Don't fear the dead, they have left only words. The living are with you indeed.
I've a feeling that might be a famous quote - or I may have just made it up. Either way, fact or fiction, it makes an intriguing chapter opening or character introduction.
I like choosing names. It's something I'm rarely stuck on. If anything, I have the opposite problem - too many to choose from. For me, the question is not what to select, but how to pick.
Something unusual? A name that's special to you as the writer? A name that defines your character? Or something completely and totally random- there are name generator tools for that if you really can't decide. And let's face it, the choice is unlimited (within reason).
If your protagonist is a blond archeologist for example, how would Red Bracie, or Dug Ticker sound? How do you choose? How do you know what's right? Does it matter?
First impressions count. Many books, especially children's ones, echo similar names inside and out - ever noticed there are many stories with Sams and Daves or The Boy Who... on the cover. Ask yourself this: do you want your character to join this curious melee, or stand out and make your reader curious. Think about that.
Of course, you could end up causing reader distraction, with an unusual spelling. Say, an unpronounceable heroine like:
Niamh Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch*
Certainly unforgettable, but with something this far out, you run the risk of halting the flow - your reader will either skip over the complicated that they can't get their tongue round, or spend so long trying every possible permutation that they give up and swap your story for something that doesn't need a DIY glossary.
My favourite place for character inspiration is the local churchyard. That might seem a dark place to start, until you discover headstones create flash fiction all of their own.
Try it - study the names, dates, inscriptions, monumental carvings and statuettes. Just watch out for weeping Angels... don't blink!
Graveyards offer peaceful anthologies of family and social history, if you look hard enough and learn how to read them. Question whether they say more about the person under the ground, or the person who laid the stone? Afterall, unless extremely well organised in forward planning, who designs and orders their own epitaph? And if so, how would you want to be remembered? What would you include or leave out? Perish the thought of being asked to write your own obituary.
Brrr... this is getting a little morbid now, but don't let that put you off exploring. Tread carefully and be respectful of your elders. Their ancestry might leave you with more to query than resolve, but surely all good stories start with curiosity?
*(I haven't made that up, honest! It's the name of a place in Wales. Google it! I suggest you copy and paste though).