Inspired by berserker's thread for player names, I am now curious why you chose to name some of your characters with that name!
Darth Sinnice
Sinnice was born as a running joke between Darth Angelus and myself when I became his Sith Apprentice.
From taking over RPR to being initiated as a Sith Lord, she's developed into an amazing roleplaying character and has become my evil alter ego in a sense. She was named by the community after I picked a few choices from a Sith Lord Name Generator, which makes her just a little extra special to me. 
Sinnice was born as a running joke between Darth Angelus and myself when I became his Sith Apprentice.
From taking over RPR to being initiated as a Sith Lord, she's developed into an amazing roleplaying character and has become my evil alter ego in a sense. She was named by the community after I picked a few choices from a Sith Lord Name Generator, which makes her just a little extra special to me. Dette
I'm Dutch and Frisian by descent (although I don't live anywhere near the province, ironically) and loved the Frisian names so much, I decided to make a character from one! Dette was high on my list of choices. Its meaning is 'protector of the people', although this has no bearing on the character.
After my roleplay character was made, I got a kitten who I bestowed with the same name.
I'm Dutch and Frisian by descent (although I don't live anywhere near the province, ironically) and loved the Frisian names so much, I decided to make a character from one! Dette was high on my list of choices. Its meaning is 'protector of the people', although this has no bearing on the character.
After my roleplay character was made, I got a kitten who I bestowed with the same name.
Project 27
I have a decade old obsession with Daft Punk, and after years of consideration I finally made a persona-type character in honor of all the great work those guys have done. She is a robot without an actual name, but combine this with my favorite lucky number 27, I have dubbed her Project 27. Or just 27 for short.
I have a decade old obsession with Daft Punk, and after years of consideration I finally made a persona-type character in honor of all the great work those guys have done. She is a robot without an actual name, but combine this with my favorite lucky number 27, I have dubbed her Project 27. Or just 27 for short.
Well, most of my characters have names that I just made up on the spot, but a few are significant.
Jack Aldo Vindici
Jack started out life as Jack Thunder, named after Johnny Thunder of Lego fame. He went through a lot of transformations, and turned out later as Jack Tuono, which was just a translation of thunder into Italian. Later, I read Marlowe's The Revenger's Tragedy and played The Godfather game, the first one, and found Vindice and Aldo Trapani. Well, it didn't take a genius to see what I needed to do next. I liked Vindici better than Vindice, because it was the plural of avenger and, as a family name, I thought it was awesome that he seemed to come from a long line of avengers. Since changing his name, I've never been happier with my decision.
Arnes Teranyn
I make up almost all of my Mirthean names on the spot, just because it's a culture of my own making, so really, whatever I say would be an acceptable naming convention is acceptable. 
But, his first name does have some significance. When I was making him, I wanted to have a name for him, a first name at least, that was interesting. I wracked my brain, and for reasons I can't even begin to ponder, settled on Arne Magnusson from Half Life 2: Episode 2. I tacked an s onto the end, called it a job well done, and the rest his history.
But, his first name does have some significance. When I was making him, I wanted to have a name for him, a first name at least, that was interesting. I wracked my brain, and for reasons I can't even begin to ponder, settled on Arne Magnusson from Half Life 2: Episode 2. I tacked an s onto the end, called it a job well done, and the rest his history.Phrostphyre
This is a bit of a complicated one. Phrost is my bro, and we'd make up espionage stories by the seats of our pants in chat over the summer; we'd have all sorts of crazy tales about the SPACE CIA and the like (SPACE was always fully capitalized). Well, one day, I got to thinking, "what if we played each other's CIA counterparts?" And so we did. We haven't gotten the RP going yet, but we had fun confusing the ever-loving crap out of chat by entering as ourselves, then posting as each other, same icons and everything. And, I'll be frank, Phrost's characterization of me is pretty awesome, too.
Arthur Step - Nothing special, really. I needed something that would be easy for Arinbjorn (A Norse name a chose because I liked it) to assume.
Beau Barton - Alliteration is your friend when talking about superheroes and villains, and I liked the name Beau
Benjamin O'Mara - A collaboration, I chose Ben's name in homage to a friend of mine, and also because it can be shortened so many different ways
Cameron Jones - This one has a bit of a story. When the Captain and I got together, she wanted to do an RP with a character of mine named Jay Samson. Well Jay wasn't suited to a period pirate RP, so I created Jaybird Jones. As his back story developed, it came out that his real name was Aloyus Kingbreaker, and that his name was literally erased from existence. As time went on, I like Jaybird less and less for Jones, and when the time came to put him up on RPR, I officially changed it to Cameron.
