Problem with naming everything...

[LunarVN]

Hey everyone! Naming original characters and content always seems to be the biggest creative roadblock for me. It's difficult coming up with names that sound good, fit the world, and aren't already taken by another popular product. I'm curious as to how you go about this process? When you do finally come up with a name that you like... what do you do if it's already been used before? What are the potential legal issues with using a name like that?

As an example, say you like the name "Mars Troopers" for your game's military outfit. Well that name has been used in another product (G.I. Joe, in this case... I just looked it up ). Can you still use it if it fits your game perfectly? Is there a grey area here? How are you to know if you can or cannot use something? Something as blatant as the "Justice League" for instance... wouldn't that bring you legal troubles if you used that in a commercial game? Mars Troopers is a bit more generic and it isn't a major part of the G.I. Joe brand (as far as I know, anyway)... but it's still in there. Is there a difference?

Thanks for any advice! I'd really appreciate it!

[Godline]

No one said you had to do the naming yourself. Pitch the idea to some people you trust (either on the forums here or elsewhere) and see what they come up with.

EDIT:
Anne was the one who named Kaitlyn in Chinaland. I had a completely different name! Haha! So yeah, sometimes other people will do a better job, you've just to let them. <3

[firecat]

well its easy if you dont stay in a area for too long, people have base vn in japan or in eu but rarely do i see some of them in the north america (mexico and canada included). also theres like ancient names that people never use that can be helpful on naming the character it just takes time to find them. lastly if all else fails make up a name for them, i made "Aliva" has a name and it still counts as a name.

[Shinoki]

For character names, I usually take something with relations to the character's role--like a girl who lived could be called Vivian because Vivian (with an accent) is the imperfect form of vivir (to live) conjugated for a 'them'/plural pronoun thing or like, in some shows, character names are just puns on what they are (check out the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei TVtropes pages for examples).

For something like a name already taken for something else, like you brought up the examples of Justice League and Mars Troopers, I'd just recommend thinking of an original, new name. While I'm not exactly a legal-problems-go-to-girl, I'd just say, don't use the names just in case. Plus, if you use the names, people may automatically think of the other thing that has the same name and your story may be overshadowed by the thoughts of the other thing. If you made a girl named Hermione Granger, people might automatically think about the Harry Potter series and get distracted from your actual thing.

Well, take this with a grain of salt since I haven't actually published or made a game yet (though I write some random fiction stuff sometimes).

[LunarVN]

Thanks for the replies so far! Really helpful! =)