[MarkTanamil]

Sorry but this is too easy to explain.

The high number of unique names comes from the fact that two players can't have the same name on the same server.

As for mages, they are probably the most popular as most players have at least one as an alt for various reasons. By having more of them, and the limit of no same names on the same server, you get more variation.

It boggles the mind that somebody could perform a study like this and overlook one of the most important details.

[pnachbaur]

The article explicitly says "Characters with the same name can exist on different servers, so the mind-boggling 3.8 million unique names found in the dataset was not expected."

[MarkTanamil]

People don't choose a server so they can use the name they want.They play on the server their friends on (or chose a random one).

If the name isn't available they come up with a new name.