What do you name your cities?

[1]

Does anyone stick with the set names? I almost always name my own cities. I like to name my cites after the nearby terrain. So I end up with... WheatyWhales, or Ironcows. Or if I'm particularly mad at an AI, I'll name a city "Up Yours" then name a city under it "Bizmark". Buahaha. The possibilities are endless....

What's really funny is watching the Aztecs capture "Aztecs Stink" city, then go on their marry lil way.

[Aeson]

I usually end up naming all my cities after the Civs mythological characters, places, and events. Other times I just open up an atlas and pick out interesting names from modern day countries in the same general area. I can't stand having "New" and numbered cities.

When I capture an AI city that has built a wonder I usually rename the city to where the wonder was historically located. Also cities which claim resources get descriptive names. Ivory Coast always seems to show up somewhere.

In a recent game I settled a city on a far away island just as there was a major barbarian uprising nearby. I had about 5k in gold saved up for upgrading and no time to build any defense. I renamed the city "Trojan Horse" and gave it to the Greeks...

[Jethro83]

I don't really see much need to name my own cities. I'd rather actually focus on the other aspects of the game. When playing, there's too much on your plate to be worrying about naming cities.

However, it is sometimes good to rename cities that you capture (like one time as the Americans, I took the Persian city of Pasgardae. I was so impressed with its placement that I named it Lincoln, dedicated to the greatest president America ever had; and I made it into the capital, as it was in the centre of the small continent I was on). But at that time, it is usually the end of a war, a brief period of rest which gives the time to think about renaming the settlements conquered.

[Skanky Burns]

When building my own cities, I just use the default names.
When capturing other cities, I normally don't care about them enough to rename them - after all they are only producing 1 shield 1 gold each turn.

[Giovanni August]

I usually stick with the game city-names as long as i don't have any "new whatever". once it is like this i usually point my finger somewhere in the world atlas and name my city after it. But i must say I had too many time the "Pacific Ocean" city

Saluti

[Dis]

well I don't always do this. when I'm japan I keep many city names. at least the major ones.

when I play the aztecs I rename the cities to cities in my region of the U.S. Las Vegas, Mesquite, Pahrump, Needles. Laughlin, you get the picture.

This allows me to relate to how the cities are arranged on the map, and it allows me to easily locate a city.

[Harovan]

I can't stick with the names in the game, when playing Germans, because they are awfully wrong spelled. So I either use a good city name mod, or I name my cities manually, which ends up, that I 30 times get proposed the city of "Heidelburg" which simply doesn't exist.

Usually I name my First-class-cities (1 step away from palace) after the biggest German cities. I try to name coastal cities and interior cities correctly, my Munich (München) never can build a harbor, while my Hamburg is always a coastal city. Same with cities in mountains and plain land, although this doesn't always fit properly, when in combination.

When I raze cities and build my own at the original place, I either name it after the original, or (yes!) I add a "New...", which in that case makes sense.

When I play a foreign civ (which often happens), I usually accept proposed city names, sometimes I use a city name mod.

I never name cities after resources in my own games, although it happened in our French succession game (IIRC Ore Hills was mine).

[Tingkai]

I think naming cities is part of the fun of civ.

I also take the approach that dissident uses of naming cities within a region based on actual geographic location (e.g. all cities in one area might be named after Western Canadian cities).

One thing I can't stand is having dozens of cities named New XXX.

[Antonin]

I rename all cities I capture from the AI, to emphasize to the conquered populace that a new day has dawned and that they'd better just forget about the old regime.

[muppet]

Kermit. Piggy. Cookie.

[Thrawn05]

If I post some of the names that I use in my cities, Ming would send me for a two week vacation to you know where.

[Carver]

First, I usually exhaust the default names. Then I start naming then after female celebrities. If I still need more I resort to geographic names: North Point, Southern Isle, East Beach...etc. When taking AI cities I almost always retain the same name. How could anyone rename cities like Moscow, Kyoto, London or Paris? Even the Soviets didn't dare rename Moscow like they did other Soviet cities. Although I like Sir Ralph's technique of razing AI cities and renaming them New X.

Lord Azreal, naming cities is a lot of fun for some of us. I wish we could name ships as we could in Empire , that classic game that blew my high school GPA.

[Thrawn05]

Originally posted by Carver
First, I usually exhaust the default names. Then I start naming then after female celebrities.

I used to too in some of my other games. Then I got bored of it. But I hear ya!

Civ3 is blowing my grades in Calc 1. At least I'm kicking butt in my other classes still.

[Spec]

#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
and so on.....

[Lee Johnson]

I have a tradition going back to MOO days, that I name my cities/colonies after the elements of the periodic table, in order of founding or capture. Therefore, my capital is always Hydrogen (unless I move it later.)

I'm good for the first twenty-two elements; after that, I usually end up having to peek at a table to remind myself which ones come next. Needless to say, I don't normally build enormous number of cities.

[Purple]

When I played SMAC/X I had a lot of renaming schemes. Because of the complexity of the maps, I tried to name bases on the same continent after a similar pattern. For example, one continent had bases named X Base, Y Base, etc. Another had bases named South X, South Y, etc. Sea bases had a ~ prefix. And so on. This helped me remember where they were and quickly locate them in a long list of bases.

I haven't had as much trouble in Civ3, since I don't build nearly as many cities, and they are usually on one continent. So I go with the modded city names most of the time.

[iannac]

Usually i name the cities after countries not in the game....canada. sweden..finland..australia. Or there is also the sport team option, where the civ is say...nyrangers, and cities would be messier, leetch, ritcher, etc.

