Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well. Lately, I've been making actual progress on my campaign setting and have been working on one of the main capitals of a country. Working on districts of the city and decided I wanted to give them better names than simply "Government district" or whatnot. So, been working on custom names for them... so far, I have:
Merchant - Nothing yet.
Noble - Nothing yet.
Academic District - Nothing yet.
Commons/Middle Class - The Cobbles
Religion/Temple - Sacred Stones
Slums - Ashtown
Government/Administrative - Golden Way
Guild - Nothing yet.
I am fine with opinions on the current names, possible new names, and possible thoughts on other districts that I am missing. For reference though, the Academic District would also include any mages or magical stuff being done.
Anyway, hope you all are doing well, and I thank you for your time :3
Thank you for all your opinions!
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Merchant - Nothing yet. (Coinkissers Row)
Noble - Nothing yet. (Peycock Place)
Academic District - Nothing yet. (Stargazers Quarter)
Commons/Middle Class - The Cobbles
Religion/Temple - Sacred Stones
Slums - Ashtown
Government/Administrative - Golden Way
Guild - Nothing yet. Artisans Alleys
Gotta say, I love that Coinkissers Row XD That sounds awesome.
I was wondering about the "Quarter" thing. Does that apply to any area of a city or would it literally have to be in quarters? That's the only thing that really kept me from using "Quarter" in names. But if I am mistaken, I have no issues with that.
Merchant- Trader's arena, grand marketplace, street of shops
Noble-Manor district, Old Town, High Town, Brownstones
Academic- Library District, Scribes District, Arcane Circle
Not original am I...
To quarter means to cut in pieces. Quarter the pie into 6 pieces for example. It doesn´t mean always 4, but also to seperate.
Quarter (other than 1/4) can refer to where people live - where they are quartered. (Military personnel stay in their quarters. Top staff work in the headquarters. The quartermaster, while looking after supplies, was originally titled because he was in charge of where people lived/stayed/slept).
So, it can apply to any area of a city - nothing to do with its size or how many there are.
I don't know if this is applicable, but in a homebrew dwarf/human town the district names were based on a battle there:
Goblinbreak - this was the last stand of the enemy horde and currently the main entrance to the town
Stonerout - where the battle turned in favor of the dwarves and humans; now used as the merchant district in roughly the center of the other districts
Firmfoot - the oldest portion of town where the dwarves first joined the fight and got a toehold against the horde. This is now the slum area of town where the oppressed humans live
Blacksheild - here the dwarven defenders flanked through caves outside of town. The area was eventually turned into a great quarry and source of the town's prosperity; now it's the laborer's district
Earthwall - to the victors go the spoils. The dwarven nobility retired to rugged hills on the outskirts of the original settlement and built it up into a district of stoneworks, defensive structures and fine halls. The Lord Mayor's citadel is here as well
So to your city perhaps you use the history or some notable event to name the wards. In the academic district for example perhaps there was a struggle to establish a college here. The district then might be called the Schoolrise District or something.
Academic - Scrivener's Lane
Merchant - Peddlar Square. The streets leading off it are the Shambles, Brewer Street, Market Street South and Chandler's Way.
Guild - Mercer Court, with Cordwainer Lane and Founder Row nearby.
Noble - Granville Place, adjacent to Beaumont park.
There are loads of great old street names that can be stolen from cities like York, Oxford or London (my list has). Half of the words are archaic but have a specific meaning, making them fit well for a given area.
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Keep in mind that names are rarely as descriptive as what you've come up with. Take for instance the boroughs of New York City:
Manhattan - From a Native American word describing the hilly landscape
The Bronx - Named after an early settler in the area
Brooklyn - Named after a Dutch town
Queens - Named after some queen
Staten Island - Named after the Dutch parliament
None of those are the least bit descriptive of what that district is used for today. Instead, they're named after the founders of the city, and the things they loved. So keep that in mind when naming parts of your city: Who founded it? Who were the first movers and shakers of the area? What were they homesick for when they arrived? What did the last civilization there call the area in their language?
RainyDayNinja makes very good points. It's often the names of individuals, families, saints, gods, titles or similar that get corrupted or worked into placenames. E.g. A friend of mine is from a village called Thorlby - "Thor's Village".
*edit*
Other suggestions would be deciding the key products and exports of the city and basing names around these. There are some really odd-sounding but characterful names out there. There's an area in Kendal called the High Tenterfell - a hill where wool cloth was stretched out on "tenter" frames to stop it shrinking.
Similarly, what sort of landmarks are there in the city? Some London districts take their names from ancient Roman gates - Aldgate, Cripplegate etc.
