Desert City Name Generator
Names for oasis towns, caravan stops and the great trading cities at the edge of the sand. The Desert style is learned from Arabic, Berber and Levantine place names, so the names sound like the old trade roads: Hasilah, Tafrahmat, Almibah.
Desert: oases and caravan towns.
Names along a trade road
Desert towns exist because of water and trade, and their names often say which. Put the oasis towns close together on the map with short names, and give the big caravan cities longer, grander ones. A name with Al- at the front reads as a proper name of a place or realm, which suits capitals.
The style mixes three traditions. Berber-sounding names (with t, z and gh) suit the mountains and deep desert; Arabic and Levantine ones suit the cities and the coast. Use them in different parts of the map and the desert stops being one place.
Writing it with respect
These are invented names in the sound of real languages that real people speak. Use them for a culture you've thought about, with its own history and its own people, rather than as backdrop for bandits and sandstorms.
Names are the start
Make the whole world: a map, its peoples, its magic and a villain with a plan. The free world generator names its towns and regions with this same engine, in the style you choose.
In the World Studio you build a world on a real map, set its rules in plain words and invite players. An AI game master voices every character while the game engine keeps the map, the fights and the money honest.
More name generators
Questions
- Can I make names for desert people?
- Yes. Switch the kind to People for given names and family names in the same style.
- Are these real city names?
- No, though a few will be close to real ones, because the generator learns from real place names. Check before you publish one if that matters to you.
- What other styles suit hot lands?
- Ancient empire (Mesopotamian and Persian) for old river kingdoms, Savanna for trade coasts, Jungle for terraced jungle cities, and Steppe for horse peoples on the grasslands.
Names are generated with a port of the names generator from Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator (MIT license, by Max Haniyeu), including its name lists.