Pons does give some important things to consider.

I used my 3 adult children's name in my Twelve Days of Christmas in Kentucky pb and that turned out fine. I felt a little bad there wasn't another character in the book so I could include my stepson's name as well.  But I solved that problem by self-publishing a pb and using his name in that one.

Before I had any grandchildren, I used my great-niece Katie's name in a magazine story that was published in Clubhouse Jr. She and her mom were both thrilled, so when I was writing another story for that magazine I used Katie's sister's name.  I was delighted when that story was also accepted for publication, since I didn't want to seem to be playing favorites between the sisters.  Imagine my disappointment when I received my author comp copies of the magazine and discovered the editors had changed Rachel's name in the story!  Since I saw no reason for the change, I tactfully wrote the editor and asked about it, explaining that both my nieces were special needs children  and that Rachel had been especially looking forward to seeing her name in the story.  Amazingly, the editor had their design person change the name in the story back to Rachel and then printed out  5 full-color, full-magazine-size copies of the story and sent them to me just so I could give a copy to Rachel.  I still get teary-eyed every time I think about the kindness and caring of that Clubhouse Jr. staff.

Ev, that is so fantastic!

Pons does give some important things to consider.

I used my 3 adult children's name in my Twelve Days of Christmas in Kentucky pb and that turned out fine. I felt a little bad there wasn't another character in the book so I could include my stepson's name as well.  But I solved that problem by self-publishing a pb and using his name in that one.

Before I had any grandchildren, I used my great-niece Katie's name in a magazine story that was published in Clubhouse Jr. She and her mom were both thrilled, so when I was writing another story for that magazine I used Katie's sister's name.  I was delighted when that story was also accepted for publication, since I didn't want to seem to be playing favorites between the sisters.  Imagine my disappointment when I received my author comp copies of the magazine and discovered the editors had changed Rachel's name in the story!  Since I saw no reason for the change, I tactfully wrote the editor and asked about it, explaining that both my nieces were special needs children  and that Rachel had been especially looking forward to seeing her name in the story.  Amazingly, the editor had their design person change the name in the story back to Rachel and then printed out  5 full-color, full-magazine-size copies of the story and sent them to me just so I could give a copy to Rachel.  I still get teary-eyed every time I think about the kindness and caring of that Clubhouse Jr. staff.

I use names of my kids, their cousins, friends, my friends, relatives liberally, esp. if it fits the meaning for the character. My kids have "edited" some of my short stories, crossing out a character's name to add their own  

Pons gives you some great scenarios to think about. Happy writing!

Hello and thank you in advance if you can help. I am struggling with whether to use grandchildren  names in my picture book... I do have permission but I wonder if any of you have used a friend or family member’s name in the past and either you or the other person has later regretted it? This is my first of a series of PB’s so I want to get it right.

Try googling "Eco-friendly publishers." Here's one that turned up:
https://ethical.net/sustainability/happy-pineapple-people-and-planet-friendly-publishing/

Good luck!