Check name availability?

skip the character customization, just type in the name until you find one that's free, delete the char and create a new one with the look you like and use the name
it's very unlikely that someone will take that name while you customize your look

This is the fastest & easiest way to check if a name is available on a server, using the armory means you might not see some low level characters so I don't recommend using it to check for available names.