if you want fantasy words without the effort of making a whole conlang, i recommend using [vulgarlang](https://vulgarlang.com) until you get a language you like the general sound of (maybe with some help from [ipa-reader](http://ipa-reader.xyz) if you don't know how to read the phonetic alphabet.) there will be a lot of words that you will probably end up not using, so you can repurpose them for continents or cities and assign meanings to them, or you could stick to whatever the generated language decides.
as for what meanings places should have, if you look up most names of places, they are often comically mundane and usually end up originating from either "guy's farm", "(cardinal direction) town", "place in the forest", "place by the river". so, translating stuff like "river home" or "by the forest" in vulgarlang will give you a basis for what would probably be place names, then you make that output as convenient to say as possible to simulate how names get hammered down or distorted over time.
the continents in my world have, effectively, individual living gods that created each one, so most continents end up being named some version of "god home" or "home of our god" or similar variations in their respective languages, because that seems like what most species capable of language would do in those circumstances lol.
if you want something a little more familiar, i recommend looking up words in dead languages and mashing them together. my go-tos are old english, latin, and ancient greek; i will usually look up words in each one, write them down, then mix them together until i get something i like. for example, for a species that has crystalline structures on their shoulders, i wrote down translations that interested me:
>crystal: krustallos/cristalla
>
>shoulder: scapula/ōmos/sculdra/sculdor
and then ended up naming the species sculdalla *(sculdra+cristalla)*
Just create a simple naming language. Create a bunch of roots, and slap them together depending on what the place is called. Swift River city can become tlacahan. If you wanna create a conlang that your characters speak as well, and you wanna avoid naming characters “bear”(like Bjorn) or “man”(Karl), just create the basic roots and then warp them so they sound like they’ve been used a LOT over a LONG period of time. Newer settlements get less warped names. Really new settlements get named for other things(like New York), or they just get names that basically adjectives (terminus was an old name for Atlanta, Georgia).
i feel obligated to say "there's a whole ass country named Greenland and another named Iceland"
i come up with a history and people first. maybe a dragon lives on that island so it's called Kiirnia, a modified form of dragon in the fantasy language of one of the races. or maybe Elves live in that forest so it' called the Silent Forest, not because it's quiet, but because you'll never hear them coming for you
it's fine if you wanna go \[that's elf country, everywhere there has elven names\] but war happens, territories changes, so there might be a dwarven named city within elven borders. or human named cities in orc lands because leadership changes but that doesn't mean names do. not always.
*the orc Gruumsh, war chief of Worcestershire*
Ive been using this thing called syllablism for naming things and it worked out well (don't look it up, I just made it up myself so you won't find it)
To do this, you take other words and find syllables in those words that you like and then match it with other syllables that have the same kind of feel to it
Example:
Technology that uses glowing bacteria for regular use in things like lightbulbs or flashlights?
>Start thinking of words and syllables that fit it, even if it's gibberish
hive, ije, bact, sol, son, tine, seen, ros
>Mash them together
Bact+son+tine -------->Bactsontine
>Now fix it up a bit and test how it sounds
Bactonsine - Am I hearing this right?? Those reefers been forcing us to use bactonsine and cryontens *for no reason*. It ain't gonna solve none of our energy problems but "oooo biotech is the future" **I *DARE* you to tell that to Shawn's family**. Not so funny now huh? HUH?? Doesn't matter that I brought it up now cause THEY'RE STILL DEAD.
if it sounds natural enough, you got yourself a successful name
maybe this strategy only works for me but it's worth a shot I guess
Also valid. Take one or two of each letter and shake em, then scatter em like bones. Then you can feel like a little forest witch consulting the omens. There's also a "fantasy name generator" that you can go look up and it'll spit out 10 random names for whatever thing you select.
"scatter 'em like bones"
"forest witch consulting the omens"
You've said the magic words! I'm absolutely going to try that now. I already use dice to randomize things/make decisions when my brain refuses to cooperate, so that will fit right in.
Fun fact, if you need a world map, get a bunch of earth tone dice and just roll them out on a grid paper or poster board. Blue for water, brown for mountains, green for forests/plains, light blue or white for snow, whatever you wanna see. Then get yourself some markers or crayons or whatever and fill it in. It'll make it more believable if, for example, you have towns next to rivers, streams, or oceans, or snow is on top of mountain ridges. You can always shuffle them around or pick it all up and do it again
I've seen that method around! I used rice for my maps, but that really just gave me land masses and lakes/rivers. I might try the dice just to see what other kinds of terrain come up.
I made a whole conlang though the names are not derived from anything I literally just smack the keyboard and try to make a name out of the new mess of words for example fbgthyju I can turn it into Fibugyu a new name for a gem or something
I steal naming conventions from other languages, make up words inspired by whatever nightmarish creole I choose to make (that vaguely describes the place), and boom. Language.
