I usually just go with the defaults. But then again, I don't usually play games where such a thing is an option. The last one I can recall is one of the Grimrocks.

Depends on the race. And also the game. In general... orcs and dwarves have harsh sounding names. My orc names can easily be mistaken for grunt - like noises, and are rarely more than 4 letters. My elven names are soft and whispy. With humans I often corrupt real names. If the game offers a default, I sometimes go with that. A common scenario is me just being clueless, and using a name generator. You can find a ton of them with a google search. You can also download one of many apps on your phone.

I hope to god there's a random name generator because I'm too lazy to think of more than one name.

Not very creatively, but credible enough to still fit into the game world. Usually some more or less common first name from the real world combined with a last name consisting of RL or imaginary words that I like the sound of, or words in random foreign languages with a meaning related to the class or background of the character (e.g. Irish/Celtic/Latin words for animals, celestial bodies, character traits etc., typical fantasy fare).

Well, my FF party was FITE, TEEF, WMAG, BMAG or RMAG, MONK, WMAG, BMAG

They were all Red Mages.

EDIT: Has there ever been a character more useful early-game and more useless late-game than a Red Mage?

Most of the games I played didn't let you play as either. There was Chrono Cross, but Robo came with his own name. If I had to create a name for a robot it would probably a series of letters, and numbers if the game allowed it; as actual machines are typically named this way. Another thing I might do is use an ordinary person's name, but in binary. If the monsters are a savage species (like the gamorreans from Star Wars), it would be similar to how I name dwarves and orcs. If it is more like an animal, (like the slivers from MTG, or the zerg from Starcraft) it would have a sort of science research-y names. Examples: hunter killer type X, infection strain, delta drone, scouting brood. If the monsters in question are an alien type race like the Protoss, the names would be closer to titles than, well, names. Exampes: commandant of the 35th legion, Judicator, Zealous One. I'm just making this up as I type them, and I don't yet have an established formula for naming these types of characters.

It depends on how the game is balanced. I note that Red Mages in both FF1 and FF3DS are still quite useful endgame. (FF3DS RM's can even use Excalibur and (if you're able to get it) Ultima Weapon, and get a small number of Curaga casts, which are usually strong enough; I like using one as a melee attacker and to help support my Devout if the Devout is busy casting a spell like Haste.)

As for useful early and useless later on:
* Mages in some Japanese Wizardry games. Fighter-types continue to improve at high levels, while casters stop getting higher level spells. Furthermore, hybrids can be just as good at casting as pure casters in the long run. (Wizardry 8's mage sometimes feels this way mainly due to fire resistance being common and Alchemists getting good high level spells.)
* Mystics and Monsters in SaGa Frontier. They can do decent damage early on, but without the powerful techniques that Humans get, they can't compete offensively later on. Hence, they tend to be only really good for MagicHeal and (if you're able to get it; most Mystics can't, and I believe it's a 1/64 chance for a monster to learn it from a Unicorn) LifeRain. (Mechs get PluralSlash and can easily reach 99 STR.)
* Tosh in Arc the Lad 2 might qualify. His thing is physical attacks, and by end game you'll be outleveled to the point where your regular attack is not going to hit at all; hence, you're better off using someone with nice AOE skills. (Tosh at least does get a skill that can inflect Weaken Enemy, which makes its target hitable, but Arc is better for that.) (Also, worth noting that Diekbeck is always level 1, and therefore won't ever hit with a normal attack, but at least they can get some special equipment to get good stats and some good healing spells.)
* In the SaGa 3 remake, bow users. You can get a Mythril Bow early, and it's quite good for that point. However, bows do not scale with stats, and further bow upgrades don't get enough power to keep up with everything else. (Fortunately, you can just switch to a different weapon; Espers, who are the race with bow proficiency, also have proficiency in rapiers and all types of magic.)

In my party in Icewind Dale, i named the leader after myself, the fighter after my brother, the fighter/thief after a LotR character and the rest of them (all women) after my crushes.

When I was a kid, I got Might and Magic for Sega Genesis (which is MM2).

My knight I named PowerHouse because he's strong.
My robber I called Vegas because Las Vegas steals from you.
My paladin was called Stake because I thought Paladins were vampire hunters.
My archer I named Aim because he was an Archer.
My cleric I named Ash because it sounded churchy.
My sorcerer I named Stealth because I though Stealth jets were named that because they were fast and I incidentally rolled a really high speed score.

As time went on, I wrote a few homebrew games with these characters and started a novel a few times with them. The feedback I received on them led me to write more and self-publish.

My novel "The Darkest Wand" uses Aim but as a girl, Aimee. And she inadvertantly ended up a thief and not an archer. Oops.

I named my son Ash (Asher) in real life and name my healing characters "Asheigh S Hammond" because I misspelled Ashleigh in Guild Wars and liked how Asheigh sounded. And the acronym is Ash.

PowerHouse was renamed Vareese and he's been a warrior, a general, and a teacher(my current project shows him as all 3).

Stealth got a last name of "Azmay" which is a villain planet in my stories and she's good at being invisible which earned her name. She's a princess and was born in two worlds at the same time. Sometimes I use Azmay as a villain wizard.

So, if I can, I go in with some of these stories as RP backgrounds.

If I ever finish it, this story will be my next treasure hunt. I restarted it with RPGMaker MZ. No promises, though. I'm a very busy person these days. (Still enough time to waste a bit of time on the forums)

I also have a few others. Tellion was my elf in a MUD ages ago
I lost my password and had to restart, so I made a similar sounding name, Tallima. I had no idea it was also the name of a radicalized cleric in Egypt or someplace.

But I use those 2 names for elves or rangers.

Wilin Unders came from an automatic make generator and was a favorite character from The City of Arabel Neverwinter Nights Persistent World. So my bards usually get that name.

I sometimes use characters from my books. Namely Daarant the wizard and Tim the boy wizard. I also use Sarah sometimes (but that book is a work in progress).

I also use Greek or Latin to make a name that describes them. Thanatos or something like that.

And lastly, the random name generator.

This topic made me realize that I have been using the name Jedda from Arcus Odyssey (played on Megadrive) since 1991. Usurpation of identify for 30 years, in various console rpgs (Jedda being fairly easy to type in with a gamepad).

I somehow missed that game. It looks fantastic. That intro was quite spectacular for the day.

Yes it was!

I remember drawing one of the map for a magazine contest, and I won something. I totally forgot what I won though.

I'm not very creative. This is the names I typically go with:

Alpha
Beta
Cappa
Delta
Epsilon
Gamma
etc...


I also have a few other names that I'll use that are a bit more creative from my days playing MUDs

Cuxu
Tud
Xilar
Tava
Abbayarra

I'm terrible with names. I tend to name them after existing characters in fiction (often other games). If that fails, I google a name that somehow pertains to the character and setting. I'll also use a random name generator (ex: KOTOR) if the game happens to have one.