Browse all generators
D&D races
Beings & creatures
Sci-fi
Village Name Generator
A village name is a farm and a landmark. Every result here comes with the gloss a place-name dictionary would give it, so you know what the village is before you draw it.
- Kingswick
- Bishopsstead
- Whitedale
- Millcross
- Harwick
- Lowick
- Alderwick
- Hazelley
- Kingsley
- Windham
- Wolfham
- Ashbrook
How these village names are built
Real English village names are two parts: a descriptor (ash trees, a landholder’s name, red earth) and a settlement word (-stead farmstead, -wick dairy farm, -ham homestead, -ley clearing, -thorpe outlying farm). This generator compounds thirty-six glossed descriptors with twelve village endings weighted the way the real countryside is, so -stead and -wick are common and -cote is rare.
Old-tongue names use an invented language with soft onsets and open syllables, plus endings glossed as hamlet, valley, river island or headland, for regions that should not sound English. Elvish names compound two nature roots from the Elf generator with a dwelling ending (-lond haven, -ath dwelling).
Descriptive names (Cold Hollow, Widow’s Crossing, Ferryman’s Rest) are the ones locals actually use, and each carries a hint about who or what the place was named for.
Example village names
A fixed sample from the generator above, so you can see the range before you press the button. Every list you generate is different; every link you copy reproduces its list exactly.
- Everham
- Greenstead
- Millford
- Saltstead
- Amberhollow
- Foxford
- Coldford
- Highley
- Saltwick
- Windcote
- Greyham
- Heronstead
- Wolfbrook
- Miststead
- Wendham
- Windwick
- Deepley
- Coldstead
- Elmcote
- Blackhollow
- Thornley
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers to what players and writers ask us most
How do I make village names fit one region?
Stay in one style. English-style names share a vocabulary of real place-name elements, so a map full of them reads as one country. Old-tongue names share a sound system for a foreign region, and Elvish names mark elven lands. Mixing styles is how you show a border.
What do the hints under each name mean?
They gloss the parts the way a place-name dictionary would: Ashwick is ash trees plus dairy farm; Wendbrook is a winding river plus stream. Use them to decide what the place is like before you draw it.
Are these real places?
No. They are built from the elements real place names are built from, which is why they sound plausible, but none is on a map. A few coincidences with real hamlets are possible; that is true of any English compound.
Free to use?
Yes, freely.