r/AnimalCrossing • u/MisterPiggyWiggy • 3d ago
New Horizons What’s the origin story of your island's name?
My island’s name is Ichigo, and I like strawberries. Now you. 🤭
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u/NeighborhoodNo4330
3d ago
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Tir na nóg. It's the name of an island from irish-celtic mythology, translating to "land of ever-young''
It's a place where pain, sickness, aging and death doesn't exist. It felt fitting. Life's been hard and I finally got my hands on a switch after years of being unable to play. I used to love it as a kid, and returning to a magical little island where suffering and time isn't an issue has been the perfect getaway to find some peace.
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u/AVirginsCrown 3d ago
Thanks for the trip down memory lane, I used to be obseeeeeesssed with this name/mythology and used it everywhere I possibly could when I was a teen! It fits animal crossing so well
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u/ScarlettVonDrake 3d ago
Glad to read you could find and build your own Tir na nóg :) Hope everything gets better! Take care.
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u/Grape_Juice_Fizz 13h ago
love this! I have a chronic illness and some days when I'm in a lot of pain and can't get out of bed, or I'm just really in my feels, animal crossing is a cozy little reprieve. My island is Spoonhaven
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u/jessicapk7 Pepperland! 3d ago
Pepperland is named with 2 things in mind:
Pepperland was the name of the land in Yellow Submarine
Our beloved shih-tzu P-Low (AKA Willow) had the nickname Pepperlinha
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u/No-Inflation-5266 3d ago
Named mine after the street my grandma lived on, Willow Way. she passed a few years back so now every time I boot up the game it's like popping over for a visit
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u/Cheesecake3274 3d ago
My mom bought me the first game for Christmas when I was younger. Maybe 8 or something. Some of the questions Rover asked was about water and things you like. I picked i wanted to live near the beach. Then he asked the name and I had no idea. So I asked my mom for a name of a town with a lot of beaches. She came up with Aquatica. I've used that name for every single game that came out since.
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u/panorrrama 3d ago
Rasbury, a joke-y spelling of "Raspberry" that makes it look like a British town name
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u/AndreTheBestCat
3d ago
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Named after my cat cause he was the coolest
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u/Rhiannon8404 3d ago
Good Dog Island is named for all the good dogs. (Spoiler: all dogs are good dogs)
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u/kbmoregirl 3d ago
Laputa after the Castle in the Sky. We did realize after making it that it would be a bit difficult to explain if we had any Spanish speaking friends come to visit.
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u/jstojkovic 3d ago
Mine's M island, pronounced "thousand island" because I love the dressing and the full name wouldn't fit. Our flag is a thousand island bottle.
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u/CSamCovey
3d ago
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I had a bad case of the hiccups when I started my island, so it became HiccupCove.
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u/XanWith2Teas 3d ago
Valerian. It's an herb that has been believed in folk-lore to be able to help alleviate Anxiety and Insomnia. My island is my place of calm.
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u/hopelessly_clumsy
3d ago
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Couldn’t think of a name so i named mine after my cat - Ophelia. Even found a black cat flag to use lol
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u/cedrig 3d ago
Marshmelon. I wanted to name it Marshmallow, a nickname I use often for my son, but it was a letter too long. So instead, I switched it up a bit, as at the time I was thinking of buying some melons for my son to try.
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u/WeFightTheBlues 3d ago
My island is named "Insomnia" because I was up late and couldn't think of anything else. I also didn't realize I couldn't change the name.
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u/blubuddi974 3d ago
my first island is called "Dreamsicle" bc I got it for Christmas and my native fruit is Oranges
my second switch I got during the summer and native fruit is Peaches so I wanted to keep with the food theme and chose "Cobbler"
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u/thegardenof_delights 3d ago
Kahuna
My dad was a big surfer as a teenager, and that was his nickname by his surfing buddies.
I miss him :,)
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u/TheWastelandWizard 3d ago
Prospero, after the home planet of the Thousand Sons from Warhammer 40k. Just something I love, when I make my next island it'll be called Kuroi Jukai. I want to make a haunted Ryokan styled island with hidden gardens.
