NationStates Jolt Archive

So how did you come up with city names for your nation? Did you simply plagiarize existing names (New York, London, Berlin... New Berlin, etc.)? Did you model your nation's city names on the existing names of today's nation-states (I modeled my own city names to be German in appearance. Did it work?)? Or did you use a random generation that at times gave you names such as: Buttsoreburg, Asynianiannia, or some other incomprehensible concoction of syllables disguised as a name?


Names of various cities within the Kingdom of Lyaria
Avansburg
Domoras
Tandenburg
Zhä
Dräzden
Abüri
Honsburg
Süln
Kais
Liemdan
Reivburg
Bith
Dörath
Zhöhon

I think I may have been a bit liberal with the umlauts at times... I'm not 100% sure they are pronounced, in reality, like I imagine they are pronounced. If they sound stupid because of the inclusion of the umlaut please tell me. I talking to you, Germans.

I use parts of Hungarian names, famous things/places, and other things.

For example, my capitol is called Saáry City after the last name of my current president: Zigana Saáry, the first real president my country has had.

I, personally, used British city and town names, but then, my nation's history is essentially that of an undocumented Mayflower-style emigration, still having a very British Victorian culture.

I use parts of Hungarian names, famous things/places, and other things.

For example, my capitol is called Saáry City after the last name of my current president: Zigana Saáry, the first real president my country has had.

That's cool. A great majority of my family is of German descent so I model a lot of my nations names, history, and culture on that of Germany.

I, personally, used British city and town names, but then, my nation's history is essentially that of an undocumented Mayflower-style emigration, still having a very British Victorian culture.

Pilgrims!

(So it's safe to assume you are modeled off of Victorian England then? That's nice, I like England.)

I just came up with random names, honestly.

These are the major ones...

Ferris City
Tituaga
Mars City
Circe
Port Cima
Arcturus City
Niriska
Sark
Matteo
Viridian City (no, I didn't copy Pokemon on purpose)
Strana Mechty (capital)
St. Albans
Celadon City (same as Viridian)
Meesha
Port March
St. Michaels
Larxene

I simply used Russian and Slavic sounding names for my cities. My nation's name literally means "Volz-city" despite it being a country.

List of Major Cities
Adrograd (Capitol City of Volzgrad. Alternate spelling is St. Adriansburg)
Straunostok (Capitol of Drozdograd)
Korvograd City (Capitol of Korvograd)
New Colinstok (Capitol of New Vladivostok)
Druzdo
Magden
Karoza
Kuvenstok
Hoffengrad
Azengrad
Nova Kiev
Novgograd
Ossenast
Venkovgrad
Fulierstok
Leninoblast

I just think up names like Nerka, Kath, Shera, Shilohk(well actually that one came from Israel, it's Shiloh with a K on the end.)

I just came up with random names, honestly.

These are the major ones...

Ferris City
Tituaga
Mars City
Circe
Port Cima
Arcturus City
Niriska
Sark
Matteo
Viridian City (no, I didn't copy Pokemon on purpose)
Strana Mechty (capital)
St. Albans
Celadon City (same as Viridian)
Meesha
Port March
St. Michaels
Larxene

Then I suppose you are of a far more creative mind than I am... off the top of my head the only city name I can come up with worthy of 'city' status is Cadmar... and that sounds like a candy bar!

I simply used Russian and Slavic sounding names for my cities. My nation's name literally means "Volz-city" despite it being a country.

List of Cities
Adrograd (St. Adriansburg)
Straunostok (Capitol of Drozdograd)
Korvograd City (Capitol of Korvograd)
New Colinstok (Capitol of New Vladivostok)
Druzdo
Magden
Karoza
Kuvenstok
Hoffengrad

Druzdo sounds like it could be my city of Dräzden's sister city.

And Magden sounds a lot like the real German city of Magdeburg.

It sounds weird with the umlauts, but that with the turkish pronunciation of the umlauted o/u. In turkish it is a guttural uuh or oooh.

