Even as a 13 years old, when my English was still void, I wondered about the strange names in the German (Margaret Carroux) version of Lord of the Rings. The worst of them being Beutlin for Baggins, Beutelsend for Bag End and Auenland for The Shire.
Hobbingen for Hobbiton and Streicher for Strider.
"Streicher" more commonly in German means "string player". The meaning of "Beutelsend" being the end of a bag I didn't even notice as I read Beutel-send and thought of a postal office sending bags around.
"The Shire" is a problem as the German "Grafschaft" is not appropriate because there is no earl (Graf) in The Shire. So Auenland seems to be ok regarding its meaning as description of a land of meadows and winding rivers with trees growing at the river banks but is that an appropriate translation? Maybe.
I opt for not translating names but to explain their meaning in a glossary. If there is another alphabet I'd use a phonetic transcription if no literal transcription is possible and explain the original in a glossary.
And also titles like "Master". "Herr Frodo" is an uncommon usage in German. If you talk to your master, you just call him "Herr" without a first name. But this is more like "Sir". A "Meister" is a craftsperson title in German, "Master" is an academic degree (in Worldish). So leave "Master" and add it to the glossary, making clear that it does not have an academic meaning here.
The same for poems. You need to translate them but don't torture your readers with rhymes in the translation. Add the original plus cultural background to an annex. This way they don't need to rhyme in the wrong language. Tom Bombadil in German. Würg.
This all makes translated books a little more expensive but the extra information and the better use of the translation language would be well worth it. Many names and idioms simply cannot be translated without changing the reader's perception. Well, Auenland seems to be really good, the longer I muse about it
hansl