City names

[Civciv5]

Do you name your cities or do you just take the names in the city list?
If I play Earth map then I name the city as the correct city on the world map.

 

[automator]

Sometimes I rename my cities to be alphabetical in order of settling/capture.

 

[truenarnian]

I am going to post what I do to see if anyone goes to the rather bizarre extremes I do. lol

First off, any city I settle I usually keep the auto-name. Occasionally I will skip a name that doesn't seem appropriate (Seattle in a desert I would rename to Las Vegas and then let the next city be Seattle - that kind of thing).

BUT WHEN CONQUERING...

I try and borrow from history. To use a real-world example, Beijing was for many years called Peking because white explorers have tin ears. (That's why my history teacher used to tell me in 8th grade. =) I live in a town called Kamloops, so named because the native band in this area called it T'kumlups. I borrow the same principle when conquering. I use what I understand of the phonetics of the language of the civ that I am playing and adapt the conquered city to my language.

So if I am France, this is how I would rename the following cities if I conquered them:
Kiev --> Quieve
Beijing --> Beijienne
Washington --> Ouachanton

America...
Kiev --> Keefe
Beijing --> Bayshing

China
Kiev --> Qieh
Washington --> Washienten

A quick trip to various phonology articles on Wikipedia can help you develop your own Civ-unique tin ear. It really adds to my enjoyment as my culture truly appropriates the city and assimilates it.

 

[Helmling]

LOL. That's funny, man.

I always name my capital after my wife, then the next two cities after my kids, then my best friend who introduced me to my wife, etc. etc.

 

[TW_Honorius]

I always want to name the cities after the ones I live near, just too lazy.

 

[lietkynes]

Until Civ4 I used to rename some of my cities when I didn't like the original name.

In Civ5 this is impossible because if you rename a city, the next city you found will have that name again

 

[Marla_Singer]

So if I am France, this is how I would rename the following cities if I conquered them:
Kiev --> Quieve
Beijing --> Beijienne
Washington --> Ouachanton

I did so too. However, there's already a French word for Beijing. It's Pékin.

 

[OverWind]

I mostly rename my capital. Other cities, not so much.

 

[mutant-enemy]

@truenarnian: So. Awesome. !

 

[Ford]

I rename my capital to my hometown, after that it doesn't matter.

 

[headcase]

I always rename Hamburg to Hamburger if I'm not playing as Bismarck. I know it's dumb but I always seem to get it after a hard-fought war with him and I figure it's all I can do to show my contempt to the AI.

Usually I leave my own cities be, but yeah sometimes I rename them to real-life nearby cities too.

 

[bcaiko]

I often play as Japan, and will rename my cities with new Japanese names. If I'm playing with friends and I'm on the same continent as one, I'll sometimes name my cities insults at them. ...I'm a good guy, really!

 

[TheLohoped]

I always rename Istambul to Constantinople because Byzantine Empire was awesome.
I also rename captured cities to funny names for no reason.

 

[TomMcV]

Usually name my cities after various fantasy book cities, or made up fantasyesque names. My capital is always called "Imperial Palace" (I miss how Civ3 could fit "the Imperial Palace"). Most common lifted fantasy cities are Kesh (if near a desert), Kentosani (Civ4: Holy City), Rivendell (if on a river...), Port Blacksand (if on a desert coast), Icewind Dale (if miles away in tundra), Winterfell (if near tundra, but not as much as ID), Rohan if near horses, etc, etc.

Also Ironkeep if near iron and hills, Dragonkeep if it is going to be a strong defense point, New Haven for my first overseas colony, Seaguard for a port on a peninsular, Dragoncvity as my Engineer city, Dragonport if near Dragoncity, etc &more etc...

Means every game I kind of play with my own empire (Dragon Empire, or Dragon Republic if playing tall, Imperial/Republican adjective, the Empire/the Republic short form etc).

 

[Mesix]

When I have a small empire, I will often If I have a big empire, I will rename cities which allow me to remember where it was located. It may be inspired by location on the continent (so west coast cities get CA names) or if there is a particular resource nearby (a lot of iron might be called Pittsburgh) and sometime by the function (so my research city might be called Cambridge). I don't have any continuity to my renaming so each game might see new names.

 

[headcase]

Oh yeah, I do that sometimes too, particularly, when I can't remember which city is my production specialist, I call it Hammer.

 

[qalsip1977]

I haven't renamed any cities in CiV. Back in CivIII I would name all my cities RP names (Camelot, Tir Asleen, etc.) from my favorite movies/books. Anymore I just take what they give me.

 

[SuperJay]

Depends on the civ I'm playing. If I'm America, I'll often times rename cities as I settle them or change the order in which they appear - I gotta get Detroit in there early and show some hometown pride. Sometimes I'll add other cities here in Michigan too.

But more generally, I only rename the cities I conquer. Most recently in a game as Japan, I was conquering the hell out of the Aztecs (Monty picked on the wrong neighbor, mwahaha) and as each city fell, I'd rename it after a real Japanese city or prefecture.

Here's a question, though: is the game "aware" of the names you used? Say I renamed a conquered city using a name that Civ5 would eventually use for a newly-founded city... I assume the game does not know that, so I'd just end up having two cities with the same name, yeah?

 

[black213]

I never rename them.

 

[HammerandSickle]

@superjay There can't be two cities with the same name. Even if you rename the city, no new city will hold it's name.