I just use ancient city names, as I RP a current version of Sumer. And I take the oldest names for an area I can.

If I need to make up a city from scratch, then I be creative in Sumerian.

Druzdo sounds like it could be my city of Dräzden's sister city.

And Magden sounds a lot like the real German city of Magdeburg.

OOC: Drudzo is just a coincidence. I actually got the name Magden from a novel I read.

It sounds weird with the umlauts, but that with the turkish pronunciation of the umlauted o/u. In turkish it is a guttural uuh or oooh.

Well since these are modeled after German cities and meant to be used with the German Language I suppose I don't have too much to worry about if they sound funny in Turkish (They can always be translated into something different for the Turkish language... kinda've like Munich to München.)

OOC: Drudzo is just a coincidence. I actually got the name Magden from a novel I read.

I know... I just thought that was interesting. I'm hoping to become a regular and having sister cities in other nations is an interesting aspect.

What book were you reading?

Corruption of real Russian city names for the win. I got several things from Vladivostok: my country name, Stoklomolvi, and my capital name, Vladistov.

Corruption of real Russian city names for the win. I got several things from Vladivostok: my country name, Stoklomolvi, and my capital name, Vladistov.

THIEF!

J/K. I could tell your name was Russian just from reading it... or from some other Slavic language from the Balkans.

Corruption of real Russian city names for the win. I got several things from Vladivostok: my country name, Stoklomolvi, and my capital name, Vladistov.

Agreed. Anyone with a basic understanding of Russian geography will know what every one of my cities is based on.

One city I have is called Nero, it's the capital of the Southeast quadrant of my nation.

Well, I think they sound fine for something german. I think the germans use 'em to elongate the vowels, similar to how the turks use them.

One city I have is called Nero, it's the capital of the Southeast quadrant of my nation.

I remember that my forces were stationed in Kast awhile back during the Aziast Revolt.

Well, I think they sound fine for something german. I think the germans use 'em to elongate the vowels, similar to how the turks use them.

Sehr Gut.

I was worried my city names were making people collapse in fits of laughter at their keyboard.

Then I suppose you are of a far more creative mind than I am... off the top of my head the only city name I can come up with worthy of 'city' status is Cadmar... and that sounds like a candy bar!


Sorry, I can't resist:

*Gains deep announcer's voice*

"What would you do for a Cadmar bar?"

Sorry, I can't resist:

*Gains deep announcer's voice*

"What would you do for a Cadmar bar?"

Hey! It would most definitely boost the economy of Cadmar if there was a such thing as a Cadmar Bar! It might even cause a surge in Tourism!

I can just imagine the 'Klondike bar' esque commercials. lol.

I can just imagine the 'Klondike bar' esque commercials. lol.

:tongue: I should do that sometime... rp wise.

I remember that my forces were stationed in Kast awhile back during the Aziast Revolt.

That war isn't over, you just quit, lol.

*chews on the nugaty goodness of a Cadmar bar*
In the wysterian forums and on these I have not used much cities. Or at least didn't mention the name, i'm a bit uncreative when forced to make names.

Cadmar bar... with a name like that, it would actually sell quite well.

Anyway, for my cities (I've only actually named the capital so far) I just took the nation name (Aglorea, which has a story behind itself, but I won't bore you with it) and added "City" to it. So, Aglorea City. Others will probably be variants of actual towns that I've lived in.

I use all german names, but with 0 imagination put into them:

Hauptstadt - Capital City
Hafenstadt - Port City
Kleefeld - Cloverfield
Koenigshofen - King's...something...

etc...

Kast - Civilian Military Nerve Center
Nero - Southeastern Capital
Shilohk - Economic Capital of Nation
Palio - Northwestern Capital

I use the names of US and Russian military weapons and vehicles to name my cities, based on US cities since I can't come up with my own names.