[Ghengis Brom]

Particularly when playing the Iroquois I use Native American names from around the area I live in, Baltimore/Washington. The first time I played the Iroquois and saw the default name for the first city I was like . I always thought Salamanca was a Spanish or Portuguese city. Also, since this area was once inhabitated by the Susquehannock Tribe, who were a branch of the Iroquois, the names are Iroquois in origin. Here are some examples.

Chesapeake - Usually my capital
Susquehanna - Either my second city or capital
Potomac
Roanoak
Patapsico
Choptank
Tuckahoe
Romancoke
Wicomico

These are just a few of the ones I use, when run out or can't think of anymore I usually start using Soiux words like Shunkawakan (Horse), Tatonka (Buffalo), Mato Paha (Black Bear), etc.

[Marquis de Sodaq]

I will use the defaults, but change those I don't like to foods of that particular people.

[Maxis Dugan]

I use the greek alphabet (Alpha City , Beta Bay , Delta Coast , Zeta Fields....you get the idea. Or I also use the names or the constellations or indivdual stars

[Salvor]

I usually go with the defaults. I went through a stage in Civ2 where I tried to find names that would make it easier to locate cities, but in the end it was more trouble than it was worth. I ended up doing (in Civ2) what Civ3 does for me automatically. Namely, adding a "2" once I get through the entire list of city names and they start to recycle.

This whole subject reminds me of a funny anecdote. There were once two guys from Michigan who worked for Rand-McNally. One one edition of their road maps, they added two fictitious small towns near the edge of the Michigan page, just across the border in Ohio. One was named "Goblu" and the other was "Beatosu". The two guys got fired after RM started getting calls from people who were getting lost because they couldn't find these two towns.

[Brutus66]

I usually change the name of my capitol in the English civ to Londinium in the beginning of the game, then eventually change it over to London. Just to add to the historical flavor.

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by iannac
Usually i name the cities after countries not in the game....canada. sweden..finland..australia. Or there is also the sport team option, where the civ is say...nyrangers, and cities would be messier, leetch, ritcher, etc.

So when you name your cities after the rangers, do you leave them defenseless, to add to the realism, of course.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

and youre from east rutherford? shocked that you would choose over the devils, who I would suppose would have very few offensive units

Of course my blues empire is currently collapsing under its own weight, but thats another story...

[Panzer]

When I play a normal civ I usually stick with the default names although I sometimes correct the spelling, (like with the Germans). Conquered cities are only renamed when I capture them in the early periods, when I start my late-game Blitzkrieg I don't bother. Sometimes I rename them to reflect my own personal civilization, Isthar.

When I play as the Isthari I have a set of fixed names:

Capital: Isthar
Ferbanti (always a portcity)
Yunon (portcity)
Surbanti (portcity)
Arsalon
Qerth
Andalon
Aile Dashar
Querilon
Tur Fithui
Ceseron
Endair Asen
Dereen
Erenas

After that I usually make them up as I found them.

When playing SMAC I usually have names like Emperor's Landing, Imperial Command, Emperor's Resort, Imperial Nexus, Unity Memorial, Tear's Point etc.

[Thrawn05]

Originally posted by Panzer
When I play a normal civ I usually stick with the default names although I sometimes correct the spelling, (like with the Germans).

You too? I do that with Rome (it's ***æ not Cumae!).

I change the names of the captured cities, too, except their captial. I like to keep it as a sort of mental reminder to all those citizens just who destroyed what civ.


EDIT: I guess there is a bug on the forum that doesn't reconize æ as a letter (even though it's not, but that's how it is really spelled). Oh well.

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by Lee Johnson
I have a tradition going back to MOO days, that I name my cities/colonies after the elements of the periodic table, in order of founding or capture. Therefore, my capital is always Hydrogen (unless I move it later.)

I'm good for the first twenty-two elements; after that, I usually end up having to peek at a table to remind myself which ones come next. Needless to say, I don't normally build enormous number of cities.

Thats a very interesting method, I might actually use that... although I've only got the first 20 elements memorized.

[Skanky Burns]

Cumæ?? Works fine for me
Damned swear-filters

[Worthingtons]

I name my cities pretty much like Ralph does. Like to Keep Coastal Cities appropriate and I like to follow a slight geographical resemblance to England itself. If I'm Rome I care less about the names but Move the 'good' names higher up the list in the editor (Pompeii,Neopolis,Londinium ect) and the silly names weeell down (Cumea,antium ect).

[Jethro83]

Adding to what I said earlier in the thread...

I like to do what a lot of people on this thread tend to do... go through all of the default names first and then start to use custom names. Like most of you, I really don't like having 'New' as the prefix with a default name as the suffix. Even worse is the default city name with '-2','-3','-4', etc. Who would name their city 'Berlin-4' anyway?

What I name such cities depends on the mood I'm in.

Sometimes I like to flick through the atlas or spin the globe for city names.

Sometimes, I'll name them with the surnames of high school friends (and sometimes crushes I may not have gotten over... if the city site is in a good place. But I won't go there).

Sometimes, I may refer to Colonization and grab colony names from there (eg. Jamestown, Plymouth, Barbados, Veracruz, Santo Domingo, Vissinglen, Recife, Guadeloupe, Port au Prince, etc.) depending on which civ I'm using (with the Americans I'd probably use a lot of the English, some of the French and some of the Spanish ones, I'd restrict myself to English colonies if I'm using the English, French colonies for the French, etc.)

Anyway, I still maintain that there is no need to go without the default names. Its when it starts going from 'Brandenburg' to 'New Berlin' however, that you seriously need to consider your own names.

[Qilue]

I usually use an atlas and keep the names close to the cultural area of the Civ I'm playing. I also have a guide card from Pharoah which has lots of ancient Egyptian city names. I usually use Men Nefer (aka Memphis) for the FP city.

I like Lee's Periodic table method too. There's more than enough names even for a huge map.