New Guy with a question?

[macg1]

This is my first post.
I am wondering if a fictional character name from a novel, short-story, play;
etc. can be copyrighted?
If so, where could I find a record of all fictional charcter names from pieces
of published literature?
The reason why, is that I think that someone I know is using the character
names created by other authors; so I can notify this person that those names
have already been used.

[PeterL]

Character names can be and frequently are reused by other authors. The sub-genre of fan fiction is built around pre-existing characters and settings that were created by another author. Such reuse is not always friendly, either, L. Ron Hubbard tried to kill L. Sprague de Camp's character Harold Shea. You might just ask your friend why he doesn't make up his own names.