Alright, I'm taking another crack at making an epic mod. One of the features is a balanced civ list; I've got six from each culture group except for American, and hopefully enough for each continent that on a world map Europe/Middle East won't be crammed and the civs in the Americas won't be insanely powerful.

I also tried to cover pretty much every major culture/ethnic group.

My problem right now is the names of a couple of the civs; I want each to have a place name rather than the name of a people (so no Celts, etc). Anyhow, here's the list I have:

America- USA
Arabia- Arabs
Babylonia- Babylonia
Britain- entire British isles post-Anglo Saxons
Carthage- Phonecia & caucasian pre-Muslem N. Africa
China- China
Colombia- Latin America
Dakota- Sioux tribes and other western plains indians
Egypt- Egypt pre-Hellenization/Islam
Ethiopia- Ethiopia
France- France post-Franks
Gaul- Celts
Germany- Germany
Greece- Greeks
Iberia- Spain & Portugal
India- India
Indochina- SE asian cultures- Khmer, Thai, Vietnam, etc.
Iroquoia- Iroquois nations
Israel- Jews
Japan- Japan
Korea- Korea
Mesoamerica- all mesoamerican peoples (nahuitl speakers); Mayans, Mexica, Tlacala, etc.
Mongolia- Mongolia
Persia- Iran
Polynesia- Polynesia, plus New Zealand & Australian aborigines
Rome- Roman empire
Russia- Russians & slavs
Scandinavia- all Nordic nations
Tawantinsuyu- Inca
Turkey- Turks
Zululand- Zulu & other Bantu speakers

I initially was going to give each civ a name in its own language (eg. Duetschland, Nippon, Haudansawanee, etc.) but decided it'd be too confusing and going with the English/Latin names is better. Here are the ones I'm having doubts about:

Britain: the civ includes Ireland, so "The British Isles" would be more apt, but it sounds clumsy. Or would Ireland from the middle ages foreward still be better left under the Celt/Gaul umbrella?

Carthage: the name is of the city. Carthagia or Carthagium sounds clumsy; I considered Phonecia, but I'm not sure if that'd reflect my intent properly... thoughts?

Colombia: Should I go with the Spanish "Colombia" or Anglicized "Columbia"?

Gaul: A Roman name, and it really only applied to the Celts in the region of modern France. Does this reflect my intent (all Celts) properly? I considered "Celtia," but that sounds awkward...

Iberia: Should I just go with Spain here?

Indochina: I'm happy with this as a name, but does it accurately reflect my intent?

Iroquoia: This doesn't sound quite right to me, but I could get used to it. I considered "Haudensaunia," which sounds better, but I'd rather stick with anglicized words...

Mesoamerica: I don't mind this one either, but is it 'accurate' enough? Would just calling it something like "Aztecia" or "Nahula" be better?

Polynesia: Should this be called Oceania to better reflect Australia's inclusion? Or is including Australia's aborigines just shoehorning too much?

Rome: Like Carthage, I'd like a term that reflects the entire empire/all of Italy rather than the city's name. I considered Italy, but with this one I'm going for a pre-collapse Roman culture. Romania won't work, Romia and Romium sound stupid...

Tawantinsuyu: This is the native term for the Inca Empire, but I'd like something Anglicized. Incaland, Incaia, and Incaium sound really forced.

And of course, if anything I didn't mention stands out as not making sense, please point it out.

OK, how about "Latinizing" a bit more? ;)
Italia
Gallia
and maybe even the old Roman name for the region south of the Mediterranean: Africa.
Mesoamerica: How about Mexica?

Mesoamerica, Indochina, Britain, Iberia -- these are each names of civs in my mod too, so obviously nothing in my ethno-aesthetic is offended there. You might consider "Albion" in place of Britain, but even that doesn't strictly include Eire, I think.

I've got "Austronesia" instead of "Polynesia" because it's more comprehensive (includes Micro & Melanesians, for instance...). And seeing how you've got the Australian Aborigines in there, their inclusion is at least suggested by the "Austro-" prefix.

How about "Gran Colombia," for Simon Bolivar's super-state?

For Carthage you could always go "North Africa." But if that's too boring, how about...say...Mauritania (a tad to the West of Carthage) or Numidia (a tad to the South of Carthage)...probably not broad enough. Tunisia? Tripolitania? Libya is probably too far east...

Not sure about the Iroquois. Appalachia? New England? :crazyeye:

I guess this means I'm running out of ideas. Nothing for Rome, France or the Incas then...at least from me.

