I'm new at this so I have to ask a lot of questions to save my sanity....anyone know what I need to select to enable the player names associated the tanks in game? I get the tier and tank but not the player's name.
are you using xvm? If so, you can select a prebuilt config that has the markers that have the player name and tank.
If not using xvm, you can configure the markers right in the client

further, you can use an xvm config, and this
disable the markers. That will allow you to use the stock markers and configure them like above.