Here we go...
Arkan is derived from the name Arkhan, a character (main character actually) in a game called Dark Earth. It was a pretty good game, and I liked the sound of the name. I changed the spelling as I like it this way better. Oddly enough, nobody ever guessed the origin of the name when the subject came up long ago... I came up with the idea to use the name when I came up with the idea for my first character in BG2. An elf who was "born of fire"....the Fire elf Which, conveniently enough, explains the avatar. It's a picture of Link (of Zelda fame) that I liked, and asked someone to edit the image to what you see before you. And that, as they say, is that.