Fantasy Kingdom Name Generator

How kingdom names are usually built

Kingdoms are named in three broad ways. The first is a plain invented word with a suffix that means land, such as -mark, -heim, -vale or -land: Eldmark, Dunvale. The second is a title attached to a place name, such as Kingdom of, Duchy of or Marches of, which tells readers the political form before they learn anything else. The third is descriptive: The Ashen Crown, The Nine Rivers, The Sunken Throne. Descriptive names often began as a nickname that stuck, and they usually imply a story of how the realm rose or fell.

Short names travel well on a map, while longer ones can live in the mouths of courtiers. A realm can have both: a formal name, a common one and an insult that neighbours use.

Making realm names feel like one map

Names on a map should share roots. If the founding people called land "mark", the neighbouring kingdoms may share the suffix, or deliberately avoid it to show an older or foreign tongue. Tie the name to something on the ground: a river, a mountain pass, a famous tree. Use the same title system through the whole world, so that a duchy is always smaller than a kingdom, and an empire always claims more than it can hold. And decide who made the name. A realm named by its own people sounds proud; the same realm named by its enemies sounds different, and your story can use both.

Twenty example kingdom names

• Eldmark a plain old border realm, easy to put on a map.
• Valoria a bright coastal kingdom with a friendly ring.
• Norhaven a northern harbour realm.
• Aldermere a lake kingdom with alder woods.
• Kingdom of Calanor a title that tells you who rules.
• Realm of Dunhallow a brooding highland domain.
• The Ashen Crown a realm that remembers a fire.
• The Nine Rivers a delta of cities with a council.
• The Sunken Throne a kingdom whose capital is under water.
• Tirgard a fortress state, short and hard.
• Ardovan a courtly name for a river empire.
• Ysmere a lake realm with a short, quiet name.
• Corvane a darker kingdom, perhaps ruled from a tower.
• The Seven Marches a loose federation of border lords.
• Dalreach a mountain kingdom with deep valleys.
• Velmoor a marsh realm that no one visits twice.
• Empire of Kesvar a sprawling power that keeps annexing its neighbours.
• Duchy of Marrowfen a swampy territory under a stubborn duke.
• The Salt Concord an alliance of ports bound by trade.
• Wenmoor a heath kingdom, small and independent.