I'm sure most americans in the 1800s had fairly common names, but to be honest, I'm fascinated by how creative parents were during that time. From the whole traditional "mother's-maidenname-as-given-name" schtick to arabic names on a WASP (
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othman_A._Abbott), I honestly think civil-war era american registries are a goldmine, especially for character names or even player characters in video games.