They can only be hired from the appropriate facility. The ability to customise a NPC's name, species, gender, etc, is something that I believe they intend to bring back. It used to be available in the first release, but they reworked the system to make more sense, and I believe it got lost in the changeover.
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"May the Grace of Ara go with you, and His Vengeance be wrought upon your enemies."
Assuming I'm interpreting your question at all correctly, hiring is the same as creating them. When you hire an NPC, it appears in your inventory, and you don't have to keep paying it or anything; you simply own it. It's just a more in-character choice of wording, but it comes down to the same thing.