every street is named for a tree (Larch, Beech, Cedar, Chestnut, Walnut, Cherry, Oak and Poplar).