I actually associate a lot of preconception and expectation with names. Don't know why but most names give me very distinct ideas of what to expect of people and so a person's name has to fit their look, their personality, that kind of thing. Names are extremely important as an identifier for characters, as far as I'm concerned, and whether it's a video game character or one of my tabletop RPG characters, I agonize over names frequently. I've even restarted video game play-throughs specifically because the name I chose didn't feel right for the character (like I did for my X game last night). I also have a mercurial mood for names (which is obvious from the frequency with which I've changed names since I joined), but generally I like either unusual names (such as Maddox and Braddock, the names of my trainers in Y and X respectively), or certain more common names that can be shortened easily, Thomas/Tom, Jackson/Jack, and Gabriel/Gabe, for instance. I'm also a big fan of Irish Gaelic and Russian names, but that's because I love the way the languages sound.