I, too, would have chosen "none of the above" if that had been included. I tend to just let my mind drift and eventually one will come to me.
If I need a throw-away name for one of L&C's co-workers, I'll often try to use ethnic names for variety (big city like Metropolis is going to be a true melting-pot); other than that I probably just have names that I've heard somewhere come to me and I'll modify them until they sound "right" for that particular story.
One kind of funny coincidence ... back in 1999 when I was writing "The One That Got Away", I had to choose first names for Clark's old flame and her husband. The names I chose were Lauren and Don. Fast forward two years to 2001 and my sister-in-law and I were both pregnant, due only weeks apart ... my brother and his wife named their daughter Lauren and my husband and I named our son Don. (And even funnier is that I didn't even realize the coincidence until last year when I just happened to skim the story to look something else up. LOL!)
Kathy