Slang or official, really. 'Tis kinda why I used Ashtown and whatnot. Also, LOTS of good ideas here...
Well, oddly, I am kinda trying to make the city similar to New York, with the whole Central Park thing. There is going to be a giant park in the center of the city.
I do love the idea of naming the areas after events too....
So, what I have at the moment then (Which is very likely to change too):
District of City District Name
Merchant - Coin Kisser's Row
Noble - The Brownstones
Academic District - Stargazer's Quarter
Commons/Middle Class - The Cobbles
Religion/Temple - Sacred Stones
Slums - Ashtown
Government - Golden Way
Guild - Artisan's Alley
Seems a few of the areas are named after stones (Brownstones, Cobbles, Sacred Stones, technically Ashtown (if it's more like stones that have crumbled to dust) and the Golden Way.
OH! And thank you Dojen and Carvino. Those are also awesome! I might just restart from scratch on these names XD These are all really good...
For Noble district maybe also the marble ways
Hi there DarkMidget. Added 5 more to each district you had in your opening post.
Merchant - Coiner's quarters/The Greeders/Coin-counter square/The Sellswords/Vaulter's Ward
Noble - The Three-Floors/The Velvet Quarter/Two Sceptres/Blue Bloods Crossing/The Coachers
Academic District - The Inkwell/The Abacus/Intellectuals' quarters/Scrollhoarders' Plaza/Writers' Ward
Commons/Middle Class - The Commons/Anthill/The Woodshingles/The Timberframes/The Squats
Religion/Temple - Sacred Stones/Godcallers' Square/The Holy rows/Archway way/The Sacred way/Pious Hold
Slums - Ashtown/Ragbag city/The Squalors/Rat city/The Cutters/The Muddies
Government/Administrative - Golden Way/Talltown/The Spires/Flagstone Gardens/Kingsway/Bannerstand plazas
Guild - Guilders' rows/Artificers' Avenue/Artisans' Blood/Carters' Cross/Crafters' Quarters
Hope it helps :)
-Nearyn
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I was a bit surprised by Brownstones for the noble district. Where I'm from (Netherlands), brick and mortar (brownstone) is the default building material; there's nothing posh about it. Marble on the other hand has to be imported from quite a bit away.
The poor quarter of Leiden is called "De Kooi", which translates to "The Cage"...
Amsterdam has a "Heiligeweg", ("Holy Way"), which is the route taken by a yearly religious procession. Historically, processions were an important part of public religion. Everyone sees them happening, and "participates", even if it's only standing by the road as it passes.
It looks to me like you don't really have a port/sailor's district yet? The kind of place where people go to find seedy taverns/brothels/gambling rooms and may end up press-ganged? I rather like "The Shambles" or maybe "The Flops".
The slums in Ravenhurst (major city in my homebrew) are referred to as the Slivers.
It's also worth considering major trading partners and nearby cities. A lot of real-world locations are named after the place they lead to or trade with. West India Quay is an area in London historically handled shipping from the West Indies. Similarly it's pretty common to have a road named after the town it leads to. The Great North Road leads North, the Brevoy road leads to Brevoy etc.
Other simple geographic descriptors can add flavor. If you have two markets, one on a hill and one below, then you could have the High Market and the Low Market. Or one of them is the North Market because it's further North, or the Northgate Market because that's where traders coming from the Northern city gate set up. If there's a river then areas might be named for the side of the river they're on, e.g. West bank.
If a City is big enough then it's probably absorbed surrounding villages. Some city districts are named after the village or town they used to be.
*Edit* I'm glad you like the Shambles, Ascalaphus. It's a pretty common street name in old English towns, meaning a slaughterhouse or meat market. The Shambles in York is a narrow alley full of overhanging medieval buildings and frequently gets used as a filming location - I think some of the Harry Potter films used it.
The Shambles sounds like an AWESOME name for a sort of red-light district. Yeah, there is no dock district or boat area in Grandon (The name of the city), due to it being VERY inland. There is no large area of water nearby, therefore there is no port there.
Well, crap! You've given me so many choices and thoughts to go through... figs.
Well, decided these were kind of my favourite of them, but not sure if it seems weird to mix and match as opposed to coming up with a sorta static theme (Like only naming them after stones, or naming them all after districts, or cloths, or whatnot, as opposed to mixing and matching the name themes). These ones don't seem to go against each other too bad.
