When is a lake called a lake?
When is a body of water called a lake? The answer may depend on who you ask. In the United States, the Federal Interagency Committee on Geographical Names has jurisdiction over geographic names. According to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names’ domestic feature type classification system, a lake is a body of water that is inland and not part of an ocean or other sea.
Lakes are generally larger than ponds, which are also inland bodies of water that are not part of an ocean or other sea, but smaller than reservoirs. Reservoirs are man-made lakes that are created by damming a river to store water for irrigation, drinking water, hydroelectric power generation or flood control.
So, when is a body of water called a lake? It depends on its location and whether it is natural or man-made.
How do lakes get their names?
There are a few ways that lakes can get their names. The first is through natural features. For example, if a lake is created by a dam, it may be named after the river that it was dammed off of. Or, if a lake is particularly deep or has an interesting shape, it may be named for that feature.
Another way that lakes can get their names is through human activity. If a lake is used for recreation, it may be named after the person who developed the area or the body of water itself. For example, many lakes in Minnesota were given names by the early Scandinavian settlers who arrived there in the 1800s.
Finally, some lakes are simply named for their location. This is especially common with smaller lakes that are part of a larger body of water.
Can I use the random lake names that this tool creates?
Yes you can. The Story Shack claims no copyright on any of these names, but it is of course possible that some of the values this name generator provides are already owned by anyone else, so please make sure to always do your due diligence.
How many ideas can I generate with this Lake Name Generator?
The Lake Name Generator can generate thousands of ideas for your project, so feel free to keep clicking and at the end use the handy copy feature to export your lake names to a text editor of your choice. Enjoy!
What are good lake names?
There's thousands of random lake names in this generator. Here are some samples to start:
Examples of lake names| Idea #1 | Lanigan Depths |
| Idea #2 | Holyrose Basin |
| Idea #3 | Wesview Shallows |
| Idea #4 | Radcona Waters |
| Idea #5 | Freetrie Lake |
| Idea #6 | Roxcouche Lagoon |
| Idea #7 | Emerlan Pond |
| Idea #8 | Stafwaki Expanse |
| Idea #9 | Taunsoll Loch |
| Idea #10 | Avonwick Domain |
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