Chinese Sounding City Names
These charts help you invent Chinese sounding city names. For an overview and charts for city names of other cultures, see the main Random (or not) City Name Charts page.
Step 1: Determine which columns to use in step 2
It seems most Chinese city names are made from two parts so roll a d6 twice to determine the two charts below to use. Re-roll any sixes. If both d6 results point to the same chart, you make keep them or re-roll.
Step 2: Roll for each column as determined in step 1
| d10 | Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 | Column 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bei (north) | Yi (1) | Bai (white) | Chang (long) | Chuan (stream) |
| 2 | Nan (south) | Er (2) | Hei (black) | Gan (dry) | Dao (island) |
| 3 | Dong (east) | San (3) | Hong (red) | Lao (old) | Guang (expanse) |
| 4 | Xi (west) | Si (4) | Huang (yellow) | Leng (cold) | Hai (ocean, sea) |
| 5 | Zhong (central) | Wu (5) | Huide (gray) | Ning (peaceful) | He (old broad river) |
| 6 | Jing (national capital) | Liu (6) | Juhong (orange) | Qing (clear) | Hu (lake) |
| 7 | Zhou (provincial capital) | Qi (7) | Jan (blue) | Shi (wet) | Jiang (young river through a gorge) |
| 8 | Zun (village) | Ba (8) | Lu (green) | Xin (new) | Men (gate, gorge) |
| 9 | Shu (book) | Jiu (9) | Yin (silver) | Yun (cloudy) | Shan (mountain) |
| 10 | Yu (fish) | Shi (10) | Zi (purple) | Zhe (crooked, winding) | Shulin (forest) |
Note that “Q” is pronounced as a “Ch” sound and “X” is closer to a “Sh.” Chinese pronunciation is difficult (and the tones are not shown here–each word in Chinese has one of four tones) so if you want more authentic pronunciation look for other dedicated Chinese language resources.
Examples
A: d6s: 1,4; d10s: 3,10 = Dong + zhe
B: d6s: 2,5; d10s: 8, 1 = Ba+ chuan
C: d6s: 4,1; d10s: 3, 8 = Lao + zun
D: d6s: 3,3; d10s: 5, 3 = Huide + hong
E: d6s: 4,4; d10s: 1, 7 = Chang + shi
F: d6s: 1,5; d10s 3, 3 = Dong + guang
Most of these seem authentic for a Chinese-esque culture in a fantasy setting. Huidehong doesn’t sound quite right, but some of the other combinations within that chart do flow together.
Slight nitpick: Gray is actually just ‘hui’. If you were talking about something *being* gray you might use ‘huide’. Huihong sounds better, too.
This is a neat chart, though! Maybe a pronunciation guide would be useful (for those who care)?
Disregard that last bit, somehow missed the note below the chart!
I guess for pronunciation one could go to Google’s translate page. Type in the English, get the Chinese and click the button (“read phonetically”) for the translator to pronounce the word. I don’t think the read phonetically was available at the time I wrote this.
Thanks!