It’s like when I see a place named “Westmoreland” I’m like "Ok, so someone thought, “there’s more land west of where I was, and I’m not very creative”.
if you dig deep enough that’s what almost all place names are, and as stupid as it feels it’s a great way to make fantasy place names feel not stupid.
There are a series of cities on the northeastern coast of sweden that all lie near the mouth of a long river, and those cities are quite literally named [Name of the river valley]-stream, while the rivers themselves are named [Name of the river valley]-river. It’s so profoundly stupid and yet no one ever thinks about it at all.
Luleå, on Lule älv. Piteå, on Pite älv. Umeå, on Ume älv. Etc etc…
It’s like when I see a place named “Westmoreland” I’m like "Ok, so someone thought, “there’s more land west of where I was, and I’m not very creative”.
Wait until you find out about Greenland and Iceland!
Or Newfoundland.
or New York
new york (2) final.docx
Give Greenland is mostly ice I’m actually curious to know where it’s name comes from
Supposedly, its and Iceland’s discoverers named them thus to trick potential future conquerors into going for the wrong one.
The OG Chad
if you dig deep enough that’s what almost all place names are, and as stupid as it feels it’s a great way to make fantasy place names feel not stupid.
There are a series of cities on the northeastern coast of sweden that all lie near the mouth of a long river, and those cities are quite literally named [Name of the river valley]-stream, while the rivers themselves are named [Name of the river valley]-river. It’s so profoundly stupid and yet no one ever thinks about it at all.
Luleå, on Lule älv. Piteå, on Pite älv. Umeå, on Ume älv. Etc etc…