Mindy Kaling reveals The Office's newest character names

We all knew by now that Will Arnett, Ray Romano, and James Spader (not to mention Will Ferrell) would all be making guest (or perhaps permanent!) appearances on The Office before Steve Carell's Michael Scott left for Colorado. But Mindy Kaling has just divulged some heretofore privileged information: the new characters' names.

As she tweeted via Blackberry,

William Arnett plays "Fred Henry," Raymond Romano plays "Merv Bronte," and James Spader plays "Robert California." These are real, guys.

These may be more than mundane revelations — they may be clues. Only one of those names follows the two-first-names formula that graces bosses David Brent and Michael Scott: Fred Henry, of course. This could either give credence to the popular rumor that Arnett will be the next boss or simply be a red herring. And while I'd prefer to see someone get promoted from within (Craig Robinson's sage Darryl Philbin and Kaling's Kelly Kapoor, graduate of the Minority Executive Training Program at Yale, being my top two choices), and still others are rooting for an outright foreigner, it seems increasingly likely that the position will go to Arnett.