Ruins Name Generator

Ruins are named in three different ways. Some keep the name they had when they stood: Pompeii, Tintern, Dunwich. Some are named by the people who live near them now, who have no idea what the place was and call it after what it looks like or what they fear it is, which is how Britain got Wayland's Smithy, the Devil's Quoit and the Hag's Chair. The rest are labelled by scholars with a feature word from the local language (Tell, Khirbet, Tepe, Dun, Caer, Broch, Wheal) plus a nearby village, because the original name is lost.

For fantasy writing, the second kind is usually the most evocative. A name like the Drowned Halls or Widow's Arch tells the reader the place is old, broken and locally notorious without a paragraph of exposition, and leaves room to reveal the true name later as a plot point. Plain names such as Old Varenholt or Tel Ashkar suit maps and archaeologists' notes, where understatement sounds real.

This list mixes evocative descriptive names, invented proper names in Latin, Mesopotamian, Celtic, Norse, Khmer, Mesoamerican and Arabic styles, folk names for barrows and stone circles, industrial ruins like engine houses and salt pans, and a handful of genuine lost places for reference. Match the style to whoever is speaking about the ruin.