Setting stories in the real world

[Red Orc]

I found out recently about a place called Bromsberrow on the border of Worcestershire and Gloucester. Got me thinking as to whether Brom, the old wizard from the Eragon books, is buried there (ie, Brom's Barrow). Presumably, nearby (well, relatively speaking) Bromyard and Bromsgrove, and not-so-near Bromley, were places he lived on his travels before the Eragon books start. Maybe then Wormbrdge in Herefordshire is connected to his dragon.

There's Frodsham in Cheshire, and Frodesley in Shropshire. Perhaps one or other of these places has a colony of Hobbits who preserve the real stories of Frodo and his adventures. Perhaps one is named for Frodo Baggins, and one a generation later for Frodo Gamgee; maybe the stories even confuse the two. 'No, the Frodo who fought at Weathertop wasn't the same Frodo that fought the Giant Spider...'

Conisbrough in Yorkshire is perhaps where Conan came from, unless it's where he settled. Maybe he came from Coningsby in Lincolnshire.

There's an Elrick in Surrey, perhaps named for the Melnibonean albino Elric, though it does I admit seem a bit tenuous (not being an island and all).

Any other heroes of fantasy fiction (not the pseudo-historical Arthur, Caradoc, Coel Hen, Hengist etc) that can be located in the British landscape? Or as there's no reason why we can't all play, the German, Swedish, American, Brazilian and Italian landcscapes, to name a few?

[Argonor]

I'd love to play, but I don't think we have much of that kind of place names in DK. That, and I'm kinda busy brewing my first batch of mead... 

[Andrew May]

I don't know about characters but I always remember some pretty fantastic place names in Cornwall. Skol-Goth and Coffinswell immediately come to mind but I'm sure there are others.

[Red Orc]

Oh, aye, redolent place-names are pretty much a given. Especially those that might refer to fantasy races. I'm sure there are Hobbits at Pucklechurch (Glos) and Pocklington in E Yorks. But are there Orcs at York? If Elves live at Elstree and Ellesmere, are the inhabitants of Trowbridge Trolls, Dwarves or Dark Elves (Drow)?

[Andrew May]

Anywhere with Trow in always makes me think too!

[Momotaro]

I used to live in a Lincolnshire hamlet called Mavis Enderby.

It was named after... a lady called Mavis Enderby!

[Vanvlak]

A trip to Malta could include some exotic stuff:

Siggiewi (soft g)
Birkirkara
Kalkara (sounds Kryptonian)
Bir id-deheb (the h is not pronounced - means well of gold)
Delimara (it's not a deli)
Bubaqra (guttural q - cows' village)
Burmarrad (sickly village)
Hamrun (no pigs were harmed in the naming of this place; and the 'run' is pronounced 'rune'!)
Hal-Gharghur (my favourite; actually named after a plant, and should be pronounced with a liquid gh, but is regularly mispronounced with two harsh gs, sounding quite orcish)

[Froggy the Great]

I've got any number of folks named Charles that could come from Charleston...

[jp1885]

I grew up just down the road from Bromyard 

[ink the troll]

Oggersheim, I'm sure they just put the second 'g' in there to hide the truth...
(In German Ogre is spelt Oger, but pronunciation is pretty much the same.)

[Red Orc]

Ogre's Home is a great place name. One ogre or many, do you think? And Thornaby/Thorn Abbey has never struck me before, now I'm trying to think of any more '-aby' place-names to see if you can do the same. But all the places I can think of are just '-by' names like Rugby and Derby.

[Wilkins]

Bellerby (small village in North Yorkshire) becomes Bell Abbey

[ink the troll]

Ogre's Home is a great place name. One ogre or many, do you think? (...)

Probably more than just one. Poor ickle Ogre would get all kinds of lonely otherwise.

In relative close approximation to Berlin, there's some moor/ heathland called Schorfheide.
While the name supposedly was somehow derived from Schaf (sheep), I always thought it was a funny name as Schorf= scab, Heide= moor/ heathland- Scabmoor does sound fairly rotten and nurgly...

[Andrew May]

I just remembered http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wistman's_Wood
"The name of Wistman's Wood may derive from the dialect word 'wisht' meaning 'eerie/uncanny'.,[7] or ‘pixie-led/haunted’. The legendary Wild Hunt in Devon is particularly associated with Wistman's Wood – the hellhounds of which are known as Yeth (Heath) or Wisht Hounds in the Devonshire dialect."

No far from where I grew up but alas, I've never visited.

[Connectamabob]

I'm from the San Diego area of Southern California, so most of the local place names are either missionary-era Spanish or Native American (mostly the former). Best I can think of of the top of my head is a place out to the northeast called Aguanga (pronounced ah-WONG-ga), which to me sounds like it should be Australian (Australia's a fictional place, right? ). Doesn't help that SoCal has wild eucalyptus all over thanks to some bloke back in the 19th century who thought they'd make good railroad ties (they didn't).

We do have a "Cardiff" here, though it's just a wee thin little stretch of beachfront town sammitched amidst the suburban-ish north county cities. Still, it's the Cardiff I grew up with, so whenever someone on one of the BBC shows mentions the Cardiff in Whales, that's where my head automatically goes to first. Wouldn't wanna have Torchwood here, but the Doctor I think would like it.

I've got a bunch of relatives in Arizona, and THAT place is funky. Tiny towns/cities scattered like islands in a vast ocean of scrub desert, many with names straight out of old westerns (art imitates life, after all). Once you get just a little way out of the urban hearts of those "islands", the whole state has a strong sort of Ray Bradbury-ish haunted feel. I want a to shoot a supernatural road movie there someday.