So I've been thinking lately, and I'm rather curious- how do you guys decide on a name for a location? While some locations already have original names from before they were abandoned, not all locations (like houses or caves) do- or else they are too sensitive to refer to by their real name, at risk of getting blown up.

I usually nickname locations based on portmanteau of nearby streets or geographical features- to use a now demolished example, I nicknamed a certain house "Redmountain House" because it was on the intersection of Redwing Drive and North Mountain Road. I find that this helps create unique nicknames that still maintain a certain level of discretion.

What criteria do you guys use to nickname locations?

Sometimes it's something I've seen there or experienced. Sometimes it's a physical feature of the place, or lack of.

It can also be just nonsensical.

Posted by Gothic Ghoul Sometimes it's something I've seen there or experienced. Sometimes it's a physical feature of the place, or lack of. It can also be just nonsensical.

Absolutely my way too.

There's the

• glass in your ass tower
  
• mean guy with a gun house
  
• the great place for breakfast with a view building
  

Absolutely, we nickname some of the mines that we explore. I have a large database of mine claims from the USGS, but a lot of mines we find aren't on it. So when we explore those mines we usually come up with a name that relates to the mine's features or something that happened there.

The Snake Mine - self explanatory, lots of snakes
The Raven Mine - we found a raven nest with chicks about 20 down from the collar
The Killer Mine - I got hit by a large rock I dislodged with the rope
The San Francisco Mine - a piece of wood nailed to an overhead beam was from a wooden crate with "San Francisco" printed on it.

On and on...

Abby Mine

I always just come up with a random word and then the type of building. So, if it's a state hospital, it'll be xyz State Hospital.

Usually my nicknames come out of some anecdote from the location. For instance, one of the first sites I visited which was half flattened became "Little Nagasaki." I went to one area with lots of signs of hired goon activity in evicting residents, so I nicknamed it "Gangsters' Paradise." We came up with "Nightmare Lab" for an office that had preserved animals in jars. One abandoned university building looks kind of like communist architecture, so we nicknamed it "Communist Party Headquarters."

Korean place names often have Chinese origins, so I can find ways to play with the translations, which has resulted in Double Dragon Street and Illiteracy Hill.

I usually call a house something related to an item or items I find inside (Betamax House, Bookworm House etc) and sometimes something will instantly pop out at me which makes it easy although sometimes I really struggle to think of something decent.

If the locals have already given a popular spot a name, I'll usually default to that. If it is or was a business with a name, I'll usually use that. When naming locations myself (or talking with a friend) it's much more along the lines of

- The Big one on the Northside
- The One where I ripped my jeans climbing the fence
- That yellow shithole
- The one where we made up the story for the security guard in the lobby that one time
- Slippery and Boring
- Nope
- That other shithole
- I was super drunk that night and I barely remember it
- The one near the park where we saw the homeless guy beating off

Posted by NotBatman If the locals have already given a popular spot a name, I'll usually default to that.

This^ but what I've seen and adopted is naming a location after who found it or the group ie Berg's drain

Posted by NotBatman - The One where I ripped my jeans climbing the fence

I know this feeling all too well

Some need no new names...
Rattlesnake Air Base
Rattlesnake Energy LLC

I love the names my group gives to locations.

Rec center with a noose hanging in the lobby = Hangman's Wellness Center
Children's ward = The Playpen
Maintenance shop with Christmas decorations = Santa's Workshop

My first location was a house that we called "Church House", due to being the lair of a homeless guy who would walk around town asking people if they believed in god.

Most of my explorations are on land allotments, so I just call them by the allotment owners name. Some have interesting tagging, so I'll just use that to name them. My favorites being "Seth's Palace of Boys" and "Communal Shitter" (This one was an outhouse with six holes, no stalls).

If there is something distinctive about the house/building I may use that as a nickname. Last year my buddy and I checked out an old farm house that was covered in mud wasp nests. We refer to it as 'The Mudwasp House.' (Or at least I do.)

If I can't find anything out of the ordinary or anything to nickname it, I just call it "The house on 'X' street or 'Y' avenue.

I guess you guys are a whole lot more fun than me. If I'm talking to someone who hasn't been to it with me then I'll say something vague like a prison in whatever state or something. If I'm referring to it to someone who I went to it with (I know that was confusing) then I'll call it by it's name or something like "that factory with the stair in whatever state" or something like that. Ironically enough, nicknames seem childish to me.

Posted by ryanpics I guess you guys are a whole lot more fun than me. If I'm talking to someone who hasn't been to it with me then I'll say something vague like a prison in whatever state or something. If I'm referring to it to someone who I went to it with (I know that was confusing) then I'll call it by it's name or something like "that factory with the stair in whatever state" or something like that. Ironically enough, nicknames seem childish to me.

Yeah, I get what you're saying, but eventually nicknames come in handy if you ask me. Sometimes larger cities will have multiple similar abandonments (houses and drains mostly) and it's easier to give them a nickname than it is to say "the drain under fourth and main" all the time.

They also come in handy for locations where discretion is of the utmost importance. For example, I've been to a certain place that is fairly well known among the midwest urbex community, but nobody even speaks of it without using a nickname because it's been sealed so many times that nobody wants to risk the wrong person catching wind of it and sealing it for good.