Lincoln Franklin - I haven't gotten around to getting his page done, but Linc is a zombie of sorts who took his name from a Cuban gun runner who had exactly $105 on him when Linc... Ate him.
Nero Rayne Cutter - Nothing fancy here, I liked them and so I used them.
Sam Wilson - I wanted a common sounding name, and Sam could be both masculine and feminine at the same time
Tyler Coolidge - Common name again, nothing special to it.
Beau Barton - Alliteration is your friend when talking about superheroes and villains, and I liked the name Beau
Benjamin O'Mara - A collaboration, I chose Ben's name in homage to a friend of mine, and also because it can be shortened so many different ways
Cameron Jones - This one has a bit of a story. When the Captain and I got together, she wanted to do an RP with a character of mine named Jay Samson. Well Jay wasn't suited to a period pirate RP, so I created Jaybird Jones. As his back story developed, it came out that his real name was Aloyus Kingbreaker, and that his name was literally erased from existence. As time went on, I like Jaybird less and less for Jones, and when the time came to put him up on RPR, I officially changed it to Cameron.
Lincoln Franklin - I haven't gotten around to getting his page done, but Linc is a zombie of sorts who took his name from a Cuban gun runner who had exactly $105 on him when Linc... Ate him.
Nero Rayne Cutter - Nothing fancy here, I liked them and so I used them.
Sam Wilson - I wanted a common sounding name, and Sam could be both masculine and feminine at the same time
Tyler Coolidge - Common name again, nothing special to it.
Draconus Alexander Forest
Oh gosh, this is an old one. Draconus' name was actually just Draco Alexander Forest originally. I eventually tacked on the 'nus' as a traditional male suffix from his homeworld because it sounded more royal, since he was royalty. As you may notice in some of my other character pages, I also have a great fondness for the names 'Alexander' and 'Alexandria', so that's why that's there. As for his surname, I wanted him to be earth-aligned magically in the beginning--making his surname into Forest, at the age of 10, seemed perfectly logical. His Pokemon counterpart's surname follows this as "Silvanus" ("Roman name derived from Latin silva "wood, forest". Silvanus was the Roman god of forests. This name appears in the New Testament belonging to one of Saint Paul's companions, also called Silas"; courtesy of Behindthename.com)
Oh gosh, this is an old one. Draconus' name was actually just Draco Alexander Forest originally. I eventually tacked on the 'nus' as a traditional male suffix from his homeworld because it sounded more royal, since he was royalty. As you may notice in some of my other character pages, I also have a great fondness for the names 'Alexander' and 'Alexandria', so that's why that's there. As for his surname, I wanted him to be earth-aligned magically in the beginning--making his surname into Forest, at the age of 10, seemed perfectly logical. His Pokemon counterpart's surname follows this as "Silvanus" ("Roman name derived from Latin silva "wood, forest". Silvanus was the Roman god of forests. This name appears in the New Testament belonging to one of Saint Paul's companions, also called Silas"; courtesy of Behindthename.com)
Johnathan Eran Typhus III
I also have a fondness for the name 'Johnathan', which may or may not be because a guy I had a crush on had that name. *Ahem* At any rate, I liked the name Johnathan, so Typhus gained it as a given name. 'Eran' just sort of came along as a thrown-together series of letters (which unfortunately sounds like 'Iran'-- Typhus has a thing about unfortunate names, I guess). As for the surname, I've come to the conclusion in recent months that I had heard of the disease before and simply hadn't remembered the origins at the time but liked the sound of the word itself. Lucky for him, his homeworld has no idea what 'typhus' is, so the disease-meaning is easily lost in translation.
He goes by his last name because he feels it gives him more fear-induced power. "Names to run away from really fast" indeed. He's also the third 'Johnathan' in his immediate family. Or was-- the other two are dead.
