How cheesy are the names of your locations?
- Thread starter Gundark
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el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
Since I began creating Aquerra when I was 17, I definitely have a bunch of cheesy and/or groan worthy stuff - but over the years I have changed some of those names - developing in-game ret-conning when possible (for example, being a fan of the Beatles I named one of the nations 'Pepperland' - a few years later realizing how cheesy that was I decided that it was called 'Thricia' and the name 'Pepperland' was sailors' slang since it is important in the spice trade).
However, I have kept some names for two reasons: 1) I do not take myself so seriously as to not being able to enjoy the cheesy nostalgia of some of those names, and 2) Just like real world names, once you get used to the name of a place it becomes second-nature and you don't think about it too much.
I mean, in the real world we have Zealand, Newfoundland, Iceland and Greenland. There is the Dead Sea and the Cape of Good Hope. And then we have corruptions of a place name's original name into something recognized in as an english word/name. I am sure all the butchered Dutch names of places in Brooklyn sound funny to the Dutch.
And I am sure that in other language there are very literal or slightly funny names that everyone is totally used to. I mean, I can never think of Colorado without thinking it means "colored" in Spanish
However, I have kept some names for two reasons: 1) I do not take myself so seriously as to not being able to enjoy the cheesy nostalgia of some of those names, and 2) Just like real world names, once you get used to the name of a place it becomes second-nature and you don't think about it too much.
I mean, in the real world we have Zealand, Newfoundland, Iceland and Greenland. There is the Dead Sea and the Cape of Good Hope. And then we have corruptions of a place name's original name into something recognized in as an english word/name. I am sure all the butchered Dutch names of places in Brooklyn sound funny to the Dutch.
And I am sure that in other language there are very literal or slightly funny names that everyone is totally used to. I mean, I can never think of Colorado without thinking it means "colored" in Spanish
Jürgen Hubert
First Post
I go to a fair bit of trouble with my place names. I have a language-analog for each race or culture, so I take descriptive words from that language, mash them up a bit, and massage it to make it easy to say. So my Rohan-ripoff nation is called Graesholm, which is the Old English words for "grass sea" mashed a bit. The elves (for whom I use Irish as the language-analog) have an enclave that the nearby humans call the Dovewood. But this name actually derives from Irish dubh, meaning dark, rather than a bird.
On the other hand, there's a big cliff that's just called The Great Drop by those who live at its top and The Wall by those who live at its bottom. Sometimes you don't have to get fancy.
On the other hand, there's a big cliff that's just called The Great Drop by those who live at its top and The Wall by those who live at its bottom. Sometimes you don't have to get fancy.
Aaron L
Hero
Well, I have dwarves mining the Veruca salt mines. And a large city at the entrance to an area full of other cities called Threshold. And an evil area of dark wilderness and blighted forest with pisonous fumes called D'Kau, where the hobgoblins come from (not so much silly as horrific and symbolic)
Silly names fit anywhere, because in the real world there are LOTS of silly names for places!
Silly names fit anywhere, because in the real world there are LOTS of silly names for places!
Nonlethal Force
First Post
I seldom use silly names as "official names" found on a map. Because, in reality that seldom happens. However, the silly names abound in local culture - which is where we find silly names in reality.
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
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
QFT!Aaron L said:
I added more odd and humorous names to my latest homebrew (the dreaded World of CITY) in an attempt to make it more "realistic". I wanted to get away from the overdetermined, artifiical-sounding grand and epic names found in mainstream fantasy. I wanted names that sounded alive, lived-in, like actual history and folklore. Where cities were named "Rat's Mouth" or "Red Stick". In other words, I lightened up...
Of course I also wanted cities in which the trolley system was powered by barely-tamed dinosaurs and an island inhabited by an angry fire-mouthed volcano god was named "Tiki-Ishii", but that's beside the point.
WayneLigon
Adventurer
I'm still tempted to have placenames that translate to things like 'A mountain, you idiot', coined by having explorers grab natives, point to a thing and say 'What do you call that?'.
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