Well, a lot of places have been confirmed to at least reference FFXI, as FFXIV 1.0's original writer/lore creator also worked on FFXI (Kenichi Iwao). This thread goes into a few things about the origins of some place names, including at least one that is taken from FFXI wholesale (and yes, like you Zohar I too immediately thought of Windurst's notorious 'cat burglar' when I first read about FFXIV's 1.0's backstory in regards to Ala Mhigo ).