City names and how they affect hacks

This thread has a simple purpose - to discuss how, in you opinion, the names of towns and cities affect hacks and, if you're are hacker, how you form them.

In my personal opinion, I like shorter names that are easy to remember, mostly because I hate it when a character says "go to Aslkrerianosa City" and I have no town map to see where that city actually was. For original games, I like the city names from Generation I the most because they are all colours and are really easy to remember.

I make city/town names in two different names. The most common way for me is to find a city/town from an original game that resembles the one I'm making and take its French or German name. Another way I make names is by taking aspects of the town/city and merging them into one word. For example, mountains in FireRed are a beige-ish brown colour, so I use the name Beitain Town for one of my towns (Beige Mountain).

(this is my first thread, I hope it has enough discussion value)

I wouldn't say city names 'affect' hacks as such (unless they're just ferociously bad names), but there's no harm in leaving this thread as a "How do you name cities/towns in your hack?" thread.

I see the point in preferring shorter names, but when I think about it most official names have quite a few characters (Vermilion, Cinnabar, Mahogany, etc). My favourite method is when a theme is chosen and the names of towns and cities follow that- colours for Kanto, trees/wood for Johto, minerals (of sorts...) for Hoenn, and so on. That said, when I'm naming original towns, I often go with names like "Budloom Town" for the player's home town (Bud + Bloom), "Springleaf" for the next town, and generally have names symbolic of the next town's geographical features from that point on.

I usually use real cities/towns that I have learned about in history course, that have a certain connection with me, and other times I just make up words that I think sound phonetically nice.

Mmmm.

sssshhhh.....
Le pug is talking.

While creativity is key for your hack (and after all it is your hack), I'd agree that names should be carefully chosen, even if they don't REALLY affect the gameplay or story too much unless you're about to travel the world and you need to constantly throw out a city name. Been playing Pokemon since I was a kid and I can honestly say even with a good memory, the only places I can recall are Pallet Town, Littleroot, Veridian City (sp?), and Slateport City. Names don't really affect anything imo and I usually look for a city based on just its layout and unique coloring. If you have multiple cities with the same blocks, I'm going to get lost fast.
For my hack, personally I've been using just easy stuff like... Shipwreck Beach or Jungle Path. Don't really worry about the names.

I personally don't think names are a BIG deal. I am named every town in my game after a cities I live near and I don't think anyone will care/notice.