Gnomes used to have a narrow niche back when dwarves and halflings were restricted from the arcane casting classes. But ever since 3E I guess, anybody can be any class, so there is no need for them anymore. D&D tried later to give gnomes a raison d'etre with the "tinker" stuff, but that never really worked for me. Svirfneblin have a story purpose in the Underdark, but other than that, the gnome has no need to exist anymore. However, I've always thought that the dwarves in Snow White were actually gnomes. Would a dwarf ever go by the name "Bashful"?