This French town name generator builds a name in the shape of a real one: a head, then sur, then a river. Mont is a mountain and givre is frost, so Montgivre-sur-Lisane is Frost Mountain on the Lisane.
Read the full guide
Three shapes of head
Press New town name. The head comes in three shapes, grouped in the list under the tool: a saint, as in Saint-Aubin; a joined pair of French words, as in Montgivre; and a made-up stem on a real ending, as in Mallencourt. Tap the head or the river to lock it.
A French village name generator too
For a village, lock a head in -court or -ac. The ending -court comes from a Latin word for a farmyard and first named a rural estate; -ac and -y are the southern and northern forms of one Gallo-Roman suffix, -acum. Lock a saint or a head in -ville for a larger place.
Tips
Sur means on. Lock the river and reroll the head to put several towns on one river.
A real map would add an article here and there: Le, La, Les.
Questions and answers
What do French town name endings mean?
The ending -ville comes from Latin villa, a country estate, and -court from a word for a farmyard. In the south -ac, and in the north -y, both continue the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum: Vitrac and Vitry are the same name.
Why are so many French towns named Saint?
Most French place names of religious origin are dedicated to a saint, and such places often began as medieval clearings organized by monasteries. Saint Martin is the most common of them.
Is it a French city name generator as well?
Yes. The same shapes name a city, a town and a village. The sentence after the name calls the place a town; the name itself fits any size.
Are these real French towns?
No. The saint heads are real, but every river is invented and was checked against the GeoNames table of France, so no full name is a real commune. Joined pairs and stems that matched a real place were dropped.
AublignyThe ending -y: the northern form of the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum.
AubricourtThe ending -court: from Latin cohors, a farmyard, first the name of a rural estate.
BréauvilleThe ending -ville: from Latin villa, a country estate.
BrévignyThe ending -y: the northern form of the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum.
BrévinacThe ending -ac: the southern form of the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum.
CabrinacThe ending -ac: the southern form of the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum.
CorvignyThe ending -y: the northern form of the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum.
GermicourtThe ending -court: from Latin cohors, a farmyard, first the name of a rural estate.
GuermonvilleThe ending -ville: from Latin villa, a country estate.
LoubéracThe ending -ac: the southern form of the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum.
MallencourtThe ending -court: from Latin cohors, a farmyard, first the name of a rural estate.
MallonvilleThe ending -ville: from Latin villa, a country estate.
OrmaincourtThe ending -court: from Latin cohors, a farmyard, first the name of a rural estate.
OrmignyThe ending -y: the northern form of the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum.
SavrignyThe ending -y: the northern form of the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum.
SolaignyThe ending -y: the northern form of the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum.
SolaincourtThe ending -court: from Latin cohors, a farmyard, first the name of a rural estate.
SolenvilleThe ending -ville: from Latin villa, a country estate.
TailleracThe ending -ac: the southern form of the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum.
TessainvilleThe ending -ville: from Latin villa, a country estate.
TessignyThe ending -y: the northern form of the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum.
VaublecourtThe ending -court: from Latin cohors, a farmyard, first the name of a rural estate.
VézignacThe ending -ac: the southern form of the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum.
How this list was compiled: 68 heads in the three shapes of French town names. The saint names are real heads of French commune names: each was found on 2026-10-02 at the start of a place name in the GeoNames table of France (https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/, CC BY 4.0). The joined pairs are our own; the meaning of each French word was checked that day against the French section of its English Wiktionary entry (https://en.wiktionary.org/, CC BY-SA 4.0). The stems before -ville, -court, -ac and -y are invented; the origin of each ending follows the French Wikipedia article Toponymie française (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymie_fran%C3%A7aise, CC BY-SA 4.0), read the same day, with the Latin word behind -court spelled as English Wiktionary gives it, cohors. Every joined pair and every stem with its ending was checked against every named place in the GeoNames table of France, alone and as the first word of a longer name, and places of 500 people and up worldwide, every list on this site and exact page titles on English Wikipedia, and dropped on a match. 12 candidates were cut (9 a real place on the map, two of them written as two words; 3 that sound the same as a real commune or sit two letters from one), among them Villesauge, Châteauvert, Aubréville, Orméville, Solignac, Clairy, Montmerle, Boisjoli, Pontvieux, Valfleuri, Marsillac, Tessencourt. Nobody who reads French as a first language has read this list. Licence: own work; word origins from French Wikipedia and English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
River: all 24 rivers
A 2
Aubrette
Avelonne
B 2
Besoule
Brémonde
C 2
Carmèze
Couvrine
D 1
Dourbelle
G 1
Glavèze
Show all 24 rivers (16 more)
J 1
Jaronne
L 2
Lisane
Loirelle
M 2
Madrelle
Morvette
N 1
Noiselle
O 2
Ormance
Orvèze
R 1
Rivelle
S 3
Saulène
Sérane
Solanche
T 3
Thalène
Tivonne
Trévanne
Y 1
Ysance
How this list was compiled: Our own list of 24 invented river names in French spelling, written on 2026-10-02. Each was checked that day against every named place and stream in the GeoNames table of France, places of 500 people and up worldwide, an English dictionary, English and French Wiktionary, every list on this site and exact page titles on English Wikipedia, and dropped on a match. 16 candidates were cut (5 a real place on the map; 3 a Wikipedia page title; 7 a dictionary word, five of them French; 1 a name from published fiction, or one letter from it), among them Vésonne, Flavine, Méline, Vauzelle, Mirande, Calonne, Fontaire, Hermance, Vireuse, Ombrine, Clairance. Licence: own work
Known for: all 40 things
A 22
a bakery on each side of the square
a bell tower with a rooster vane
a brass band on the fourteenth of July
a carousel on the square
a castle that is now the town hall
a chestnut fair in October
a cycling race up the main street
a ferry pulled by a chain
Show all 40 things (32 more)
A, continued
a five-arched bridge
a fountain with a bronze dolphin
a puppet festival in August
a Romanesque church door
a round stone dovecote
a ruined keep
a timber market hall
a towpath lined with poplars
a Tuesday market
a washhouse on the river
a water mill that still grinds flour
almond nougat
an Easter fair of secondhand books
apple tarts
B 2
blue shutters on every house
buckwheat crêpes
C 2
candied chestnuts
cherry clafoutis
F 1
fields of sunflowers
G 1
goat cheese rolled in ash
H 1
hand-thrown pottery
K 1
kitchen gardens along the river
L 3
lavender honey
linen woven in the valley
the lock keeper's garden
M 1
mustard ground between stones
P 1
pétanque under the plane trees
S 3
salted butter caramels
strawberries in May
the Sunday queue at the bakery
T 1
truffles in winter
W 1
walnut oil
How this list was compiled: Our own list of 40 things, written on 2026-10-02 to read after the words "known for". No line names a real place, a business or a drink. Licence: own work