Cottage Name Generator

Cottage naming is one of the oldest house-naming traditions in the English-speaking world. Before street numbering, rural British homes were identified by name, and the conventions that grew up then still hold: a plant or tree (Rose Cottage, Yew Tree Cottage), a bird or animal (Wren Cottage, Badger's Sett), the trade once carried on there (The Old Forge, Weaver's Cottage, Lock Keeper's Cottage), or the spot it occupies (Brookside, Lane End, Corner Cottage). Rose Cottage is famously the most common house name in England, closely followed by The Cottage, Ivy Cottage, and Orchard Cottage.

Many of the most charming names simply describe the building honestly — Thatch Cottage, Flint Cottage, The Bothy, Shepherd's Hut — or borrow a converted-building history like The Old Bakehouse or The Old Post Office. Literary names such as Toad Hall and Mole End show up on real houses too. Holiday-let owners in the Cotswolds, Cornwall, the Lake District, and Ireland often add a local touch (Sea Pink Cottage on the coast, Cowslip Cottage in a meadow village) so the name places the property before a guest ever arrives.

A good cottage name is short, sounds gentle when said aloud, and describes something true about the place. If nothing else, choose the plant that grows by the door.