Hello and welcome to the first thrilling episode of Name That House!
The rental home I own and operate in South Lake Tahoe has a strong unified persona that is summed up in its name, “Fjeldheim”– Norwegian for “Mountain Home”. It is Norwegian because my Dad is proud to be the son of Norwegian immigrants and he designed and built the place more than thirty years ago. The name of the house seems to exemplify its character so well: perched on a stony ridge of the Eastern Sierras in the Tahoe Basin, it is certainly “Fjeld” (mountainy). And it has been a warm welcoming home for hundreds of people, if not thousands, over the decades.
I want the home we are building here in South Central to also have a strong persona, and a good name will really help toward that end. For the sake of continuity, and because I am proud to be the grandson of Norwegian immigrants, I’d like the name to be Norwegian too, or at least build on the Norwegian suffix “-heim”, since we already know we want this to be a warm welcoming home for thousands of people over the decades.
The most obvious choice, to contrast with Fjeldheim, is to figure out the Norwegian word for “urban” or “city” and call it “City Home”. But the Norwegian-speakers I know were uncomfortable and vague about what would be the proper word. “Stad” is the agreed-upon word for “city”, but when I crowed “Stadheim!” they would scrunchle their faces up and say “You can’t say that.” It turns out that stad also means “place”, and sounds too vague when combined with -heim. Besides, it suggests a false cognate in English: “stadium”.
What about “Urbheim”? Sure, I’m cheating and sticking a latin root in there, but latin roots invade all sorts of languages. Any votes for Urbheim, “City Home”?
Now accepting suggestions… 
