Korean City Name Generator

Korean city names are almost all two Sino-Korean syllables, and each syllable is a word a Korean reader understands. The first is usually a quality, colour, direction or virtue — cheong (clear), baek (white), dae (great), sin (new), nam (south), an (peaceful), yeong (glory), hwa (flower) — and the second says what kind of place it is. The endings are the tell: -ju marks an old provincial capital (Gyeongju, Jeonju, Cheongju, Wonju), -san is mountain (Busan, Ulsan, Gunsan), -cheon is stream (Incheon, Chuncheon, Gimcheon), -po is port (Mokpo, Gimpo), -seong is fortress (Hwaseong, Boseong), -yang is a sunny riverside (Anyang, Goyang, Miryang), -won is a plain (Suwon, Changwon) and -hae is sea (Donghae, Namhae).

That structure is why invented names such as Cheongpa, Yongju or Namgang sit comfortably beside Daegu and Pohang. Historic names add another flavour: Seorabeol and Gyerim for old Silla, Hanyang and Hanseong for Joseon-era Seoul, Ungjin and Sabi for Baekje, Gaegyeong for the Goryeo capital. A few native-Korean names survive too, like Hanbat (Daejeon) and Dalgubeol (Daegu).

For fiction, pick an ending that matches the geography — a harbour city should end in -po or -hae, a mountain town in -san or -ryeong — and use the standard Revised Romanization so the name looks like it belongs on a real map.