I don't know about the rest of you GMs out there but sometime i struggle with decent names so I though if we all pooled character and NPC names we'd ahve something we can dip into when the well runs dry.
Luca Gargosi
Trianan
Raveon D'astarde
Ish-Draakar
Khallan
Avarian Guta
Fieken Lacas
Astilas Stroney
Hak Finial
(I didn't say all of them were good ;-) )
At least for Imperial citizens (especially space marines, assuming the chapter isn't too "weird") you could probably get a lot of mileage out of old Latin names from the Roman empire. It seems to me that a lot of charcaters in the TT fluff take naming conventions from around that era in history.
Also, an idea that was recently introduced to me (that strikes me as genius) is to take a normal name and change one or two letters. So "Robert" becomes "Obert" for example. William becomes Illiam or Willam.
Combine those two ideas (ie: drop a letter from a Roman name) and I imagine you've got a virtually unlimited source of random NPC names. At least for Imperial citizens. If you need xeno names you could try searching out foreign cultures to get "exotic" names and use the same tactic. Chinese/Japanese names would probably be good for Tau, considering how strongly "anime" their aesthetic is, for example.
The fine folks at malleus.dk came up with THIS which had always helped me out immensly with NPC names in my game.
Have you used the naming chart in the book?
One good thing about the W40K world is that you don't have to invent tons of fantasy sci fi names. You can use RL ones, historical ones (Khaaaaan!), or just those that make no sense.
I had fun with naming random Adeptus Arbites in the DC module, since it is stated that AAs comes from various planets but generally not the same as they are stationed on (to avoid having mixed loyalties in an uprising). Thus the PCs encountered Bob, Shaggazhred and Lucan all working together in the same squad
If you look at exisitng fluff names as well as the examples in the Core rulebook you can see that it varies from fairly normal names people have today (Magnus, Tybalt, Barak (Obama)), to ancient roman ones (Quintus), or just joke names (Able Gunner, Verbal Dakka). Some offical FFG modules have more fantasy-esque names as well, which is ok too.
So you are basically free to pull names out of a hat on the spot withoit worrying about if they fit the setting... nothing fits anyway, it's all a mishmash.
However if you are in doubt about using some RL names, just change a few letters to make it sound fantasy esque. Jack Ronald can become Jaco Rinas. Bob Smith can become Gob Simik... the opportunities are endless.
This site has a lot of name generators. You should be able to get something useful from it.
Yeah, coming up with names "on the fly" can be awkward sometimes. Here is a list of the Dramatis Personae that have appeared in my campaign so far (excluding the characters who's names came straight from the name list in the Rulebook):
Inquisitor Aurelius Montag
(Ordo Hereticus)
Interrogator Sebastian Rao
(swashbuckling second-in-command)
Thaddius
(technical genius)
Sister Octavia
(Sororitas-trained Medicae)
Mister Sarn
(Primaris Psyker)
Sgt. Thrane
(feral-world Guardsman)
(Elias Akira) Rautha
(Conspiracy mastermind)
Raga
(burly bodyguard)
Miri
(girly bodyguard)
Provost Dorn Severus
(Arbites commander)
Grim Largo
(crimeboss)
Capt. Clovax
(corrupt Arbite)
Rhamyd
(off-world smuggler)
Capt. Hadrian
(commander of Cobra-class destroyer
Gladius
)
Culliver Gath
(Beast House beastslaver)
Meklin
(local guide)
Pontius Degaurl
(effete prominant citizen)
Argus Havelocke
(fallen Rogue Trader), alias
Noor Mallear
Capt. Liev Constantin
(commander of the warp jumper
Vodanyoi
)
Governor Rache Kestyr
(governor of Palinurus Rhys)
Prefect Leyland
(chief law enforcement officer on Palinurus Rhys)
Deggan
(local bully)
Sheriff Agustus Rann
(sheriff of frontier county)
Plus, I posted this expanded list of Space Marine names over on the
Deathwatch
forum:
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=213&efcid=3&efidt=397111
-I hope this helps.