Here are some characters based on infamous/historical figures.

Bolded text is the actual person/animal {bracketed text is the concept} 

• Otto the Octopus {A plasmoid rouge who has a taste for mischief.}
• Saint Olga of Kiev {A cleric/paladin who seeks revenge on the kingdom that killed her husband}
• Adolphe Sax {a bard who has inevitably survived quite a few accidents, just to play the Saxaphone}
• Tarrare {a barbarian who has an insatiable hunger, and goes into a rage when not fed}
• Wan Hu {a hopelessly optimistic artificer, determined to become an astronaut}
• DUO IDEA: Ethel Purtle & King {a bard and leonin who work as a sideshow act}
• Annie Oakly {A gunslinger with the best aim in the party}
• John "Chickie" Donohue {A character who joined the party just to go on a beer run, all the way to his buddies in a war zone}
• Alex Shaefer {an artist with a strong agenda against the banks}
• Adrian Shine {A ranger looking for the Loch Ness Monster}
• Horace De Vere Cole {a prankster rouge/bard who has a tendency to prank at formal gatherings}
• Medjed {a paladin/necromancer who cannot be taken seriously, because they are wearing a sheet to look like a ghost}
• Caeneus {a trans cleric with Poseidon as his patron/boyfriend}
• Caligula {A warlord who hates Poseidon, and water in general}
• Nehebkau {a yuan-ti who is just a snake wearing prosthetic legs}
• Niccolo Machiavelli [I know he's done other things, but I'd like a character based off his plan with DaVinci to steal a river]
• Thomas Fitzpatrick {a person who stole a plane twice, once after losing a bet, and the second time to spite a man who didn't believe him}
• Wulver {a werewolf druid who leaves fish on the windowsills of the poor.}
• Micheal Malloy {a character who has inevitably survived various assassination attempts}
• Elmer McCarty {A reanimated corpse of a thief originally used as a prop for sideshows}

Oh hey I've heard of the wulver

Making characters from history and mythology is fun. I've made a bunch. Johnny Appleseed is wondering through a domain of dread I've created, Sam Patch is worshiping thrill and heights by leaping from tall places, John Pernette is teaching gators how to sing, Benjamin Franklin has become a kite flying thunder god, and Mr. Bennett is being eccentric and running a newspaper, to name a few. I do often change their names though.