Selecting appropriate place names is an essential part of cartographic generalization. This research is aimed to explore the potential of automatic place names selection using GIS. Based on population density and regional characteristic, the authors categorized research areas into three types: mountain, village and urban. The ideal numbers of place names for each different scale of maps were calculated based on Töpfer's Radical Law. The spatial analytical functions of GIS were then adopted to prioritize the precedence of place names on various scale of map, according to relevant geographic factors being manipulated within GIS. The resulted name list selected by automatic process are consistent to that selected manually. Such finding suggested that the rules implemented in GIS can serve as reference of place names selection in map compilation process.