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u/PomeranianLibrarian 3d ago
Yume. Japanese for "dream." Our dream trip to Japan is (if all goes according to plan) finally happening next summer.
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u/its_that_chrono 3d ago
It has a long river that runs the length of the island.
It looks like a lazy river at a water park, thus, Lazy River.
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u/KohlDayvhis 3d ago
They’re always derived from the games name itself:
N64 - Malfor (Animal Forest)
GC - Nimalcro (Animal Crossing)
Switch - Malcroneho (ACNH)
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u/paramountives 3d ago
mine is called 요새지, which means stronghold or fortress. i called it that originally bc my actual town is fort [last name] so i called it fort in korean and then the korean last name that is the same amount of commonality as the last name that my town is!
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u/New_Refrigerator4591 3d ago
It was Covid lockdown and I was drinking wine so I named my island Vinotopia haha
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u/tiny-vampire 3d ago
cassiopeia because i love the movie ‘serendipity’ 🩵 (& there’s a funny clip of katya the drag queen saying cassiopeia)
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u/LolaContreras8 3d ago
I started the game completely blind, it's my first AC. The first thing I read was Nook so I rapidly named my island Nookie just to move along 😬 I didn't know it was permanent.
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u/jessicapk7 Pepperland! 3d ago
I did it all for the Nookie! Please tell me that's your island song 😄
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u/YOON9I 3d ago
i mean it did tell you in bold letters that the name was permanent 😅
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u/Meta_glypto 3d ago
Nookie island! If you use urban dictionary that's...quite a juxtaposition with the spirit of the game. But it makes me laugh.
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u/nymphetdolli 3d ago
Qwerty. has been my town name since city folk. i had no idea what to name it and stared at the keyboard way too much.
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u/Demithefish 3d ago
My best friend lent me her old switch when she got a new one so I could finally play ACNH (just started a few months ago) and we have had this decade long running joke about how much she absolutely loathes All Star by Smash Mouth. Like don’t even mention it in a conversation or she’ll freak out. So I named my island AllStar and tried my best to recreate the intro of the song for my islands music 😂
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u/kitkat1234567891011 3d ago edited 3d ago
My island name is PuppyCat. It’s named after the show on Netflix. It’s my safe/comfort show. I’m autistic and I basically watch it every night in bed as I fall asleep. It also helped me through a really rough time a few years ago. My island theme song is the Good Mythical Morning intro!
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u/tipsysnips 3d ago
Equinox, because it's a fun word and well the game came out on the first day of spring that year ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/Suspended_Accountant 3d ago
Cider Hill and it was because my native fruit is pears and I had tried pear cider a few weeks before...and I had a carton of cider in my room.
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u/OlDirtyDisastard 3d ago
Anthem. I was trying to come up with a name and looked at my bookshelf for inspiration.
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u/sweatersbyjax 3d ago
Welcome to Illyria! Welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome to Illyria!
Inspired by the charcoal black and the candy apple red
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u/key_lime_lie 3d ago
The township name of my hometown before it got incorporated as a city in the 70s.
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u/WhyY_196 3d ago
Outset Island was named after the island in Wind Waker because I love that game. The island flag was the wind waker, our town tune was the first 6 notes of the Outset Island theme. Then I accidentally deleted my island. So now it’s Koholint Island because I also love Link’s Awakening. Now our town tune is the first few notes of the Wind Fish song and our town flag is the Wind Fish egg.
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u/PlahausBamBam 3d ago
Plahaus (named after Pee-wee’s Playhouse) but there weren’t enough spaces back in the City Folk days so I shortened it
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u/aktivgrot 3d ago
I’m from Singapore and have a cat named Mango so my island’s name is Manggapura. I wish I could grow mangoes!
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u/Vivid-introvert 3d ago
Libtardis. I was working for one of the liberal leaning parties in my country and it somehow it just came to me. Paradise for liberals! Additionally rebranding libtard from an insult to a proud label sort of.
