This random island name generator joins an invented opening to a real ending that means island, such as -ey or -inch, and adds what kind of island it is. Press again for more random island names.
Read the full guide
Name one island or a whole chain
Tap a part to lock it or change it alone. Lock Ending on ey and press New island name for a chain of sister islands: Torveley, Selumey, Zyvaldey. Lock What it is to try names on an island you have already drawn. Print 20 islands fills a map.
Where the endings come from
The endings -ey and -ay are the Old English and Old Norse word for island, the close of Orkney and Westray. The ending -inch and its cousins -innis and -inish are Gaelic for island. The ending -oog is Low German and Dutch, as in Langeoog. The list under the tool gives the meaning of every ending.
Tips
Say the name aloud with the word island after it; if you trip, change the ending.
Give a chain one ending so it reads as one group on the map.
Questions and answers
What should I name my island?
Pick a short sound you like for the opening and close it with an ending that already means island, such as -ey, -ay or -inch. Torveley and Quorriminch are made that way. Press the button until one suits your map, story or game.
What do -ey and -ay mean in island names?
Island. Both come from the Old English and Old Norse word, and they close real names such as Selsey, Orkney and Westray. In Scotland the Norse ending became -aigh in Gaelic, then -ay in Scots and English.
Are these real islands?
No. Every opening is invented, and each joined name was checked against the GeoNames records of islands and towns and against Wikipedia page titles, and none matched. No list of places is complete, so search a name before you publish it.
How this list was compiled: Our own invented syllables, written on 2026-09-30 for this page. Every one ends in a consonant, because every ending starts with a vowel. None is an opening or ending of fantasy-city-name-generator, planet-name-generator or language-name-generator. Screened by script on 2026-09-30, as the world-building NOTES ask. Each opening alone and each of the 1000 joined names was checked against: the GeoNames records of islands, islets, atolls and rocks (feature codes ISL, ISLS, ISLET, ISLF, ISLM, ISLT, ATOL, RK, RKS; 194,330 records with their alternate names, from allCountries.zip) and the GeoNames tables cities500 and cities15000 with alternate names (https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/, CC BY 4.0, fetched that day); the country names in countryInfo.txt; the system dictionary and its list of given names; the name lists of this site; a rude-word list read across the join; a list of invented people and places from published games, books and films, exact and one letter away; and the page titles of the English Wikipedia, exact (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php, that day). No joined name matched anything. Openings cut: Belam (city, dictionary); Belum (city); Dalum (city); Esmer (fiction); Floriv (fiction); Lazur (city); Lodvar (city); Lumar (city); Marel (city); Ondar (city); Orom (city); Rosal (island, city, dictionary); Solav (fiction); Talam (island); Tjarven (island); Torim (city, fiction); Uxem (city); Varrow (name); Velim (city); Vindel (city); Yxen (island). Cut because the opening alone is a Wikipedia page title: Dolam, Haval, Ilom, Isol, Liraz, Nalum, Nuvar, Quimar, Rivam, Skeldar, Tulim, Vazel, Zafir, Zamor, Zembrow. Cut by hand for sitting near a published name: Yzmar, Kjeldar, Ixal, Xanthor. The record's own example, Varrow, is on a name list of this site and was cut. The fan wiki title pass that the city page ran was not run here. No list of places or fiction is complete, so a visitor should search a name before publishing it. Licence: own work
Ending: all 10 endings
Old English and Norse 5
ayThe same island ending as it came through Scots: Norse -ey became Gaelic -aigh, then -ay, as in Westray.
eigAnother Old English spelling of the island ending, listed beside -ey.
eyOld English and Old Norse: island. It closes Selsey, Athelney and Orkney.
eylandOld Norse eyland: island, from ey, island, and land.
oogLow German and Dutch: island, the ending of Langeoog and Schiermonnikoog.
Show all 10 endings (5 more)
Gaelic 3
inchIsland, or a dry area in a marsh, as in Inchmarnock and Keith Inch.
inishFrom Irish inis: island, as in Inishcrone.
innisScottish Gaelic innis: island.
English 2
ilandAn obsolete spelling of island, as in "No man is an Iland".
isleAn island, usually a very small one. From Old French, from Latin insula; not related to the word island.
