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Thread: Place name conventions...

  1. #1

    Post Place name conventions...

    Do any of you have a list of place name conventions? What I mean is the prefixes, suffixes, and extra bits that tend to be incorporated into different categories of place names.

    For example

    _____ville
    _____ City
    New _____
    Point _____
    _____ Canyon
    _____ Sea
    Lake _____

    and so on...

    I've found, in the past, some generators, but I'm wanting to work with my own setup for naming thousands of places.

  2. #2
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
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    Post

    Never thought about that but I'll throw in a few that I just thought of:

    ___ Hill
    ___ Fort
    ___bend
    ___ford
    ___ Vale
    ___wick
    Le ___
    La ___
    el ___
    Las ___
    Los ___
    [insert color here] ___
    [insert descriptive adjective here] ___
    [place] of [noun/emotion/verb] (like Hill of Oaks/Sorrows/Killing)

    Just a few off the top of my head; gonna put these into a document and keep that handy.
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  3. #3

    Default

    If you're naming thousands of places it might be easier to write a simple program with a C++ compiler or something to generate exactly the number of names you need with a bunch of preconditions, such as the ones mentioned here, and some consonant sounds/words to work with. This can also work for conlanging (for coming up with base words for your language) if you're doing that for your world.

  4. #4

    Default

    That's my plan, though as a non programmer, I'll likely muddle something up in Excel or Access.

  5. #5

    Post

    Here's my first attempt at a random name (ok...chain of phonemes) using Excel (xlsx format, sorry)

    It's based on these phonetic sounds:

    a
    ah
    aw
    ay
    e
    ee
    er
    i
    ie
    oh
    oi
    oo
    ow
    u
    ue
    uh
    ur

    b
    ch
    d
    f
    g
    h
    j
    k
    l
    m
    n
    ng
    p
    r
    s
    sh
    t
    th
    xh
    v
    w
    wh
    y
    z
    zh

    A given name may have 3-6 sounds (if I did it right) which will be in the form of:

    CVCVCV
    CVCVC
    CVCV
    VCVCV
    VCVC
    VCV

    (where C is a consonant sound, V is a vowel sound)
    Attached Files Attached Files

  6. #6

    Default

    Here are a few of the generated names...

    l-oh-zh-ue
    d-ur-z-a-h
    y-ay-m-oi-j
    j-i-f-ay-j-ae
    b-er-v-oi
    j-uh-r-ur
    aw-l-u
    u-p-oh-t-oo
    r-oh-g-ee
    th-ue-th-ah-k-ue
    n-ie-ng-ur
    sh-er-f-oi-xh
    oo-sh-oh-wh-ue
    w-ae-zh-oh
    f-oh-ng-aw-wh
    m-ah-p-u
    z-ee-v-ee-t-ae
    aw-n-u
    ae-sh-oi-zh
    b-ae-w-i-th-oh
    aw-r-ow-p-u
    g-ay-f-ae-k-oh
    j-ah-w-a-h-a
    h-ie-k-uh
    v-a-b-uh
    ay-l-ay-v-uh
    f-ay-z-oi-ch
    y-ee-ng-ae-sh-ae
    ow-ch-oi-g-ue
    ae-g-a
    ay-th-oi-y
    b-ow-p-oh-l
    p-uh-f-oi-zh
    m-aw-sh-oo-n-ae
    z-oo-j-ue-k-oh
    n-uh-ng-ee-ch-oh
    ae-h-uh-m
    n-oi-s-er-h-oi
    ah-xh-er-ng-i
    ow-y-oo
    ng-ow-b-ur-j
    k-a-th-uh-f-oh
    ie-f-ur-l
    m-ee-ch-uh-k-ah
    th-oi-m-ah-d-oo
    sh-ae-l-ie-d-a
    ah-b-ah-v-aw
    y-ie-s-ie-t-er
    b-ee-m-ow-xh-er
    ch-uh-ch-ah-z
    aw-r-ue-n
    w-aw-b-ur-z
    b-uh-wh-ae-j-ay
    oo-m-ue-wh-ee
    r-ow-k-ie-sh-i
    z-i-n-a
    ue-r-ee
    b-i-t-ue
    zh-ay-l-oh-w-oh
    g-ue-z-er-wh-oi
    p-oh-t-u-b
    ch-ah-z-er
    a-v-uh-w-a
    j-ur-m-ue-s
    d-ow-zh-oi-g-ae
    b-ae-t-ue-f-a
    ah-b-oo
    sh-ur-wh-er-z
    ch-i-h-ay-k-ee
    aw-j-er-z
    uh-h-oh-v-a
    j-uh-b-oo-w
    n-oo-xh-i
    t-uh-f-er
    w-i-l-ae-ng-ur
    t-er-f-a-l
    zh-uh-p-ow-th
    g-oh-ch-aw-w
    a-d-ur-sh
    ue-r-uh-z
    ow-j-ie-xh-a
    xh-ay-f-u-wh
    u-h-ur-f-aw
    sh-ay-p-i
    y-i-l-i-d-ie
    ch-ow-j-ah-sh
    ch-oo-w-uh-v-er
    b-ie-j-i-zh
    v-oi-m-ae-l-oi
    oh-r-ie
    r-u-h-ae-n-u
    f-i-ng-ee-r
    th-ie-n-ee
    s-uh-sh-a-k

  7. #7
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    Default

    Some quirky ones that use or can think of
    ___ Wall/Bastion/Citadel
    ___ Springs/Pond/Bank/Stream/Falls
    ___ Pit/Burrows/Mine/Quarry/Shale
    ___ Vale/Glade/Meadows
    ___ Gap/Pass/Walk/March
    ___ Fort/Keep/Tower/Watch/Post
    ___ Berg/Borg (just means town)
    ___ Point/Bay/Harbor/Moor/Bank
    ___ Camp/Outpost/Tradepost
    ___ Meet/Mark
    ___ Valley/Ridge/Mount/Crag/
    ___ Briar/Fields/Delta/Grove

    That's all i got for now off the top of my my head, i will look into it more an come back tommorow.

  8. #8
    Community Leader NeonKnight's Avatar
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    I gave a big discussion on this waaaaaaaaaaaay back:

    http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...46&postcount=6
    Daniel the Neon Knight: Campaign Cartographer User

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  9. #9
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    For generators, I'd suggest using NBOS's Inspiration Pad. It's free, and fairly easy to create generators for. There's also a program — I have a hard time finding it these days — called Lang Maker that was useful for creating fictional languages. It was set to do what you did in Excel.

  10. #10
    Guild Journeyer Ryan K's Avatar
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    I tend to use generators myself, pick and choose the ones I want and tweak them a bit so that they feel more like they belong in my world. It's shamelessly easy.
    Regards,

    RK

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