Character Name Inspirations?

[Paws]

Sounds totally random, I know, but let me explain-

I'm a curious person, and as time has gone on and I've been developing and creating more and more characters, I've found myself getting the names for them from many different sources of inspiration. And I'm sure you guys have done that with your characters, too.

So, if you can remember 'em, post the inspiration for your characters' names here!

I'll start it off...

Gene- first-gen Dalmatian OC- His name is derived from famous actor Gene Kelly. The use of the first name was also prompted by the Mika song "Grace Kelly."

Skye- fursona- I generally liked the name, however looking back on it now, there's a slight possibility that I was subconsciously thinking of a character from a Neopets story.

Joan Elaine Holland- human OC- Her first name was derived from Joan Jett, her middle name was derived from Elaine from "Seinfeld," and her last name was inspired by the country Holland and Amsterdam, respectively.

Rosalie Dawson- cat OC- Her first name was inspired by "Rose," due to her red fur, and I may have subconsciously been thinking of Rosalie Hale from "Twilight." The surname, Dawson, was just something I picked at random.

[Angel]

Well, for a lot of my human OCs, the names have come from people I was friends with when I was younger. Lauren - aside from the I love that name anyway and wanted to use it - was named for the girl who was my best friend when I was about four. Nicole's name was a female version of the name of a good friend I had when I was twelve. Josh and Jade were a guy and a girl in my class when I was eight. Other characters I don't name after specific people per se, but I still do chose their names from classmates I have known in the past if they seem to fit - for example Emily, my anthro cheetah, and Sarah, my Harry Potter OC. Very occasionally, I will name them after other fictional characters - another of my humans OCs, Danni, was named for LatT Danielle - but not often.

Some of my characters were named as they were just because I like those names; Sophie, my Scepper daughter, for one. Other times, I'll just browse behindthename.com until something fitting jumps out at me; I got the names for Brenna (my BustTone pup), Stephanie (another human OC), and Megan (Rollielle daughter) in that way.

A lot of my next-gens, I have to confess, I only named the way I did because other people suggested the ideas and they stuck; though the times I've come up with them myself, I've generally tried to get into the parent characters' mindset and select names that they would seem likely to choose. Failing that, some have been based off their appearance traits - the name for Amber, my golden retriever puppy OC, came from her fur colour, and the one for Blackpaw (DodgeTone pup) was similarly self-explanatory.

[Mo]

I spent fifteen minutes writing a reply and proboards ate it. So let's make this one count.

Basically I don't have a pattern when it comes to naming my characters. They may be inspired by some things but mostly a name just comes in an epiphany to me and it clicks and stays. If it doesn't I change it until it does. Simple as that. IF IT FITS, IT SITS.
Nuka- I wasn't aware I'd unintentionally named her after the Lion King character until YEARS after I created her. The name had just worked. And it stays.
Sol and Luna- Obviously sun-and-moon themed, sooooo original. But I couldn't change them even if I wanted to. It just wouldn't be them anymore.
Maedorah, Zinn- Idk what the fuck I was doing when I came up with these girls' names. But it's them now.
Brianna, Bree, Zina, Amos, Florence, Sandra- Just names that fit. Bits and peices of inspiration might have helped in it; like Amos was the name of a character in a story I read once, Florence was the name of a character in a movie I'd watched, Sandra is the name of one of my friends I've known since middle school, and even Avdotya's old name Audrey was the name of a girl I knew since elementary school.
Flame and Aquamarine- Obviously fire and water themes, derp. But the story behind the trio of Aqua, Flame, and Zinn, was that they were characters me and my two friends had made up in elementary school, and I kept hold of the idea of them, decided to revise them and make them better and with more backstory. Aquamarine was a water princess from my friend Randi, Flame was a pyro geek my friend Kyle made up, and Zinn was my hippie earthy girl I came up with. I've changed them quite a bit obviously.
Garland- Her name is semi-ironic in a way. Maybe. She's an assasin and plays totally dirty but she occasionally wears pretty maid dresses and Lolita-style clothing which makes her seem all posh and lacy and cutsey when she's a huge-ass bitchface. It's a pretty and unique name for a fun character.
Ixchel and Celine- Ixchel used to be called another stupid name, but after finding that gorgeous name on behindthename.com I changed it and I've since forgotten her old name in the midst of her pretty one. It was exotic which was perfect for a gorgeous, agile cheetah like her. Celine was suprisingly named after the leading lady from Underworld, though obviously spelled differently. She's obviously not like her, being a perky airplane-obsessed doof, but ever since she was a Cream recolor the name stayed.
Sable- Obviously cuz her fur is red, durrrrr. It's much better than her last name from her Sonic days, Tiffany. It was a stupidly ironic name and I don't want to change her name from Sable now.

Jay, Aiden, Kyle, and Darren were named on a whim. And they've stayed the same ever since.

My new cast of human characters were named by browsing the popular names in different years in different countries on behindthename.com. Brilliant website, it is. Basically the names just clicked once I saw them. The only one that gave me trouble was Daliah Saether. It took me ages to find a name that worked for her. And Sonia Frazier will probably get a new last name. Cuz Frazier just sounds silly, imo. Otherwise they're all the same since I first named them.

So yeah. Make of it what you will.

[Paws]

A good handful of my human characters and some of my animal characters have been named things I really like. A couple of them like the ones stated above, and a few others have some symbolism to them. Even most of my human characters' names were taken off of a "most popular names/surnames" website, though some of them have since been revised.

Soccer- Made to represent a kid who was in this...situation my freshman year with Rosalie's human rep. I've been really close with the kid all my life and he plays soccer, so there's the name xP

Football- Sort of the same as Soccer, except Football's human rep is really close with Soccer's, so I named him for the other sport they play.

[Mo]

I've forgotten some of the inspo in my character's named, omg.
Clarisse Ludenbach- She was named after the young girl in Fahrenheit 451, one of my favorite books of all time. Her last name was based off Celestia Ludenberg from Dangan Ronpa and Lieselotte Achenbach from Arcana Heart, if nothing else besides the reason that I liked their names, and instead of choosing one or the other I combined them.
Tor Sutherland- His first name was taken from one of two main characters from Neopets: The Darkest Faerie. I'd always liked the name and since I'd seen a name on there with Tor as the first syllable, I decided to name him after said yellow Lupe.
Aoi Nakahara- Named after Aoi Asahina from Dangan Ronpa. You'd think after naming characters after the characters I'd keep on top of watching it, but apparently not cuz I'm lazy.
Mina Hedlund- Unintentionally named slightly after Meenah Peixes and also unintentionally inherited traits from her. You can't fight the Homestuck.

Also as far as next-gens go:
Milo- Named after the titular character from Milo and Otis. Such an adorable movie.
Devin- The name of the sibling of one of my childhood friends.
Sansa, Arya, Jon, Bran- OBVIOUSLY GAME OF THRONES INSPIRED DURR.
Ashlynn- I had a friend named Ashley ages ago, and for some reason, when naming the character, the "lynn" wouldn't get out of my head. So I combined them, and I get a pretty name c: