Goes hand in hand with Expansion Pack World. You have a Magical Land that's about the size of England, since it's mostly Medieval European Fantasy. Let's call it "Magicalandia". You want to expand the world to do more stories, more locations and more Fantasy Counterpart Cultures. But what to call the world now that you can see beyond the borders of one country?
Simple! Fans are so used to the name already, that you can also call the world Magicalandia! Of course, the original country will remain the center of the fictional universe.
Thus, we have the country of Magicalandia on the planet of Magicalandia. Which is equivalent to a real-world country changing its name to "Earth" or planet "Earth" being dubbed "England", as in the trope's name.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- has so many worlds to travel through that they just refer to each one by the name of the country or city that Syaoran et all land in (Clow, Shara, Shura, Nihon, Hashin, Acid Tokyo).
Comic Books
- The DCU:
- The parallel universes of the DC multiverse are generally referred to as "Earth-1", "Earth-2", etc. Strangely, Earth-2 is the original universe and the heroes of Earth-2 have been around, as well as using their superhero identities, for much longer than their Earth-1 counterparts. Earth-2 even discovered interuniversal travel first. But, because the main DC Universe at the time was Earth-1, it somehow got the Earth-1 title.
- Also, the universe of Qward is named for the planet of Qward.
- The Marvel multiverse has a numerically code for each universe in the direct line of Marvel comics. Interestingly, the main Marvel universe, unlike DC's Earth-1, is universe number 616.
Film - Animation
- In Madagascar, the Kingdom of Madagascar is located in the country of Madagascar.
Film - Live Action
- In Superman II, after hearing an astronaut contact Houston, General Zod assumes that "Houston" must be the name of the whole planet.
- Star Wars:
- There's the Forest Moon of Endor from Star Wars Return of the Jedi. The movie doesn't make it clear whether Endor is the name of the moon or the planet that it orbits and the Expanded Universe can't decide which it is.
- Star systems tend to be named after their most significant planet, like Coruscant is in the Coruscant system and this applies to most other planets.
Literature
- The Chronicles of Narnia: Narnia is only the name of one of many kingdoms; when Eustace tells Jill he's been to Narnia and then that he's never been to Narnia (been to the world, but not the country), Jill is understandably confused. Note that the inhabitants of the Narnian world don't refer to it as "Narnia", however. When they call it anything at all, it seems to be referred to as "earth", which obviously wouldn't help when trying to distinguish it from our world.
- In The Magician's Nephew prequel, we briefly visit Charn. The name refers to both the city and the world it's on.
- Averted in The Door To Inferna to a highly specific degree: the alternate universe is called "Usifia," the planet that the story takes place on is "Pyrhithya," and the country is known as "Elkloria," with the focal province being known as "Neurazia." Ironically enough, The Door to Inferna is one example where this trope would cause few problems, as the only nation on Pyrhithya is Elkloria, with the only other geographic region being the uncivilized Wildlandes.
- Dragaera is a major offender: It makes sense that there is a Dragaeran Empire with a (former) capital city of Dragaera, as this pretty much mirrors Rome. On the other hand, the universe itself is called Dragaera, and the species of its inhabitants and its language are both Dragaeran, even though there are at least two other kingdoms in the world.
- The Riftwar Cycle almost completely averts this despite several add-ons, and actually inverts it on one occasion: We know from the beginning that the world is called Midkemia, but the main continent (Triagia) is not named for quite some time.
- His Dark Materials takes place in a multiverse, but the issue is handled fairly well. We call our world "Will's world," since that's where Will comes from. Also, most of the characters who hear about our world only know Will. Cittagazze is really just a city, though, and the characters shouldn't be using it as the name of the entire, Spectre-haunted world. They sometimes call it "The world of Cittagazze," but it's kind of a mouthful.
- Averted in The Lord of the Rings and all related works. Middle-earth is the common name for the continent where the action takes place, but the entire planet is called Arda, and it is part of Eä (the universe). (It's also actually meant to be Earth, in the far distant past - "Middle-earth" is simply a modernisation of middanġeard or midgard.)
- The Land of Oz is near such places as Ix, Ev, Mo, and Menankypoo. There's no official name for the continent on which the stories take place. The most common fanon name is Nonestica note ; other proposals are Supernumquam and the Continent of Imagination. Every king of Oz is named Oz, making them King Oz, of the nation of Oz, on the Continent of Oz
Mayor: As mayor of the Munchkin city, in the county of the land of Oz...
- In Perry Rhodan this happens on several levels. At first established nomenclature is followed when using names like Terra, Luna, Sol and Milky-Way to refer to our home planet, moon, sun and galaxy respectively, but they also start to refer to the normal 4D Universe as the Einstein-universe or Einstein-continuum to differentiate it from other dimensions and universes encountered throughout the stories. (However, this is to some extent simply the human naming convention and other cultures don't automatically use it. For instance, it would take a fairly rude modern Arkonide to refer to Terra as "Larsaf III", but it wouldn't be entirely inaccurate since that is in fact the name they were using for our planet back in the day when establishing the colony later known as Atlantis — and at least one other known name for the "main" universe is "Meekorah", coined by felinoid aliens looking to emigrate there from their own dying universe.)
