How cheesy are the names of your locations?

[Nellisir]

I lean away from silly or incomprehensible names, though sometimes I just can't help it. Many of my names tend to have a pseudo-germanic, welsh, irish, or nordic slant (and I speak none of those langauges); other regions are more "fantasy", and someplaces are just "common" names. I also adapt or steal good names from other sources.

Coldstone, Tenarrows, Triumport (Port of Triumph), Larenyss (from the book Lavondyss, which may be derived from the legendary Ys), Shalanholt, Arthringlaur (dwarven: Diamondsdelve), Tarandrellur (dwarven: Hearthhome), Cuirinciroin (elven: Winding Halls), Tiandahfrau (elven: Towers of Frost), Wyl Gyn (gnome), Wyl Kier (gnome), Sarn, Asarn, Asavar, Driathorn Forest, Wythin Wood (WHY-thin, not WITH-in), Kamuerhorn Mtns, Scarlet Peaks, Stormhalls, Utgard, Tuonela.

Most rivers, at least in the east, are descriptive: the Greenflow, the Wizardwater, the Eldewater, the Goblinwater.

The Oxford dictionaries of word histories and British place names are both good sources of inspiration.

 

[Nellisir]

As far as town names, I don't know why but I prefer the names of my larger cities to be made-up names (which is really no different than names from a foreign language such as San Jose, Los Angelos, and Philadelphia for us Americans). But the suburbs and the surrounding towns/villages usually all have practical names because they get there names from local famous people or local industry. As a DM, it gives me a mental cue as to what the smaller places are famous for.

You can read more about my homebrew in my sig. There is a link to and ENWorld thread. As a few examples to see if I pass the test:

Big Cities: Hippossus, Theropa, Mistrolla

Suburbs/surrounding villages: Deep Creek, Hemlock, Elk Lick, Peachtree

I think this is perfectly valid. Smaller settlements are more likely to spring up and disappear than larger ones, and many place names start out as utterly prosaic terms. So younger settlements, like a suburb, are more likely to be called "Twooaks", for instance -- being relatively young -- while an older settlement might end up as Twoak, Twok, or Toke.

This is probably truer in a less literate society than it is IRL today.

 

[Goblyn]

I think names that I come up with are not so much cheesy, but very derivative.

Abhorrec(abhorrent) the Unholy; current bbeg.
Hunedain, the current emporer.
Kelemar the Betrayer, fallen defender of Syrene's Glory.

Azure City. The Path of Night. Sad Man's Way. Partshire. Do'Shan Ghul. Mariannasburg.

Cheesiest by far, I'm sure, are the names I come up with for dragons:

Cho-morr'Ikan'Visahr
Kek-chik-tal'ramsis-var and her brother,
Kek-chik-tal'Bhor-crim'Shul

I don't worry about it though, and neither do my players. The PCs have names like Gimbli and Kale Kavendorn.

 

[Arnwyn]

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.

If that's defined as cheesy, then for me it's cheesy all the way.

Or do you have pretty non cheesy names names?

If you have to put an apostrophe in it, it sucks.

 

[reanjr]

Usually my names are either phonemes placed together to evoke a certain feel, or I come up with grammatical structures and base words to make words out of (which of course, may be cheesy in the original language, but sound good when you are not a native speaker).

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

If you have to put an apostrophe in it, it sucks.

QFT.

Nobody hears the apostrophes anyway. Why make it hard on your reader?

 

[Mallus]

If you have to put an apostrophe in it, it sucks.

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for apostrophes in fantasy names... I read a lot of Moorcock as a kid.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

Po-tae-to, Po-tah-to

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?

Po-tae-to, po-tah-to; to-mae-to, to-mah-to…

One man’s cheese is another man’s nourishment, I say! I like evocative names both IRL and in-game. Give me a cheesy corny evocative name any day over some made-up name. Eagle Cliff, Old Man in the Mountain, Bald Mountain, The Mummy Range, Neversummer Range -- all of these can be found in Northern Colorado BTW. And how about all those towns-upon-the-river, e.g. Stratford-upon-Avon? Or river fords, e.g. Oxford & Rockford. River mouths e.g. Portsmouth & Dartmouth? IIRC there are seveal places in England with Merlin and Arthur's name attached to them. Oh and don't forget about the hamlets with names like Oxham. And GMs should feel free to re-use names. Consider Springfield which is found in Massachusetts, Illinois, Oregon, and the Simpsons. And the names of Saints, e.g. San Jose, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, San Ramon, San Rafael, San Bruno — these are especially important if in your game, you have an active church mission thriving along the frontier.

BTW, if you haven't guessed it, I live in the land of "cheesy" names, Sunnyvale which is next to Mountain View and near Los Gatos (The Cats).

 

[reanjr]

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).

Avantage isn't an English word is it? That would explain why people confuse that one.

 

[Gold Roger]

I tried to use realistic names for a time and then determined it was to much work for to little gain. Our group isn't that serious anyway and found names to laugh at one way or the other.

So yeah, I use cheesy and incomprehensible names aplenty.