I wanted the names in my fantasy world to sound like they came from a coherent language, so I found a language that on paper (via Google translate) looks how I want my language to sound. When I wanted a name, I translated a relevant word, then changed/added/removed letters to make a new word.

The problem I have is that the new words I’ve come up with still appear to mean something in that language: Google translate either still recognises the original word or else comes up with a translation to a different word. If I change enough letters that Google no longer recognises it as any word from that language, the characteristics of the language that I like end up disappearing.

I really don’t want the original language to be recognisable, because I don’t want anyone to think that the people in my fantasy story are in any way connected to the people who speak the original language. I would like it to be an inspiration, nothing more, nothing less.

How can I go about keeping the essence of how the language looks but moving far enough away for it not to be recognisable?