I also have a fondness for the name 'Johnathan', which may or may not be because a guy I had a crush on had that name. *Ahem* At any rate, I liked the name Johnathan, so Typhus gained it as a given name. 'Eran' just sort of came along as a thrown-together series of letters (which unfortunately sounds like 'Iran'-- Typhus has a thing about unfortunate names, I guess). As for the surname, I've come to the conclusion in recent months that I had heard of the disease before and simply hadn't remembered the origins at the time but liked the sound of the word itself. Lucky for him, his homeworld has no idea what 'typhus' is, so the disease-meaning is easily lost in translation.
He goes by his last name because he feels it gives him more fear-induced power. "Names to run away from really fast" indeed. He's also the third 'Johnathan' in his immediate family. Or was-- the other two are dead.
Quickfoot
I got my first taste of Spyro the Dragon's Egg Thieves as allies while playing Enter the Dragonfly, and I was hooked. I loved those little guys, and the idea of them being more than enemies thrilled me. Thinking back on the level during Quickfoot's creation as a fandom character, I realized the thieves in the Thieves' Den level had unusual or "foreign-esque" names: Thiefy Yu, Thiefy Wu, & Footpad were the ones mentioned by name. I didn't fully understand the choice of names, but I got the gist of their being unusual and perhaps eluding to their thieving natures (perhaps Footpad is very light on his feet and quiet when he steals?) When I decided I wanted my own thief to be quick on his feet, Quickfoot made perfect sense too!
I got my first taste of Spyro the Dragon's Egg Thieves as allies while playing Enter the Dragonfly, and I was hooked. I loved those little guys, and the idea of them being more than enemies thrilled me. Thinking back on the level during Quickfoot's creation as a fandom character, I realized the thieves in the Thieves' Den level had unusual or "foreign-esque" names: Thiefy Yu, Thiefy Wu, & Footpad were the ones mentioned by name. I didn't fully understand the choice of names, but I got the gist of their being unusual and perhaps eluding to their thieving natures (perhaps Footpad is very light on his feet and quiet when he steals?) When I decided I wanted my own thief to be quick on his feet, Quickfoot made perfect sense too!
Johann Angrec Malagrav
I'm awfully fond of Johann's full name. Johann is another one of those given names I've always had a liking for, and I decided when I made the character that this should be his name. It's not very drow/elven-like, but at the time he was sort of Germanic in origin, so I ran with it. His surname actually came next, inspired by the Drow word for mystery, Malag; 'rav' was simply added as a personal touch. Angrec came last as a type of flower, meaning 'Royalty' in the language of flowers-- while Johann isn't royalty himself, his assassin guild-backed family has a tradition of picking middle names for themselves like codenames, and I like to think that young Johann was a pompous lil' brat who took the fanciest one for himself.
I'm awfully fond of Johann's full name. Johann is another one of those given names I've always had a liking for, and I decided when I made the character that this should be his name. It's not very drow/elven-like, but at the time he was sort of Germanic in origin, so I ran with it. His surname actually came next, inspired by the Drow word for mystery, Malag; 'rav' was simply added as a personal touch. Angrec came last as a type of flower, meaning 'Royalty' in the language of flowers-- while Johann isn't royalty himself, his assassin guild-backed family has a tradition of picking middle names for themselves like codenames, and I like to think that young Johann was a pompous lil' brat who took the fanciest one for himself.
If you look at my characters, you'll also notice I have two Laurens in there. That's a little more convoluted-- I had one heck of a Mary-Sue self-insert way back in the day, but as the years grew on, she split off into different characters. I never quite gave up the names for them, but I altered their full names either through RP (marriage!) or re-creation.
Some names were purely created for irony:
Sterling Argentum (argentum is Latin for Silver) was one such--and I like the name, Sterling since he hates being called "Silver". Plus, I had met two guys named Sterling just after creating him. So it was...fate?
Samuel Clemens is Mark Twain's real name; Twain being my favorite author.
Kai Zarre because it sounds like the Latin pronunciation for "Caesar" and I was desperate for a last name.
Kristoff Jenkin's personality is rather like a friend of mine in RL--who shall remain nameless.
...Otherwise the names came with the characters.
Sterling Argentum (argentum is Latin for Silver) was one such--and I like the name, Sterling since he hates being called "Silver". Plus, I had met two guys named Sterling just after creating him. So it was...fate?
Samuel Clemens is Mark Twain's real name; Twain being my favorite author.
Kai Zarre because it sounds like the Latin pronunciation for "Caesar" and I was desperate for a last name.