Capital: AK-47 (New York City)
M4A1 (Los Angeles/ San Francisco)
M16 (Las Vegas/ Reno)
M1A2 Abrams (Chicago)
M270 MLRS (Houston)
F-15 Eagle (Phoenix)

I don't have any particular system for naming my cities:

Covenant Nation of Shenyang

Capital: Randova

Fmr. Capital (Shenyangi Empire): Mansk

Selerefon Island (Not a city, but still...)

you get the idea.

Old English Variants of English and occasionally Border places, like Anglezerk, Brunlea, Ceorlleah, (Niwe) Licfeld and Stiþenac.

I also have a New York, Niwe Eoforwic.

I think I may have been a bit liberal with the umlauts at times... I'm not 100% sure they are pronounced, in reality, like I imagine they are pronounced. If they sound stupid because of the inclusion of the umlaut please tell me. I talking to you, Germans.

I'm not german, but honestly some of those words look a bit more like Xeno-German than Vanilla German. Not necessarily a bad thing though.

Shenyang sounds oddly similar to that rapidly expanding Chinese city in Manchuria, formerly called Mukden...

Lulz, Franco-Russo-German named cities? Frankhauptgrad?

That's because it is a city in Manchuria, and a Chinese aircraft manufacurer. There was a nation when I started up called 'Northrup-Grumman', as a result I opened an aircraft recognition guide and chose Shenyang as my nation's name.

Pilgrims!

(So it's safe to assume you are modeled off of Victorian England then? That's nice, I like England.)

Definitely. All very imperial, very christian, etc., with a huge gulf between the rich and the poor, horse-drawn carriages everywhere...not so much filth in the streets, but culturally, it's pretty close.

My country only has one city in it. It's called Taviarch (modern Maraquean), with the nickname Super City because it's 58,000 square miles of towering skyscrapers (no building in the city is shorter than 1,500 feet). It's also called Vakira (old Maraquean), Maraque City (English), and Toratovimitaatoradcethif (ancient Maraquean).

So it's a completely made up name not based on any existing place or country. Entirely original.

I basically take the names of Finnish cities and distort them a little:

Helsinki = Halsanki
Turku = Turka
Tampere = Tamberg
etc.

Just a little, so that 1.) they still sound like something you could pronounce and 2.) they are stylistically similar.

In the FT version of my state, I go with English-language names.

Within the city we have districts, which act as cities in their own right, these include:

Javaani
Rikaniya
Schlansia
Vakiria
Darkaan
Trevochi
Grisha
Ratavia
Lasgoud
Jkena
Addeis Abaus
Ambai
Valenasjaski
Risaha
Akythei
Vorkaj
Yakovai
Alandicshe
Gleishei
Rovadaja
Denkari
Wiyhai

etc...

I gave my cities Italian-sounding names, but for a large proportion of them I came up with a uniquely Ruccolian naming convention:

I took the names of Cantonese dishes and ingredients, transliterated them from Cantonese (or sometimes Mandarin, as some words flow better that way) into Italian and added an Italian suffix. For example:

Somui + sa = Somuisa
Timsuan + o = Timsuano
Chasiu + poli = Chasiupoli
Hamiu + zaro = Hamiuzaro
Pidan + ova = Pidanova
Hamai + gnano = Hamaignano
Bozaifan + i = Bozaifani
Iuzi +gno = Iuzigno
Dundan + to = Dundanto
Hargau + zia = Hargauzia
Sou + scia = Souscia
Hamsui + za = Hamsuiza
Normai + ne = Normaine
Naiccia + re = Naicciare
Iudan + eggio = Iudaneggio
Zinzan + ura = Zinzanura
Mong + gia = Monggia

Interestingly enough, some cities didn't need the suffix to fit the general pattern:

Iauiuso
Saimailo
Hoisin
Malaigo
Iuguo
Zangiugai

I try to make German names sound Latin.

