OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
City Name Generator
Fantasy City Names for Maps and Stories, Such as Valmoria and Port Callan
OneTask is free, with no sign-up, and built by one person.
If this tool saved you time, a coffee helps keep new ones coming.
How the City Name Generator works
This city name generator mixes real naming patterns into new names. Generate city names in the shapes real cities take: Valmoria and Oriana as a Latinate coined name, Port Callan and Saint Estelle with a port or saint prefix, New Averton and Nova Solania with New on an old name, Karsburg and Lindhaven as a Germanic compound, and Veldt City or Marrowgate as a plain word and a city word. Pick a flavour, choose a style and generate up to a hundred.
City name generator: choosing a name that fits
A city is bigger than its name and older than anyone who lives in it, so a city name has to sound settled, plural and a little grand, which is why fictional cities named like villages read as small; the five shapes here are the ones real capitals, ports and industrial cities use, and the Flavour select tints the suffixes and given names so the same shapes give an English, Continental, Mediterranean, Nordic or colonial city. The Latinate coined form, Valmoria, Oriana, Solentia, Castorum, is the shape of the classical city and of every invented capital in fiction, syllables that sound like a Roman province, and it is the best shape for a capital in a novel or a game because it belongs to no country. The port-or-saint form, Port Callan, Saint Estelle, San Marco, Port Lindmouth, is the shape of the harbour city and the mission town, a prefix and a given name, and it says the city was founded by ship or by church. The New-prefix form, New Averton, New Helena, Nova Solania, Neustadt, is the colonial shape, a city named for the one the founders left, and it reads as young, planned and ambitious. The Germanic-compound form, Karsburg, Lindhaven, Ravensberg, Ostheim, is the shape of the fortified and the industrial city, a stem and burg, stadt, heim, borg or chester, and it is the workhorse of Central and Northern European maps and of English cathedral cities. And the plain-word-and-city form, Veldt City, Saltport, Iron Heights, Bay City, is the American and the industrial shape, a description and a city word, and it suits a boom town, a mining city or a capital laid out on a grid.
The syllables, prefixes, stems and suffixes are ordinary and the shapes shared, so a result is a new combination rather than a real city by design, but cities are where names are most likely to collide, since a coined Latinate name or a Port and a given name will often match a real place, a ship or a company, so search a map and the web before you use one for anything but fiction. A city name also has to carry a demonym, an airport code and an adjective, so the shapes here end in sounds that take an -ian, an -er or an -ite, and a name of two to four syllables says the city better than a long one.
For the towns around the city, the Town and village page; for its districts, the Neighbourhood page; for its streets, the Street name page; for the country it is the capital of, the Country page; and for a cyberpunk or fantasy city, the Sci-fi and Fantasy sections.
FAQ
What makes a name sound like a city rather than a town?
Length, grandeur and a suffix that means fortification or port rather than farm: burg, chester, port, mouth and a Latinate ending say city, while ley, ham and thorpe say village. A saint or a New prefix says a founded city, and a coined classical name says a capital. Two to four syllables is the sweet spot.
How do I name a capital city for a fantasy or sci-fi world?
Use the Latinate coined style, which belongs to no real country and reads as ancient and central, or a Germanic compound for a fortress capital. Match the suffix flavour to the culture of the surrounding towns so the map feels consistent, and keep the capital shorter than the provincial cities.
Why do so many real cities start with New, Port or Saint?
Because cities are founded more often than they grow, and founders name them for a home city, a harbour or a patron saint. New York, Port Louis and Saint Petersburg follow the pattern; the generator gives you the shape with invented names so the result is a plausible foundation rather than a real one.
How do I check a city name is not a real place?
Search a map service and the web for the result, since coined names and port names in particular often coincide with real towns, ships and companies. The Latinate and Germanic styles with the Any flavour produce the rarest results; the plain-word-and-City style produces the most collisions, since Bay City and Iron City exist.
Can I use these names for fiction or test data?
Yes. The names are combinations of Latin syllables, given names, landscape words and settlement suffixes and belong to no one, though a short result may match a real city by coincidence, so search a map if that matters. For a capital in a story, a game or a demo map, use them freely.
See also: all Places & Things tools, People, Fantasy & RPG, Sci-fi, Culture & Language, Online & Social, Business & Brand.
Related tools
Aircraft / Plane Name Generator
Aircraft names like Lucky Lady, Spirit of Northgate, Silver Arrow and Old Reliable.
Airship Name Generator
Zeppelins and sky ships, captains, routes and fates.
Album Name Generator
Album names like Hollow Cathedral, Songs for the Long Drive and Static Bloom.
Art / Painting Title Generator
Art titles like Untitled (Blue Kitchen), Study for a Harbour and Composition No. 7.
Asylum Name Generator
Abandoned asylums and sanatoriums, wings, histories and rumours.