Re-edited version....
Gall - wanted a sort of Daredevil type character, someone that "galled" his enemies and carried alot of anger in himself. Ended up a bit different from that. Ex-gangbanger, imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. Family killed while he was inside (to keep him quiet). Trained while inside by a fellow prisoner and master swordsman. Released after serving 15 yrs sentence. Out to kick a$$.
Redsight - my third toon, sadly deceased and even sadder the name is lost to me as I deleted him only to find someone had snatched it as RedSight grrrr! He was a blind archer who saw, wait for it, only frequencies in the red colour spectrum.
Ironlight - my first ever toon, Ironclad, had to be renamed as it turned out to be a (TM'd) name. Stopped playing him after that. Ironlight is the same character, reborn as a Peacebringer.
Merrow - my Aquaman/scottish stylee! Awaiting shields though.
Trace - Reborn. Writing a piece of ciction at the mo' about Trace's fall from grace and how his use of an illegal analog of the Dyne drug gives him a second chance....
Payload - Trace renamed. 50 yr old PPD SWAT type. AMAZED the name was free!
Twelve Gauge - My 2nd ever villain. Ex-mob enforcer turned Cadre's cannon fodder. So named for his devastating right hook hitting you like a twelve gauge shotgun, and his love of that particular gun.
Church Grim - Ghoul, raised by human cemetery caretaker, named after the old legend of a creature assigned the role of protecting the dead. Short, tusked, hairy and somewhat unused to interaction with folk that aren't six feet under.
Midnight Rose - my first villain, unceremoniously deleted at level 32 when, for some reason, I found her unplayable. It sounded a bit ninja-like to me and the idea was that her first name was Rose, whereas the Midnight bit came from her time as a collector for the Tsoo. She'd turn up every midnight without fail and extract either money or blood.
After I killed her off it was about another 18 months until I recreated her as Ms Adams. I liked the notion that she was arrogant enough not to care if anyone found out who she was behind the mask.
Arctic Princess - I still have no idea where this came from. She's based (unconsciously at first) on a certain Russian spy-turned-'hero' (L'araignée noir) without the heavy accent. She was the first character I created after logging in and was deleted at level 6. Her costume was 'interesting' (she looked like a female 'Speed Racer' for reasons unknown to me). I Googled her and Arctic Princess is the name of an oil tanker.
Whirling Dervish - a case of mismatching name with country. I liked the idea of a hero who conjured up images of '...Arabian Nights' but then I looked up Whirling Dervishes and realised I had made a mistake - Dervishes are part of a religious ceremony in Turkey. Still, no one has PM'd me yet to tell me that I am blaspheming a sacred religious rite, although a Turkish guy did once /tell me to ask if I was Turkish.
I'm thinking of renaming her to her IG civilian ID - Manny Azeerah.
Ionos-Lord of Lightning
The italicised bit is the name I would have liked to have given him as a title. He was also deleted around the 32 mark. I was such a rubbish player then.
Ionos comes from Ionosphere and he was an Elec/Elec Blaster. Something vague about ionised particles had stuck with me (and may still be totally off) and I thought it was cool. I may revive him.
Regarding Whirling Dervish, I shouldn't worry too much, as nobody worries about Scirocco's Dervish.
Now you're asking... This is just a few of them, I have a lot more but these are my favourites.
True Balance - DM/DA Scrapper - I wanted someone who is pure and goodly, but wielded dark powers because I love contradiction. Ended up going with this name and making her an archaelogist and the daughter of not-so-recently deceased British aristocracy.
Sirius - Ice/Storms Controller - My real name. No, really 
The original version (an Ice/Ice blaster) was moved to Defiant and had to change his name to Sirius Moonshadow. The Defiant version is my only level 50, despite having this game since EU beta.
Insomnus - SS/En Brute - I had this idea for a villain who couldn't sleep, and had subsequently gone crazy over it. I came up with a young girl who was paralysed until her father used his resources to invent a powersuit that would grow with her as she grew up, with the unfortunate side-effect that it prevented her from sleeping.
Sonida - Ilu/Son Controller - Too many episodes of Bleach made me want to create a character called this (along with a villain called Negacion), and it's one of the few times that I've come up with a name first and a concept later. She ended up becoming super-fast with a sonic secondary so I could play on the word in two different ways. In her spare time, she's a special effects co-ordinator, though she does them all herself and rarely uses machinery. She wears a fedora, and looks awesome.
Kirin - WP/SS Tank - A few friends formed a Teen Titan-style group of teenaged superheroes called the Alpha League, and in order to join in I needed a young hero and the group needed a tank. As I have a fascination with mythological creatures, the name sprang into my head fully formed. She's just a teenager who loves to weight-train and punch people, which ended up with her government having her deported to Paragon for being a nuisance.
Densetsu - MA/Regen Scrapper - literally 'Legend' in Japanese. This is made slightly funnier as I chose "Legendary" as his title, making him the Legendary Legend He was blessed by the kami of the sun, Amaterasu, with healing powers, but the strength and superjump are all his own work.
Tiny Goth Chick - Dark/Dark Corrupter - One of my few joke names that I managed to make stick in my head and become a more fleshed-out character. She's actually tech origin and has a belt and gloves that transfer and manipulate normal matter into negative energy. It has the unfortunate side-effect of the exhaust fumes creating a rainbow-sparkly effect when she moves, which she hates.
Srebro - Stone/Granite Tank - Bulgarian for 'silver'. He used to be a professional footballer in Bulgaria, but mutated when his plane to America flew through a storm created by a mutant superhero, frying his DNA.
