Natural Terrain Feature Name Generator
Utilizing data from the USGS Board of Geographic Names, the geographic feature name generator contains thousands entries across 37 categories of natural terrain. For human constructed features, check out the Manmade Feature Name Generator.
| Dataset | Count: |
Feature Class descriptions as detailed by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Arch | Natural arch-like opening in a rock mass (bridge, natural bridge, sea arch). |
| Area | Any one of several areally extensive natural features not included in other categories (badlands, barren, delta, fan, garden). |
| Arroyo | Watercourse or channel through which water may occasionally flow (coulee, draw, gully, wash). |
| Bar | Natural accumulation of sand, gravel, or alluvium forming an underwater or exposed embankment (ledge, reef, sandbar, shoal, spit). |
| Basin | Natural depression or relatively low area enclosed by higher land (amphitheater, cirque, pit, sink). |
| Bay | Indentation of a coastline orshoreline enclosing a part of a body of water; a body of water partly surrounded by land (arm, bight, cove, estuary, gulf, inlet, sound). |
| Beach | The sloping shore along a body of water that is washed by waves or tides and is usually covered by sand or gravel (coast, shore, strand). |
| Bench | Area of relatively level land on the flank of an elevation such as a hill, ridge, or mountain where the slope of the land rises on one side and descends on the opposite side (level). |
| Bend | Curve in the course of a stream and (or) the land within the curve; a curve in a linear body of water (bottom, loop, meander). |
| Cape | Projection of land extending into a body of water (lea, neck, peninsula, point). |
| Cave | Natural underground passageway or chamber, or a hollowed out cavity in the side of a cliff (cavern, grotto). |
| Channel | Linear deep part of a body of water through which the main volume of water flows and is frequently used as aroute for watercraft (passage, reach, strait, thoroughfare, throughfare). |
| Cliff | Very steep or vertical slope (bluff, crag, head, headland, nose, palisades, precipice, promontory, rim, rimrock). |
| Crater | Circular-shaped depression at the summit of a volcanic cone or one on the surface of the land caused by the impact of a meteorite; a manmade depression caused by an explosion (caldera, lua). |
| Falls | Perpendicular or very steep fall of water in the course of a stream (cascade, cataract, waterfall). |
| Flat | Relative level area within a region of greater relief (clearing, glade, playa). |
| Forest | Bounded area of woods, forest, or grassland under the administration of a political agency (see "woods") (national forest, national grasslands, State forest). |
| Gap | Low point or opening between hills or mountains or in a ridge or mountain range (col, notch, pass, saddle, water gap, wind gap). |
| Glacier | Body or stream of ice moving outward and downslope from an area of accumulation; an area of relatively permanent snow or ice on the top or side of a mountain or mountainous area (icefield, ice patch, snow patch). |
| Gut | Relatively small coastal waterway connecting larger bodies of water or other waterways (creek, inlet, slough). |
| Harbor | Sheltered area of water where ships or other watercraft can anchor or dock (hono, port, roads, roadstead). |
| Island | Area of dry or relatively dry land surrounded by water or low wetland (archipelago, atoll, cay, hammock, hummock, isla, isle, key, moku, rock). |
| Isthmus | Narrow section of land in a body of water connecting two larger land areas. |
| Lake | Natural body of inland water (backwater, lac, lagoon, laguna, pond, pool, resaca, waterhole). |
| Lava | Formations resulting from the consolidation of molten rock on the surface of the Earth (kepula, lava flow). |
| Pillar | Vertical, standing, often spire-shaped, natural rock formation (chimney, monument, pinnacle, pohaku, rock tower). |
| Plain | A region of general uniform slope, comparatively level and of considerable extent (grassland, highland, kula, plateau, upland). |
| Range | Chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra). |
| Rapids | Fast-flowing section of a stream, often shallow and with exposed rock or boulders (riffle, ripple). |
| Ridge | Elevation with a narrow, elongated crest which can be part of a hill or mountain (crest, cuesta, escarpment, hogback, lae, rim, spur). |
| Sea | Large body of salt water (gulf, ocean). |
| Slope | A gently inclined part of the Earth's surface (grade, pitch). |
| Spring | Place where underground water flows naturally to the surface of the Earth (seep). |
| Stream | Linear body of water flowing on the Earth's surface (anabranch, awawa, bayou, branch, brook, creek, distributary, fork, kill, pup, rio, river, run, slough). |
| Summit | Prominent elevation rising above the surrounding level of the Earth's surface; does not include pillars, ridges, or ranges (ahu, berg, bald, butte, cerro, colina, cone, cumbre, dome, head, hill, horn, knob, knoll, mauna, mesa, mesita, mound, mount, mountain, peak, puu, rock, sugarloaf, table, volcano). |
| Swamp | Poorly drained wetland, fresh or saltwater, wooded or grassy, possibly covered with open water (bog, cienega, marais, marsh, pocosin). |
| Valley | Linear depression in the Earth's surface that generally slopes from one end to the other (barranca, canyon, chasm, cove, draw, glen, gorge, gulch, gulf, hollow, ravine). |
| Woods | Small area covered with a dense growth of trees; does not include an area of trees under the administration of a political agency (see "forest"). |