Merchant - Coin Kisser's Row
Noble - Marble Way
Academic District - The Inkwell
Commons/Middle Class - The Cobbles
Religion/Temple - Godcaller's Walk
Slums - Ashtown
Government - The Goldway
Guild - Halas Court
Central Park - Verdantcrown Circle
Redlight District - The Shambles
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I rather liked the Court of Miracles from the recent BBC adaptation of Mustketeers. It's a narrow-alleys district in Paris that's home to a sort of guild of beggars of thieves. The "miracles" are the number of people suddenly able to walk, see and so forth when they come home. It's a no-go area for government people.
I rather liked Sacred Stones actually. I was thinking that with the stone-theme, there should be something like the Jaded District. It'd be the place where decadent nobility goes for illicit pleasures.
Ooh. I rather like that, actually. The Jaded District is VERY fitting, both metaphorically, and literally. I like it :)
Merchant - Coin Kisser's Row
Noble - Marble Way
Academic District - The Inkwell
Commons/Middle Class - The Cobbles
Religion/Temple - Sacred Stones
Slums - Ashtown
Government - The Goldway
Guild - Halas Court
Central Park - Verdantcrown Circle
Redlight District - The Jades
Gonna try "The Jades" as opposed to "The Jaded District", because for some reason I am being a weirdo and avoiding using the word district in the district names.
Might also be worth considering "Official Names" and "Common Names", too. Areas/ districts/wards/quarters might have an official designation (used only by the rulers when describing specific areas) that differs somewhat from the way everybody refers to the place in the real world.
So, taking your most recent post as an example:
The slums and commoner/middle class districts are officially "Cobbeton", with everyone calling specific parts of it "Cobbles" and "Ashtown". An official proclamation may require "all residents of Cobbeton to pay a tax on livestock", but one of those residents might say "I was walking along - South end of Cobbles, y'know? An' I saw this gang of kids runnin' back into Ashtown. No way was I goin' t'look any closer."
Ah, that is true. Slang names are used quite frequently in things like this. Okay, came up with a few names and slangs and blablabla. So without further ado, here it is:
Ex: District of City - District Name/"Slang Name"
Merchant - Brewer Street/"Coin Kisser's Row"
Noble - Marble Rise/"The Marbles"
Academic District - The Barkcloth District/"The Inkwell"
Commons/Middle Class - Cobbleton/"The Cobbles"
Religion/Temple - Godcaller's Walk/"Sacred Stones"
Slums - Ashtown (Both officially and non-officially)
Governmen - Golden Way/"The Desks"
Guild - Halas Courts/"Union Alley"
Central Park - Verdantcrown Park/"The Green Circle"
Red-light District - Jade Gates/"The Jades"
Necropolis - The Necropolis/"The Dead Zone"
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I see I'm a bit late. Still, my suggestions:
Merchant - The Caverns of Caveats (have it set in a natural cave formation that's integrated into the city's layout - it would have been a sensible choice for a merchant's district, protecting merchants and customers from the worst of the weather while standing around all day, and allowing people like dwarves and dark elves, who might be expected to show up in some places as visiting merchants, to stay sheltered from light)
Noble - Old Town/The Forbidden Garden/Nob Hill/Godsperch/Eagle's Nest/The Great Ward/The Lonely Ward/Founder's Valley/Providence.... (you could have a lot of fun with this one; it provokes so many questions: How did the people living here become nobles? What do they do now? How different are they from non-nobles? How differently are they treated? Do they deserve their status? How much upward mobility is there here? What is the nobility's relationship with everyone else? How do they view non-nobles, and vice versa? This district, in particular, is bound to go by multiple names, depending on the speaker and their politics)
Academic District - Tomorrow
Commons/Middle Class - The Cobbles
Religion/Temple - Sacred Stones
Slums - Ashtown
Government/Administrative - Golden Way
Guild - Silent Street (so named for the members of various guilds' tendencies to say very little or speak very quietly while outdoors, lest they leak trade secrets)
Central Park - [insert name of famous hero from town's history here]'s Gift
Redlight District - The (Other) Temple District
Necropolis - Memory Lane
Okay, well. You've up and done it XD Had to change the Noble area's name to Godsperch because that just sounds awesome and so... assuming. It's good. :)
Also changed the Necropolis to Memory Lane.
I am also very aware this has NOTHING to do with the topic at hand, but thought it was a cute idea that I had just come up with while working on my story. In my world, there's a goddess of revelry and celebration. I decided that most taverns will have a tip jar in the shape of her holding up a large open-topped keg, or her leaning over the top of a giant stein. Tipping well is a sign of worship to her. Just thought it was kind of a cute idea, both including the religion, and something practical.
Is her favored animal the very friendly cat?
Hadn't thought of that, actually XD I could see that, but that would likely be for the God Tormyn, the God of Commerce.
