Name with Care, Changing Ain’t Easy

On July 31st, I suggested ways to kill words, to get rid of excess wordage in your writing. On occasion this involves deleting entire chapters, perhaps even characters. Ooo, I hate that. I hated when I had to eliminate one character based on someone who lived in a ratty trailer near the Snake River.
But you gotta get rid of what doesn't work. Sometimes that involves changing characters' names.
I recently returned from the Williamette Writers Conference in Portland, Oregon. Great conference, very well organized, with a large number of agents seeking screenplays, fiction and non-fiction.
One of the many good speakers I heard was Larry Brooks, novelist, writing instructor and freelance writer. His site, http://www.storyfix.com/, abounds with valuable information for writers.
One of Larry’s “101 Slightly Unpredictable Tips for Novelists and Screenwriters” suggests naming characters "after real people who represent what you’re going for.” He says it helps you keep the character and his or her traits in mind while you’re writing. Then you can easily do a search and change the name later.
I like Larry's idea and may give it a try.
What I learned in the process of writing my current WIP is to be careful about thinking “oh, yeah, the name doesn’t work, and I’ll change it later.” I named one of my characters James Renfrew, and was told early on that Renfrew was Count Dracula’s assistant in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
I couldn’t think of another Scots name that I liked, so I procrastinated. Now I’m so accustomed to Renfrew that I’m finding it hard to think of him as anyone else. Maybe I’ll name him after my step-father, a Kilgore. But wasn’t he in some other novel? Or my father’s middle name, Graham (which my father never much liked).
So maybe my advice is consider characters’ names carefully because they stick around and may haunt you.
What do you think? What might I name my lovable con artist posing as a minister?