Character Names

I've never given much thought to the naming of characters; I just give them names that I like. The only exception would be when writing historical fiction, I'll try to use names that are common to that time and place.

One method I use is looking at credits for movies and TV shows. Say a soap opera from decades ago. I take the first name of the actor and the last name of the character (or vis a versa). Or player in obscure spots, such as curling. Televised poker games are a great source of odd names that 99% of the world won't recognize.

Mixing character and actor names generally keeps the same ethnic groups for the name. For example, Laurie Metcalf played Mary Cooper on the Big Bang Theory. Laurie Cooper and Mary Metcalf together better than Mary Brezhneva (Brezhneva is a Russian actress).