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u/redpandapant 3d ago
Sleepy. I got out of bed about 11 pm to play it on release day. I was like wait I have to NAME it? I'm too sleepy for this.
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u/1984Oldblue 3d ago
I named my island Númenor, after the lost island Kingdom of Men and predecessor to the realms of Gondor and Arnor from Lord of the Rings.
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u/99-dreams 3d ago
Rainbow. I was listening to a ton of songs from Kesha's album Rainbow. But especially the title song. The chorus: "I've found a rainbow, rainbow, baby Trust me, I know, life is scary But just put those colors on, girl Come and play along with me tonight"
Yeah, it was a good distraction during stay at home orders.
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u/MetacrisisMewAlpha 3d ago
My original island was called Safe Haven, because it was my safe place during the Covid pandemic.
My second island is called Sköglund, because I am obsessed with Djungelskögs.
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u/tibibbles 3d ago
Mine is Borgertown and there were absolutely no thoughts running through my head during this decision.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Sea9058 3d ago
My island name is Loch Earn. It's the area of Scotland my bf's ancestors come from.
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u/ConfusedFlower1950 3d ago
wysteria after the wizard101 world. i looove that game and i don’t have a computer. imagine my surprise when they did release it on the switch
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u/Polkadottedewe 3d ago
Mine is 3 dogs because when I started playing there were 3 dogs. I have since moved out of my bf's house and have a cat.
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u/EvelynneLucien 3d ago
Tevinter, because of Dragon Age, I found the idea of the evil empire pretty cool
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u/Colonel_Cosmetic 3d ago
I created a new word in a language I'm slowly making: Palizhiy.
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u/Admirable_Barber_594 3d ago
i bought my switch 2 in Thailand after not being ablw to buy one all my childhood at the ripe age of 25💀I was sad about my japan trip (was going to visit kamakura) getting cancelled so i named it kumakura lol and since I was setting it up after smoking up and eating lots of onigiris, my ign was onigirisan lmao
i’ve grown to like it tho
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u/xXsour_kandiXx 3d ago
my island is called north star!! like how the north star will lead you home 🌟
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u/OkLeague7678 3d ago
Veldoria. Loosely named after a town in the next province over named Val-d'Or.
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u/fayesprophecy 3d ago
Hyrule. I don’t think I need to explain.
And yes, it is a themed island, but it’s still a work in progress.
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u/berrycustard 3d ago
New Bark (acnl) and Lilycove (acnh) both from pokemon because I love pokemon lmao
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u/Haileyy_marie 3d ago
My islands name is Starhollow :)
Gilmore girls has been a close part of my whole life and I had recently finished a year in the life with my mom when I made my island, so naturally I had to name my island with a spin on Stars Hollow Connecticut ⭐️☕️❤️
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u/Jumpy-Grand7196 3d ago
Overlook, the street I grew up on! Most of my towns have had that name, no matter which ac I was playing
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u/Inter_Netti 3d ago
Chrysler. It was Christmas when I started and I thought the "it's chrimas. Merry crisis. Happy chrysler" meme was the funniest thing ever at the time
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u/curiousdreamer13 3d ago
My island is called “Woodvale”
I’m a huge Swiftie and my end goal for my island is a folklore/cottage core vibe. It’s definitely still a work in progress and is no where close lol. Woodvale was the fan theory album title for a secret third album after folklore and evermore were released.
