Where do your characters' unusual names come from?

Joe Turk When I get stumped for a name, I refer to 19th century baseball rosters. The history of baseball is rife with memorable and sometimes weirdly evocative nicknames.
However, in 'Breaking the Toy', the main character's name is 'Gob/Gobalian'. And I got that name from Dickran Gobalian, otherwise known as 'Leon Redbone', Mr. Gobalian/Redbone is a musician known for songs that recall the 19th and early 20th century. But in addition to his nostalgic music, he's known for giving bizarre interviews. He has insisted that he is 'very old', 'thousands' of years old..."I just keep coming back". And when asked about his parents, he said he was the son of Jenny Lind and Paganini. Jenny Lind was a Swedish opera singer born in 1820...which would make Leon Redbone roughly 160 years old Leon Redbone maintains these details of his backstory, to this day, never once 'breaking character'. And if that isn't strange enough, if you look at photos of Jenny Lind and Leon Redbone...they have VERY similar bone structures to their faces.
Since you've read, 'Breaking the Toy', you know the premise involves living multiple lives, so it seemed appropriate to appropriate Mr. Gobalian's name. It's an added bonus that 'gob' means mouth, since the book character tends to say what she/he thinks, regardless of consequence.

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