Capital: Achenia (Aachen)
Other Cities:
Berillius (Berlin)
Francumtora (Frankfurt)
Collum (Cologne)
Hamburrus (Hamburg)

I used variations of my countries name combined with parts of my name to come up with cities. Also names of my family and friends make some appearances.(some with variations[markon-mark] others just their names[alfred]

Raskovia(Capital)
Traskov
Barkanos
Tzualvia
Cornacovia
Jarfars
Ulosavio
Gordon
Morta
Portcove
Blackwell city
Gravcove
Treknay-Rako
Whitewater city
Penada
Markon
Alfred

I name cities very oddly: the originals just came to me randomly when I was thinking about things last year. After that I added syllables together to come up with my town names (going with my fabricated language).

Zevkhay, new and Old
Poliapolis (polis being the Greek for city)
Milkavich (Vich means something, I'm sure. Guess what I was drinking when I drew the map of Alfegos.)

Then:
Il'vi
Ol'vi
Ko'vi
Los'vi
Yi'va
Ou'va

etc...

I shall be using town names in the pattern of my fabricated language.
Iyaroak
Perusiatsiark
Pangalikpok
Alianaigosuktok
Iyaroakkolu (little Iyaroak )
Iyaroaklak (Big Iyaroak)
Etc.

In my nation, everything is a mix of French and Scandinavian cultures, so I used only three or four names for cities used elsewhere, such as:

Chartres
Foix
Belfort
Thiers

But the others I made up using names from Norse Mythology and perverting either the spelling or pronunciation on a couple. These are:

Thoreigne = Thor reigne = Thor reigns/rules
Agnorseaux = à njord aux eaux = At Njord at the Waters
Nanne-aux-Monts = Nanna at the Mountains
Noétonne (I forgot the original meaning...ha!)

Other I made up:
Des-chères-mères = Some dear mothers
Michèleville = Michèle City
Routonbourg = Routon City

The great thing about having your own country is that you can be as creative or uncreative as you want. It's your baby...so to speak.

Within the city we have districts, which act as cities in their own right, these include:

Javaani
Rikaniya
Schlansia
Vakiria
Darkaan
Trevochi
Grisha
Ratavia
Lasgoud
Jkena
Addeis Abaus
Ambai
Valenasjaski
Risaha
Akythei
Vorkaj
Yakovai
Alandicshe
Gleishei
Rovadaja
Denkari
Wiyhai

etc...

And another thing... these aren't pronounced even remotely like they're spelled:


Javaani - Ja-Vinnie
Rikaniya - Rick-Con-Ya
Schlansia -Ch-Lance-Sah
Vakiria - Vick-Eye-Rah
Darkaan - Dirk-Yon
Trevochi - Tro-Vech-Cha
Grisha - Grey-She
Ratavia - Ray-Tov-Vee-Ah
Lasgoud - Less-Go-Duh
Jkena - Ya-Can-Eh
Addeis Abaus - Add-Is-Ab-Base
Ambai - Am-Bar
Valenasjaski - Val-As-Jah
Risaha - Rise-Zee-Sha
Akythei - Ah-Kay-Tha
Vorkaj - Vack-Ah-Jor
Yakovai - Yick-Ko-Voch
Alandicshe - Ah-Land-Dish-Jah
Gleishei - Glesh-Oh
Rovadaja - Ro-Vay-Daj
Denkari - Din-Kin-Arie
Wiyhai - Wire-Ha

:p

Also keep in mind that these are the approximate pronunciations in Maraquean-English, and that they are spelled much different in Ancient Maraquean (which is still used more than Modern Maraquean).

The main cities of West Zirconia are:

St. Martin - based on my real name (a bit of self-glorification there)

Moorcroft
Banks
Bradley
Snaith
Markham
Houghton
Stanley
Currie
Crompton
Redwood
Hyland
Sephton
Underwood
Ashton
Anderton
Felton
Walton
Kirkham
Stanton

This list is simply derived from the surnames of people I know, all of which have ultimately been taken from place-names themselves.

Others needed an extra suffix, viz:

Mort Park
Taylor's Cross

Two towns - although there's always scope for more - have hints of immigrant populations:

New Toronto
Caernewydd


I must admit, I find this analysis of where people's place-names came from quite interesting.

