I get names from everywhere, sometimes out of “thin air.”
For my current work in progress (a sci-fi fantasy)… and be prepared to read a lot lol.
Nicolas - he’s the main character. His name has always been the same since the start of it all (I came up with the story back in 2015, let it simmer in my head up until November of 2019 where I started writing it), and although I’ve considered renaming him for multiple reasons…
Those reasons...
Before writing the book, I was about to change him into a girl and name her Nicole, but the story just wasn’t the same because I wanted a male character, not a female as there’s too many female characters in YA fantasy (and also because I had always seen the main character as a guy). I was also going to rename him for cultural reasons since he’s technically Egyptian/Algerian, but the story takes place thousands of years into the future where there really isn’t such a thing as Egypt or Algeria or any other nationality as the Earth had been destroyed. Many of my characters were named randomly in the book that doesn’t necessarily match up with cultural backgrounds besides being cultural in the story (as in the fake cultures I created). There will be names that will be similar, if not the same, for those particular cultures, along with many other African/South American/Japanese, etc. cultures.
…but I kept it as Nicolas because it just suited him, honestly. 
However, I used the name because it’s one of my favorite male names. xD
Prisylla - she’s also a main character who is part of Nicolas’s crew. Her name has been the same since the concept as well. I came up with it based on the nickname I gave her (Sylla) which is a reference to the show Prison Break (but in the show, it’s written as “Scylla,” and it’s not a person—it’s a data file that contains personnel files). I liked the name that I wanted to use it as a person, and when I needed one for the book… BOOM. Used it as a nickname and added “Pri” in it to make it more feminine sounding.
Donni - also a main character who is part of Nicolas’s crew. His name, I think, was changed when I started outlining. I don’t remember if it was originally that or something similar. But I got the name through Donnie Wahlberg (Mark Wahlberg’s brother, starred in a show I watched when I started the story called Blue Bloods, also was part of a famous 1980s boy band called New Kids on the Block). I liked his name, so used it.
Annika - another main character, part of the crew. Her name has been the same since the concept. The name came from a little girl who I sort of met at the time. Back in 2015, my little sister was in second grade, so I’d walk to the bus stop to get her from the school bus. As I waited for her, I’d wait with other parents and guardians. One of them was an older woman who I talked to a lot. She waited for her granddaughter and would talk about her, sometimes allowing my sister to come over to hang with her. One time, she mentioned her granddaughter’s name, and it was Annika. I really loved the name—I’d never heard such a name before—so I decided to put it in the story.
North - also part of the main cast and crew. His name had changed. In fact, I think I didn’t even have such a character in the original concept? Truthfully, his name isn’t very special and I needed something. In the story, he was just born in the north… and well, ta-da. xD
Niel - main cast and crew. Name has been the same since the concept. I came up with it due to a mistake. His original name was going to be Neil, but I accidentally wrote it as Niel and kind of liked the pronunciation for it (N-eye-el) instead of plain old Neil (N-ee-l).
River-rose - main cast and crew. Name has been the same since the concept. I named her after Kelly Clarkson’s daughter (am a huge fan of Kelly, and I loved how she named her child).
Stephani - main cast and crew, last one actually. Name has been the same since the concept. I needed a name and liked the way this was written besides the other ways (Stephenie/Stephanie).
Victoria - she’s also a main character, but she’s the villain. Or at least, one of them anyway. Her name has been the same since the concept and I originally thought of it through the magical beings she created: Victorians. When I came up with this both, I wasn’t thinking of the Victorian era and how that all started (my eighteen year old self didn’t really put two and two together when the Victorian era was created by Queen Victoria). Back in 2015, I was writing the story through Wattpad and someone commented about it and I was like, “Huh… interesting.” xD Because seriously, I just liked the name Victorian and thought it would be ironic that the magical beings (called the Victorians) were named after their queen… Victoria. Haha. Then again, I knew what the Victorian era was and all, but I wasn’t (and still isn’t) the brightest tool in the shed. xD
Fara - part of the main cast, and not really part of Nicolas’s crew but eventually becomes one. She’s a Victorian who ran away from her people because she realized she was a slave to Victoria, a weapon. But that made her a threat and an outcast. Her name has been the same since the concept, and, quite frankly, I don’t remember how I named her. At the time, I drew a picture of what a Victorian would look like…
You can see that here...
…And the name just came to me. She looked like a Fara to me. xD
Nibulé - also part of the main cast. She’s an alien creature, a princess, called a Koelegian. Her name (at least, the way it’s written) actually changed while I was writing the book (I think I changed it sometime last year, or in 2020), because the way I pronounced it (N-eye-beu-lay) didn’t sound right as I originally wrote her name as Nibule (the E has no accent). I didn’t think readers would pronounce it correctly if it didn’t have the accent, so I was hoping that by adding it, it’d help. 
I honestly don’t remember how I came up with it. I think I was trying to be fantastical about it and just put random words together. Haha.
Hiroko - she’s part of the main cast and she wasn’t in the original concept. I added her in during my outline because I changed the main part of the story (originally, Nicolas was going to defeat Victoria, but that would mean he becomes the “chosen one” and I didn’t want him to be, so Hiroko becomes the “chosen one” even though the story isn’t about her… necessarily). She’s part Koelegian and part (technically speaking) Japanese. Her name was created as I tried to figure out a way to create a Japanese sounding name through the inspiration of Avatar: the Last Airbender lol.
Jamie and Kitar’a - both are minor characters and were not part of the original concept. Jamie’s name was as simple as pulling a name from a hat (didn’t actually happen, but you get the gist). Kitar’a, on the other hand, is a reference to Katara in Avatar: the Last Airbender.
Borris - he’s technically part of the main cast, but acts as a minor character. He’s a dragon, by the way. The name has been the same since the original concept and it was thought up because… it just sounded like a dragon’s name to me. xD
Serene - a minor character who was not in the original concept. She’s a siren and came up with her name because of the word “serenity,” but she’s the exact opposite of that.
I have a ton of other names from the book—heck, even series—but I’m gonna stop there. Just thought a lot of the main and some minor characters could use some spotlight.