- "Randland" is often used as the unofficial name for the world in The Wheel of Time, though this term (naturally) isn't used by anyone in the book. It's also used specifically for what the Aiel call "the wetlands," distinguishing it from the Aiel Wastes, the Blight and Seanchan.
- According to George R. R. Martin the world of A Song of Ice and Fire would be called by the local word for "Earth", but is usually referred to by fans as "Westeros", although Westeros is only one of three known continents, as early as the first book a major character was on Essos and in the later books several other characters also travel there.
- Another, albeit fan-given, name for the world that has caught on is "Planetos", following the Theme Naming of the continents referring to cardinal directions with an -os suffix.
- Subverted in The Pendragon Adventure where one of the ten Territories "Ibara" is named after the only civilly inhabited island. It is later revealed that Ibara is actually on the planet Veelox which itself is the name of the Territory some 300 years prior, which is still completely accessible through the flumes, until the protaganist blows up the most easily accessible flume in the territory (Ibara).
- The unnamed planet where Hard to Be a God takes place is usually referred to by fans as Arkanar, after the kingdom where the events of the novel unfold. The video game kinda-sequel, however, non-canonically retcons the planet to be called Tsurinaka.
- Subverted in Rough Draft. The protagonist finds himself in a parallel world, in a city called Kimgim, and continues to call it such until he learns that the world itself is called Veroz, and the trope is discussed and ridiculed.
- Averted in the Heralds of Valdemar series, but really only in the Universe Compendium. The world is Velgarth, but because the series virtually never deals with any land that doesn't directly border Valdemar, none of the characters ever have any cause to refer to their entire planet. This leaves a lot of readers who never bothered with the Valdemar Companionnote stuck referring to it this way.
- Being inspired by Narnia, Fillory from The Magicians is sometimes the name of the entire magical world and sometimes just one of its kingdoms.
- The world that Wings of Fire takes place in is called "Pyrrhia" at first, until the third arc reveals that it's just one continent on the planet.
Tabletop Games
- Mostly averted with Dungeons & Dragons worlds. Although the world of Oerth (home to the Greyhawk setting) is in a crystal sphere called "Greyspace", presumably named after the City of Greyhawk.
- Also, "Realmspace", crystal sphere of the Forgotten Realms setting, is named for a term that technically shouldn't be used by anyone who actually lives in Realmspace: "Forgotten Realms" refers to the notion that there used to be connections between Toril and Earth, which those of us living on this side have forgotten about.
- The Ravenloft product line, and the demiplane where this setting is located, are named after a castle that most natives of that world have never even heard of. Early products had natives using "Ravenloft" to refer to the setting where they lived, though this was later retconned as a Translation Convention of an out-of-character gamers' term.
- In Magic: The Gathering, the plane of Ravnica is named after the large city of Ravnica. Justified, as Ravnica is a City Planet.
- And now there's Ixalan. Unlike other planes, which are all Planetvilles, Ixalan has two continents. One is named Torrezon, The other is named... also Ixalan. That's the continent that the plot is focused on; the former is just used as the home for the thinly-veiled conquistador metaphor vampires (and former home of the pirates). Also just narrowly avoided with Dominaria, location of most early sets. It's the center of the multiverse, but the multiverse is named Dominia, which is still incredibly close.
Video Games
- The Legend of Zelda:
- The Kingdom of Hyrule within the world of Hyrule... maybe. It's never incredibly consistent if Hyrule is the entire world, or just one country/continent. Supposedly it's just a country of an alternate Earth, since there is also the lands of Holodrum and Labyrnna. Dialogue in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess mentions a world beyond Hyrule, implicitly saying that it's not actually called Hyrule. Hyrulean geography is never consistent, but it does have all the hallmarks of a country that hasn't really bothered to explore much beyond its natural borders. Hyrule's creation stories don't seem to consider the possibility that much exists beyond their home country, a characteristic of many ancient oral traditions in the real world.
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link played this completely straight. In it, Link explores the entire world (or a large part of it), crossing several continents. The original Hyrule from the first game is tucked away in a tiny corner of that world map. It's implied that Hyrule has expanded in the recent centuries to cover all that land. Later sequels however returned to the original smaller map, and have simply ignored the issue of what exists beyond Hyrule proper, except for the Gerudo Desert (subtly characterized in games such as Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild as being separate from the Kingdom of Hyrule) and the continent of New Hyrule in Spirit Tracks (explicitly founded by refugees from the original, now sunken Hyrule).
- Mega Man Battle Network 1 has the city you live in, Den City (or Densan City in Japan) which has a smaller town called Den Town (likewise Densan Town in Japan); however, it's part of the larger nation of Electopia, i.e., Japan, and other unrelated countries across the globe are visited in the series.
- Super Mario Bros. has the Mushroom Kingdom within the Mushroom World. Averted in Super Mario Odyssey, in which the entire planet is shown but never named.