Oh, and what I do in place of "Babylonia" is use "Mesopotamia" -- because that way I have an excuse to include Sumerian and Assyrian units too. After all, those were far more interesting empires than the Babylonian empire!

Here's what I did (just as proposal):

America- USA
Arabia - Arabs
Babylonia - Iraq
England - UK
Carthage- Tunisia
China- China
Aztecs - Mexico
Iroquois - Canada
Egypt - Egypt
Byzantium - scrapped it and merged them with the Greeks
France- France
Celts - Ireland (gave the Gallic Swordman to France)
Germany- Germany
Greece- Greece
Spain - Spain
India- India
Netherlands - Netherlands (Holland, Belgium, Luxembourgh)
Vietnam - Vietnam (came for the Byzantines)
Sumeria - scrapped it, use Syria instead (has Assyrian units first, then muslim ones)
Portugal - Portugal
Japan- Japan
Korea- Korea
Maya - Latin America
Mongolia- Mongolia
Persia - Iran
Inca - South America (Chile, Argentinia etc.)
Rome - Italy (since most of it's former client states are already covered by the other civilizations, I wanted to avoid double city names etc)
Russia - Russia (I decided not to merge them with Poland, Estonia etc.)
Scandinavia - Scandinavia (I use the Swedish definition with is Norway, Denmark, Sweden plus Finland)
Turkey- Turkey
Zululand - Africa (it's a mix of all African countries south of the sahara)

Celtia sounds fine to me.

Iberia: Should I just go with Spain here? No, Iberia fits much better if it includes Portugal.

Mesoamerica: How about Aztlan?

Mesoamerica: How about Mexica?
"Mexica" is properly the name of the core group of the Aztecs, living in and around Tenochtitlán, not of a geographical area.

I have
Italy
Egypt
Hellas
Mesopotamia
Germany
Russia
China
America
Japan
France
India
Asia Minor
Mexico
Africa
Britain
Arabia
Scandinavia
North Africa
Arabia
Ando Amazonia (I don't like this one)

"Ando Amazonia"? If the first part is to refer to the Andes, it should rather be "Andeo-Amazonia".

It's a mix of Inca, Brazil, and other Latin Americans

mrtn: Mexica I considered, but that's too specific a name-- it refers to the tribe living around Tenochtitlan rather than the culture group as a whole. Italia, I'm still not sure about... and Africa actually might work.

Mithadan: I'm glad I'm not the only one to group cultures together.

Yeah, I actually forgot that Melanesia & Micronesia aren't a part of Polynesia proper. I think I might just call it Oceania, but Austronesia sounds good too.

Gran Colombia was actually the original name of the Latino civ, but it turns out the contemporary name was just Colombia-- the "Gran" was added to differentiate it from modern-day Columbia. I figured for siplicity's sake (and 'cause I like one-word names) Colombia works.

North Africa, maybe... or like mrtn suggested, just Africa, although it gives the wrong impression to a moden audience. Mauetania might work... I also just found out that another term for NW Africa is Maghreb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maghreb), although since it's an Arabic name I'm not entirely sure if it'd be appropriate...

Mesopotamia's a good one-- dunno why I didn't think of that. Thanks!

Ares: Interesting... I'm going for a less "modern" approach, though, and trying to lump similar geo-cultural groups together rather than more modern states.

machia: Aztlan sounds good, but it might be a little too specific to the Mexica...

Steph: Ando-Amazonia, eh? Yep, I'm having the same probelm coming up with a good name for the Inca lands. What's Asia Minor, though? An amalgation of Troy, Phonecia, Israel, and so on? And is Africa just North Africa/Carthage?

Thanks for the input, everyone. Feeling better about most of the existing names now... I put Babylonia to Mesopotamia and Polynesia to probably Oceania (or Austronesia, haven't decided). My big ones now are figuring out a name for the Inca, the Iroquois, and whether Rome should be Italy...

Steph[/B]: Ando-Amazonia, eh? Yep, I'm having the same probelm coming up with a good name for the Inca lands. What's Asia Minor, though? An amalgation of Troy, Phonecia, Israel, and so on? And is Africa just North Africa/Carthage?

Asia Minor is Hittites / Persia / Ottomans / Turkey
Mesopotamia is Babylon / Assyria / Syria / Iraq
Africa is "black africa" (Bantu, Songhai, Ethiopia, Zulu, South Africa...)
North Africa is Carthage / Maghreb

Asia Minor's a good one-- I almost considered making Turkey into Anatolia.