How this list was compiled: Ten real endings that mean island, each with its meaning. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements_in_place_names_in_the_British_Isles (raw text read 2026-09-30): "ay, y, ey: Old English and Old Norse, island: Ramsay, Westray, Lundy, Selsey, Orkney"; "ey, ea, eg, eig: Old English, island: Romsey, Athelney", with the note comparing Low German -oog as in Langeoog and Dutch -oog as in Schiermonnikoog; "inch: island, dry area in marsh: Inchmarnock, Keith Inch"; "ennis, inch, innis, innish, inish, insch: island, from Irish inis, Scottish Gaelic innis: Inishcrone, Ennis". From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_island_names (read that day): the Norse ending -ey for island became -aigh in Gaelic and then -ay in modern Scots and English. From Wiktionary, read that day: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eyland (Old Norse eyland, island, from ey and land), https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/isle (an island, usually very small; from Old French, from Latin insula; not related to island) and https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/iland (obsolete spelling of island, with the Donne quotation). Left out on purpose: holm, which is an ending of fantasy-city-name-generator; and the island words that name one type of island (cay, key, skerry, atoll, stack, holm, calf, ait), which stand in the What it is row with their meanings instead, because the tool cannot stop "atoll" from meeting "a mountain rising straight out of deep water". Also left out: -ea, which is an ending of planet-name-generator, and -ennis, which is an ending of random-elf-name-generator. That leaves ten endings where the plan hoped for about forty; an eleventh would have had to be invented. Screened by script on 2026-09-30, as the world-building NOTES ask. Each opening alone and each of the 1000 joined names was checked against: the GeoNames records of islands, islets, atolls and rocks (feature codes ISL, ISLS, ISLET, ISLF, ISLM, ISLT, ATOL, RK, RKS; 194,330 records with their alternate names, from allCountries.zip) and the GeoNames tables cities500 and cities15000 with alternate names (https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/, CC BY 4.0, fetched that day); the country names in countryInfo.txt; the system dictionary and its list of given names; the name lists of this site; a rude-word list read across the join; a list of invented people and places from published games, books and films, exact and one letter away; and the page titles of the English Wikipedia, exact (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php, that day). No joined name matched anything. Openings cut: Belam (city, dictionary); Belum (city); Dalum (city); Esmer (fiction); Floriv (fiction); Lazur (city); Lodvar (city); Lumar (city); Marel (city); Ondar (city); Orom (city); Rosal (island, city, dictionary); Solav (fiction); Talam (island); Tjarven (island); Torim (city, fiction); Uxem (city); Varrow (name); Velim (city); Vindel (city); Yxen (island). Cut because the opening alone is a Wikipedia page title: Dolam, Haval, Ilom, Isol, Liraz, Nalum, Nuvar, Quimar, Rivam, Skeldar, Tulim, Vazel, Zafir, Zamor, Zembrow. Cut by hand for sitting near a published name: Yzmar, Kjeldar, Ixal, Xanthor. The record's own example, Varrow, is on a name list of this site and was cut. The fan wiki title pass that the city page ran was not run here. No list of places or fiction is complete, so a visitor should search a name before publishing it. Licence: own work
What it is: all 40 kinds of island
Low and sandy 10
a flat green island you can walk around before lunch
a low sandy cay with one palmA cay is a small, low island largely made of sand or coral.
a marsh island of reeds and herons
a pair of islets joined by a spit of sand
Show all 40 kinds of island (36 more)
Low and sandy, continued
a ring of coral around a green lagoonThat makes it an atoll: a ribbon reef that nearly or entirely surrounds a lagoon.
a river ait under a single stone bridgeAn ait, also spelled eyot, is a little island in a river.
a sandbank that stays dry on all but the highest tides
a sandy key, the last in a long string of themA key is one of a string of small islands; the word is a variant of cay.
a shingle bar with a lighthouse and nothing else
a tidal island reached by a causeway at low waterA tidal island is joined to the mainland by an isthmus or causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide.
High and rocky 10
a bare skerry that the seals have claimedA skerry is a small rocky island that the sea may cover at high tide or in storms.
a black island of stone columns and sea caves
a calf of rock off the tip of its mother islandA calf is a small island near a larger island.
a cliff-walled island with one landing place
a drowned hilltop with terraces down to the water
a grassy holm a short row from a larger islandA holm is a small island, especially one near a larger island or the mainland.
a mountain rising straight out of deep water
a rock stack with room on top for one hutA stack is a steep column of rock in the sea near a coast, formed by wave erosion.
a volcanic cone with a lake in its crater
a wedge of rock, sheer on one side and grassy on the other
Lived on 10
a customs island where every ship must stop
a farmers' island of stone walls and black sheep
a fishing island of forty boats and one street
a fortress island guarding a harbor mouth
a hermit's island with one walled garden
a lighthouse island with a keeper and a goat
a market island where three sea roads cross
a salt-makers' island of pans and windmills
a shipwrights' island that smells of tar
an orchard island famous for one kind of pear
Strange 10
a floating island that drifts with the season
a horseshoe island around one deep anchorage
a turtle-shaped island with a hill for a shell
an island of hot springs wrapped in its own fog
an island of seabirds so loud that boats steer by ear
an island split in two by a channel one boat wide
an island that appears on only some maps
an island that is mostly one enormous tree
an island whose only harbor faces the open sea
an island with a lake, and an island in the lake
How this list was compiled: Our own lines, written on 2026-09-30 for this page, each a kind of island that any name in the other two rows can carry. Nine lines use an island word and give its meaning: cay, key, atoll, skerry, holm, calf and ait from their Wiktionary entries (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cay, /key, /atoll, /skerry, /holm, /calf, /ait and /eyot, read 2026-09-30); stack from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_(geology) and tidal island from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_island (read the same day). Screened by script against every other list on this site and on drawthisnext: no line is on two pages. Licence: own work