Forest name generator

Names for enchanted woods, haunted thickets and every forest on your map.

1 credit per search

100+ forest name ideas

  • Whisperwood
  • The Silverleaf Grove
  • Moonpetal Forest
  • Starfall Glade
  • The Lanternwood

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How forests get their names

Real forests are named plainly. Sherwood is the 'shire wood', the Black Forest is named for its dark firs, the New Forest was new in 1079, and Sequoia, Epping and Ashdown simply take the name of a tree or a nearby place. English alone has a dozen words for a body of trees, and each one says something: a forest is large and was once royal hunting ground, a wood is smaller, a weald or wold is old upland woodland, a grove is small and tended, a thicket or holt is dense, a hurst is a wooded hill. Fantasy forests keep the pattern and change the first half, which is how Tolkien got Mirkwood, the 'murky wood'. Describe your forest, its trees, who lives there and how it feels after dark, and the generator writes names for your map.

5 tips for naming a forest

  1. Choose the tree word

    Forest is vast, Wood is local, Grove is sacred, Thicket is tangled, Weald is ancient. The second half of the name sets the scale.

  2. Describe what travelers notice

    Sound (Whisperwood), light (Gloamwood), color (the Greenweald) or danger (the Tanglethorn). Locals name a forest for what it does to them.

  3. Use the trees themselves

    Oak, ash, elm, birch, pine and yew each carry a mood. Yew and blackthorn are grave, birch and aspen are light, oak is old and steady.

  4. Give it two names

    The elves call it Sylvanor, the villagers call it the Old Wood. Two names from two peoples make a forest feel older than the story.

  5. Fuse the words for old places

    Sherwood, Mirkwood, Ashdown. One fused word sounds centuries old. Two separate words (the Silent Forest) sound like a newer name or a warning.

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

Frequently asked questions

Take what a traveler would notice, a sound, a color, a tree or a danger, and add a tree word: Whisperwood, Blackbriar Forest, the Eldergrove.

A forest is large and wild, a wood is smaller and closer to a village, and a grove is a small stand of trees, often tended or sacred. A weald or wold is an old word for upland woodland.

Names with light, song or flowers in them: Whisperwood, Moonpetal Forest, the Lanternwood, Faelight Woods.

Names with thorns, shadows or grief: the Tanglethorn, Gallows Wood, Gloamwood, the Weeping Pines.

Yes. The names here are free to use for a map, a story or a game. A few sound like real English woods on purpose.

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

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