I couldn't vote either. Numerology???
I suppose I did try the phone book once, but it wasn't any use. Many names are just listed with initials for their first name, and the full names I did find just didn't do anything for me.
Like Labrat, I've had accidents with names I thought were original and turned out not to be. I've also pinched names deliberately from other places - one of the ER doctors, for example, found his way into an early fic. I used a friend recently, but was then warned that since she was Scottish, people might think I was writing a Mary Sue - so she turned Irish instead <bg>.
Other names have just popped into my head along with the character. Significantly, I think those tend to be my most successful original characters - George, for example (my current fic's OC), was George almost from the first moment he announced himself to me.
Yvonne