Here's my revised list:

America- post-colonial USA & Canada
Andea- Inca & other Andean people
Arabia- Arabs
Bantuland- Bantu (Blacks S. of the Congo)
Britain- Great Britain (and maybe Ireland)
China- China
Colombia- Latinos
Dakota- Sioux & other Siouan speakers
Egypt- Egypt pre-Hellenization
France- France post-Franks
Gaul- Celts
Germany- Germany
Greece- Greeks & Hellenistic peoples
Iberia- Iberians
India- India
Indochina- SE Asians
Iroquoia- Iroquoian speakers (Iroquois Confederacy & Cherokee)
Israel- Jews
Japan- Japan
Korea- Koreans
Maghreb- Carthage, N. Africa Phonecians, other pre-Islam N Africans
Mesoamerica- Mesoamericans (Nahul, Maya, Olmec, etc.)
Mesopotamia- Mesopotamians (Babylonia, Sumeria, etc.)
Mongolia- Mongols
Oceania- natives of Australia, New Zealand, Micronesia, Polynesia
Persia- Iran
Rome- Rome pre-fall
Russia- Russia & Slavs
Scandinavia- Norse
Sudan- Black Central African Empires (Songhai, Mali, Ethipia, etc.)
Turkey- Turkish peoples

I'm pleased with it now, except for a couple dillemmas:

I really, really want to include the Algonquian peoples, since they were essentially the most prolific Native American ethnicity. Should I lump them with the Iroquois (whom they were enemies with, but seem to superficially resemble) or replace Israel with Algonquia?

Can anyone recommend a more accurate name for Rome that isn't Italy?

Lastly, does anyone know the etymology of Peru? I.e., could it be used accurately instead of Andea?

I like the German way of spelling africa-"Afrika"

Lastly, does anyone know the etymology of Peru? I.e., could it be used accurately instead of Andea?
It may come form "Biru", the name of a river in modern Ecuador.

In colonial terms, it refered to the entire Andean area. Notably, a region roughly coterminous with modern Bolivia was known as Alto Perú, or "High Peru".

so in high peru, do you get High there? lol!!!!!!!!

Well, it's a leading producer of coca ... :cool:

(Check my resource graphics thread - link in profile - for a Coca resource.)

China - The Peoples Republic of China
Japan - Nippon
Korea - Koryo
Russia - Soviet Union

these I think are great names for the civs.

TLC- Thanks, that helps. I'm thinking I'll use Peru then for the Inca and related Andean tribes.

Roman Legion - Those are great names, bu they're too specific for my mod. Thanks, though.

Mithadan: I'm glad I'm not the only one to group cultures together.I got the idea from Steph's mod, myself. It can be a controversial decision to do.Asia Minor's a good one-- I almost considered making Turkey into Anatolia.I use "Anatolia" in my mod. Whatever floats yer boat, of course. Nothing wrong with "Asia Minor."

The word the Mexica(Azetcs) used for the entire known lands was Cem Anahuac, meaning the One World. It would be the equivalent of Mesoamerica.

Anatolia isnt the entire Asia minor though. Although at different times there were different names for the regions, dependant on the civilizations which were distinct there (eg Lydia) the main parts of Asia minor are Anatolia and Cappadocia, with Armenia being the easternmost part. Anatolia begins in the coast and continues until central Asia Minor, where the largely mountanous and barren terrain dominates. Cappadocia is the central part, and Armenia borders the Caucasus.
Anatolia is derived from the greek word Anatole, which means rise (of the sun). The sun rises in the east, and so the land was named that since it is to the east of the first greek poleis, either in today's Greece or the Ionian states (Miletus, Ephesus, Klazomenai etc) :)

Imo it would be better to name the civ just Turkey, although obviously it wouldnt be historically correct if it starts in Anatolia in 4000 BC, but anyway the game is about approximations of history. You cannot actually script an event of the death of the Persian king who hired the bands of turkic warriors to fight India, and ended up falling off his horse with the result that Persia was overrun by the bandit army ;)

I have just been geographically enlightened! Thanks for the info. What do I call folk from Asia Minor, though? Asian Minoreans? ;) I might just stick to "Anatolians" in that case. (My aforementioned "Anatolian" civ basically includes only the Hittites and the Ottoman Turks; maybe some Trojans just for fun...)