It is true, England's roads have GREAT names for things. Seriously fitting for most things :)
Yeah, there is no dock district or boat area in Grandon (The name of the city), due to it being VERY inland.
In that case, how does it trade? If there's no river, everything has to travel overland, which means that you'll need a caravanserai or the like. You'll also want somewhere for the barracks, the various markets (for food, livestock, horses, trade goods, etc), maybe a racetrack or stadium and so on.
Unless the town is dead flat, it'll get some of its place names from geography, and that will include elements like (here I'll use London examples):
Hills: Mount Pleasant, Denmark Hill (which is not remotely near Denmark), Cornhill
Vegetation: Shepherd's Bush, Sevenoaks, Wormwood Scrubs
Rivers: Dartford, Fleet Street (over the River Fleet), Embankment, Strand
Castles (you do have a castle, don't you?): Barbican, Tower Hill, Arsenal
Swamps: Mudchute
Notable features: The Angel, Seven Sisters
And there can be some places with the most ludicrously undescriptive names: Poultry, Cheapside and Crutched Friars are in the extremely expensive City of London, populated by bankers and stockbrokers.
There are multiple main roads to deal with caravans and traders.
Doooooooot.
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The Burrows - a mazelike multilevel district, going both deeply underground and into (relatively) highrise surface structures. All very low ceilings, catering to gnomes and halflings. It's cheap but not actually a slum; the residents keep the place nice and tidy. They just don't have the money to live big. The place does have a distinct subculture because the very architecture keeps out taller races. It could be a sort of Chinatown.
The Barracks - built by a group of dwarven refugees, who settled down in an orderly manner. The street plan is a perfect grid of 90 degree angles. The buildings all look the same from the outside; solid and sensible, but a bit dour. Inside though they're quite varied; the quality of the buildings has also attracted other races and cultures.
"Doooooooot." ? XD
Aye, I'm going to put a Caravanserai probably off of the main road of the merchant district, because that keeps for simple and convenient location. As for a castle, there's not exactly... well, it'll be a manor, in the government district.
The city is ruled by a council, basically.
Just a quick note - Grandon may be very inland and lack Docks but it's rare for any city to be far from a water source, usually a river. Historically large towns tended to form at harbors or at the highest navigable point of a river. Water transport was the most efficient way to transport heavy goods between places until very recently (and still is in terms of international trade). Quays and Wharves can be found well inland on some rivers and canals.
Even if you don't want to include a river, lake or sea as part of your setting you can still name areas after one. Many real cities have vanished rivers that were diverted or channelled into sewers or pipes centuries ago. An example earlier - Fleet Street in London - is named after the River Fleet that now only exists in an underground culvert. Tyburn, another London location (famous for hangings), is also named for a vanished stream.
*edit* rosie_187 seems to have got there before me ;)
Out of curiosity, if there's no river and no large body of water near to Grandon, then why is it there in the first place?These things do happen. Desert region, built on the site of an old silver mine, magically significant spots, mountain passes, etc. There's also the possibility that the city is built over one of the sunken lakes/seas of the Darklands and that most of its trade goes up and down, not sideways. Though I agree that moving water is so valuable to a city that diverting streams would make sense if no larger, natural sources are available.
In fact, the largest city in the world not built on a body of water is Johannesburg, South Africa (53rd largest overall), which was originally a gold mining camp.
Yeah. Well, looking at my map, the positioning of the city is slightly northwest of the sea. Far enough away to not have any docks or direct contact with it though. There could still easily be rivers. However, there isn't a big enough body of water nearby to warrant a docks district.
And yeah, I'll likely make it that it was originally (or is still partially) the site of one of the biggest gold mines on the continent, and therefore was a great economic area in and of itself.
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In the Netherlands, inland cities often had an associated seaport city nearby (Middelburg->Arnemuiden, Delft->Delftshaven), possibly even with a canal connecting them.
Now, these port cities often wanted to be a bit more independent, but the inland city often tried to gain a political stranglehold on the port city to protect its interests, and to prevent the port city from taking over its trade. So you have two cities with an intrigue-riddled relationship.
As was mentioned before, you often have road or city gates named after the direction they lead in; the Leidsestraat (Leiden Street) in Amsterdam points towards Leiden, and the Haarlemmerstraat points towards Haarlem. Both Amsterdam and Leiden have a Haarlemmerstraat; Amsterdam also has a Haarlemmerpoort (Haarlem Gate).
Medieval cities often don't have all that many gates - 4 or so. It might be nice to name those as well. Since this is where taxable goods enter the city, they're significant economic locations.