Forest Name Generator
Forest and woodland names built from real English woodland vocabulary: holt, shaw, hurst, weald, coppice and glade, with every element glossed.
3,132 combinations in this form
- Wildcathirst
Wildcat wildcats + hirst wooded rise
wildcats wooded rise
- Doeholt
Doe does + holt small wood
does small wood
- Duskhurst
Dusk failing light + hurst wooded hill
failing light wooded hill
- Vixenthorns
Vixen female fox + thorns thorn trees
female fox thorn trees
- Chareaves
Char burnt + eaves woodland edge
burnt woodland edge
- Limewald
Lime lime tree + wald forest
lime tree forest
- Martenbrush
Marten pine martens + brush brushwood
pine martens brushwood
- Jaythicket
Jay jays + thicket dense undergrowth
jays dense undergrowth
- Hindpark
Hind hinds + park enclosed wood
hinds enclosed wood
- Beechstubbing
Beech smooth-barked tree + stubbing stump clearing
smooth-barked tree stump clearing
- Shadeholloway
Shade cool shadow + holloway sunken lane
cool shadow sunken lane
- Cuckoopurlieu
Cuckoo cuckoos + purlieu forest fringe
cuckoos forest fringe
- Buckstubbing
Buck male fallow deer + stubbing stump clearing
male fallow deer stump clearing
- Fawnstubbing
Fawn fawns + stubbing stump clearing
fawns stump clearing
- Pinebrush
Pine resinous evergreen + brush brushwood
resinous evergreen brushwood
- Cuckooshaws
Cuckoo cuckoos + shaws copses
cuckoos copses
- Martenstubbing
Marten pine martens + stubbing stump clearing
pine martens stump clearing
- Maplealders
Maple lobed-leaf tree + alders wet-ground trees
lobed-leaf tree wet-ground trees
- Poplarbrake
Poplar tall slender tree + brake bracken thicket
tall slender tree bracken thicket
- Withyhurst
Withy withies + hurst wooded hill
withies wooded hill
- Sapsart
Sap tree's lifeblood + sart assarted land
tree's lifeblood assarted land
- Fawnforest
Fawn fawns + forest wide wooded land
fawns wide wooded land
- Boarbower
Boar wild boar + bower leafy shelter
wild boar leafy shelter
- Wildpannage
Wild untamed + pannage acorn pasture
untamed acorn pasture
How woodland names are built
¶English has an unusually precise vocabulary for woodland, and the distinctions are still visible on maps. Wood is the general term. A holt is a small wood, often of one species. A hurst is a wood on a hill, which is why Hampshire and Sussex are full of them. A shaw is a narrow strip, typically along a field boundary. A weald is an extensive forest, from Old English weald, which also gave wold. Choosing between them fixes the shape of the place before you say anything else.
A second set of words describes management rather than shape. Coppice means underwood cut on a rotation and allowed to regrow from the stool. A spinney is a thorn thicket, a covert is cover deliberately kept for game, and a launde is the open lawn inside a wood where deer graze. A purlieu is the disafforested fringe outside the legal forest boundary, and pannage is the right to run pigs under the oaks for acorns.
Chase, forest and park are legal terms, not botanical ones. A royal forest was a jurisdiction where forest law applied, and it could include heath and farmland; a chase was the same thing in private hands; a park was fenced. For first elements, use the dominant tree, the animal you would meet there, the quality of the light or the work done in it. Beech, boar, badger, charcoal and dusk all name real woods.
Questions
What is the difference between a holt and a hurst?
A holt is a small wood, from Old English holt, and says nothing about the ground it stands on. A hurst is from hyrst and specifically means a wooded hill or knoll. So Oakholt is a little oak wood on any terrain, while Oakhurst is an oak wood on rising ground, which is why the ending clusters in the hilly Weald.
What does -shaw mean in a place name?
Old English sceaga, a small wood or, more usually, a narrow strip of trees along a boundary or a stream. Bradshaw, Openshaw and Ottershaw all carry it. Because a shaw is linear rather than blocky, it is the right word when you want a wood that edges something else rather than one you can get lost inside.
What is the difference between a forest and a woodland?
Historically, forest was a legal category, not a description of trees. A royal forest was land where forest law protected the king's deer, and it could contain heath, bog and villages as well as trees. Woodland simply means land with trees on it. That is why places called Forest are often surprisingly open.
How do I name a forest for a fantasy setting?
Pick the woodland word that matches the shape you want: holt for small, weald for vast, shaw for a strip, chase for hunting ground. Then add a concrete first element, usually the dominant tree or the animal associated with it. Avoid adjectives like dark or cursed; real forests are named for beeches, boars and charcoal burners.
What does coppice mean?
Coppicing is cutting broadleaved trees to the base on a rotation of seven to twenty years and harvesting the poles that regrow from the stool. A coppice is a wood managed that way. It produced hurdles, charcoal and firewood for centuries, so a place named for one implies an industry rather than wilderness.