Kristoff Jenkin's personality is rather like a friend of mine in RL--who shall remain nameless.
...Otherwise the names came with the characters.
hmmm Interesting...
Raine Asawa
Kazu Magnifico
My character names are not as creative as I would like them to be, but I usually try to make up non-existent names.
Raine Asawa
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I named her this because...wow. I honestly can't remember. I think I just took the name from Raine in Final Fantasy 8, Lagoona's lady. Her last name? I made it up. I usually just make up my names
Kazu Magnifico
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Kazu is just a name i like the sound of. Its not too long, and easy to remember. I originally wanted to give him a japanese name for dragon but I didn't like it. Kazu actually means harmony, so it kind of fits. As for his last name... He is pretty magnificent so therefore his last name is neat. lol
My character names are not as creative as I would like them to be, but I usually try to make up non-existent names.
Narsuun - Honestly I can't remember where I got this name from or why I chose it. I kind of regret it these days, I think it sounds a bit silly. I am cursed with coming up with silly names. I think this was really random.
Narsuun Taceo - This is the same character, but played in a different continuity. They have different alts so I can keep them seperate. Taceo is the latin verb meaning "I am silent", alternatively "still" or "at rest". This character was ressurected after death. Since the curse of silly names follow me, now everyone I meet on furc shouts TACO! at me. e.e
Francis Godfrey - I actually really like this one. He's a renaissance fop, and I wanted a posh, stereotypically english name. I think this worked well.
Leander Galen - My only scifi / modern alt. Leander from the Greek meaning "lion man" or "lion of a man", and Galen meaning "calm". It was also the name of a historically famous physician. Lee was a passionate man with a calm outer demeanor, a sniper with considerable miliarty training. I also took his name from the myth of Hero and Leander.
Copy pasted from wikipedia: Hero and Leander is a myth relating the story of Hērō (Greek: Ἡρώ, pron. hay-rō (ancient) and like "hero" in English), a priestess of Aphrodite who dwelt in a tower in Sestos on the European side of the Dardanelles[the Hellespont], and Leander (Greek: Λέανδρος, Léandros), a young man from Abydos on the opposite side of the strait. Leander fell in love with Hero and would swim every night across the Hellespont to be with her. Hero would light a lamp at the top of her tower to guide his way.
Succumbing to Leander's soft words, and to his argument that Aphrodite, as goddess of love, would scorn the worship of a virgin, Hero allowed him to make love to her. This routine lasted through the warm summer. But one stormy winter night, the waves tossed Leander in the sea and the breezes blew out Hero's light, and Leander lost his way, and was drowned. When Hero saw his dead body, she threw herself over the edge of the tower to her death to be with him.
I also used the name Leander for one of the main characters in a play I wrote and directed for a small festival in my town
Akalashin - Another name I must have made up and I now think sounds really silly. Evil necromancer guy. I have since changed his 'real' name, and given him an alias. For a long time he went by the alias of "The Pale Claw" while he was part of a secret criminal organization called The Alliance. And I later revealed his real name to be Martin Pallidus. Martin because it's a badass name, and Pallidus is the Latin adjective for pale.
Saurn Sa'Glissamord - Glissamord is one of the noble houses of Kasuria, in Furcadia's dragonlands canon. Saurn er... I think I made that up too. Oh well. It sounded cool.
Crazy Hassan the Used Camel Salesman - Okay I outright stole this one from a thread on /tg/. He is based on a D&D game, there was this salesman who was so good at selling camels, you had to make will saves in order to not buy camels from him. I turned him into a genie for the purposes of RP, who grants people wishes, but makes them pay, and they get camels too.
Narsuun Taceo - This is the same character, but played in a different continuity. They have different alts so I can keep them seperate. Taceo is the latin verb meaning "I am silent", alternatively "still" or "at rest". This character was ressurected after death. Since the curse of silly names follow me, now everyone I meet on furc shouts TACO! at me. e.e
Francis Godfrey - I actually really like this one. He's a renaissance fop, and I wanted a posh, stereotypically english name. I think this worked well.
Leander Galen - My only scifi / modern alt. Leander from the Greek meaning "lion man" or "lion of a man", and Galen meaning "calm". It was also the name of a historically famous physician. Lee was a passionate man with a calm outer demeanor, a sniper with considerable miliarty training. I also took his name from the myth of Hero and Leander.
