Desert Name Generator

Set a number from 1 to 10, choose Real, Fantasy or Random, and the Desert Name Generator returns that many names on cards. The real list has 144 deserts, basins and dune fields from six continents, from the Sahara's sub-deserts to Death Valley and the Nullarbor. The fantasy list has 249 invented two-word names such as Dawn Wastes, Radiant Expanse and Shadow Mirage. It's aimed at worldbuilders naming a wasteland, teachers running a geography drill and writers who need a real desert their character could plausibly cross.

The real deserts

The real names skew toward Asia, the Middle East and Africa, where most of the world's arid land is. You'll see the big names (Gobi, Kalahari, Atacama, Sonoran, Mojave, Chihuahuan, Great Victoria, Simpson, Namib, Thar) alongside regional ones that rarely make lists: Dasht-e Lut and Dasht-e Kavir in Iran, the Taklamakan, Badain Jaran and Tengger in China, the Karakum and Kyzylkum in Central Asia, the Cholistan and Thal in Pakistan, the Rub' al Khali listed as the Empty Quarter, Wadi Rum and the Wahiba Sands on the Arabian Peninsula, and the Tenere and Tanezrouft inside the Sahara. Europe is represented by the Tabernas in Spain and the Bardenas Reales, and there are American dune fields like the Algodones and the Alvord. A few entries are named by country (Omani Desert, Yemeni Desert), which is how atlases label the parts of the Arabian Desert that don't have a widely used local name.

The tool shows names only. There's no size, country or climate data attached, and the spellings follow common English usage, so Persian names appear as Dasht-e rather than Dašt-e.

The fantasy names

Every fantasy name is an adjective plus a noun. The adjectives set a mood: Crimson, Azure, Golden, Emerald, Starlit, Celestial, Abyssal, Primordial, Forbidden, Whispering, Silent, Roaring. The nouns are where you'll want to pay attention. Some are landscape words that read as deserts straight away (Wastes, Expanse, Vista, Heights, Depths, Mirage, Retreat, Respite), while others are political or organizational (Federation, Coalition, Duchy, Fiefdom, Queendom, Brotherhood, Guild, Order, Covenant, Conclave). The second kind work better as the name of whoever rules the desert than of the desert itself. A quick fix is to add a landform: "the Starlit Covenant" becomes "the Starlit Covenant Sands" or "the Wastes of the Crimson Brotherhood."

Sample output

Ways to use it

• Naming a fantasy wasteland. Generate ten on the Fantasy setting, keep the two or three with landscape nouns, and attach them to the map. Use the Random Kingdom Name Generator for the realm beyond the dunes.
• Desert towns and cities. The tool doesn't produce town names, but a real desert name makes a good root: an oasis town called Tabernas, a trading post called Ferlo. The Civilization Name Generator covers the people who live there.
• Geography quizzes. Real mode, one at a time, name the country. Dasht-e Margo and Gurbantünggüt separate the experts from the rest.
• Research prompts. Pick a random real desert and read up on it. The Ryn, Pedirka and Maranjab are all worth ten minutes.

How deserts get their names

The real list is a small lesson in desert naming. Many names are just the local word for "desert" or "plain" plus a descriptor: Dasht means plain in Persian, so Dasht-e Lut is the Plain of Emptiness and Dasht-e Kavir the Plain of Salt Marsh; Rub' al Khali is Arabic for Empty Quarter; Taklamakan is usually glossed from Uyghur as a place you enter and never leave; Kyzylkum is Turkic for red sand and Karakum for black sand. Others are named for the people nearby (Sonoran, Chihuahuan, Thar from the local Thul), for a feature (Black Rock, Painted Desert, White Desert, Great Sandy), or for the country that contains them. If you're inventing a desert, the same four patterns (local word plus descriptor, people, feature, region) produce names that sound real faster than a mood adjective does.

For neighboring features, try the Island Name Generator for coasts and the Castle Name Generator for a desert fortress, or browse all name generators.