What are the two parts of a kingdom name?
The place name and the form of rule, and each has a job. The place name (Valmere, Skalheim, Tianlan) gives it a sound and a culture. The form of rule (Kingdom of, Republic of, Khanate) tells readers how power works there before you explain anything. “The Holy Empire of Galgard” and “the Free Cities of Galgard” are very different places to set a chapter.
How do you make a map's names sound like one world?
- Give each region its own sounds. Northern realms in -heim and -gard, southern ones in -esh and -abad, elvish lands in -dor and -wen. Readers will place a name on the map from its sound alone.
- Use short forms in dialogue. Nobody says “the Most Serene Republic of Corhaven” at dinner; they say Corhaven. Pick the short form and stick to it.
- Let history show. An empire that fell might survive as “the Sundered Dominion”, and a successor state might borrow the old name.
- Vary the forms of rule. A continent of kingdoms is less interesting than a kingdom, a merchant republic and a theocracy that all want the same river.
What kingdom-naming mistakes should you avoid?
- Names too close together. Valmere and Valmont on the same border will be confused by chapter 50.
- Real places by accident. Search your names, because some invented ones turn out to be real towns.
- Rulers and borders that drift. Who rules which kingdom, and when a border moved, are facts readers check, especially in progression fantasy where politics shift as the MC grows.
What do you call people from a fantasy kingdom?
Settle each realm's demonym (the word for its people) and adjective before they come up in dialogue: a Valmerean, the Skalheim fleet, Tianlan silk. Readers notice when one changes, and some names make awkward ones, so say them aloud early. If a kingdom's name makes a clumsy adjective, that's a good reason to pick another name now rather than live with it for 300 chapters.
How many kingdoms should you name at the start?
Two is plenty: the kingdom the story starts in and its nearest rival. Readers don't need the whole map in chapter one. Add the rest when the MC travels, and each new realm arrives as a discovery.