Continent name generator

Names big enough to be written across a whole map.

1 credit per search

100+ continent name ideas

  • Valdoria
  • Eryndor
  • Aldemar
  • Thessara
  • Caldera

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How continents get their names

Real continent names are old, short and vague. Asia and Europe come from ancient words whose first meaning is still argued over, Africa from a Roman name for one province, America from a mapmaker's Latin spelling of Amerigo Vespucci, Australia from the Latin for 'southern land'. Nearly all of them end in an open -a, and most were fixed by mapmakers far away, not by the people who lived there. A fictional continent sounds right when it follows the same habits: two to four syllables, a soft ending, and a root that hints at a direction, a climate or a first people. Describe your world, its climate, its cultures, its age, and the generator writes continent names that fit it, each with a line on why.

5 tips for naming a continent

  1. End on an open sound

    Asia, Africa, Europa, America, Antarctica. Endings like -ia, -a, -or and -os read as 'a great land' before the reader knows anything else.

  2. Hide a direction or a climate

    Australia means southern land. Build yours on a root for north, dawn, ice or sand and the name quietly explains where it lies.

  3. Decide who named it

    Sailors and mapmakers give short, exotic names. People who live there say something plain: the Mainland, the Sunlands, Home.

  4. Keep it the simplest name on the map

    A continent holds dozens of kingdoms with fancier names. Its own name should be the shortest and easiest: Valdoria, not Val'dho-riaeth.

  5. Say it next to its neighbors

    Two continents starting with the same letter blur together. Vary the first sound and the syllable count across your world.

Want names made for yours? Describe what you're naming and Nomi finds names that fit.

Frequently asked questions

Pick a root that says something about the land (north, dawn, sand, the first people), keep it to two to four syllables and give it an open ending like -ia or -or: Norvald, Valdoria, Sundara.

Europe's early mapmakers wrote in Latin, where the names of lands are feminine and end in -a: Asia, Africa, Europa, America, Australia. Fictional continents borrow the ending because it reads as 'land' at once.

As many as your story visits. One well-named continent with a few named neighbors on the edge of the map is enough for most novels and campaigns.

Names with a sea or a memory in them: Lemoria, Thalassar, the Sunken West, Drowned Vael. Legends such as Lyonesse, Ys and Hy-Brasil are free to borrow from.

Yes. Every name here is free to use for a map, a novel, a campaign or a game.

Over 100 in 6 groups. If none fit, describe your world in the search and get new names.

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