Dom speaks:
They met on an IRC channel, and did not in fact meet face to face until... what, E3 last year? Something like that. I didn't meet Fred until ACen 2k1 and Rod until A-kon that same year.

Dom speaks:
Piro's name comes from Kanon. See the siamese cat that's on his head in the first bad art day? That's Piro. There's some story behind the cat's name, but I won't spoil it for those of you who actually want to play Kanon.
Largo's name does, in fact, come from Bubblegum Crisis.
Dom and Ed's names are... well, Dom and Ed's names.
Sarah explained the Seraphim thing in a previous rant--I can't find it right now, but it went beyond just the "highest order of angels" thing.
Tsubasa's name is his chosen handle on the 'net.
Now, as for the girls, their names were fairly specifically chosen. Check out the kanji for Kimiko's name on one of the shirts... :)

The rant from Seraphim that Dom couldn't remember was in strip 89.
The "Kimiko idol" shirt with her name in kanji was in the old CafePress MT store and is no longer available.

Dom speaks:
This is the part of our story where we get shocking revelations.
You want kanji?
You got kanji.
Those are the two characters who've had their full names printed in the open at some point or another.

The kanji for "Hayasaka" can be translated as "quick hill". Erika is sometimes seen wearing a "QuickKill" shirt.

Piro speaks:
Piro is a cute little siamese cat in the game Kanon (as mentioned above). Makoto finds the kat and drips him off of a highway bridge (long story, if you watch the anime you'll find out more). Piro survives, of course, and after being found by makoto, Yuuichi brings Makoto and Piro home, where they later have a naming session to give the cat a name. After looking at various food names, Yuuichi suggests 'Piro' which is short for 'Piroshiki', a type of russian meat bread.
I took on the nickname for various reasons, years ago, and now thanks the MT i'm stuck with it forever.
Another tidbit - the latest Megatokyo server, the one you are all using right now is named 'Makoto'. This also has several layers of importance (which might make you worry about our cute little server-chan)

Piro speaks:
Since it's technically a japanese name, it's somewhere between 'pee-row' and 'pee-low' (japanese don't really have 'l' or 'r' - it's something inbetween)
Now the lame-ass lazy english way of saying it (the way i do most times) is 'pi-row' - which is totally wrong, but who cares.

Hear "Piro" pronounced in these clips from Kanon: one two three
Readers of MacHall may have noticed Piro the cat there as well.

Largo speaks:
Ian,
take that damn cat off your head.
heh..

Ian McConville speaks:
Tell that to the cat.

Why he's there is explained in Piro's strip 176 rant and Ian's strip 82 news box.

Dom speaks:
Largo is a reference to Bubblegum Crisis (The OAV, not the "2040" TV show). If you haven't seen it yet, SEE IT. It's just... required.
And before you ask, no, he's not a reference to Monkey Island II

Dom speaks:
Please note that there is an NPC in BGII by the name of Largo...

Dom speaks:
Actually, the NPC was named after HIM, not the other way around... the original Largo (Well. The one our Largo pulled his name from, at least) was a villain in Bubblegum Crisis.

Largo speaks:
aye.. this is true enough, Bioware named the npc for me.. heh, was cool of them.. I'm told I may be a badguy npc when NWN comes out .. heh

The Bubblegum Crisis OAV (original animation video) was the original series, and was also the original use of the name MegaTokyo.
NPC = Non playing character
BGII = Baldur's Gate II
NWN = Neverwinter Nights

Piro speaks:
Piro and Largo are just nicknames, screenames. Sometimes people are better known by screen names than thier real names - and are often referred to that way. Piro and Largo are two sad type individuals.
What are thier real names? I'm not tellin :P

Ed speaks:
I'm around and actively involved in the comic... Just not where you can see me

Tsubasa speaks:
Maybe I should give you a definitive answer about my handle. :) Tsubasa means "wing(s)" in Japanese, and the reason why I picked that word is rather abstract; Tsubasa represents my wish like this: "I wish I had wings to soar high on the cyberspace".

Tsubasa speaks:
I'm the guy who recommended Piro for some characters' names. I haven't done a thorough research for the names though.

Asmodeus speaks:
Ken. Born in Japan, raised in US. How did I find out about MT? Piro pulled me in. The next second I realized, I was listed as a staff. My positions are story/forum moderator/strip translator/Piro's personal art critic.

The name Asmodeus does indeed belong to a mythic demon. His cat Belphegor got his name from a mythic demon as well.

Piro speaks:
Ken actually chose the name 'Asmodeus' and my selection of names for his fellow coworkers follows his lead :P

Okay, what about Largo's (Rodney's) wife Ruby?

Piro speaks:
there are no plans to introduce ruby into the comic. I've specifically left out all my female friends (with the single exception of seraphim) mainly because i have no problems making my guy friends look really bad (cough cough dom, ed, asmodeus, cough).
Being a MT character has real job hazards associated with it. I wouldnt want to put any of my female friends thru any of that. :P It's why you haven't seen Natsuki or Crowbot in the comic even tho they are as much a part of the MT support group as Dom, Ed and the rest.

However, you can still see Natsuki in comic form at NekoBox.
Also, alternate universe versions of Dom and Ed take abuse in Strange Candy.

Asmodeus speaks:
Actually, Ruby has made a guest appearance in MT strip last fall. It was a little joke fred and rod pulled off that "Who would know that this is Ruby." When fred told me about it, I thought "That's so cunning and evil." Good luck to you all fuessing which strip she made a guest appearance.

Asmodeus speaks:
Hmmm.... Maybe this one is quite hard to guess. Here are hints. Try to link a holliday in the fall and the forum that Ruby runs. If you guessed it right, you will see an extra character in a strip I'm talking about. That's Ruby. Hope you all will make a right guess this time. Good luck.

That probably means Ruby is the ghost.