Small Town Name Generator

Believable small-town names for stories, games and maps

Places & GeographyPart of: town and city generators500 namesUpdated Aug 2026Free · no sign-up

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Generate small town names that sound like real places on a county road sign: founder surnames with -ville and -burg, creek-and-hollow landmark names, hopeful settler names like Harmony and Needmore, and the odd quirky post-office name. Built for novels, screenplays, tabletop campaigns and worldbuilding maps.

About small town names

Real small towns are rarely named by committee. Most took the surname of whoever owned the land, ran the mill or got the post office approved, and added a tail like -ville, -burg, -ton or -boro: Pruittville, Coopersburg, Tiptonville. The next biggest group is a noun plus a landform, describing what was there when the first families arrived: Cedar Hollow, Goose Creek, Walnut Grove. A smaller layer is the hopeful or pious name chosen by settlers who wanted the town to live up to it: Harmony, Amity, Goshen, Needmore.

The register matters more than the words. A small town name should be short enough to fit on a water tower and plain enough that nobody would question it on a highway sign. Two words is the sweet spot; three is the limit. Quirky names like Frying Pan and Loafer's Glory are real, but they work because their neighbors are ordinary, so use one per map at most.

Pick the region before the name: Spanish roots (Agua Fria, El Rito) in the Southwest, French ones (Belle Plaine, Bonne Terre) along the old river routes, Native-derived names (Owatonna, Tuscumbia) in the Midwest and South, and founder-plus-suffix names almost anywhere. Give the town a county and a nearest big city, and the name will feel like it has always been there.

How to choose small town names

Test the name on a welcome sign in your head: 'Welcome to Hadley Corners, pop. 1,240'. If it reads naturally with a population figure after it, it works.
Give the town a founding story in one sentence (the Pruitts ran the sawmill, the creek dried up in 1891) and the name will suggest itself and feel earned.
Mix structures across a fictional county: one surname town, one landmark town, one hopeful name and maybe one oddball, so the map does not look like it came from a single template.
Avoid the most common real names (Springfield, Franklin, Clinton, Salem) if you need your town to feel distinct or searchable; an uncommon surname plus a common suffix is safer.
Search the name on a map before publishing. Hundreds of tiny real places share names, which is fine for fiction but worth knowing if your story says unkind things about the town.

Frequently asked questions

What makes a town name sound 'small town' instead of 'city'?

Short, concrete and local. Small towns are named for a person, a creek, a hill or a hope, and the name usually has one or two words: Millbrook, Bent Fork, Goshen. Cities tend to carry grander borrowed names (Alexandria, Philadelphia) or official-sounding compounds. Diminutive suffixes like -ville, Corners, Crossing, Switch and Junction instantly signal a small place.

Are any of these real towns?

Some are. Rural place names repeat across the country, so names like Needmore, Sweetwater and Pleasant Hill exist in several states, and a few famous oddities (Rabbit Hash, Gnaw Bone) are included because writers ask for that flavor. Place names are not copyrighted; just avoid implying anything defamatory about a real community.

How do I name several towns in the same fictional county so they fit together?

Pick a shared history and let the names reflect it. A county settled by Scots-Irish farmers gets surname towns and Presbyterian names (Ebenezer, Mount Gilead); a river county gets Landing, Ferry and Ford names; a mining county gets Coal Fork, Smelter Bluff and Irondale. Two or three naming layers are enough to make a map feel coherent.

Can I use these names for a game, TV pilot or Stardew-style farm town?

Yes. All of the names are free to use in commercial projects. For cozy games and TV, lean toward the warmer two-word names (Willow Glen, Maple Bend, Honey Grove); for thrillers and horror, the isolated landform names (Dead Horse Gulch, Wolf Pen, Widow's Crossing) do more work.

More like this

Browse categoryAll Places & Geography

All 500 small town names

This is the complete list the generator above draws its random batches from, sorted A to Z and grouped by first letter.

Plain text, one name per line.

