Larian Studios

Tav is the name of the main character. It's a forum meme because the default name in character creation is Tav. And if you forget to put in a name your MC is named Tav. Just like 'charname' is the name of the hero of BG2 because that was the MC's name in the code.

Make sure their approval is on the higher side.
Charisma doesn't matter in this regard.

Is there a way to check my approval with the npc’s?

Should be in the character inventory screen, but the character sheet tab.