Tropical Name Generator

Tropical place names carry the language of whoever settled the coast. Spanish Caribbean and Pacific names start with Isla, Cayo, Bahía, Punta or Playa and end in something soft and sunlit (Isla Mariposa, Bahía Esmeralda). French Creole islands use Anse for a cove and Îlet for a small island; Brazil says Praia and Ilha; Malay and Indonesian coasts use Pulau, Pantai, Teluk and Tanjung; Thai islands begin with Koh, beaches with Hat and bays with Ao; the Swahili coast has Kisiwa and Pwani. Polynesian names are built from a small set of open syllables and almost never end in a consonant: Motu for islet, and words like vai (water), moana (ocean), tiare (flower), nalu (wave) and lani (sky).

English resort-style names do the same work with fruit, birds and reef life: Pelican Key, Seagrape Cay, Turtle Lagoon, Mango Breeze Resort. A name feels tropical when it names something you could see from a hammock, so look to mangoes, frangipani, conch, frigate birds, mangroves, trade winds and sugar mills rather than generic 'paradise' words.

The list is grouped by type: islands and cays in each language family, then beaches, bays and coves, reefs and passes, jungle rivers and waterfalls, towns and harbours, resorts and beach bars, and finally tropical first names and full names for characters, pets and boats.