The setting for my story is a future country named Arcadia. I want Arcadia to consist of four districts. Any suggestions on names or process you use to create names? Much appreciated!!
Naming stuff is a fun part - you should definitely name them yourself instead of getting names from others If you're stuck you can just give them any names, perhaps something based on their characteristics or whatever to keep track of which is which. Then as you are writing you are bound to find inspiration for the names, and once you do you can just Find&Replace the original names. Good luck
You'll want distinct names so the reader can easily associate them. You can go generic like Hunger Games and just number them. (District One, District Two, etc...) You can name them according to there function. (Water District, Coal District, Government District, etc...) Or you can give them unique names, and that can go any direction you want. Think of foreign names of places, or draw from latin or greek or roman. But yes, the fun is in the creation! Good luck! ~ J. J.
Make up a state religion that is mandatory for all good citizens. Name your districts according to the saints of said religion, with each one reflecting something about the character and personality of the location and its citizens.
Maybe you also should have not just the official names (District X, District Y...) but also have some unofficial nicknames for them used by the inhabitants. Like New York is called the Big Apple.
There's generators for naming cities, towns, and countries. Yes that's not the same as naming districts, but for the moment I use whatever name I'm generated, and if I come up with a better one I'll replace it. I've discovered that being held up by something like names, which unless the name has any plot significance or if you're Tolkien, is a waste of time. Exerting your brain into coming up with names uses up energy that could be going towards writing your story.
It's your story. Names can be a huge part of a story, and thus you should do the naming. You can use placeholder names as you write, and if you find it hard to make up a good one on the spot, you can alwas change them later when something pops into your head (Just make the names unique enough that you can use the replace function of your word processor)
