Sometimes a character's name comes to me easily. The name just falls out of my head and poof! The character is born. Other times I have to search for the name that will fit the people in my head. They start as a person with all the quirks and habits a good character needs. They have everything but a name...so I have to send them to the fitting room and let them try on the names until I find the perfect fit.
These are a few fitting rooms that point me in the right direction:
1. This one will match the person's likes to the name-
2. Got a bad guy? Someone a little out there? Go to the Seventh Sanctum: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php
My fav from the Seventh Sanctum is here: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/gens/heroicname.html
3. Do it by the alphabet: http://www.thinkbabynames.com/ or here: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/chyams/Names/boys.html
4. I once knew a woman who named her children after state capitals. If that rings your bell go here: http://www.townsoftheusa.com/states.htm
5. And when you want to finish up with a last name, you can used the great big last name catolog (otherwise known as the phone book) or go here: http://www.last-names.net/letter.asp?s=K
That's where I get some ideas. How about you?