How do you name your World? (Or nations, etc., for that matter...)

[Karro]

Erm yeah, looks like i misinterpreted/missed the actual point of the thread. Sorry, my bad

We are a hedge, nothing to see here, move along...

No worries! Your thoughts are still valid and useful, just under a slightly different context.

[Ascension]

I don't put a lot of thought into naming things, mainly because I'm not making my own personal world or anything like that. It's not personal. I do, however, put a lot of ear into names...they have to sound right. If I say it out loud and it sounds dumb then I change a letter here n there and see what it sounds like. I like my random places to have a musical flow to them. When I'm in a creative mood I try to evoke the other senses and when I'm feeling whimsical I like to tickle a rib. So I guess that you could say I like for things to sounds right and I rely on my current emotional state to evoke the names. The metanames (countries, continents, worlds) just pop into my head after I have done all of the other naming...that way it sort of grows or evolves and feels more natural. Oftentimes I'll say to myself that I want this place to sound Russian or Persian or whatever so I make up stuff that sounds that way.

When I do plan things out down to the tiniest detail I know exactly what the people dress like and think like, what they manufacture, what they import/export, what their religion is like, etc. so this makes things easier. For me, when I get stuck or feel non-creative then I'll hit a generator but I never take a word straight from the generator because of the above criteria. Gleitneklsd might come out of a generator but I play with it until I get something like Gleiten or Glettenskold, or if they be hobbits then it's something like Gibbenbotty, orcs would be Nightskull, English would be Glencurry. For me, it's all in the sound.

[zenram]

Well in my case i name the places of my world "Divero" mostly straight forward, there is a continent with the shape of a dragon so it is called Nogardrios wich is something like "Im a Dragon" in spanish and spelled backwards. There is a continent which has the shape of a dagger and is called Agad, again dagger in spanish and spelled backwards. XD

When the names dont like me i just add some "t", "r"; "th", so they sound a little more mysterious.

For natural features, towns and the like i just take the logical approach, if its in a pine forest its called evergreen and the like.

Of course, many cultures have their own languages so the places still have names like that but in their native language, or with the names of their heroes or gods.

[Highlieche]

Most of my naming conventions are simple. I take the focus of the map/TL/fantasy and find what i think sounds cool to name it as.

[jaspertjie]

I sometimes use words that actually mean anything, like Dostre'dex. Dostre means 'Vessel' and 'dex' means city. Reminder: 'dex' is only thrown at the end of a placename if the city is conquered, not when founded by Maraxxians. If that is the case, then you leave the 'dex' away, or delete the apostrophe before 'dex'.

[Vorhees]

For my Fantasy world i Keep the World Name Short as Possible , the Kingdom's and And Cities i give a name That Captures the feel i am trying to get , So for instance i have a Region Called Spargos , It has a Greek Feel and is Inhabited by Minotaurs and Humans, i also have a Region Called Jarlgarr that has a Nordic Feel. When i am doing my future World i Usually name things after current or historical places or Events as in New Scotland, Camelot and Fort Apache.

When doing a lot of places i find that this site http://donjon.bin.sh/name/ helps alot

This one can come in handy at times. http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

[Korrigan]

I try to find names that sound "natural". I try to avoid mixing things like "K", "Kh", Gh" with vowels to sound exotic. I usually just find it lame...

Last time I had to develop different races and cultures, I try to find a real-world language that would fit for each one. Then I made up names mixing different words in those languages. For example, I chose welsh for the elves, icelandic for the dwarves, britton for one of the human kingdoms,... In this kingdom, the capital was made of white marble, so I wanted to name it "the white city", which is said "ker gwenn" in britton. So I simply named the city Kergwenn. Easier is better.

The other advantage of this method is that I can provide my players with lists of real-world names in those languages, which links them to the cultures they'll play in.

[Yorick Sofer]

I actually have this same problem.
Trying to think of why your name would be called that.
I'll see some maps with very strange names. Names that look like people names.
Names come difficult to me, and naming the entire world is the hardest one.
There being so many gods on some hands, it would be difficult to have one all encompassing god to name the world after.

[Vanoitran]

Naming usually comes last for me, its often based on what I want the land to represent (read: what is in the land) and if I can't think of anything personalized, I will take a Tolkein-y move and mesh languages (right now Im on a Mongolian-German mesh).

For example:

Land's economy is fishing based: The towns might be named something like Teem, Rot's Cove, Sailorhill or something generally fishing and nautical based. While the region may have a more creative name based on an imagined history.

or

Islands of the Land's shore are being invaded by demons from another realm -- the landmarks in that area will have names based off the demon's language (here it might be good to mesh languages) while the lands around those islands will tell about their nature of always defending against hordes of demons. Such as: Rykyan's Bastion, or The Walled Coast, or Fleetguard.

[tabletopbitsandbobs]

I will sometimes take a word from the plot. Like Betrayal, or Brother....whatever is involved in the main plot for the world and throw it through Google Translate. See what pops up and see if anything sounds good. Oh! A tip...Say the names you come up with out loud., you never know how your players will make fun of your names until you hear it.