There is a way. Create alt with name you want to have, pay no attention to appearance. Once done start making your ''real''
character BUT dont put anything into Character Name field. Spend as much time creating it as you wish, as you have name secured. Then, once you 100% happy with your look, press BACK on left side, it will take you to character select. Delete character with desired name. After that click CREATE, and your previous settings will be there still. Did that myself, took me over 1 hour, and i could do this, and have my name after deleting ''nameholder''.
Game will reset appearance settings only if you quit it during the process. To be 100% sure try it yourself, just change hairs or makeup and do BACK, then CREATE again. It wont change.