My first D&D character was a halfling in
Menter's Red Box Basic. The adventure was
B2 Keep on the Borderland, and I absolutely don't remember his name, but likely it was something ripped off from Tolkien. He survived a couple of sessions, but met his demise when I skipped a session. My first AD&D character (about a year later) was a human ranger with great stats (but no recollection of his name either) and he was disintegrated by a cleaning golem in
C3 The Lost Island of Castanamir. Back then life was brutal and often short...