World names state cosmology. Jotgard is "stronghold of the giants": jot (the giants) + gard (the stronghold word behind Asgard). Here are names for worlds with their parts on the table: 111 of them, realm builds and seventeen canon realms, each row carrying its receipt.
One myth root plus one realm suffix, joined, or one worn coinage. The Norse rows pass the myth-root criterion: a documented myth stem plus heim, gard, or land. The high rows carry their root's tradition, documented or invented, in the tradition column. The last seventeen rows are canon realms with their receipts. Names bold, glosses italic, nothing between the rows.
World names with their builds, meanings and traditions
Realm root + land suffix (tradition cited per part); root: inv; suffix receipt: Mordor
Mordor
mor + dor
land of the dark
Realm root + land suffix (tradition cited per part); root: Sindarin mor, receipt: Mordor; suffix receipt: Mordor
Moria
mor + ia
place of the dark
Realm root + land suffix (tradition cited per part); root: Sindarin mor, receipt: Mordor; suffix receipt: the Latin place ending
Valnor
val + nor
the land of the Valar, the powers
Realm root + land suffix (tradition cited per part); root: Tolkien receipt: Valinor; suffix receipt: Valinor
Asgard
as + gard
stronghold of the Aesir gods
Canon realm (attested myth)
Middle-earth
mid + gard, translated
the middle enclosure (calque of Old Norse Midgardr)
Canon realm (documented author receipt)
Mordor
mor + dor
the black land (Sindarin)
Canon realm (documented author receipt)
Narnia
narnia
lifted from Narni, Italy, in an old atlas
Canon realm (documented author receipt)
Westeros
coined whole
pure coinage, no parts, worn by use
Canon realm (documented author receipt)
How do world names work?
Bind a dweller to a realm word. Asgard is the Aesir plus gard, the stronghold. Vanaheim is the Vanir plus heim, the home. Tolkien translated the grammar for his own languages: Middle-earth calques Miðgarðr, and Mordor runs mor plus dor in Sindarin. The coinage school skips the grammar entirely and wears well instead: Westeros and Narnia parse into nothing, and that is their trick. The craft of choosing among the three is taught on the how to name a character page, in its worldbuilding section.
Single words vs compound realms
Two strategies, both documented in the canon. The compound states a cosmology you can check: Mordor is the black land. The single word implies a history you cannot: Narnia came from an atlas, Westeros from nowhere. Compound when the world has a theology. Coin when it has a past.
Single-word and compound realm strategies
World
Strategy
Receipt
Middle-earth
compound, translated myth
calque of Old Norse Midgardr
Mordor
compound, invented language
mor + dor, Sindarin
Ea
single word, verb as noun
Quenya "the world that is"
Narnia
single word, borrowed
Narni, Italy, from an old atlas
Westeros
single word, coined
pure coinage, worn by long use
World name questions, answered
What are good world names?
Names whose parts state the cosmology, or whose sound states the age. Compounds like Aeldor, "land of light," tell you the world's theology. Coinages like Westeros tell you it has history you haven't read. Pick one strategy and hold it across the whole map.
Are these world names real?
Seventeen rows are canon, and they say so. The ten Norse realms are attested mythology, and Middle-earth, Mordor, Valinor, Ea, Narnia, Westeros, and Azeroth carry documented author receipts. Every other row is a build from the same grammars, with roots labeled documented or invented.
What is a good fantasy world name?
One that matches your register. If your world has gods, use the Norse grammar: myth root plus heim or gard. If it has invented languages, use the Tolkien grammar: root plus dor or nor. If it has deep history and no theology, coin one worn-sounding word. Build your own in the generator.
Where the meanings come from.Norse realm glosses follow published mythological sources; the Tolkien receipts (Mordor, Valinor, Ea, the Middle-earth calque) follow his documented constructions; Narnia's atlas origin is documented by Lewis. Invented roots are labeled invented. Where every name's receipt comes from →