The process is inter-related with the history of the world youвЂ™re creating. So naming things twice or more helps add depth and credibility to any fantasy world. Tolkien nailed it вЂ“ he had three or four names for most of his places. It happened in New Zealand where British settlers of the early nineteenth century persistently re-named places to suit themselves. That same phenomenon in (1) usually means new people give a landscape their own names. One group of invaders might co-opt an existing name into their language. In reality, place names reflect the language theyвЂ™re from вЂ“ often with infusions that flow from earlier history. You wouldnвЂ™t want RвЂ™rrug KвЂ™thach AвЂ™aaag next door to Kibblethwaite on the Marsh. Nothing spoils a (serious) fantasy map more than place namesВ thatВ donвЂ™t match up. Part of the fantasy world map I devised, with a friend, for our RPG. Tolkien, inevitably, set the gold standard вЂ“ he started by creating languages, and it flowed from there. That does raise a point for those of us engaged in (more serious) fantasy world-building. We also riffedВ on TolkienвЂ™s unfortunate habit of ending place names with вЂ-dorвЂ™. And there was the Hergest Ridge вЂ“ though we didnвЂ™t have the Old Fields. This meant we had watersВ such asВ the Greg Lake, next door to rolling hills such as the Sinfields. The world was designed around what we might call the вЂrule of funnyвЂ™, with place names made up mostly of bad puns and motorcycle parts manufacturers. Yes, I played Dungeons and Dragons вЂ“В and later a game we invented ourselves to get around the sillier D&D ideas. To build a world, start by wearing a hard hat (like mine). In my mis-spent early twenties,В a friend and IВ created a fantasy world map for our RPGВ sessions.

Good names for fictional world