Multiple ways. My capital, Kartika, for example, is a computer font, and the name of an Indic knife. Other names have just been things that sounded good to me, to which I have added background as I've developed my nation. Example: Valëka, the largest city in the Empire. It just sounded good, but later on, I attributed it to the explorer who discovered Kirav, Keður Valëkas.

Major Cities

Kartika (capital)
Valëka (largest city)
Saar-Silverda
Cartona
Xevron
Tavroa
Baysar
Kázen
Saar-Mârsilva
Montréa
Saar-Cascada
Pelagisar
Novis Gëria
Alpænphyrsar
Saar-Mystmawr


As you can see, many of these names end in 'sar' or begin with 'Saar'. This is because 'sar' is the Coscivian word for settlement, making 'Baysar' equivalent to 'Bayton' or 'Bayville'.

I propose a mix,
if your nation is multicultural you should have names which reflect the people living there.
An area in your nation which is predominately German, Indian, Turkish or what ever nationalities you choose. ( The USA is famous in states for their ethnic names )
The South West US is almost all Spanish names,
The North East is English and Dutch, Mid Atlantic coast is English, German and Indian.
The Midwest is Indian, English and French,
The South East ( Florida to Texas ) is French, Spanish, Indian, English.
The North West is, Indian, English, some Spanish, some French.
Heck we have several Moscow's in the USA, and Lebanon !

I propose a mix,
if your nation is multicultural you should have names which reflect the people living there.
An area in your nation which is predominately German, Indian, Turkish or what ever nationalities you choose. ( The USA is famous in states for their ethnic names )
The South West US is almost all Spanish names,
The North East is English and Dutch, Mid Atlantic coast is English, German and Indian.
The Midwest is Indian, English and French,
The South East ( Florida to Texas ) is French, Spanish, Indian, English.
The North West is, Indian, English, some Spanish, some French.
Heck we have several Moscow's in the USA, and Lebanon !

Very true. Every town in my county (In the Northeast), is English or Lenape. However, in my county of birth (Monterey), almost all of the towns have Spanish names. Utahn settlements, due to the predominantly Mormon settlers, tend to have Biblical names.

There's a Baghdad, Texas. That one just cracks me up.

Most of my cities sound Latinish. I made it up to be like Atlantis.

When I create a new city/nation, I try and match the "flavor" of what I have in mind to a prospective name. A good name generator to help you along is "Seventh Sanctum".

Honestly, I do one of two things.
Ninenty percent of the time, I lean back in my chair and start saying random letter combinations, mixing and matching parts of different countries, etc, until I find one that sounds good.
The other option is I look up a word/name in a language that sounds cool, usually latin. (That is more for character names than cities, but still.)

One thing I should add in that Ulanpataar is a corruption of the mongolian capitol, ulan bator or ulanbataar. The fabricated language is based off of Inuktitut, but with my own spice.

A lot of my cities names are very supposed to sound very English. Stockmoor, Denton, Grandsworth. I usually start with part of a real English town or city and work on that, or I'll throw a few letters in to the mix and see what looks and sounds good. How bland, eh?

For my own country, I usually think through places I've been, things I've seen, or people I've met for interesting and unique words or names I've come across.

My country, Catawaba, is a variation of the name of a tribe of American Indians, the Catawb, on the border of North and South Carolina.

My captial, Graceland, is, well, named because I live in a town obsessed with Elvis Presley. I've always like how it flowed expecially if you abbreviate it to a natural accent of "Gracel'nd."

Other cities are sometimes local street names or points of history.

Neshoba- Chickasaw for "Wolf"
Andywight- rhymed with Brandywine which I was running through my head to alter a folk song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcjzUbbnhCk)
Guin, Gu-win, Winfield- three town in Alabama that lie in a line, and some joker long ago named the middle one as a combination of the two on either side. I always loved seeing those names on the highway signs, and I promised myself I'll need to stop by them one day.