Copy pasted from wikipedia: Hero and Leander is a myth relating the story of Hērō (Greek: Ἡρώ, pron. hay-rō (ancient) and like "hero" in English), a priestess of Aphrodite who dwelt in a tower in Sestos on the European side of the Dardanelles[the Hellespont], and Leander (Greek: Λέανδρος, Léandros), a young man from Abydos on the opposite side of the strait. Leander fell in love with Hero and would swim every night across the Hellespont to be with her. Hero would light a lamp at the top of her tower to guide his way.
Succumbing to Leander's soft words, and to his argument that Aphrodite, as goddess of love, would scorn the worship of a virgin, Hero allowed him to make love to her. This routine lasted through the warm summer. But one stormy winter night, the waves tossed Leander in the sea and the breezes blew out Hero's light, and Leander lost his way, and was drowned. When Hero saw his dead body, she threw herself over the edge of the tower to her death to be with him.
I also used the name Leander for one of the main characters in a play I wrote and directed for a small festival in my town
Akalashin - Another name I must have made up and I now think sounds really silly. Evil necromancer guy. I have since changed his 'real' name, and given him an alias. For a long time he went by the alias of "The Pale Claw" while he was part of a secret criminal organization called The Alliance. And I later revealed his real name to be Martin Pallidus. Martin because it's a badass name, and Pallidus is the Latin adjective for pale.
Saurn Sa'Glissamord - Glissamord is one of the noble houses of Kasuria, in Furcadia's dragonlands canon. Saurn er... I think I made that up too. Oh well. It sounded cool.
Crazy Hassan the Used Camel Salesman - Okay I outright stole this one from a thread on /tg/. He is based on a D&D game, there was this salesman who was so good at selling camels, you had to make will saves in order to not buy camels from him. I turned him into a genie for the purposes of RP, who grants people wishes, but makes them pay, and they get camels too.
Ees Khalid - Actually made the name up since I wanted a change from Rohan. Years later I discover that his name fits really well with him. Ees was just made up out of the blue, as was Khalid, but apparently Khalid means Eternal/ Immortal. Ees is an immortal bard, so.. It fit really, really well.
Faust Calogero - I needed something for my merchant demon. He makes you sign a contract in order to do business, and in doing so I needed a good name. I figured Faust would do really well, due to the german legend of Faust, where he bargains with the devil for magic. I figured it was a perfect choice for a demon who writes up contracts to those who do business with him, as many of the deals are of a similar nature. [His getting Tiseal as his assistant is an example of it."
Jonathan Cross - Needed a very plain, not so suspicious name and as he and his sister used to be incredibly religious hunters of some sort, Cross seemed to fit for a huge catholic family of crazies.
Rojs - Rojs is a Latvian name if I remember correctly. The character started out as a strange latvian refugee who ended up in france. I also wanted to really have a character named Rot, so I gave him the nickname, then eventually reworked the character. I like sometimes making characters with misleading names [ A Blacksmith named Kite, A large wildebeest man named Moth.]
The other names are usually just generated or what feels right, but these are the most important out of them so far.
Faust Calogero - I needed something for my merchant demon. He makes you sign a contract in order to do business, and in doing so I needed a good name. I figured Faust would do really well, due to the german legend of Faust, where he bargains with the devil for magic. I figured it was a perfect choice for a demon who writes up contracts to those who do business with him, as many of the deals are of a similar nature. [His getting Tiseal as his assistant is an example of it."
Jonathan Cross - Needed a very plain, not so suspicious name and as he and his sister used to be incredibly religious hunters of some sort, Cross seemed to fit for a huge catholic family of crazies.
Rojs - Rojs is a Latvian name if I remember correctly. The character started out as a strange latvian refugee who ended up in france. I also wanted to really have a character named Rot, so I gave him the nickname, then eventually reworked the character. I like sometimes making characters with misleading names [ A Blacksmith named Kite, A large wildebeest man named Moth.]
The other names are usually just generated or what feels right, but these are the most important out of them so far.
Decipere
It derives from a Latin word meaning 'catch, ensnare, entrap, deceive, mislead, beguile, elude, cheat.' Which fits him, as he's an illusionist on the run from a Shadow Council trying to kill him for managing to escape. His real name is Morohtar, which I just got from a Tolkein-based Elvish name generator.
