Idk if its just me but... When I tried to enter the default name of the MC (Joel), It just kept saying that "Name is unavailable" or smth of the sorts. Had to cheese it by replacing the "L" with a capital I instead.
Because Joel is his actual name. Either you were lucky to type the same name or you knew it beforehand, either way the game wants you to type a different name or cheese it, I guess?