A: 14 names

Abbotsford
Agua Fria
Ainsworth
Alder Creek
Amity
Antioch
Apple Valley
Arcadia
Arrowsmith
Ashburn
Ashcroft
Ashford
Aster Grove
Athens Mill

B: 52 names

Badger Hill
Bagley
Bald Knob
Balsam Lake
Barley Flats
Barnwell
Battle Ground
Bayou Goula
Beacon Hill
Beanblossom
Bear Wallow
Beaver Meadow
Beckley
Bee Cave
Beech Grove
Bell Buckle
Belle Plaine
Bent Fork
Bent Nail
Bethany
Big Timber
Birchwood
Biscuit Ridge
Bitter Creek
Bixby
Blackwater Run
Blowing Rock
Blue Mound
Bluebell Crossing
Bogalusa
Bogtown
Bois d'Arc
Bonne Terre
Boone's Lick
Bountiful
Bracken Ridge
Brackenridge
Bramblewood
Breezy Point
Brewster
Bridgewater
Brimley
Broken Bow
Bruceton Mills
Buffalo Gap
Bug Tussle
Bull Shoals
Bunker Hill
Burkesville
Burnt Cabins
Busted Wagon
Buttermilk Falls

C: 45 names

Caldwell
Calloway
Canaan
Cane Ridge
Cartersburg
Carthage
Carver's Gap
Catawissa
Catfish Bend
Cattail Cove
Cayuga
Cedar Hollow
Center Point
Chalk Hill
Charity Hill
Cherry Fork
Chestnut Ridge
Chillicothe
Chimney Rock
Cider Mill
Clabber Hill
Claypool
Clearwater
Clover Bottom
Coal Fork
Cold Spring
Columbine Falls
Concord Falls
Conshohocken
Coopersburg
Copper Ridge
Corbin
Corinth
Cottonwood Falls
Cowpens
Cross Plains
Crossroads
Crow Wing
Crowley
Crowley's Ridge
Cupboard Hollow
Cut and Shoot
Cut Bank
Cutler's Notch
Cypress Landing

D: 20 names

Danforth
Dawnview
Deep Creek
Defeated Creek
Dell Rapids
Delphi
Delphos
Depot Hill
Devil's Elbow
Dillonvale
Dime Box
Dockery Landing
Dogwood Corners
Dripping Springs
Dry Gulch
Duckwater
Dunbar
Dunmore
Dutch Flat
Dutchman's Bend

E: 12 names

Ebenezer
Eden Prairie
Edgerton
Egypt Hollow
El Rito
Elko
Elkridge
Ellerbe
Elm Creek
Emmettsburg
Enterprise
Everly

F: 23 names

Fairbury
Fairhope
Fairplay
Fairweather
Faith
Fen Hollow
Fentonville
Fenwick
Fernbrook
Ferry Landing
Five Points
Flat Lick
Flint Knob
Forge Hollow
Forks of Cacapon
Fort Defiance
Foundry Creek
Fourche
Fox Chapel
Friendship
Frog Level
Frostburg
Frying Pan

G: 21 names

Galena
Garrison Corners
Gilley's Switch
Glen Ferris
Gnaw Bone
Gold Hill
Goldenrod
Goodnight
Goose Creek
Goshen
Gosport
Gourdneck
Grace Landing
Grantham
Gravel Switch
Gravesend
Greasy Corner
Greeley Fork
Greenbriar
Grosse Tete
Grubstake

H: 35 names

Hadley Corners
Halfway
Halstead
Harkness
Harlow Springs
Harmony
Hartsburg
Hatch End
Hatfield Bottom
Hatter's Mill
Haverhill
Hawk's Nest
Hay Springs
Haystack Mountain
Hayworth
Hazard
Hazelhurst
Heatherton
Hebron
Hemlock Hollow
Heron Landing
Hickory Flat
High Point
Hill City
Hillsdale
Hobb's Landing
Holcomb
Hollis Junction
Hollister
Holly Springs
Honey Grove
Hope Mills
Horse Cave
Hot Coffee
Hungry Horse

I: 6 names

Independence
Irondale
Ironwood
Ithaca
Ivesdale
Ivywood

J: 4 names

Jarrell
Jessup
Jonesport
Juniper Ridge

K: 9 names

Keokuk
Kettering
Kettle Falls
Kilgore
Kiln Hill
Kimball
Kirksey
Knob Lick
Kokomo

L: 23 names

Lambertville
Larkspur
Laurel Gap
Lavender Hill
Lebanon Junction
Liberty Grove
Lick Skillet
Lightning Creek
Lily Pond
Limestone
Loafer's Glory
Loam Valley
Lockhart
Lockridge
Locust Fork
Lodi
Lone Pine
Lone Tree
Lookout Mountain
Los Olivos
Lost Nation
Low Gap
Lupine Meadow

