A very fascinating thread, Weery! I love learning about how other people come up with their world names. I often use Google Translate to pick names, or pieces of names. For instance, when creating my world, I randomly found out that Äerd is Luxembourgish for Earth. Until that point, I didn't consider that Luxembourg had its own language, but I thought it was a great choice!

And then my DM handed over all DMing duties to me, so I got stuck with some of his place names (Äerd is now Ehalia, and our realm is Shannara, which means people ask me if I've read the Chronicles of Shannara, which I have not). I also shifted around the world map to make it fit with our game, including some extra mountains near Dulgany, which are required for one of the PC's backstories. I also made some minor modifications to world-building to accommodate the game. Here's what I've got now, so you can see the names:

Ehalia FINAL 8.28.17 (smaller).jpg

This was my very first color map, so I will re-work it later, but for now I have it printed in large format for my D&D game. A few people have told me it reminds them of Westeros and Essos; I don't really think so, but Westeros is clearly based on England anyway so I'm not exactly robbing George R.R. Martin of his ideas. The region relevant for my D&D game is also based on England, which is fine with me because so much high fantasy is based on Arthurian legends and such. I've also read a ton of English history from the Norman Conquest through Henry VIII, so it's familiar. However, I am looking forward to reading Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone, as it is high fantasy based on African culture and I've never read a fantasy book based on anything other than Western European and Arabian cultures. But first I have to finish The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, the Power Behind Five English Thrones.

In terms of naming, in order to help my players feel that they know our game world, I do use names that are evocative of real world places. For instance, Duscany is akin to Italy at the start of the Renaissance, so I've tried to come up with names that sound Mediterranean. Kashgar is based on the Persian empire, so I went with names that sound like they wouldn't be out of place in the Middle East.

I am not above zooming around Google Maps and cherry picking names of real places, or pieces of names that I mash together. And because I'm ethnically Hungarian (I'm first generation American), I also like to use Hungarian. It also has the benefit of being an unusual language that very few people recognize, which makes it perfect for use as a Druidic or magical language in-game. (I can speak a little Hungarian and I'm actively learning more of it. But hey, my players don't realize that my Druid is saying "happy birthday, Grandma" or "I would like sparkling water, thank you very much." )

I'm looking forward to reading more about your naming methods, Weery!