Liberius
Derived from the Latin liber, meaning free. As he is a man born into slavery and then eventually freed, it is appropriate. What his true name is, is unknown even to him - he's never met anyone who can tell him otherwise.
Praetor
It's his social rank rather than a name as such, but it is so fitting and a way of declaring just how powerful he is, that he introduces himself with it almost as much as he does his name.
Pulchra
"My beauty, beauty, beautiful". Any of those variants is appropriate. While Roman names traditionally come in triple (praenomen, cognomen and gens), I only wanted a single name instead of a double one as her log in, and went for the one that I predicted would be easiest to pronounce.
I don't usually pick character names with the intention of relating them to the character they belong to, simply because that coincidence so seldom occurs in life, and roleplaying to me is less about writing poetic fiction and more about trying to craft something realistic with the freedom (and confines!) of a different world. Even so, here's some of the OOC logic behind a few of mine:
Edward
Edward is my main character, and for good reason--there's more of me in him than in the rest of my characters combined! He's grown and learned with me, and I with him, though when I first made him, I never would have imagined such a thing. His name is mine, which I gave to him on a whim when making him on a whim many years ago. The name Edward is of little significance to the personality of the character, though--it means something along the lines of 'prosperous guard', and Edward is neither prosperous nor nearly courageous or hardy enough to be anything akin to a guard. Then again, he has been gifted with an unusual number of years despite his horrid luck--and years are the best wealth of all, when one is a chronomancer--and while he is prone to panic and gibber and worry in the face of danger, he will go to some surprising lengths to defend the very few that have extended their friendship to him. Perhaps some people do grow to fit their names!
Edward does have a last name, but it has been easing out of existence simply because neither he nor I use it anymore. It is Mercier, which is simply French for 'merchant', as Edward's father was of such blood, but the character doesn't have enough ties to that parent to justify the usage of his family name beyond the place of his birth.
Edward does have a last name, but it has been easing out of existence simply because neither he nor I use it anymore. It is Mercier, which is simply French for 'merchant', as Edward's father was of such blood, but the character doesn't have enough ties to that parent to justify the usage of his family name beyond the place of his birth.
Mor
Mor is my grumpy old man troll, and the name was mostly picked at whim. It doesn't mean anything, but it's easy to say, terse and short, simple to grunt in response to an inquiry without any possibility of sounding too friendly, which seems to be something that trolls would value. I later learned, to my surprise, that the word mór is big or great in Gaelic, which is incredibly fitting for an eight foot tall mountain monster. It also happens to be a name that means the same. Too bad it's a female name!
Clock
One of the rare occasions that I have named a character for an obvious characteristic, Clock's name is not his true name but instead the one he's been given by the mortals that have seen him. Being a Denizen of Time, things like names mean little to him, and while he would never introduce himself as Clock--or, indeed, as anything but his title, if even that--it is one of very many that have been attributed to him, and probably the easiest one to say and use when referring to him out of character or in prose.
Applewood
Edward Applewood is one version of the character above that I barfed out specifically to cram him into the Pokémon universe--he's become one of my funnest characters since, and differs considerably from the original in interesting ways. The Pokémon professors, most notably the famous ones, seem to have a running trend of being named after plants, but Applewood wasn't quite famous enough to get an entire tree to himself--not to mention that 'Apple' sounds kind of ridiculous, but I was sure that apples had to be involved somewhere. It was just one of those things. (Or maybe I just like apples.)
Pigeon
Another character of mine with a name that was attributed to them by someone else IC, Pigeon is a lanky, big-nosed scruffmuffin from the streets of an interplanar city named Sigil. She is pretty gawky looking, awkward and dirty and perpetually ruffled, and that nose does look a bit like a beak, come to think of it. 'Pigeon' was one of the nicer things she's been called, and so she picked the name to keep. Her real name is entirely different, but she doesn't quite recall what it is, and mostly doesn't care. Can you imagine trying to find your real name only to discover that you were named something like Hildegarde? (Which is actually one of my favorite names, but that is a disgression...)
