City Name Generator

Fantasy cities and their names

There’s no world-building without naming a city or two. In the world of fantasy (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire), city settings from King’s Landing to the White City of Minas Tirith map out character milestones—not to mention the lay of the land.

Great fantasy media like Harry Potter use real-world inspiration to lend credibility to fantasy literature, usually with a touch of style. To build your own map, you’ll have to learn the rules and structure of city names to give them a unique place in your world.

City naming conventions

City names tend to be either invented words, word compounds (“Fairmarket”), or descriptors of great events (“King’s Landing”). Unlike continent names, which tend to be more general, city names should be more specific to a place and time.

City name inspiration

Just as the city “Amsterdam” refers to a dam in the river Amstel, a great fantasy city name hints at the worldbuilding behind the locale. Zoom out from town names and think of geographical features, cultural milestones, and even wordplay like puns to lend character to your city names.

Set your tale in a city born from imagination! Unveil names that echo with the pulse of urban life with our city name generator.

List of city names

Where would the Fellowship be without Rivendell or the Targaryens without King’s Landing? Browse this list of city names to get inspiration for the central waypoints for your characters’ journeys—especially if you can weave a good bit of worldbuilding that rewards the people who really want to dive into your fantasy world.