We’re less than 24 hours away from the release of the highly anticipated Nintendo Switch title, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The fifth main installment in the adorable “life simulator” franchise gives players greater control than ever before, allowing them to develop and populate an entire gorgeous tropical island. With the help of shifty but savvy raccoon-dog businessman Tom Nook, you can invite a colorful cast of animal characters to move to your new paradise and create a bustling community.
With so many decisions to make, why not get a head start on one of the most notoriously difficult of them all—choosing the perfect name for your island? Rather than spend hours staring at the “enter name” screen waiting for inspiration to strike, you can start the game with a pre-selected name already in mind with the help of the Island Name Generator.
Searching for “social distancing” friendly activities amidst (currently unsubstantiated) rumors of potential delayed-release, Web developer Samuel Fine programmed this island name generator to help you decide. Fine collected an initial data set of over 10,000 words, ranging from the names of real-life islands to those of bugs, fish, and characters found in previous Animal Crossing titles.
The words were then “taught” to a recurrent neural network—an AI-based technology capable of infinitely generating new data based on existing information. Fine used free resources available on GitHub to create the finished product.
With a simple click of a button, the generator spits out a suggested name for your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island. Names range from three to 10 letters long and are generally made-up of words with a vaguely tropical theme, such as “Taradori,” “Oala,” or “Velsands”. Occasionally, however, you might find yourself faced with an unpronounceable cluster of letters like “pMearnzy” or preexisting English words including “Tree” “Guide” and even “Butts” (Fine describes the generator’s results as “probably unique” for a reason!).
Keep yourself distracted waiting for your copy of New Horizons to arrive with this irresistibly addictive name generator. The perfect name for your brand new tropical island is out there waiting for you!
What will all of you be naming your islands in Animal Crossing: New Horizons? Personally, I’m leaning towards “Gilligan Island,” in homage to the classic TV show, although Fine’s name generator has definitely tempted me with the surprisingly punny likes of “Deserdad ” and “Notheer”!