Hilarius
Alright, this one I did do entirely on purpose. Hilarius's name was chosen for the irony, which is doubled due to the fact that it is actually not pronounced like the word 'hilarious' at all--or does that just make it inverse irony? Backflip irony? Reader Bonus irony? Anyway, the character himself is a little unsettling, being a creepy alchemist who doesn't seem to have ever learned how to make expressions, and presents no emotion in his drawling monotone, which is not only disturbing but also makes it horrifically discombobulating to try to infer anything but the basest denotations of the words that he says, which is not an encouraging handicap to have if you were unfortunate enough to end up engaged in a conversation with a fellow who is clearly some kind of psychopath. It's a bit of a stark contrast to a name that means 'cheerful' in its original Latin, and which has, in meatland, belonged to a Pope and a Saint. Hilarius is closer to a demon.
I've read every single reply so far and I'm super intrigued by the different ways and reasons people name their characters! 
When I'm on my computer I'll post a handful more of my own.
When I'm on my computer I'll post a handful more of my own.
I must admit, most of my character names were kind of made up on the spot in a hurry. Take Tyval, for example. There I was making a new character for this MUD I was just starting to play, and suddenly I need a name. There were naming rules to play there - they had to sound fantastic-ish and couldn't be real words. I pressed a number of keys at random until I had something that half resembled a name - and thus my loved paladerp, Tyval, was named. Soon I took this method and made it my standard naming procedure.
The only exception to this rule is Lillian, the deva. She was named Lily Heatherhoof by her parents (pfft, centaurs, amirite?), but after becoming an anchoress she had to drop all ties with her past. So Lily became Lillian, because it was similar (and humans she talked with always assumed Lily was a hypocorism of Lillian), and the last name was eventually replaced by Adsterburg, which was the name of a town she visited once. For the longest time she introduced herself as Lady Lillian of Adsterburg, and with time she just took the town's name as her last name for the sake of convenience. It's a long story, I swear it all makes sense in context.
The only exception to this rule is Lillian, the deva. She was named Lily Heatherhoof by her parents (pfft, centaurs, amirite?), but after becoming an anchoress she had to drop all ties with her past. So Lily became Lillian, because it was similar (and humans she talked with always assumed Lily was a hypocorism of Lillian), and the last name was eventually replaced by Adsterburg, which was the name of a town she visited once. For the longest time she introduced herself as Lady Lillian of Adsterburg, and with time she just took the town's name as her last name for the sake of convenience. It's a long story, I swear it all makes sense in context.
It should be obvious why Smile is named Smile. 
Cici Argentum
She's taken her husband's name - but her maiden name is Cinnamon Rivers. When I first made her, I wanted her to have an embarassing name and I imagined her skin the colour of cinnamon... so I was a total jerk to her!
Lilura
She was once a witch. The name is a Basque name for Witch. Instead she's turned into a witch of a person in personality!
Na'ima
To be contented. Since I made her to be a companion for one of Pen's characters, her personality had to be submissive to Murat. I liked "contented" as her personality so I kept it.
Nadezhda
It means Hope. She was meant to be a "hope" for her partner Ivan when I first made her and it was the first Russian name I like the sound of. I like the soft "j" sound a lot
Puthali
It means "little doll" I meant for her to be a head strong woman who didn't take crap, but I had this vision in my head of her being small. She isn't tiny, but she's certainly smaller than the men she did command for a while.
Red Fool
I found the name on a generator. It was supposed to be a joke character, but instead she grew. I liked Red Fool because it conjured images of an accident prone girl. That's what she was.
Okay, let's see.
Kvothe
This name was actually stolen from the Name of the Wind novel written by Patrick Rothfuss. Although my character bears no resemblance to the character in the book, I loved the name bunches.
This name was actually stolen from the Name of the Wind novel written by Patrick Rothfuss. Although my character bears no resemblance to the character in the book, I loved the name bunches.
Minda
I don't really remember how I got the name Minda. She's about four to five years old as a character now (although I'm starting from scratch on her since her old story died off and I don't want to waste her art and concept) and was initially created as the sister of someone else's character. The friendship with the player ended, but I kept her anyway. Her name was supposed to sound Romanian.
I don't really remember how I got the name Minda. She's about four to five years old as a character now (although I'm starting from scratch on her since her old story died off and I don't want to waste her art and concept) and was initially created as the sister of someone else's character. The friendship with the player ended, but I kept her anyway. Her name was supposed to sound Romanian.