I also use a few other sources for inspiration, for my native population's villages, I use Mando'a, the made up language of Star War's Mandalorian. Other than that, my country's Europesan population is largely made up of Germanic or Anglo peoples, so I add a bit of flavor and name things like you'd imagine many older cities, combination of people's names, references to geography.

My french city names are blatantly stolen from Neighborhoods in french cities, and real french cities. The Norwegian names are mostly small farms and small cities.

For the names of the countries of Sétif, I used real cities (I think) for the African towns, and neighborhoods for the Arab towns.

A lot of my cities names are very supposed to sound very English. Stockmoor, Denton, Grandsworth. I usually start with part of a real English town or city and work on that, or I'll throw a few letters in to the mix and see what looks and sounds good. How bland, eh?

No doubt some of them will end up being real places.
To quote two of your examples, Denton is a suburb of Manchester, and Stockmoor is a hamlet near Leominster, Herefordshire.

(OK, so I looked that one up!)

Minskopolis (Capitol)- after the Miskonian currency: Minsk + opolis
Ulsolia
Kostu
Topeska
Domslo

All completely original.

For my MT nation, Nikovalusca, I've mostly been squashing together Romanian words that sound good but more importantly fit the meaning I want. Nikovalusca itself is a combo of nicovala, anvil, and uscat, land, thus Nikovalusca = the anvil-land.

So far I've just come up with the capitals of Nikovalusca's nine districts, which double as the districts' names:

Bastion: national capital, not Romanian.
Herskoras: Hersk, the country's largest river + oras, town = Hersk-town
Masea: directly from Romanian, meaning tooth.
Zapadoras: zapada, snow + oras = Snow-town
Bjagorat: made it up when I couldn't think of something to translate.
Asmodai: Hebrew, the name of a demon
Albacozora: alba, white + cozoroc, peak = White-peak
Dracorau: drac, devil + rau, river = Devil's River
Herskvale: Hersk river + vale, valley = Hersk Valley
Forjeuras: forjeur, blacksmith + oras = Smith-town

I'm still looking for a few more languages to mix in influences from, to give Nikovan a little more uniqueness, but the method is working out so far.

Most of mine are actually based on things and rooms in my house, since when I was younger I (like many childdren) pretended that it was an actual country, and now it's on nation states.

Examples:
Deska (desk)
Fusba (Fooseball Table)
Teva (T.V.)
Closeta (Closet)

The only city not named like this is the capital, Gordonopia City which is named after me.

Some of my names are taken from the AceWiki article on Ustio

Hydria (Capital) - From The Hydrian Line, the front line during the Belkan War
Pelagious - Nothing to do with the Ustio in ace combat, i simply made it up.
Directus - The capital of Ustio in Ace Combat
Solis Ortis - A town in Ustio in Ace Combat
Port St. Stanley - Again, nothing to do with Ustio in Ace Combat'
Stier - A city in Belka in Ace Combat
Grace Island - From Gracemeria, Ace Combat 6
Spike Islands - Named After Spike Milligan, for reasons unknown even to me!
Clouded Moon Fortress - Again, nothing to do with Ustio in AC

Most of Imota's names are faux-Japanese, and some are taken from anime and video games:

Shin-Kyouto (Capital): Taken from RL Japan's Kyoto, which is written with the characters that literally mean "capital city".
Taga
Sakishima
Fuuka
Hououji
Ouka
Hakurei

I mostly used city names from Maryland (my home state), Maine (where I lived for a year and a half) or Great Britain, since my RPing took on a bit of a British flavour at some point.

I do have rather odd exceptions, such as Nicksia (named after my favourite singer/songwriter).

I mostly have names of places from the War of the Worlds book, 'cos I'm a WotW nut =P (like Woking and Chobham) or from small villages and towns near my hometown (Wye and Tenterden)

My capital city, Paradise City, is derived from the GNR song; there are others: Basin City is from Sin City, San Andreas is from the video game, Thoringrad is so named because I decided to name my founder Thor -- so it's like Stalingrad or Leningrad. Another city I don't use so often is Las Posas, derived from a street in my hometown.

