Village Name Generator
Village names from the wet-ground layer of English place-names — wath, keld, wong, ey, carr — every element glossed, with a locative affix.
2,187,500 combinations in this form
Village names, each with the meaning of every element shown.
- Peatbutts Supra Wood
Peat cut turf fuel + butts plough strips
Supra latin for over + Wood tree cover
- Widgeonstang On the Wolds
Widgeon whistling duck + stang boundary pole
On the beside + Wolds open uplands
- Foxbalk By the Sands
Fox red hunter + balk unploughed ridge
By the next to + Sands tidal flats
- Thrallode Over Green
Thrall bondman + lode drainage channel
Over across from + Green common grazing
- Flintstell Under Dale
Flint hard nodule + stell sheepfold
Under below + Dale broad valley
- Plovershott Super Sea
Plover field wader + shott field division
Super latin for above + Sea the sea
- Swiftweir Sub Green
Swift fast-running + weir fish dam
Sub latin for under + Green common grazing
- Gullspring Supra Street
Gull sea bird + spring coppice wood
Supra latin for over + Street paved road
- Ploverlode Atte Wood
Plover field wader + lode drainage channel
Atte old english at + Wood tree cover
- Grimey Sub Fosse
Grim norse name masked + ey dry island
Sub latin for under + Fosse roman ditch
- Ivywater Beside Hollow
Ivy climbing vine + water open water
Beside alongside + Hollow sunken ground
- Salmonstubbing Juxta Wood
Salmon leaping fish + stubbing stump clearing
Juxta latin for near + Wood tree cover
- Ketilstubbing Upon Fosse
Ketil norse name cauldron + stubbing stump clearing
Upon on top of + Fosse roman ditch
- Heronhurn Sub Cross
Heron wading bird + hurn angle of land
Sub latin for under + Cross wayside cross
- Nearwater Across the Moor
Near close by + water open water
Across the opposite + Moor rough upland
- Nearhale Across the Hill
Near close by + hale land nook
Across the opposite + Hill rising ground
- Herongore Under Rigg
Heron wading bird + gore triangular strip
Under below + Rigg long ridge
- Boarwater Ultra Beck
Boar male swine + water open water
Ultra latin for beyond + Beck norse stream
- Nearswang By the Bridge
Near close by + swang boggy patch
By the next to + Bridge river span
- Gimmerintake Juxta Scarth
Gimmer young ewe + intake enclosed moorland
Juxta latin for near + Scarth mountain pass
- Adderpot Above Green
Adder marsh snake + pot deep hollow
Above higher than + Green common grazing
- Sweinrake Sub Beck
Swein norse name boy + rake hill track
Sub latin for under + Beck norse stream
- Plovergreave Beside Lane
Plover field wader + greave thicket
Beside alongside + Lane narrow road
- Swiftey Upon Street
Swift fast-running + ey dry island
Upon on top of + Street paved road
Need a name that means something in particular? Build one from its meaning.
How village names are built
¶A village is named for the ground it stands on and the water it has to cross. That is a different layer from the one that names towns and cities: those take habitative endings such as -ton, -ham and -caster, and our town set collects the status endings, -thorpe, -cot and -stead. This set is the terrain layer. A wath is a ford, a keld a spring, an ey a dry island in marsh, a wong a water meadow, a carr wet woodland, a linn the pool under a waterfall.
The northern and eastern half of England speaks Norse here, and the first elements often carry a settler's own name. Ulf is wolf, Orm is serpent, Grim is the masked one, Ketil is a cauldron, Gamel means old: all ordinary Norse personal names, and all embedded in real villages across the Danelaw. Beside them sit the animals and plants that only live on wet ground — snipe, bittern, teal, tench, flag, withy, ling — so the name records a habitat as much as a holding.
Two villages with the same name are distinguished by an affix, and this is where the Latin and Norman survive. Weston super Mare is Weston above the sea, Weston sub Edge is Weston under the escarpment, Thornton le Moor uses the Norman article, Stow cum Quy joins two settlements with the Latin for with. English does the same job with on the, under and by the. The affix is not decoration: it exists because the postal address needed it.
More village names
Names village names
- Loamwong Beside Cross rich soil water meadow
- Easterweir Nigh the Bridge easterly fish dam
- Heifernab Under Heath young cow jutting knoll
- Frogtarn Beneath Heath marsh frog small lake
- Steerkeld Above Hill young ox norse spring
- Adderintake Beside Fen marsh snake enclosed moorland
- Tenchhag Under Carr pond fish felling wood
- Brackwith Ultra Beck salt-tainted norse wood
- Hoggscarth Across the Wood yearling sheep mountain pass
- Heiferlode Infra Green young cow drainage channel
- Osierflatt Super Dale basket willow level ground
- Heronslade Beside Moor wading bird marshy dell
- Gullaithe Above Scarth sea bird field barn
- Carlfleet Next the Lane free peasant tidal creek
- Frogscarth Under Wood marsh frog mountain pass
- Withyfleet Upon Hill pliant willow tidal creek
- Calddrove Within Dale cold-running driving road
- Kilnwath Atte Wold lime kiln norse ford
Questions
What is the difference between a village, a town and a city?
In place-name terms it is the ending. A city or a large town usually carries a habitative element such as -ton, -ham, -bury or -caster, and a hamlet carries a status element such as -thorpe or -cot. A village typically carries a terrain element — a ford, a spring, a meadow, a wood — because it was named for where it sat rather than for what it was.
What does -wath mean in a place name?
It is the Old Norse vað, a ford, and it does the same job as the English -ford. You find it across the old Danelaw in names like Sandwath and Langwathby. Wherever you see -wath, -beck, -keld, -gill, -thwaite or -by, the settlement was named by Norse speakers, which is a piece of history you get for free with the name.
How do I name a village for a D&D campaign?
Take one thing a traveller would see on the way in and one thing about the ground. Heronwath, Peatkeld, Withywong, Stirkey. Then add an affix if there is another village of the same name nearby, which immediately implies a second settlement and a rivalry you have not had to invent.
What does -ey or -ea mean at the end of a village name?
Old English ēg, an island, and in practice a patch of dry ground standing above marsh. Ely, Ramsey, Athelney and Romsey are all islands in fen or moor. It is the most useful element in the set for a wet campaign map, because it tells you the settlement is defensible and that everything around it floods.
What is a locative affix?
The tag that separates two villages sharing a name: super Mare, sub Edge, le Moor, cum Quy, on the Water, under Lyne. Latin, Norman French and English all supplied them, and they were fixed in writing by clerks rather than by the villagers. Adding one to an invented name is the quickest way to make it read as a real parish.