Don, I like your idea.  I would love to come up with some names of my own for NPCs or even playbooks. 

I think I had too much time beforehand to read and think about stuff.  I read the book over the course of about 2 weeks, during which I had this vision for my character.  Perhaps a better way to do it is to not think at all about your character until you sit down for Session One.  I guess I could have just chucked my name and it would have been fine (though I'm not sure why Boiardi or Emmy is so much more in the spirit of AW or a Maestro D' than Dickson-- frankly, some of the pre-gen names are kind of annoyingly bad).  Or is the mere act of being forced to choose off the pre-gen list that creates the intended feeling?

When I read the book, I didn't realize it was mandated that you MUST pick a name off the list.  My impression was that the list provided the prototypical names, and you could pick one or come up with your own name in the same vein.  If I had known it was a rule, I wouldn't have let myself get attached to my own choice.

Is it truly violating the spirit of the exercise to deviate from the list? For instance, the Battlebabe list contains many gemstone names.  Why would Sapphire be OK but Topaz wouldn't?  The difference to me is quantitative, not qualitative.  The exercise of buying in then lies in coming up with your name and making sure it fits in with the pre-gen list.

I'm not sure it's totally true that in life, you don't get to pick your name, but it IS true that you also don't get to pick your stats IRL, yet I picked my character's and made up his history.  It's a game, and if I'm creating this person, is it "wrong" to want to name him? 

Maybe the way to do this, if you really want to give the feeling of lack of choice, would be to have the MCs name the characters after you describe them.