- Warcraft: The Kingdom of Azeroth on continent of Azeroth on the planet Azeroth. Later retconned into the Kingdom of Stormwind, the continent of the Eastern Kingdoms and the planet Azeroth, respectively, but the old names still occasionally pop up even in recent lore. The southern region of the Eastern Kingdoms is still technically called "Azeroth." The manual makes a note of this in attempt to avoid confusion.
- Final Fantasy has the country of Ivalice in the world of Ivalice. Except in Final Fantasy XII, where Ivalice refers to a region made up of the main areas of the game - Rozarria, Dalmasca, Nabradia, and Archadia.
- King's Quest: Daventry is an interesting example. The author of the reference materials written in-universe has a magic computer (and thus a magical Internet connection to our world). He says that he will continue to refer to the entire realm as Daventry for the reader's benefit, even though Daventry is technically only one kingdom. Word of God calls the world Earth, and stated that the events of the game occured in the ancient past.
- Legacy of Kain: In all games Nosgoth is implied to be the name of the world. It contains at least two kingdoms which are never named (King Ottmar's and the Nemesis'). On the other hand, in Blood Omen 2, Nosgoth has a capitol named Meridian. Of course, Blood Omen 2 is often filed under Fanon Discontinuity or Broad Strokes anyway...
- Might and Magic and sister Heroes of Might and Magic. Heroes of Might and Magic II introduces the name Enroth, referring to the realm the game and its prequel take place in. Cue several further iterations which interestingly take place within the kingdom of Enroth, which lies within the land of Enroth, upon the continent of Enroth, on the planet of Enroth. The name Enroth later mysteriously crops up in some spinoffs which have absolutely nothing to do with the aforementioned world. Admittedly, the Kingdom of Enroth appears to more-or-less cover the entirety of the continent of Enroth, so confusion would not be quite so common as might otherwise be the case.
- Before Heroes III: Armageddon's Blade, which renamed the continent Antagarich, the continent of Erathia housed a kingdom of the same name.
- Kingdom Hearts has this approach, although rather than expansion, the areas of the countries (referred to as the world) simply change.
- The continent of Tyria on the world of Tyria. Somewhat excusable, as the original Guild Wars Tyria was planned as a complete setting in its own right, with multiple distinct kingdoms and regions. When they decided to make new sequel/expansion pack "campaigns" on new continents, the name was Retconed (along with the original Guild Wars being re-named the "Prophecies campaign") to being both the continent and the world.
Web Original
- A minor case in Lambda, not so much the level of the scale, but the frequency of its occurrence. The Five Powers are all named after their capital cities. Thus the Soleil Alliance's capital is Soleil, the Krieggarten Federation's capital is Krieggarten (even though it's made of three sovereign states), and so on. It's particularly jarring as it has the equivalent of having the Roman Republic, the United Kingdom of London, The Empire of Tokyo, etc.
Western Animation
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Early fanon was split as to whether Equestria was the name of the world or a country. "Hearth's Warming Eve" revealed that the Earth, Unicorn, and Pegasus nations formed an alliance to settle in a new region they name "Equestria". The introduction of several other countries (starting in Season 3 with Saddle Arabia) shows that Equestria is not the only country on the planet. Other pony nations have been shown with Maretania, meaning that Celestia and Luna do not rule all of ponykind as many fans had assumed. The planet's name has yet to be mentioned. (If the pony world even is a planet and not a Flat World. The moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise, implying that the smallest of the three bodies is at an unstable Lagrange point of the other two.) The Crystal Empire, despite being nominally independent (and a city-state), is referred to as part of Equestria, suggesting that it's also the name of the continent the country is located on. This would make sense, as it's clearly a counterpart of North America.
Real Life
- Quite a number of cities have the same name (or almost the same name) as the nations or jurisdictions in which they reside, e.g. Mexico City in Mexico, Tunis in Tunisia, and New York, NY. The "naming-after" process can go in either direction.
- In point of fact, the names of Tunisia and Algeria in their native Arabic are both exactly the same as their capitals: Tunisia in Arabic is Tūnis (as for is Tunis the city), while both Algeria and Algiers are Al-Jazā'ir. Kuwait is the same way, but since it's basically a city-state, that's not this trope.
- Of course, this can lead to some confusion - just ask someone about Kansas City that's not from Missouri.
- In fact, the name of just about every country in the world derives from some specific area, geographical feature, or tribe within that country or its distant pastnote . For example, "France" from the Franks and "India" from the river Sindhu. After all, whoever got the privilege of naming a sufficiently large area wouldn't have had a bird's-eye view informing them of the entire area's qualities. Plus, many countries/regions result from the fusion of several smaller places: e.g., The Roman Empire is named after its capital city of Rome.
- Ask someone from England if Gibraltar or The Isle of Man is part of the UK and they'll very likely say "No, it's an overseas territory/crown dependency. The UK is just England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland." But ask the same person what country such a territory is a part of and they'll say it's part of the UK. Clearly there are two United Kingdoms, one being an overall sovereign state that represents all British territories in the UN and other such places, and one being the main internal territory of the Sovereign State. This diagram explains in more detail.
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