Sulan
She was the product of some creative keyboard to face action, basically. I was looking for an interesting name that's not too obviously fantasy, but also not too realistic and a touch exotic. I think I succeeded.
She was the product of some creative keyboard to face action, basically.
I was looking for an interesting name that's not too obviously fantasy, but also not too realistic and a touch exotic. I think I succeeded.
My main character was not actually mine from the start, he was given to me. Why Lear Cace was named Lear Cace I'll never know.
Aiticima- Named that because her mother did not know she was pregnant with twins. When the second one popped out she just reversed the first one's name because it was amusing. Amicitia backwards.
Everenne- What can I say, it sounded fun.
Aiticima- Named that because her mother did not know she was pregnant with twins. When the second one popped out she just reversed the first one's name because it was amusing. Amicitia backwards.
Everenne- What can I say, it sounded fun.
Raging is an adverb describing the character's baseline trait.
Crocotta is a myth rooted in Ethiopia and of mild renown through the Middle East and some inconsequential era of the days of Greece and Rome.
Stronk is an adjective misspelled.
Derganicen is a randomly generated name with no real meaning.
Nyarlathotep is a blatant, shameless hijacking of the works of a pseudo-prolific and fairly trendy writer of mild antiquity.
Bludhaven is an obscure comic reference.
Crocotta is a myth rooted in Ethiopia and of mild renown through the Middle East and some inconsequential era of the days of Greece and Rome.
Stronk is an adjective misspelled.
Derganicen is a randomly generated name with no real meaning.
Nyarlathotep is a blatant, shameless hijacking of the works of a pseudo-prolific and fairly trendy writer of mild antiquity.
Bludhaven is an obscure comic reference.
I have no true way of naming characters. I either use character name generators or think of something on the spot.
Funnily enough, when making NPCs I'm often more careful in choosing a name that would evoke a specific kind of feel than when making characters I intend to play. :p
Funnily enough, when making NPCs I'm often more careful in choosing a name that would evoke a specific kind of feel than when making characters I intend to play. :p
Athina Rothbel
I like the name Athena, so just changed a letter. Rothbel was made up at random... I think. Three parts of her aliases, Farah, Reed and Maxwell, were taken from a game I like though one of those is spelled differently. Hartford was a town I used to live in.
Cain Hastien
He came long after Abel Hastien, who was named as such because, as with Athina, I liked the name. Hastien was pulled from a name generator. After getting numerous joking (I hope) inquiries if he had a brother named Cain over time, I snapped and made one.
Degan Malandr
Since he was thrown together in something of a hurry, Degan's first name, as well as some of his traits, were derived from a character with a similar name. Though unlike how it was originally pronounced, I've taken to saying it D'gan for some reason. Malandr is a result of taking a long word that sort of describes the character and replacing/dropping letters at random until that formed in the chaos. The original word? Misdemeanor.
Muo Dotonetta
I used a translator for this one. Spaced differently, it means something in some language. Of course, I can't for the life of me remember what it's supposed to mean, what language I used, or even what the spacing would be. I kind of think it was a descriptiony name... like slimy shifter or something, can't be sure anymore though. Been way too long.
Shyque Defny
Put some thought into this one. I wanted a name that looked feminine but sounded masculine. Simply because Shyque looks masculine but I've always imagined her with an unmistakably feminine voice. I ended up putting two words together, Shy because she's not good at talking to others and Barbeque because she's a pyromancer and I thought something firey would fit. (Though just for the record, it's pronounced like Shike, not Shy-Q.) Defny, on the other hand, was just yoinked from a namegen.
West
One of my first characters, and up to that post most of my names had sounded somewhat Asian. So I wanted a name more western sounding. Yeaaaah I suck.
Tsane
I very vaguely knew a guy named Zane IRL (he was several grades below me at school). I thought it was a rad name, but I changed the spelling because I suck.
Nero
Was named after an obscure character in an obscure film because I suck.
Rémi
Was very nearly named Remmy because I didn't know how to spell it correctly.
Sumaire
I taught a student named Sumire and I based it off that, which is awfully hypocritical of me because I always feel a little angry when people give Japanese names to non Japanese character. I guess there's one more thing to say - I didn't expect Sumaire to evolve into a character into his own right, so I just borrowed the name from a super minor character in another RP. Months later, when writing in that RP I felt like a fool when I forgot that NPC's name.
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