The Concierge - Mind/Psi Dominator - One of my more recent creations and part of a plot to create a character that looked like a joke until you read his bio. He's really, really, really evil.
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Shafty MacTwang - Arc/En Blaster: Elven archer from the forest of Nok-Off in the ancient realm of Clie Shay, come to Paragon to fight for the forces of good. Battle cry: "In the name of Clie Shay!".
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Genius. Pure genius. 
I ROFL and salute you sir!
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Bathory Erzsebet Magic Necro/Dark Mastermind I wanted to make a perfect sadistic villain. So I looked into history for advice. A vampire would be nice. And I came up with Elizabeth Bathory. That name was obviously taken. I met the guy who helped his friend make this toon, but never the toon itself.
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If you're on defiant that would be me, my Bathory creation came mainly from history, I was doing a presentation on serial killers at about the time of getting CoH, I saw the poster for CoV on the back of the map supplied with the game and thought "aww man I wanna make a villain!!". So I set about my evil plan by thinking of evil women in history my first thought was Myra Hindley which I reserved for a couple of months before my inner-self told me that was probably bit close to the born and and wouldn't be good taste to run about with a toon named after a fairly recent evil woman. So my brain clicked and whirled abit more and I remembered about dear old Elizabeth (or Erzsebet in Hungarian) who I'd mainly learnt about by over playing Atmosphere as a child. Her name has that many translations I'm surprised she hasn't turned up more!
When CoV went into beta I immediately made her a necro/poison MM which she stayed until the game went live...I also placeheld the name on Union...cos I'm nasty but that version has since been deleted!
@SkullFester
I'm not changing this signature until I'm proclaimed 'King of the World'.
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Her name has that many translations I'm surprised she hasn't turned up more!
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It has... and all different misspellings too.
- The Italian Job: The Godfather Returns #1151
Beginner - Encounter a renewed age for the Mook and the Family when Emile Marcone escapes from the Zig!
- Along Came a... Bug!? #528482
Average - A new race of aliens arrives on Earth. And Vanguard has you investigate them!
- The Court of the Blood Countess: The Rise of the Blood Countess #3805
Advanced - Go back in time and witness the birth of a vampire. Follow her to key moments in her life in order to stop her! A story of intrigue, drama and horror! Blood & Violence... not recommend to solo!
Blue Moon - Grav/Kin Controller was just so perfect for my character that I couldn't pass it up (even though I had to put a period on the end 
). A SCottish particle physicist who was shut into her own gravity-testing device, she survived by a freak chance where all her colleagues died, and gained gravity powers.
Blue = national colour of Scotland
Once in a blue moon = something that happens very rarely/by freak chance
Moon = related to gravity
Damn, that name's just so perfect 
I also have...
Supa Afro Gangsta - MA/Regen Scrapper - Based off that black guy from Enter the Dragon. His afro is the source of all his power
Red Spy - Claws/Willpower Stalker - I "improvised" this guy from TF2 . I picked Claws because the Flat Blade looks like a knife.
Lieutenant Frost - Mercs/Traps MM - I always did like the name Frost.. and Lieutenant Frost is a character from Timesplitters. Perfect!
And now for some punnery!
Duke Box - Sonic/Sonic Defender - the name was just too perfect to pass up
EDIT:
Oh yes, and Undead Cowboy - no points if you can guess what he is
~union4lyfe~
Right... here goes...
DreamWeaver was simply because the toon was a psychic/empathic web designer (ie: me!), and the name just fit the concept nicely.
PowerStar was my first proper attempt at a blaster, and originally had a copper-topped helmet.
Ranger Emily was originally a costume test for a TA/Archery defender, but I rather liked AR/Dev and stuck with it- just me and my BFG. Eventually I did make Ranger Marianne as well (aka Marianne Garrett - remember the Thief series?) Both Rangers work for the National Forestry Service and deal with threats to the natural order of things.
Prince Vultan needs no introduction for those of a certain age who appreciate bad sci-fi and good MAD SHOUTY PEOPLE. He was also the first toon I made when veteran wings came out. (Keep an eye out for his nemesis General Kala.)
Goldblade are a favoured punk band of mine and were appropriate for a whirling dervish DB scrapper.
Agent Flux is simply a corruption of Aeon Flux, though I gave her a whole different (and ver' French) personality in her bio. However, although Amelie herself has retired from villainy, her escaped Crey clone is now rising steadily through Arachnos as Operative Flux.
Casanova Funkenstein brings a whole new meaning to the word boogieman- he's the world's grooviest mad scientist and leader of a dark army of dancefloor zombies. Dissscooo issss liiiiffeeee...
Capt. Thunder is a buddy's toon made while I was off on EvE for a while - again originally made as a costume test/joke to try and have a Nathan Fillion clone sitting around on my lappy. We both liked playing with him, though. The name simply fits the powers and sounds suitably dumb and heroic... unlike the toon, who's a cop, hates the name but it's stuck in the public mind, and is quite grumpy about having to save people all the time
Battle Hamster is cute, fast, furry and squeaky.
Papa Lazarou is behind you.
Is it time for the dance of joy yet?
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Two days or so ago, I was agonising over the character creation screen, when I put together a magic-origin Ice/Cold Corruptor. I began thinking of a concept, and found that the idea of the embodiment of Mankind's fear and hatred (this being in general terms, I'm rather fond of the season myself) of Winter was a pleasing one. I was more pleased when the name 'Dead of Winter' sprang into mind, and even more please when I learned the name wasn't already taken.
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Nice. It's lovely when you just get struck by a random inspiration particle like that.
Although being struck and then getting "Name has already been taken" makes you die a little inside