What i did was i took words from english, put them through an Al Bhed Translator and hey presto, town names.
eg Jesus, through translator, becomes Zuzic (pronounced Zoo-Zitch)

Everybody has Paradise something! I have Paradise Forest, and Paradise River runs through it! The river then stems from Paradise Mountains, with the forest at the foot of them.

Well, my names are all in Sanskrit or modified slightly.
My nation's name means "Disease-Free",
My currency means "Coin",
And my national animal mean "those who wander in the dark or night" or "animals who wander in the dark or night".

My capital is Jaya Sthaanam (Victory Position/House),

And the rest of my major cities are as follows, organized by group.

Aarya (Wise Man)
Mahaatmaa Sthaanam
Ugra Sthaanam
Vasham Sthaanam
Shaantah Graamamh
Agrajah Graamamh

Vaastuu (Residence)
Prabhuuta Graamamh
Sneha Graamamh

Kaarya (Work)
Kaarya Sthaanam

The Wise Man sector contains small cities which contain the bureaucracy, the Residence sector contains two HUGE, COLOSSAL cities which contain lots of businesses and shops, and also hold most of the countries' population. The Work sector is where most stuff is made.

One great thing about being an American Based nation, our language is so full of the victims of Lingustic Piracy, I can name cities based on anything. Most of them are based on English or American Cities, but I have several with Spanish and Japanese origins. If you include those of nearby cultures, it can help add a sense that they have existed before being absorbed and give your country a sense of greater history.

I create XXI century Theutonian rule end use RL names from Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, Kalingrad (Koenigsberg) and North-East Poland in German or Germanized versions.

EX:
Vilnus - Vilna
Malbork - Marienburg or Malborg
Gdańsk - Danzig

The Fujisawan Territories are a seven island chain in the Caribbean, and a former colony. The main population is of Japanese-Korean lineage. I’ve used a city name generator for some of the cities, and all seven island names.

The seven islands are Iwosaka, Sapsaki, Narasaka, Akihiro, Jokata, Okazaki, and Sanawa.

Iwosaka contains the largest portion of the nation’s population, and the capitol city of Hoji.

Also in Iwosaka:

Coastal Atsuzai
Kitaka
Magiku
Atezu Bay
Fujiyaba
Saitoyama
Otesaki
Sunachi
Izuchuma Air Force Base
Territory Bay (where Fujisawan colonists originally landed)
Half Moon Bay (I took the name from a real city in California)

On one side of the Chibabi Highway, there is an upscale neighborhood called East Atlantis, and on the other side of the highway is West Atlantis which is impoverished. Nearby Magiku is also very impoverished.

I use a mix of various things... sometimes naming them after something (We have a Rock City lol), sometimes naming it after a word (Vitalita - which is Vitality), but more often then not making up random words and names (George, Trispon, etc)

Urgench's cities are mostly real world cities or real historical cities which have faded or died completely in the present.

The capital itself Urgench is based on the now ruined ancient city of Kunya Urgench in Turkmenistan - http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1199

Most of the rest of the Empire's cities are real world cities which were powerfull and wealthy during the 15th or 16th century and for the most part were at one time conquered by the Mongols or by one Turkic race or another.

The chinese cities of the Empire are refered to by the names they went under before the radical reformations of China's politics which took place in the 17th, 18th,19th and 20th centuries. Tatung for instance is now Datong.

The same goes for some of the Empire's Russian and other European cities such as Vretslav which has udergone numerous changes of hands and concurrent name changes since the 15th century. Vretslav is the Bohemian name for the city ( capital of Silesia ) that would be Presslaw under Habsburg Austria, Bresslau in the kingdom of Prussia, Breslau from circa. 1871 till 1945 and is now Wroclaw in Poland.

My capital city is called Darkombie and has five main districts:
Dala=University districts
Asdabajan=commercial
Asdabay=Housing
Zai=Industrial
Wandoasesto=Super rich district of goverment buildings and mansions.