Ancient Civilization Name Generator

Most ancient civilizations are known by names their neighbors gave them, not by what they called themselves. 'Hittites' comes from the Hebrew Bible; the people themselves said they lived in the Land of Hatti. 'Sumerian' is Akkadian; Sumerians called themselves the 'black-headed people'. Egyptologists say Old Kingdom because the Egyptian name, Kemet, is unfamiliar. Others are pure archaeology labels: Harappan, Vinča, Cucuteni-Trypillia and Norte Chico are named after the modern village or river where a site was first dug, because the culture left no readable name.

That gives worldbuilders three usable patterns. Ethnonyms end in -ites, -ians, -ans or -i (Elamites, Phrygians, Sabaeans, Guti). Political names put a form-word first: Kingdom of, Empire, Dynasty, League, Confederacy, Horde, City-States. Archaeological names attach Culture or Tradition to a place (Nok Culture, Hopewell Tradition, Sanxingdui Culture), which is exactly how a scholar inside your world would refer to a vanished people. Real ancient names are also short and phonetically distinctive: Moche, Wari, Kaska, Saka, Dilmun.

The list below mixes genuinely obscure historical peoples (Kizzuwatna, Blemmyes, Marhashi, Loulan) with invented civilizations that copy those sound patterns, so you can furnish a fantasy atlas with a Bronze Age that feels dug up rather than made up.