Thanks so much Aeshnidae

It sounds like you're using the same approach to me by using similar real world names to evoke an understanding of some basics in the viewer (or player in your own case). I think it's a real effective method if done well and with some subtlety. And when you have these assumptions in place you can then begin to break them down for your own ends.

I remember Robin Hobb doing this type of thing in her writing but for a map maker it might be something so simple as including an unexplained location to make the reader curious. For example, in my Grimmsmouth map I have indicated in a forest, a small location called a nightmare clearing and provided no explanation. Not the biggest deal, but it still serves to break down the illusion I'm creating of a normal industrialising city.

I love your Ehalia map! I had to google Essos as the similarities didn't jump out at me. Maybe the south eastern corners are similar but little else I reckon. I'm delighted to learn of your recommendation of Tomi Adeyemi as well because I routinely try to read outside of my regular pattern and this seems like an ideal chance! I've enjoyed George Eliot, Tara Westover and Cormac McCarthy as a result of this approach. But I've also had to endure Virginia Woolf, Jeffrey Archer and Margaret Atwood

Your use of Hungarian presents its own opportunity for naming as well. That's how I view my own closeness to Irish. Hopefully it will help make things more authentic, even if it is only to say Happy Birthday

Thanks again for commenting and reading!