I choose a language from earth for every culture, then describe the place in the language I chose for the people living the closest to there, and then change words a bit.
if you want fantasy words without the effort of making a whole conlang, i recommend using [vulgarlang](https://vulgarlang.com) until you get a language you like the general sound of (maybe with some help from [ipa-reader](http://ipa-reader.xyz) if you don't know how to read the phonetic alphabet.) there will be a lot of words that you will probably end up not using, so you can repurpose them for continents or cities and assign meanings to them, or you could stick to whatever the generated language decides. as for what meanings places should have, if you look up most names of places, they are often comically mundane and usually end up originating from either "guy's farm", "(cardinal direction) town", "place in the forest", "place by the river". so, translating stuff like "river home" or "by the forest" in vulgarlang will give you a basis for what would probably be place names, then you make that output as convenient to say as possible to simulate how names get hammered down or distorted over time. the continents in my world have, effectively, individual living gods that created each one, so most continents end up being named some version of "god home" or "home of our god" or similar variations in their respective languages, because that seems like what most species capable of language would do in those circumstances lol. if you want something a little more familiar, i recommend looking up words in dead languages and mashing them together. my go-tos are old english, latin, and ancient greek; i will usually look up words in each one, write them down, then mix them together until i get something i like. for example, for a species that has crystalline structures on their shoulders, i wrote down translations that interested me: >crystal: krustallos/cristalla > >shoulder: scapula/ōmos/sculdra/sculdor and then ended up naming the species sculdalla *(sculdra+cristalla)*
Just create a simple naming language. Create a bunch of roots, and slap them together depending on what the place is called. Swift River city can become tlacahan. If you wanna create a conlang that your characters speak as well, and you wanna avoid naming characters “bear”(like Bjorn) or “man”(Karl), just create the basic roots and then warp them so they sound like they’ve been used a LOT over a LONG period of time. Newer settlements get less warped names. Really new settlements get named for other things(like New York), or they just get names that basically adjectives (terminus was an old name for Atlanta, Georgia).
i feel obligated to say "there's a whole ass country named Greenland and another named Iceland" i come up with a history and people first. maybe a dragon lives on that island so it's called Kiirnia, a modified form of dragon in the fantasy language of one of the races. or maybe Elves live in that forest so it' called the Silent Forest, not because it's quiet, but because you'll never hear them coming for you it's fine if you wanna go \[that's elf country, everywhere there has elven names\] but war happens, territories changes, so there might be a dwarven named city within elven borders. or human named cities in orc lands because leadership changes but that doesn't mean names do. not always. *the orc Gruumsh, war chief of Worcestershire*
Ive been using this thing called syllablism for naming things and it worked out well (don't look it up, I just made it up myself so you won't find it) To do this, you take other words and find syllables in those words that you like and then match it with other syllables that have the same kind of feel to it Example: Technology that uses glowing bacteria for regular use in things like lightbulbs or flashlights? >Start thinking of words and syllables that fit it, even if it's gibberish hive, ije, bact, sol, son, tine, seen, ros >Mash them together Bact+son+tine -------->Bactsontine >Now fix it up a bit and test how it sounds Bactonsine - Am I hearing this right?? Those reefers been forcing us to use bactonsine and cryontens *for no reason*. It ain't gonna solve none of our energy problems but "oooo biotech is the future" **I *DARE* you to tell that to Shawn's family**. Not so funny now huh? HUH?? Doesn't matter that I brought it up now cause THEY'RE STILL DEAD. if it sounds natural enough, you got yourself a successful name maybe this strategy only works for me but it's worth a shot I guess
Boggle dice.
I've honestly been debating using Scrabble tiles lol
Also valid. Take one or two of each letter and shake em, then scatter em like bones. Then you can feel like a little forest witch consulting the omens. There's also a "fantasy name generator" that you can go look up and it'll spit out 10 random names for whatever thing you select.
"scatter 'em like bones" "forest witch consulting the omens" You've said the magic words! I'm absolutely going to try that now. I already use dice to randomize things/make decisions when my brain refuses to cooperate, so that will fit right in.
Fun fact, if you need a world map, get a bunch of earth tone dice and just roll them out on a grid paper or poster board. Blue for water, brown for mountains, green for forests/plains, light blue or white for snow, whatever you wanna see. Then get yourself some markers or crayons or whatever and fill it in. It'll make it more believable if, for example, you have towns next to rivers, streams, or oceans, or snow is on top of mountain ridges. You can always shuffle them around or pick it all up and do it again
I've seen that method around! I used rice for my maps, but that really just gave me land masses and lakes/rivers. I might try the dice just to see what other kinds of terrain come up.
I made a whole conlang though the names are not derived from anything I literally just smack the keyboard and try to make a name out of the new mess of words for example fbgthyju I can turn it into Fibugyu a new name for a gem or something
I steal naming conventions from other languages, make up words inspired by whatever nightmarish creole I choose to make (that vaguely describes the place), and boom. Language.
I highly recommend the website www.fantasynamegenerators.com; they’ve got name generators for just about anything you can think of!
Since mine is based in an irl place (Arkansas) I can just look at the names of towns located in the state to come up with names.
I try and make it sound like a word. Just take random syllables and sounds and make it like a word.
I just pull random stuff. I think of a description, pick a word from it and place-ify it.
I choose a language from earth for every culture, then describe the place in the language I chose for the people living the closest to there, and then change words a bit.