Permission Letters

Have you Googled? Where have you checked already?

I may be revealing my ignorance openly instead of subtly, but why would the author need a release form on names? I'd have guessed that if I made up a name for my fictional work, and checked as much as I was able online to ensure there wasn't a real person with that name who might have been the model for my character, I'm in the clear. Or if the names are of real people the work maligns, that no release is really going to protect me in court.

Maryn, looking totally hot in her libel suit

I was assuming we were talking NF?