Fantasy Continent Name Generator

A continent name has to carry more weight than any other place name on a fantasy map. It appears in the title of the atlas, in the mouths of characters from every culture on it, and often in the name of the setting itself. The great examples are short and self-contained: Westeros and Essos, Tamriel, Faerûn, Middle-earth, Azeroth, Thedas, Roshar. Two or three syllables, a strong stressed vowel, and no obvious meaning in English are the common threads.

There are three broad approaches. The first is the invented proper noun, usually with a Latin-, Elvish-, or Norse-tinged ending: -ia, -or, -eth, -ar, -mark, -heim (Vaelmoria, Ostrahn, Kharvenar). The second is the descriptive epithet, which is how real people spoke of distant lands before precise maps: the Sundered Lands, the Thousand Isles, the Spine of the World. These work well as informal names used alongside a formal one. The third is the mythic reference, naming the continent for a founder, god, or event, as in Ymir's Cradle or Auren's Reach.

When naming several continents on one world, vary their sound. If one is soft and vowel-rich (Elystria), make another consonant-heavy (Kraghold) and a third built from a different real-world phonology (Zul-Kharan, Yatsuhara), so readers can tell them apart at a glance.