City name generator
This city name generator produces grand, weighty fantasy city names with an optional description — "Aurograd — a golden-walled seat of trade and law." Filter by vibe, re-roll in batches, and export the list for your campaign's great seats of power.
Maropolis
“sea-city” — a skyline worth describing when the party first crests the hill
Aurgrad
“gold-fortress” — a skyline worth describing when the party first crests the hill
Imperburg
“empire-town” — a skyline worth describing when the party first crests the hill
Aurport
“gold-port” — where the roads of three kingdoms finally meet
Marport
“sea-port” — old walls, older grudges, and coin in every gutter
Calgard
“stone-enclosure” — where the roads of three kingdoms finally meet
Solburg
“sun-town” — old walls, older grudges, and coin in every gutter
Veropolis
“truth-city” — a great seat of trade and power
Marburg
“sea-town” — where the roads of three kingdoms finally meet
Aurgard
“gold-enclosure” — a skyline worth describing when the party first crests the hill
Margrad
“sea-fortress” — old walls, older grudges, and coin in every gutter
Solgard
“sun-enclosure” — a city that has outlived the empire that founded it
Gloomopolis
“gloom-city” — old walls, older grudges, and coin in every gutter
Arcanopolis
“arcane-city” — a skyline worth describing when the party first crests the hill
Marheim
“sea-home” — where the roads of three kingdoms finally meet
How city names are structured
A city name pairs a resonant root (Ver-, Aur-, Cal-) with a grand suffix that implies age and power. Imperial and arcane cities lean toward spires and enclosures; coastal cities toward ports.
What makes a good city name
City names carry more weight than town names — they sound older, grander, and more established, often borrowing suffixes that evoke real-world antiquity (-opolis, -grad, -burg, -gard).
Examples of city names
Aurograd, Calburg, and Veropolis sit squarely in the tradition of weighty fantasy city names.
From town to city: how names grow up
Cities rarely keep the name of the village they grew from unchanged. As a settlement gains walls, charters and pretensions, its name accretes grandeur — a -brook becomes a -burg, a -wick a -grad. Some cities are renamed outright for a conqueror or a founding myth. When you name a great city, you are naming the town it used to be plus everything it has claimed since: Veropolis reads as 'the true city' because that is what its citizens wanted it to say.
Grand suffixes (-opolis, -grad, -gard) imply age, walls and law; softer ones (-heim, -port) imply an older, humbler origin the city never shook off. Choose the suffix that matches the city's self-image, not just its size.
Quarters, gates and the names inside a city
A good city name is only the start — cities generate their own internal geography of names: the Old Gate, the Saltmarket, the Spire District. Reuse the city's own pieces when naming its parts. An Aurograd would have a Golden Gate and an Aur-market, not a Saltmarket.
The vibe filter above doubles as a district generator: run a grim batch for the dockside wards, an imperial batch for the palace quarter, and the city will feel mapped before you draw a single street.
The building blocks of city names
Every name above is composed from these pieces — 8 prefixes, 7 roots — and the meaning under each name is derived from them, not invented. Pieces marked with a tradition belong to that style; shared pieces appear in all of them. Combine any prefix with any root and ending and you can build a name of your own by hand.
Prefixes
| Piece | Meaning | Tradition |
|---|---|---|
| Ver- | truth | Shared |
| Aur- | gold | Shared |
| Cal- | stone | Shared |
| Mar- | sea | Coastal |
| Sol- | sun | Desert |
| Imper- | empire | Imperial |
| Arcan- | arcane | Arcane |
| Gloom- | gloom | Grim |
Roots
| Piece | Meaning | Tradition |
|---|---|---|
| opolis | city | Shared |
| grad | fortress | Shared |
| burg | town | Shared |
| heim | home | Shared |
| port | port | Coastal |
| gard | enclosure | Imperial |
| spire | spire | Arcane |
Worked examples
- MarportMar + port“sea-port”
- VergardVer + gard“truth-enclosure”
- SolgradSol + grad“sun-fortress”
Frequently asked questions
How is a city name different from a town name?
City names sound older and grander, often using suffixes that evoke antiquity and power — -opolis, -grad, -gard — where town names stay smaller and homelier.
What makes a city name sound imperial?
Imperial city names favour grand roots and enclosure suffixes like -gard, suggesting walls, law, and old authority.