KevGnRotin89

I need a lot of help naming a city. I can't think of any. I've thought of Manalapan City, Victoria City, Condoar City, Vatican City, Telford City, and Union City. Please think of some names for a fake city in the North Eastern part of the United States so it can't begin in Los, Las, or San. THANKS!!

-Kevin

Hodge

What's wrong with those? Something may sound stupid at first, but after your brain ascribes the name to the place you've created, it doesn't sound stupid anymore (same with character names).

Philo

Looks like you and I both live in the Northeast and it isn't likely we'll find a city around here with Los, Las or San as a prefix anyway. Those names are spanish, Mexican spanish if I'm not mistaken, in origin. Cities here in the northeast are older in US terms than our western and southwestern cities but like them are typically infuenced by the history of their settlers.

A lot of the cities here are named after cities in Europe that the founders wanted to recall or honor. I seem to recall that many were named after fair cities in Europe to encourage settlers to emigrate. There is another group of cities named using local indian nation names for areas close to where the city is founded.

So after a long preamble, here's my suggestion, think about where your city is and who may have founded it and what they might have named it after. There aren't many cities here in New England with the word 'city' in the name such as Jersey City or Atlantic City. What ever you decide on, you may want to pull out a map of where your city might be and make sure it sounds like it fits with the names of the siurounding communities.

Have fun!

Lord Raiden

Well, my first question would be, this. Do you really NEED to name the city. I've written dozens of books and only named like 2-3 out of the dozens of cities I've had in there simply because the name was needed and played a part in the story. Otherwise I didn't name them. It's like naming anything in a book. Before naming something, somewhere, or a charecter, always ask yourself "what part, if any, does this person or thing play in the story?" If it's significant enough, name it. If not, don't bother.

__________________
My personal writing section
My Linux teaching and tech site, Raiden's Realm

mammamaia

why do you think it has to have 'city' in the name?... as philo notes, that's very uncommon in the ne us...

checking a map is the best idea... then, you can pick something you like and change it just a bit so using it won't affront the real town's residents...

__________________
For 100% free writing help/mentoring:
www.saysmom.com

"You must BE the change you wish to see in the world." Gandhi

Drzava

New Amsterdam

As for towns being older, that's not really true. San Diego, for instance, was named before New York City was founded.

KevGnRotin89

Thanks guys.

But it has to have a name. When I was going to write the city name, alls i wrote was (whatever the cities name is) until i thought of one. Haha. Thanks again

Kaku-Ryu

When I need a name for a city or character I usually just press a bunch of keys and look for a name between the letters. Then, I take off the letters that aren't needed and add a few letters into the name so it is spelled like it sounds.

It's kind of stupid but hey, it works.

Ilan Bouchard

When I need a new city name, at times I find it easier to just take a name of an existing city and add "New" to it. i.e. New Des Moines. It can't work for every city, but it's one city easily named. Plus, 'New Des Moines' sounds classy to me.

__________________
Ruthless comments encouraged!

barnsturm

Dylan Thomas called his Welsh village in "Under Milk Wood" LLareggub. (Read it backward.)

What state is this supposed to be?

Try combinations: Proctonbury, Pittsden, Ludlet, Woodington Peak, East Suttboro, Stannard Pond, Ansonford, Cherryville...

__________________
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Ronald

playstation60

What is the purpose of the city? What is the atmosphere like? Is it a new, fancy, prosperous city, or is it old, decrepid and full of crime? What about it's surrounding region, any noticable waterways or bodies of water?

__________________
24,372/50,000

KevGnRotin89

Its a city with a population over 900,000 people, its urban, prosperous, its in Maryland, has a forest behind it, a river that flows threw it, its on the Chesapeake Bay, and in its surrounding area, there are suburbs that belong to the city.

Nimbus1944

Pick a small-town name from one state and plant it in one where it's not used.

Many communities here in the Northeast were named after:

-- the home ports and counties of the English settlers, particularly from Devon and southern England (Plymouth, Essex, Hartford, Surrey);

-- English family names, sometimes with -town, -ton, -ville, etc., or apostrophied and occasionally with additives like New, Port, Mill, Ferry (the Post Office tried to supress apostrophes, thus names like Goldens Bridge);

--Biblical place names (Sharon, Bethany, Carmel);

-- local descriptives (Ridgefield, Turn-of-River, Oak Hill);

- woodlands Indian names and words (Cochecton, Genesee, Poughkeepsie);

-- Dutch names and words in the Hudson valley of New York (Yonkers, Rensselaer, Rhinebeck), occasional Huguenot-related words (New Rochelle), Irish towns (Avoca);

--in upstate New York, a flock of classical city names (Rome, Utica, Syracuse, Athens, Attica).

Not that many end in "City", "Park", and some other add-ons prevalent to the west, and would not use Spanish or Plains Indian words. A few small towns might still have "Junction" or other railroad additives (such as Huntington Station), but they tend to disappear.

Counties are divided in cities and towns; the towns may contain villages (incorporated) or hamlets. New York City is burdened with official county names (Kings, New York) and older borough names (Brooklyn, Manhattan). Some New England towns may still use the Town Meeting form of government.

__________________
It wouldn't be right to dream, while
Forgetting to live, it seems;
Nor would it be right to dwell on life
And yet forget our dreams.
-If There Were No Magicians

Dan101

Well, think about how the city looks or how characters react to the city. Take the characteristics and create a name out of it. Theres a city in my novel called Eon-Sanctuary because it is very very very old and is, well, a sanctuary lol

Latin words can work great for city names aswell.

__________________