The German word Kaiser means emperor, though, not king.

Yeah. Translated to the languages of Keyser Soze's heritage (in the story), it means King (German) Verbal (Turkish).
King Verbal.
Verbal King.
Verbal Kint.

Also, the name "Sze" resembles the Turkish word szel, meaning "verbal" (or "oral").
"There's a band playing on the radio ~ With a rhythm of rhyming guitars"

Pretty sure Verbal mentions he's supposedly Turkish but I think he also says no one knows for sure.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that it was based on the name of a lawyer that someone on the film's production team had once crossed swords with, but I have no idea how true that is.

Kevin Spacey was 36 in 1995, Verbal could even have been older. He could've created the myth when he was 18. But it doesn't matter how old the myth is, just that people believe he's real and are afraid of him. It wouldn't be believable either if the myth is many decades old. Who's afraid of an old man?
but what I see in the movie indicates that Soze is a real person.
I don't agree at all that the movie indicates that. The story about Turkey seems absurd and was clearly inspired by the cigarette box with the Ottoman motif on the detective's desk. But if he's real, does that mean he's Verbal? Because in that case we still have the age issue.

If the myth is 20 years old and Verbal is about 30 that means he started the myth when he was 10. I think that you love the idea of there being no such person as Keyser Soze. I admit the idea intrigues me too, but what I see in the movie indicates that Soze is a real person.

Why would the age of the Hungarian matter? The reputation of Soze is infamous enough to frighten him. The myth could've been 20 years old, Verbal could've created it when he first started out his criminal career as a way to gain influence.

And so the Hungarian assumed Verbal was named Soze? In the words of Karl in Sling Blade I have to do some studying on that. The problem is that Verbal is not a very old man yet the Soze myth has been around long enough for that Hungarian who has no apparent connection to Verbal to have heard of it. But, I'll keep studying on it.

Huh? If Verbal created the myth years ago, the Hungarian could still have heard about him.

No, otherwise the burnt Hungarian would never have heard of Soze and we know the Hungarian's a real person.

The name Keyser Soze exists before Verbal's interview in Kujan's office.
That's what I said.
Verbal did not invent that particular name.
We have no idea of knowing that. For all we know, he may have invented the whole Keyser Soze myth.

The name Keyser Soze exists before Verbal's interview in Kujan's office. Verbal did not invent that particular name. The question is whether or not there is an actual Keyser Soze at all.

No problem.;)

Thanks. I just thought it was my eroding memory!

No. We don't know where he got the name from, but we do know it already existed before Verbal was questioned by Kujan. Kobayashi was the name written on the bottom of a coffee cup.