I second Syaoran.

I would also like to recommend Serena Tsukino from Sailor Moon. I know that that's not her "real" name, but her English name..

shishio (rurouni kenshin)
himura (rurouni kenshin)

hanamichi (slam dunK)

kurapika and Gon (hunterxhunter) Gon can also be a fictional dinosaure -_-''

lenalee (d.gray-man)

Cooro (plus anima)

haruhi (ouran high school host club)

no need to read the manga to know where Inuyasha come from

and he is not from a manga but..come one everyone knows him from the anime:

ashitaka (mononoke hime)

these I chose from manga in my list I consider fairly popular..I guest people would have came across them in one way or an other

Yeah, sure. There is an Haruhi with a mock religion based on her too beside the fact that her novels sold worldwide 16.5 millions of copies but we'll go with *that* Haruhi.


Beside from characters named on the title (like Ranma), I'd also say Onizuka from GTO is hard not to recognize it.

________________
What I like in Trivial Pursuit style. Pick your category:

Shaoran is...not that universal
first of all...clamp is pretty niche...atleast in my country
just saying Shaoran to the general manga reading public would be like saying Aznable to a person who likes Anime
Huh!
who the fuck is that?

second 95% of ppl older than 22 would think
Cardcaptor Sakura
when they hear that name

so not a very good example

I do not think Sailor moon is a good example
since every country have their own name on her
i had no idea she was called serena tsukino for example[guessing america] untill i read fovikas post

the first person who just wrote
Elric
made me think of the fantasy book series
not full metal alchemist


general manga ppl might know and get the series just by hearing
Kenshiro
Jotaro
Lum
Belldandy

if not...read some good shit for gods sake

well known characters with their names in the title of their manga/light novel is kind of cheating lol but
haruhi,ranma,inu yasha,kenshin

Ash from pokemon
Tsuna and reborn from katekyo hitman reborn

Howl from howls moving castle

Shinji hikari from neon genesis evangelion.