How cheesy are the names of your locations?

[Gundark]

Looking through some of the homebrews that I have seen on the net, some of the names get pretty bad....

So for you homebrewers out there do you come up with cheesy names for your locations...ie. cliffs of insanity, lake of dread, The mount of no return or something like that. Or do you have pretty non cheesy names names?

 

[reason]

...

Good naming is like good spelling. You're just not going to be taken seriously if you don't do it.

Unless of course it's the point of the exercise. Such as my satirical setting of a local council cleared tourism effort called The Dungeon of Aching Slime, complete with such characters as Mwaha the laughing goblin wizard and Ugh Ugh, a pipe-smoking and utterly suave ogre who was terribly sensitive about the family name. No-one ever took the aching slime seriously.

Reason
Principia Infecta

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I always try to keep a modicum of reality to names. Instead of just blindly creating creating names, I often try to use anywhere from three to five real words as a base for a new name. For example, the Merskapeant [Mer-scape-e-int] (race) was created by using Serpent, Man & Snake.

Sometimes I will create a word out of the blue, but I always find a way to modify it, so as to make it conform to how it sounds and how it should be spelled.

 

[caudor]

When I was younger my names were downright terrible. I had a city named Diver Down. And who was the mayor? Van Halen, of course.

I had a Mount Doom. I placed Thunder Rift (the 'ol 2e accessory) close by. I had a river named Missihippi. I had the Grasshopper plains.

It was terrible.

 

[Drowbane]

my homebrew's version of the Mournlands is known as the Wastelands of Nuk (how do I make one of those lines over the top of the U... oh well, faked it).

Nuk, being the setting's version of Karsus.

Now when an arcanist does either 1) something stupid or 2) an insane amount of damage.... it is refered to as pulling a Nuk(e)... or "Nuking it".

Yeah, I know. I'm a dumbass.

 

[Nyaricus]

Heh, after hearing about the "Kingdoms of Generica" in another thread (referring to "Vanilla" D&D), I think I'll be adding that into my homebrew

 

[Blackwind]

I am fanatical about names, almost as much so as Tolkien; I actually started creating a language for my Kadas homebrew. I got as far as syntax, noun and verb declension and conjugation, and a small list of roots. It certainly helped to give NPC and place names a sense of consistency.

Tolkien was obviously the master of naming; Ursula LeGuin is good too. Eberron has some good names (aside from Khorvaire, which sounds a bit too much like a sportscar) and so do some other D&D settings that I have seen. I hate most of the names that Gary Gygax has come up with over the years, and that is the single most important reason why I will never run Greyhawk. That's just me though, I know some people like his names. The Wilderlands is even worse. I mean, Skandiks? Come on.

 

[Numion]

I am fanatical about names, almost as much so as Tolkien; I actually started creating a language for my Kadas homebrew. I got as far as syntax, noun and verb declension and conjugation, and a small list of roots. It certainly helped to give NPC and place names a sense of consistency.

Go on, give us a couple of names from your homebrew so we can judge if your fanaticism has paid off

 

[Arkhandus]

Most names I come up with for places are either very serious or just plain 'proper' for the region and culture. Many are descriptive, though sometimes colorfully rather than plainly (such as the Shadowmarch Wood, which could've been more simply named the Dark Wood frex).

A few are intentionally silly or kinda cheesy, but generally just if I think it's fine that the locals or some famous bard might've named the place humorously. Haven't used silly place names in a while now, though, far as I can recall.... I don't think I've actually used a terribly cheesy or silly name for any particular place though while DMing.... *ponders*

Lessee, some examples from my Rhunaria site:
General regions/main features: A mountain range called the Impassable Wall of I'Ratha, an unexplored ocean called Sea of the Dark Mist, a lake named the Elfindeep, a ruined land called the Wastelands of the Fallen, plains called the Bloodgrass Fields but formerly known as the Summer Fields, highlands/plateaus called the Drake-Den Cliffs, woods called the Firefly Forest, and there's the Tikaminari Jungle.
Duchy of Baram geography: Haz-Ireth Yulam (Woodlands of Yulam), Veiled Forest, River of the Winding Way, Falrem Onarra (Falrem's Lifeblood, a river), Roc Roost Peak (a mountain), Scarlet River.
Vicinity of Agrhk'Mar Trelgmhk, the hobgoblin-founded 'free city of Trelg': Fnar'Tng Dgr (Broken-Crest Hills), Trelg'Hrandag Ruhr (Trelg Dedication Park), Dgrtuz Zoag (Hillsroad South).
Ur-Dalechron Hegemony's area, mostly dwarven lands: Icaea tol Dalmarius Renata (Lake of Dalmarius' Respite), Magna Icaea tol Vikona Mida Pila (Sea of Broken Spears), Pyral Sarnus (Ashen Desert), Archaius Divis Verdalis (Old Valley Woodland, Uru'Gelath Talianor in Elven speech), Minata Icae tol Aevinarnoch (River of Elvenshade, Elure Estarin'Saeid in Elven speech), Raug Dras'Ir Paz-Nyk (a river in Orcish territory, meaning unknown to dwarves), Viscar tol ven Nochta Divitas (Venom of the Shadow Gorge, a river).

 

[Huw]

Good naming is like good spelling. You're just not going to be taken seriously if you don't do it.

True. It annoys me when people assume I can't spell avantage, rime or algorism. (yes, I'm a complete language pedant, and yes, those are correct spellings).

But on to names. I try and give my locations sensible names, but sometimes I give in to baser instincts. There's a mountain IMC called "The Finger". Very tall and steep, with a round top and three foothills. If you look at it from the right angle...