It's very interesting to read about your naming process. I experienced something similar with some rashly decisions for place names - and then I stuck to them for years although I didn't really like them. I'm now in a process of re-naming a lot of places and yes, these things take a lot of time.

I'm always torn back and forth when it comes to similarities to regions of our world (especially when thinking of Westeros, where I hate and at the same time love the worldbuilding), but sure this helps a lot to give others a feeling for a country without explaining too much.
Now I'm very looking forward to get more information about your world and your process of developing place names!