Location names

I have been wondering, how do they come up with names for locations. I remember reading that the English localization team named the Black Shroud, and it and the alternate name Twelveswood is pretty straight-forward in meaning. Now everything else, well...

Limsa Lominsa - it sounds like a Tarutaru/plainsfolk Lalafell name
Ul'dah -
Gridania - sounds vaguely European
Ishgard - sounds vagely Tolkien
Sharlayan -
Ala Mhigo - first thing I thought of was Nanaa Mhigo/Romah Mhigo from XI

La Noscea - French?
Thanalan - sounds kinda like "Thanatos"
Black Shroud/Twelveswood - self-explanatory
Mor Dhona -
Coerthas -
Dravania - it kinda sounds like "Dragonia"
Abalathia's Spine -
Gyr Abania -

Carteneau Flats - Frenchy stuff again
Yafaem Saltmoor -
Cieldales -
Rhotano Sea -

Vylbrand -
Aldenard -
Ilsebard -
Othard -
Meracydia - sounds kinda Greek

I should probably stop there......

Mor Dhona is draconic, though we don't know what it means.

Abalathia probably comes from alabaster, which is generally white, though as far as I know we don't know who or what Abalathia is.

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Originally Posted by Daralii

Mor Dhona is draconic, though we don't know what it means.

Abalathia probably comes from alabaster, which is generally white, though as far as I know we don't know who or what Abalathia is.

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It sounds more like a proper noun in this case.

Presumably, Ul'dah is a Dunesfolk word given that the city is ruled by the Ul line.

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Originally Posted by Daralii

Mor Dhona is draconic, though we don't know what it means.

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The best translation I can hash out for Mor Dhona translates to something like "forget death!", from Mor[n] (kill / death / die) Do[h](leave / discard / forget)+Na (used at the end of an order for emphasis).

Prolly not accurate, but if I had to guess I'd say it's an eternal place in Eorzea and was named for that reason. Either that or because that's where Midgardsormr, a seemingly immortal dragon, resides.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

The best translation I can hash out for Mor Dhona translates to something like "forget death!", from Mor[n] (kill / death / die) Do[h](leave / discard / forget)+Na (used at the end of an order for emphasis).

Prolly not accurate, but if I had to guess I'd say it's an eternal place in Eorzea and was named for that reason. Either that or because that's where Midgardsormr, a seemingly immortal dragon, resides.

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Thouhg now i'm starting to quest if Mor Dhona is part of dravania or not?

Limsa Lominsa definitely sounds Lalafellin to me. Especially since it has the 2nd largest concentration of Lalafells in Eorzea and how the early lalafells were sea faring traders originating in the South Seas Isle.

I'd like to think that many Ishgardian/Dravanian location names have Dragon-speak origins as seen here: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...in-Dragonspeak To add to that, perhaps many Eorzean locations might have bastardized dragon names since we know the Alagans had a trend of speaking Dragon after their conquest of Meracydia.

The Ixal seems to be inspired by meso-americans (maya, aztec, etc)

I think it was said that Thanalan was named after Amal'jaa word, as the region was predominately amal'jaa territory and relation with them were decent, but don't quote me on this

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Originally Posted by Morningstar1337

Thouhg now i'm starting to quest if Mor Dhona is part of dravania or not?

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Midgardsomr was tasked to guard the seal of silvertear lake in mor dhona, making it a land somewhat safe keeped by dragons, I wouldn't be surprised if it is the reason why it has a dragon tongue name

Well, a lot of places have been confirmed to at least reference FFXI, as FFXIV 1.0's original writer/lore creator also worked on FFXI (Kenichi Iwao). This thread goes into a few things about the origins of some place names, including at least one that is taken from FFXI wholesale (and yes, like you Zohar I too immediately thought of Windurst's notorious 'cat burglar' when I first read about FFXIV's 1.0's backstory in regards to Ala Mhigo ;)).