Ohhh, I love coming up with names for my characters. Often times I feel like the names have to fit the characters vibes, even if the meaning isn't that relevant, and they usually pertain to the characters' ethnic backgrounds as well.
My male lead I named Kattar because I liked the name and thought it sounded really cool, which suits his vibe well, but it's also become a reoccurring idea in the story that his mother and (now girlfriend) like to call him things like Kit-Kat and Kitty Kat etc.
I also like to think about the way their names flow together with their surnames. I'll come up with a first name or surname first and then try to make sure the other name sounds good with the first, because i'm obsessed with euphony. Surname usually only comes first when a character has relatives in the story tho.
When it comes to businesses I really go crazy because I just love naming things. There are tons of magazines and art foundations in my novel "Damsel in the Red Dress" including but not limited to "Callisto" "Melpomene Laughed"and "Gossamer and Ambergris."
Since "A Dozen Morning Glories" revolves around authors and editors I'm having fun naming the novels the characters work on like "Honey Bea." For the human names in the story though, I went to a list of most popular names from specific decades to try to make sure I was matching up the ages well for people born in the 70s, 90s etc.
With "Rigamarole" I just wanted to give the characters normal names that made me think of kids I would have grown up with in the Maryland suburbs.
Oftentimes when I name the characters, there isn't a lot of meaning behind their names, but then I weave more meaning into their names over time. The most obvious instance in any of my stories is Mrs. Moon, because she's practically a goddess, and larger than life.
This is free for everyone to read on my Patreon public posts