Toponomy, or How to Name Places!

[Cadoc]

I didn't closely examine the rest of the thread so I don't know if this has come up, but I like to keep in mind that people from different places call nations different things. Germany/Deutschland. Japan/Nippon. It can add a bit of interesting color to a fantasy world to have natives refer to their cities and landmarks as one thing and outsiders refer to them by another.

This is the sort of minor detail I always want to add to my campaigns but end up running out of time for. That's why I like using, and modifying, existing settings like the Forgotten Realms. Much of the work is already done, allowing me to work on those little details I love.

[CAPace09]

I really like this idea. To me, it seems almost a cop-out to have English be the de facto language of a secondary world. It makes sense to have characters speak in English so that readers can understand, but place names should remain in a conlang.

[POUTROR]

I really like this idea. To me, it seems almost a cop out to have English be the de facto language of a secondary world. It makes sense to have characters speak in English so that readers can understand, but place names should be remain in a conlang.

In my TTRPG case, since me and my roleplaying group are French people, I find it is sometimes okay to mix English with invented syllables for places and/or magical stuff. Rad-bro-zûl would be a very cool and very friendly demon lair, for instance. With English being a foreign language to most of my PCs, it makes it easier for me to create names with consistency.

Aside from being French now, for English readers it would not seem illogical to me that some places have names in English if the English in the book is to be a representation of the world language.

[Creativetides]

Very interesting and enlightening thread I have learned much.