M: 26 names

Macedonia
Magnolia Springs
Mahanoy
Maple Bend
Marshfield
McAdoo
Meadowlark
Mendon
Menomonie
Meteor Falls
Midway
Milkweed Prairie
Mill Race
Millbrook
Milledge
Miller's Rest
Minnow Lake
Molasses Hill
Moonlight Bay
Morningside
Mossy Creek
Mossy Rock
Mount Gilead
Mud Lick
Muddy Gap
Mulberry

N: 11 names

Nacogdoches
Nameless
Natchitoches
Needmore
Nettleton
New Bethel
Ninety Oaks
Nokomis
Norcross
Norville
Nowhere Flat

O: 15 names

Oakhaven
Ochiltree
Ojo Caliente
Okmulgee
Onalaska
Oneida
Oneonta
Onion Creek
Opelousas
Orchard Park
Oskaloosa
Otter Tail
Ottumwa
Owatonna
Oxford Corners

P: 39 names

Paint Lick
Paradise Valley
Parson's Gap
Peachtree Corners
Pecan Grove
Peculiar
Pemberton
Penrose
Pepper Hill
Perch Hollow
Persimmon Gap
Petit Jean
Pettibone
Pickens
Pickerel Point
Picket Fork
Pie Town
Pike Crossing
Pinch
Pine Apple
Pinehurst
Piney Fork
Plainview
Pleasant Hill
Plum Branch
Pocahontas
Ponchatoula
Poplar Bluff
Poppy Hill
Possum Hollow
Prairie du Chien
Pritchard
Prosper
Pruittville
Pumpkin Center
Pumpkintown
Punxsutawney
Purcell
Purdy's Mill

Q: 4 names

Quail Ridge
Quarry Gap
Quartz Gulch
Quincy Mills

R: 19 names

Rabbit Hash
Radford
Railbend
Rainbow Bend
Ransom
Ravenna
Red Clay
Redbud
Reedy Creek
Ridgecrest
Rio Frio
Rocky Comfort
Rome City
Roseau
Rough and Ready
Rough Creek
Rowlett
Rutledge
Rye Patch

S: 52 names

Sabetha
Sabinal
Sage Brush
Salem Ridge
Salt Lick
Sandy Bottom
Sawmill Flats
Scratch Ankle
Seneca Falls
Sequoyah
Sevenmile Ford
Shady Grove
Shallowford
Sharon Springs
Shawano
Shelburne
Shiloh
Short Hills
Shoulderblade
Signal Knob
Sixmile
Skillet Fork
Slate Ridge
Smackover
Smelter Bluff
Smyrna
Snowflake
Sopchoppy
Sparrow's Point
Split Rock
Spotted Horse
Spruce Knob
Standing Stone
Stanfield
Stillman Valley
Stillwater
Stockade Hill
Stonebridge
Stony Ford
Stroud
Sugar Creek
Sugar Loaf
Sulphur Springs
Summitville
Sumner
Sunflower
Sunrise
Sutter's Crossing
Swampscott
Sweetwater
Switchback
Sycamore Flats

T: 35 names

Tall Grass
Tamarack
Tannery Row
Tarboro Switch
Tatum's Chapel
Tecumseh
Tekamah
Ten Sleep
Tenstrike
Thibodaux
Thistle Creek
Thornbury
Three Oaks
Thunder Ridge
Tightwad
Tin Cup
Tiptonville
Tishomingo
Toad Hop
Toad Suck
Tolland
Tolliver
Towanda
Tres Piedras
Trout Run
Troy Center
Tucker's Ferry
Tunkhannock
Turkey Run
Turnip Hollow
Tuscola
Tuscumbia
Twilight Hollow
Twin Elms
Two Rivers

U: 3 names

Ulysses
Union Star
Utica Falls

V: 5 names

Vandalia
Vermillion
Vineland
Vinton Corners
Violet Hill

W: 20 names

Wabash
Wagon Wheel
Wahoo
Walnut Grove
Wapakoneta
Wetherby
Wexford
Wheatland
Whitewater
Whitley
Whynot
Wickham
Widow's Crossing
Wilburton
Willow Glen
Windy Gap
Winnebago
Winslow
Wolf Creek Station
Wolf Pen

Y: 5 names

Yancey
Yardley
Yates Center
Yellow Dog
Yorkville

Z: 2 names

Zebulon
Zigzag