Naming conventions in the Wasteland

[Atomic Postman]

A common element in post-nuclear media is the tendency for post-war settlements and locations to have newly christened Wasteland era names. The first Fallout game had this, with no real location names appearing in the game. Los Angeles became The Boneyard, Bakersfield became Necropolis. Entirely made up towns like Junktown and Shady Sands popped up.

Starting with Fallout 2 and onward, however, the series started to kind of shy away from that. With most places keeping their original names and characters being aware of things like state names and boundaries.

Now, to me, I think it's a mistake to do this since it connects the new world to the old one a little too closely. In this new Wasteland frontier, all the old names and conventions have been thrown out the window. Lost to time. I think it's more suited to the Wasteland atmosphere. Plus, a lot of the time the names can be a neat or amusing reference to the real place (Like "Novac").

So, what do you guys think? Is it something that needs to be done more? Less? Or should there be a balance? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

 

[BairdEC]

I always thought of the names like the (Adytum) Boneyard and the Necropolis as nicknames, not the actual names. If a place is in continuous settlement, there is usually no reason to change the name. People would not forget the name of their hometown just because someone dropped a nuke nearby.

 

[Earth]

It can be an interesting world-building point sure, but I'm not sure it would be entirely possible to wipe out old-world names. The original Fallout shows the world at the very beginning of rebuilding. It makes sense that people wouldn't know the names of cities or towns. But as more knowledge of the old world increased, as it would do considering the use of old world technology and educated societies like Vault City and the Brotherhood of Steel existing, there would most likely begin a mixing of old and new names, like the New California Republic.