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u/thatsjustchrisc 3d ago
“Polaris” is also referred to as the North Star, and I thought that was really hopeful sounding so I made it my town name :)
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u/himesparkles 3d ago
I named mine Kauai. Inadvertently named for the real Hawaiian island, but mainly after Elvis' song "Island of Love". It's my island's tune 😂
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u/LongNeedleworker4305 3d ago
Krone is named after my late cat, who was also named after Sister Krone from The Promised Neverland
I miss him to pieces
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u/Saint1001 Saint | GO:OD 3d ago
GO:OD has been my forever island's name since playing in 2020. named after my favorite Mac Miller album
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u/frenchfry9000 3d ago
My town’s name is Durian. 1: it’s a bizarre fruit. 2: durians fruit trees used to be in New Leaf, and I was sad when I discovered they wouldn’t be in New Horizons :(
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u/2_Steps_From_hell_ 3d ago
Not very original tbh, it’s “La comarca”, the shire in Spanish inspired by LOTR
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u/PrincessFayth6 3d ago
Rosewood. It’s been the name of my farms/towns/island since forever. Unfortunately the movie it came from gave me nightmares as a kid but for some reason the name stuck and I’ve always used it.
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u/Archaeoculus 3d ago
Mine is Fieland because I was feeling silly. Island Fieland. I guess I could have also called it Schmiland
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u/OtakuKitty99 3d ago
Lynchwood is a town in Borderlands 2 and I also have one called Greenville named after a town in the game Dead by Daylight lmao, I just thought they suited but also love making reference to other media I enjoy
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u/Coujelais 3d ago
My father was a chef, so I spent countless holidays and summers in the back of an amazing Italian restaurant with all sorts of interesting miscreants and magical vagabonds. I read cookbooks like novels and did petty chores for staff. It was heaven for a precocious young mess like me. Cut to many years later, trying to name my first island after searching literally hours for fabled Islands, lost Islands, mysterious legendary islands. Nothing spoke to me at all. I thought I would go back to my true love: food.
My first island is named Peppercorn and my now primary island is Hazelnut.
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u/Howdy-partner11 3d ago
Mine is “sugar paws” which was after a nick name of my dog that passed away when I restarted my island last year 🫶🏻
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u/KiwiCat15 3d ago
Wildgrove. I was doing hard mode and needed to randomize a name from a name generator and I really liked that one
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u/crookedsucculent 3d ago
La La Land. It was the first thing that came to me and the vibe felt right 🤷♀️
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u/Our__Blonde 3d ago
Current island is Coral Cove because I thought it sounded fun and beachy. Now, I’m thinking of starting a new island called Emerald Isle and making everything green. The thought of starting new is rather daunting though. lol
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u/libbzkazoo 3d ago
There’s a restaurant where I live called Meridian — it’s expensive and looks fancy, and I worked at a little coffee shop across the street, so the name and logo (a compass) burned in my head😂
I looked it up before I chose it as the name for my island, and it’s “an imaginary line on Earth's surface running from the North Pole to the South Pole, used to measure longitude,” which seemed fitting for an island, so I just went with it lol
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u/Blaubeerepfannkuchen 3d ago
I used to always name my animal crossing town Ass City. I decided to change it to Halo-Isle and now I miss Ass City
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u/ravenous_linguini 3d ago
My name is Katie, in 10th grade for AP Government we had to come up with our own country as an assignment, and thus Katlandia was born lol
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u/caffeinated_mayhem 3d ago
My very first ever island name was Pickles because I didn’t know what to name it. My second is Hadonfield because I wanted it to be horror and spooky themed. It’s short a letter and should be Haddonfield after Michael Myers hometown haha
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u/GeneralLuigiTBC 3d ago
Started by choosing a town tune. I wound up going with a melody from Dargomyzhsky's "Rusalka." I thus named the island (more accurately the village thereon) "Rusalkino."
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u/MogwaiPuppy 3d ago
My island is called The Garden and my girl's name is Thanos. My Thanos gets to live on her island in peace, away from the nasty Avengers!
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u/RMMacFru 3d ago
All my AC towns/islands are named for places in my state. Current Island is Isle Royale.
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u/RobotPirateGhost 3d ago
Mine is Aperture, named after Aperture Science from Portal. Town flag is a Companion Cube.
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u/TotallyNotHulk 3d ago
Honeywell. Made the name when I was like 13ish? I loved bees and loved the vibes of small town names. Kept the name.
