Name: Azzuro
Weapons: Pistol/Stunrod. Optionally a grenade.
Gender: Anything
Role: Breacher. Runs in and stuns aliens. Will pick stunning over shooting (so bad accuracy is fine).
Regarding base name and location, "AlienSmack" looks okay. I voted for Europe, but for a slightly more challenging game you can try the Middle East, around Saudi Arabia. UFOs won't decelerate much over the area, so you'll have to tail them as far as possible to their mission zone.
As for research, it depends on what kind of game you're playing. If you want a quick game, skip laser weapons for medikits and research the plasma weapons when you recover it. If you're looking for a slower game, research laser weapons up to the rifle, than switch over to armor and medikits later. Medikits are almost useless without armor, as most soldiers die in one hit. Whatever the case, more scientists are always better, so try to have at least 20 by month's end. Feel free to sell off extraneous stuff like UFO power sources, navigation, alien corpses, etc - they can be recovered easily and won't need to be researched for quite some time. Also, build Alien Containment on the very first day - getting a navigator is crucial to success.
About starting plans, just sell off useless stuff and buy useful stuff in the first few days. Swap the Interceptor cannons and Stingrays for Avalanche missiles, but be careful not to leave them unarmed in the meantime. Buy stunrods and flares immediately, because they are good for night missions. If you want, you can start rearranging the base, but I've gone entire games leaving my base in that indefensible position.