More place-naming goodness! I learned some neat stuff while naming my map for my T&T project (Tsuchirou to Tatsu, trans: Dungeons and Dragons )

Directional names are incredibly useful.
Central = Chuuou or Naka-
East = Higashi, Tou
West = Nishi
North = Kita, Hoku
South = Minami

Now here's where things get really fun. The emperor supposedly sits facing south, so the terms "u" (right) and "sa" (left) can be used for placenames. In my map, there are two capes extending south on either side of the bay where my capitol city is. I've named them respectively Sasaki (left cape) for the eastern cape, and Usaki (right cape) for the western cape. Mind you, the kanji are what give them these great meanings... Sasaki could also be written with different kanji to be the word for a type of tree.


Another favorite of place-naming has always been 'New'. 'New York', 'New Jersey', 'New Mexico', it's a great way to name a place without having to be, y'know, creative. Well, Japan has a couple of its own... Shin can mean new, while Hon or Moto can mean original. For example, I have two provinces, and one holds the current royal palace (miya), one is where the old palace was. I named them, respectively, Shinmiya and Honmiya.


Hopefully this helps, I'm planning on putting something together for character naming soon too.