I have played since around a year after Vanilla went live after being pestered by friends until I gave in and joined their guild.
As a new player they said to play a nelf Hunter, I then moved to a warrior and a rogue. All bring back great memories not just of levelling but also the vanilla raids, like my warrior getting his Tier helmet in Ony and the many many Molten Core runs.
I am in two minds whether to reserve and create character’s with those names on classic launch or whether to start with new names.
The thought of levelling another warrior with the same name, face and race is enticing but it wont have the history.