Fantasy World Name Generator

How fantasy world names are built

A world name has to carry a whole setting in two or three syllables. Most are invented words with a clear mood in their sounds: soft vowels and liquids feel gentle (Aelaria), hard stops and clusters feel grim (Korvanth), and old-fashioned endings feel ancient. The second family is the poetic name, a phrase that says what the world is like: The Sundered Vale, The Hollow Reaches. Some stories use both, an invented name for the people who live there and a plain phrase for outsiders.

Decide first whether the name belongs to the planet, the main continent or the age it is set in. Many readers use these as the same word, so choose the one your characters would actually say.

Making the world name fit the rest

The world name sets the sound for everything inside it. If it ends in -ia, expect readers to accept more names that end in -ia, and to notice when a kingdom called Grusk appears. Pick two or three syllable patterns and reuse them in lands, rivers and people, with a few outsiders that break the pattern on purpose. Keep the spelling stable, because a reader who sees Aelaria and Aelaeria will wonder whether they are different places. Say the name aloud: if a character cannot say it in a tense scene, shorten it.

Twenty example world names

• Aelaria a gentle world with two moons and long summers.
• Veyrath a dark world after a war between the gods.
• The Sundered Vale one valley that magic split in two.
• Korvanth a harsh world of salt flats and iron cities.
• The Hollow Reaches a world lit by a dying sun.
• Thalmara an ocean world of drifting islands.
• The World of Mireth a quiet world told in nursery rhymes.
• Dunhallow an ancient world of barrows and old kings.
• Lysandria a bright world of libraries and tall towers.
• Gravenmoor a cold world that is always dusk.
• The Gilded Expanse a world of deserts and golden cities.
• Nimbaris a world above the clouds.
• Ashkaron a volcanic world of forges.
• The Land of Calen a pastoral world with a hidden war.
• The Last Garden what remains after the green ran out.
• Zephiral a windy world where ships fly.
• Brandhelm a mountain world of long winters.
• Selandor a world with a single great sea.
• The Drowned Crown a world flooded after its last war.
• The Elder Wheel a world where the seasons last for centuries.

Pick the name by what the story needs

A short invented name such as Aelaria works when the world is a backdrop: characters rarely say it and the reader will learn it once. A phrase such as The Sundered Vale works when the world itself is a character, because it promises history and a wound before the plot starts. Decide how often the name will be said aloud, and how much you want it to promise.

If your story hops between worlds or planes, give each a name in a different register, so that a reader always knows where they are. One world can be a soft invented word, the next a plain English phrase, and the third an old name that nobody can translate.

Let the world have more than one name

People rarely use the formal name for the world they live on. A farmer says the Lands, a scholar says Aelaria, a conqueror says the Crown and a poet says the Wheel. Giving your world a formal name, a common one and a name used in curses makes the culture feel older than the book.

These alternate names also tell the reader who is speaking. A character who uses the scholarly name is educated, and one who uses the old rural name has not travelled. Choose the one that suits the viewpoint in each chapter.