In my first village, I renamed all the villagers, either to family & friends, names I have always wanted to call my kids, or something related to their job (Fani for Farmer, Brik for Builder, etc.). At some point, though I reached a population threshold where it didn't matter anymore, and there were too many people.

In another game I've renamed every villager with a number name using a combination of English, Spanish and German, with appropriate endings for male/female, and slightly altered spelling so it looks vaguely "islandish". Examples: Cinco (guy, 5th villager), Twentitresa (gal, 23rd villager), Fiftifunf (guy, 55th villager).

Please keep this feature in future versions! It's one of things that makes the game fun, and gets you hooked at the beginning, because you care more about someone you've named (especially when it's family or friends).