Me:

MALES
Jakim
Jace
Matt
Steve
Peter
Derrent
Aldo
Jack (yes!)
Eagle Feather
Johnny
Boris
Zach

Female:

Sarah
Lucy
Isobelle

Micheal
Nikita
Ashtun
Dave
Tad

female

Angel Julitta
Roxanne Marie
Walita Washaka Yake
Alivia

RFW2nd
 

Roland
Aaron
Monk (yes, I know the TV show did it...mine is different)
Stephen
Giovanni
Simon
James
Neil

Female

Paige
Badger
Chaya
Seven
Janet
Big Sarah
Little Sarah

To name a few

Male characters:

Ethan
Jake (which is also my cat's name)
will
Sam
Jimmy
Alex
Manny
Devin
Tucker
Ian
Angus
Bertram

Female:

Laurel
Meg
Casey
Fiona
Shelly
Delores
Shelby
Holly
Madge

These are just a few of the characters in the book. The main characters are Ethan, Jake, Laurel and Casey.

Lynda
 

Male:

Ethan
Jake
Will

Female:

Laurel
Casey
Meg

I think an interesting question would be how people come up with the names (of course, it's probably been covered here). I use names that fit the personality of the character's voice that I hear in my "mental ear" and I'll also look up the meanings of the names for major characters to see if the name suits them. I use the "Character Naming Source Book" which is a great resource, as well as various baby naming sites online. And I want names (for the main characters especially) that fit easily in the mouth and roll easily off the tongue. JMO
 

Henry
Wade
Sheldon

Female:

Keiko
Dottie
Senna
 

Liam
Matt
Lenny
Harry (My rabbits name too)
Zechariah
Dean
Zeb
Marty
Alex
Nathan
Nathaniel (One of my favourites and have used for minor characters too)
Jeff
And many more.

Female:

Beth
Sharin
Leena
Fran
Deana
Sharlie
And a few more.
 

Female:
Susan
Vanya (yes, as in Uncle Vanya)
Lily
Morgana
 

Men:
Lorien
Damion
Gaylen
Valon
Jon
Stefan
Etienne
Lucien

Wow, all ending with the "n" sound... a little disturbing, actually. Is this a narcissistic incorporation of my own name?

Women:
Anunda
Gwineth
Suzie
Adele
Imara

Short story names tend to be more varied.

[This message has been edited by annepin (edited February 15, 2008).]
 

female:
Tsarmina
Flood

creepy, no?
 

womens:
Mona
Laurie
Anne

Alex
Sam
Derek
Various made-up alien names

Female:
Marianne
Gabrielle
Grace
Various made-up alien names
 

Jackie-boy, short for Jackson not a nickname for John (in my current WOTF entry)
Brian
Pantroth (My constantly ongoing WIP)
Merrin Kaa (Ditto)
Nemin (Ditto)
Faldran (Ditto)
Max
Sam
Tom
Eric
Nebi/Ben
Wulfgar
Jake
Ganth
Cody
Groth
Johnny
Oberon
Braga
Rygar
Percigul
Ernie
Dmitri
Kenth Jig

Female:
Tam
Hattie Mae
Sybil (WOTF entry)
Ashiva (Constantly ongoing WIP)
Sabrianna
Mistaya
Samnae/Sheriti
Corrin
Virginia
Natasha
Sarah (<--I think this is getting as common as Jack)

 

Male:
Will (I think this is overused, so I've been trying to steer away from it lately. Possibly due to the influence of the Susan Cooper's excellent series.)

Glen (For the astronaut)
Jonas
Jake (Seems a bit phony to me, but what are you going to do)

(the following are all childhood friends)
Daniel
Ryan
Aaron

Female:
Celinda (Inspired by the title of the celistine prophecy which I saw in a bookstore. Really.)

Hillary (Clinton's influence?)

Rachel (Friends?)

Walita Washaka Yake

Of course they were also larger than life, as well...
 

Brave Strong Wolf.
i dont remember where i got it though.

RFW2nd
 

FEMALE
Ana
Artemina
Asania
Bess
Chridis
Dora
Estrienn
Gloria
Holly
Jessica
Katie (Katharine as adult)
Kishana
Luna
Needa
Tracey
Valanqua
Vandelise (Lise for short)

[This message has been edited by rickfisher (edited February 18, 2008).]
 

For me - I have a preference for A names for females (both ending and beginning)

Females:
Annie
Amelia
Anya
Xaria
Julia
Sylvia
Emily
Annette
Narisse
Priya

Males:
Nate
Tobias
Bezur
Bruce
Zach
Tony
Mr. Nobody
Paolo
Oliver
Deepak

 

quote:

---

Is it just my imagination or are there waaaaay more male names than female names?

---

However, there ARE more male names, significantly more. It's definitely a trend. In some of the lists it's very obvious, in others it's quite close or equal; but on average, definitely more males.

In my own case, it would probably balance out except that in my "Cloaks" series the bad guys (or, more correctly, the characters who come from the bad guys group, whether they are really bad, good, or indifferent) are all male, because that group can't have female children. (They're human, but genetically engineered in a number of ways, this being one of them, so they need to find regular women to mate with.)

There's definitely a bias, though. Even in books that have strong female lead characters, a preponderance of the other characters seems to be male. However, compare it to SF from 50 years ago. And compare that to SF from 20 years before that. That earliest batch of writers didn't even seem to know that women existed.
 

Banning
Eloif
Emrys

Female

Galiena
Bronwyn
Kaliumundi
Egadia
Kenilyn

~Sheena
 

Female:
Rose Bryony
Olwen
Tania
Tanaia (dropped it because it sounded too much like 'denial')
Anne
Hannah
Shyla
Susan
Phlynn (er, yes . . .)
Lisa
Dendy
Daria
Alexis

(I'm sure there's more . . . Lots of unfinished stories and story set-ups in the old files . . . )
 

Jola
Tamra
Neska
Aisha

Males

*ponder ponder*

No MCs who are male but some important secondary characters:

Cedrian
Jessup
Erlant

[This message has been edited by JeanneT (edited February 22, 2008).]