I agree that going straight south doesn't make sense but I still suggest S-(S-)-E-E since it will uncover more tiles.
For our capital I had something like "Alliance Headquarters" in mind.
Other that than we could could just start a list with suggestions or alternate in naming the cities (I, for example, like naming cities after towns I like or live in, e.g. Ulm, Goslar, Tucson, ...).
Like the Spamsterdamnit.