Currency Name Generator

How fantasy money is named

Real money has two kinds of name. Some come from weight and metal: a pound was once a pound of silver. Others come from the image on the coin or the person who issued it. Fantasy coins work well when they follow either rule. A Silver Wren is named for its metal and its stamp, and a Marlow Hart is named for the lord who struck it. A reader forms a picture of the economy from three words.

Paper and promises appear once trade grows. Merchants swap notes, drafts and bonds long before a state issues bills, and those names read as business: Harbour Scrip, a Mercer's Draft. In harsh or tribal places money looks like what is scarce, so salt, shells and tally sticks stand in for coin. In science fiction, money is a unit on a ledger, and its name is often a corporate word like credit or ration.

Making an economy that holds together

Decide on a base unit and its multiples before you name anything. If one gold coin buys a week of lodging, a silver should buy a night, and a copper a meal. Then give the coins nicknames in the street: the Wren, the Hart, the Stag, whatever people can say with a mouth full of bread. Use one image per kingdom, so every coin from a country shares a theme, and let foreign coins look different enough that a character can spot a cheat. A currency is also a political statement. A debased coin, a new king's face or a ban on an old stamp tells the reader more about the state of a kingdom than a paragraph of explanation, and prices in dialogue are the simplest way to make a world feel real.

Twenty example currency names

• Silver Wren the everyday coin of a bird-loving kingdom.
• Marlow's Gold Hart a heavy coin struck by a rich old family.
• Harbour Scrip paper issued by port merchants against cargo.
• Old Copper Rook of Dunwick a worn coin from before the war.
• Salt Tally of the River Clans a marked stick that stands for a measure of salt.
• The Merchant's Draft of Credit a promise to pay, signed by a banker.
• Velan a small coin with a foreign name.
• Standard Credit an everyday unit used on every station.
• Bone Bead a cheap token carved by hill herders.
• Gold Lantern a prestige coin used for dowries and bribes.
• Calloway Scrip company money that works only in one mining town.
• Brass Moth a coin so thin it flutters in the wind.
• The Guild Voucher of Fair Weight a trade note redeemed at the guild hall.
• Moonsilver Key a rare coin that opens a bank vault.
• Orrek Ration Unit a meal voucher in a starving colony.
• Feather-Knot of the Far Camps a cord with knots to show a debt.
• Tarnished Bronze Anchor a sailor's pay in a port city.
• Sunbronze Harp a bright coin from a rich southern court.
• Rim Union Chit a rationed credit for border workers.
• Amber Pip a trader's token for a small, quick favour.