Bridge Name Generator

Most bridges get their names by default rather than by ceremony. They take the name of the river they cross (Rheinbrücke, Elk River Bridge, Bridge over the Drina), the street that runs across them (Main Street Bridge, Water Street Bridge, Sixteenth Street Viaduct), or the town at one end (Menai Bridge, Astoria–Megler Bridge). Older bridges are often just Old Bridge, New Bridge or Stone Bridge in the local language: Pont Neuf, Ponte Vecchio, Puente Nuevo, Steinerne Brücke, Stari Most all mean exactly that. Medieval towns named bridges for who used them or what was sold on them: Butcher's Bridge, Fishmonger's Bridge, Packhorse Bridge, Toll Bridge, Ha'penny Bridge.

Ceremonial names came later. Nineteenth and twentieth century engineers and politicians attached patrons (Charles Bridge, George Washington Bridge, Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge), commemorations (Veterans Memorial Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Confederation Bridge) and diplomacy (Ambassador Bridge, Peace Bridge, Friendship Bridge). Legends supply Devil's Bridge, a name found on dozens of European arches supposedly built overnight by Satan, and Bridge of Sighs, named for prisoners' last view of Venice.

Fantasy bridges work best when they follow one of these habits and add a single twist: a builder (Bridge of Khazad-dûm), a toll-keeper (Troll's Crossing, Ogre's Toll), a shape (Dragonback Bridge, Humpback Bridge) or an event (the Shattered Span, the Bridge of the Last Watch). Naming a bridge Ferry Bridge or Ford Bridge quietly tells the reader what was there before the bridge was built.