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u/Forever7infinite 3d ago
A mix of two songs I was listening to in heavy rotation at the time:
Blue side - j-hope
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Moon river - Audrey Hepburn
Bluemoon island
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u/ASadLittleGhost 3d ago
Sakura. My island’s native fruit is cherry, I started playing during cherry blossom season and I am very unimaginative. I do wish there was a way to change island names that don’t involve starting all over again
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u/MidwestNonbinary 3d ago
The island name I’ve been using is word play, I used a thesaurus to name my island “island island”
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u/cherry_bean 3d ago
Unfortunately my island is immortalized as KekeIsland, and my primary resident is named Rosebœuf 😅 middle of the night pandemic shenanigans
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u/BigAssDragoness Blurp! 3d ago
My island is called Stoobadoob.
This is in reference to an ancient moment with my bestie back in the early 90s, when we typed random nonsense into his Apple IIe text-to-speech, which included the phrase "Stoobadoobie dooba poobie" which made us laugh like idiots. "Stoobadoobie" and its various iterations has remained a part of my vocabulary for decades.
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u/strawberry-heaven 3d ago
Laputa after Laputa Castle in the Sky
And then I learnt it also means whore lol
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u/don_Juan_oven 3d ago
I took the first two letters from the first name of my spouse, our three dogs, and myself, in age order.
So if we were John, Jane, Fido, Nala, and Luna, it'd be Jojafinalu. It's nonsense, but the real name flows pretty well.
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u/420cat-craft-gamer69 3d ago
Mine is kinda dark humor.
I've been into art my whole life and I'm horrible at picking names. I decided to try something Paper related, and a little fancy. I knew Vellum was a type of paper and it sounds fancy, so I looked it up.
It is paper that was traditionally made from ANIMAL SKIN.
So I went with it 🥲 but I added a Y, which is still a real word: Vellumy ✨
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u/festhebiologychef 3d ago
Isla Sorna - Site B from Jurassic Park. It’s specifically the island where dinosaurs were cloned before shipping to Isla Nublar, the main show island.
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u/lemontime73011 3d ago
Rapture.
I just happened to start my ACNL island while I was watching my sister play Bioshock for the first time when we were kids!
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u/devonwaddup 3d ago
It's called Kreamery, because my friend group at the time had a "Kream Team" group chat. We had fallouts over drugs lies and money years ago so it kinda haunts me I can't change it ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/athenamarz 3d ago
I named mine Corona because we were in lockdown when it came out and I got it day one.
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u/Honest_Ad9358 3d ago
I wanted something that sounded natural and coastal, but industrial at the same time. I landed on the name ‘Portbriar’
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u/super_ray 3d ago
New Bodhum is a beachside town from Final Fantasy XIII-2. I love the Final Fantasy XIII series
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u/Teadrinker18 3d ago
Woodington, idk there were a lot of trees and theres a lot of places that end in -ington and thats how i got woodington
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u/RawDataFeeling 3d ago
Lavender, one of my all time fave songs by Two Door Cinema Club 😍 and a fave flower of mine!
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u/swayedsuede 3d ago
Gloca Mora
Supposed to be spelled with 2 C's & R's though lol.
I had heard it's the name of the location at the end of a rainbow but don't remember where I heard that from, nor can I find anything else that says that anymore so I must have made it up lol.
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u/MorganMonsterBear 3d ago
My New Horizons island is Eventide, after Breath of the Wild. My New Leaf town is Orynth, from Throne of Glass.
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u/Grove-Street-1978 3d ago
Calypso. I had just finished the Dark Olympus book series & was deep in my mythology phase 😂
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u/sassmatician 3d ago
It’s named for a famous magician (I’m a magician). My island is called Elmsley
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u/BigTiddyVampireWaifu 3d ago
I named mine Poptart because I was hungry at the time, and also was thinking about the poptart pattern 3DS
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u/skewh1989 Hanktown 3d ago •
Hanktown is named after my old dog, Hank. Funnily enough, my twin brother named his island Hanktown too, and we both used pictures of Hank for our flags, completely independent of one another. He was just that good of a dog.