Tl;Dr I've stumbled into a legal problem because I named my world after the last name of a pretty famous author (who is in public domain…but let's just say the estate isn't the nicest). Because the game itself is heavily linked to the world, so I would prefer to use the name for the game, too.
The content itself has very little to do with the author's works, and is in a completely different genre but the name conveys very well the feel of the work and I do not want to change the name (and would prefer to use it as a title if possible). So one option I've thought of is to choose a different variation of the name, but it's still similar enough that I'm wondering if the estate can sue me over it.
Clarification: we've barely begun game development. Also the name I want to use is Kerouac/Kervoac or variations.
Source: r/gamedev · by /u/lostdimensions