OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Fantasy Currency Name Generator
Coin, Denomination and Mint Names for a Fantasy Realm's Money
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 Fantasy Currency Name Generator works
This fantasy currency name generator makes fantasy currency in five kinds: single coins (the silver mark, the Corinthian crown), full denomination sets with exchange rates (sovereign, shilling, penny at twelve and twenty), street slang (a handful of rooks), named national coins with their mint and stamp, and exotic currencies such as salt bricks and jade rings for cultures that do not use metal. Use them to give a setting's economy a texture the reader can feel in their pocket.
How the fantasy currency name generator works
Money is worldbuilding that touches every scene. A character who pays in gold pieces is in a game; a character who pays three silver stags and a clipped Ostian penny is in a place. This generator gives the vocabulary for that place, from the names of the coins to the slang thieves use for them, in the five shapes a setting needs.
Single coin produces one coin at a time in the real forms of pre-modern money: sovereigns, marks, groats, florins, obols and farthings, with metal and issuing realm. Full denomination set gives a whole system in one line, three or four coins with the exchange rate between them, so a campaign can have its ledger settled at once; the rates are chosen from the awkward ones (twelve, twenty, two hundred and forty) real systems used, because round numbers feel modern. Slang term gives the words people actually say, rooks and shiners and clinks, with a quantity word so a purse of rooks reads as natural speech. Named national coin ties a coin to the section's shared realms and cities and gives it a mint and a stamp, which is the detail a forger or a numismatist in the story would notice. Exotic currency is for cultures outside the coin economy: salt bricks, knotted cords, bone chits, dragon scales, whale teeth, each with a rough exchange value so trade between cultures has friction.
The realms, cities and rulers are the section's shared map, so a Corinthian crown is the coin of the Corinthos the city page names and the Iron Duke's mark was struck by the villain the title page created. Coin names are historical common nouns and belong to nobody; the slang and exotic lists are original. Any resemblance to a currency in a published game is coincidental, since every fantasy economy draws on the same real coinage.
For the merchant house that controls the mint, the noble house page; for the shop that takes the coin, the shop page; for the guild that sets the exchange, the guild page; and for the festival on which the new coin is struck, the festival page.
FAQ
Why are the exchange rates so awkward?
Because real ones were. Twelve pennies to the shilling and twenty shillings to the pound survived for centuries, and a fantasy economy in tens feels like it was designed by a game designer rather than grown by a kingdom. Use the round rates if your players prefer easy sums.
Do I need slang for coins?
Only if characters talk about money, which they always do. A guard who wants "two rooks to look the other way" is a scene; one who wants two silver pieces is a mechanic. Generate a few slang terms and let the players learn them from context.
What are the exotic currencies for?
For cultures the coin economy does not reach: nomads, islanders, dwarves who trade by weight, forest folk who trade in amber. The rough exchange value lets your players buy from them and gives the merchant house that controls the rate a reason to exist.
Can the coins match the other fantasy pages?
Yes. The realms and cities in the national coin names are the ones this section's city, kingdom and realm pages use, and the rulers on the coins are the shared owner titles from the weapon and artifact pages, so a coin struck by the Drowned Queen and a sword she wielded belong to one legend.
Are any of these currencies from published games?
No. Coin names are historical common nouns (mark, florin, groat) that belong to no one, and the slang and exotic lists are original. A coincidental match with some published setting's coin is possible because everyone draws on the same real coinage, so search before commercial use.
See also: all Fantasy & RPG tools, People, Sci-fi, Culture & Language, Online & Social, Business & Brand, Places & Things.
Related tools
7th Sea Name Generator
Swashbuckler names for seven European-inspired nations.
Aasimar Name Generator
Celestial aasimar names, human-born names and angelic guides.
Adventuring Party Name Generator
Heroic, mercenary and funny names for a D&D adventuring party.
Albion Online Name Generator
Player names, guild names and alliance names for a sandbox MMO.
Alien RPG Name Generator
Marines, colonists, company agents, ships and colonies.