searching your characters' names in google?

The best example of that I can think of is the character in the British TV Soap Coronation Street who is called David Platt. Both in universe and out he's (intentionally) named after a mid 90's England football player.

 

I always do it and pretty much have always done. It's vital, unless the name is so plain there are millions of them.

I once wrote an erotic story using a surname I invented. At the time there were zero google links. After few years later a person of that name appeared (despite being a very strange surname). I agreed to change it after a request from her.

It's getting harder than even to invent a word or name as the internet fills up with random (often mis-spelt) stuff.

 

I almost named a character the same name as an American president and didn't realize it until I Googled the name. (To be fair, the character went by the nickname Ben, while the president is known as Benjamin. And Benjamin Harrison isn't that well known anyway.) I Google to make sure the name isn't anybody famous or infamous.

Though, that won't stop someone with the same name as a character from murdering a bunch of people right after my book is published.

 

Now, I'd have gone with #1...my reasoning being that, if #2 is p**d off with your character, he's more likely to sue...with 472 hits, you could more easily argue that "it wasn't you that I meant"!

 

A reader googled one of my characters, and was surprised to find that he was a Luftwaffe pilot, when he thought that the character was a British soldier...I had to explain that the "name" Feldwebel is actually the German for Sergeant!

 

A Google search always worth a try. You never know...

The female MC in my planned novel has the same name as the abbreviation of a Spanish aviation club. I do not care too much so will use the name anyway but if that were for example a fetish sex club I would consider to choose another name. Not because I'm shy or prude. If someone surf the web from a company network the internet gateway server (aka proxy) may block the Google search page if there are unwanted expressions on it. Searching for your MC/book and landing on a "blocked sexual content" page will not generate new readers. OR it will generate a high number of visitors! You never know...

One thing that just popped up in my mind : there is a technique called SEO (Search Engine Optimization). If you want to have potential readers being lead to your site when searching for your book's title (or the name of the MC, or the name of it's world) you should find a title/name that does not give any other result in Google. Your blog/page should shows up on the first place, or at least on the first page. Tell me the truth : how many times did you check the second page of the Google search results?