Changing your doll's name

I change names quite a lot. I'll give a doll a temporary name when they first arrive, and sometimes it fits, sometimes it doesn't. I'm always open to changing to a new name when a more fitting one turns up haha

 

I changed the name of my first BJD. I had planned her character out before I bought her. Kind of something to do while saving. Once I had her home though, I really didn't think that she suited the character. I wasn't terribly attached to the character so I scrapped the ideas I had, sold off her wardrobe and re-worked her character. I'm much happier now.

 

Yes, I've changed a couple of my dolls' names. I had originally named my Latidoll Largo Aberdeen, but ended up changing it to Quetzalcoatl (or Quetz for short) after the god he was designed after. I also changed my Soom Crow's name from Nathaniel to Yasu, because it just fit him and his character way better. Most of my dolls are not existing OCs so their character can change after I've "gotten to know them" so to speak

 

I have two Juri 2013 heads. At first I wanted to make them two halves of the same character (Johanna), but the two heads have such strong personalities on their own that making them both depictions of Johanna seemed a little silly. Recently my mother stated that she loved the name Guinevere, and she requested that I name my next female doll that. After some thought I decided to rename my more elaborately painted head. She makes a very good Guinevere.

 

I thought I could never do that... but I'm selling my older dolls, and just in the past two days I've been thinking of keeping one of them. It's one I don't have negative feelings for because I got it at a different time, so I might... If I do though I have zero interest in what I used to have, and those characters have now taken a place in the worlds in my head. Now that they are a part of my stories I don't want to take them back out. So I'll be changing the name and character. It will be like having a new doll basically.

Even if I didn't want to change the character, I can see changing the name if it seemed to work better. I'm not so stuck to things being the same, even real people change their name sometimes.

 

I haven't yet changed a dolls name, but that is because I just got my first one not long ago! lol But already, she got a new wig, and I feel like her old name might not suit her anymore. She is currently away with Studio Darjeeling to get a new face lol so when she gets back hopefully it will become more clear who she is. Otherwise I will definitely be struggling to name her lol. My second girl has no name yet, and my third should be arriving today or tomorrow and I have no idea what to name her! I am going to use some of the threads on here to help me with ideas.

 

Every single one of my dolls currently have place holder names. Egg, key, lamp, soap, pan, leaf. Egg will stay egg, but everyone else will one day get a real name.

 

I think that one of the joys of owning BJDs is that they can be changed. Their face ups, wigs, clothes...just subtle changes can completely affect their personality. For now, I think I will name my first doll Prim. I love how it sounds so innocent and delicate. That is how I feel about her with her default makeup and wig. However, one day when I am more practiced in the art of face ups, I plan to redo her makeup and get her a new wig and give her a full makeover. She would probably deserve a new name then. For me, BJDs are perfect for dreamers like me. With them, you can keep dreaming the same dream or invent a new one.

 

I tried to find a different name for Blaze, because it seems to be a gender neutral name and she so isn't. She insists that's her name. She got a new wig recently that makes her look very different, yet somehow more herself. I changed Nita to Sparrow after a few months, in hopes of better connecting with her. I like the name better, but she still doesn't work for me. Leon was briefly Lavi when I first got him, but Leon suits him better. I was planning on naming one of my dolls Cheza after an anime character, but it was clear the moment she was out of the box that that was not who she was. I might rename Yin when I eventually find a better wig and eyes for her.

A couple of my dolls didn't have names for a while after I got them, so spent time as "the new girl" and "the new guy".

 

I had my 'bad' boy named Sebastian, but after having a falling out with a good friend name Sebastian (wasn't named after him), the name just left a sour taste in my mouth, so I ultimately changed his name to Riyan, lol.

 

I've only really changed one, but it was largely due to a reshelling of the character I originally had her as. She works a lot better for me now as Emilia than she ever did as Winry.

I also have one I tried to change (Mystere, tried to change it to Carrie), but I just couldn't stop thinking of her as Mystere so I just left it alone in the end.

 

Originally one of my characters was named Silver Syn Silance (I thought it was cool at the time. *um*) Then the name went into a limbo state cause I didn't wanna change it too much and I couldn't think of anything fitting. I had lots of time to ponder his name before he actually became a doll. Now his name is Lance. (technically short for Silance)

 

I'm really tempted to change my yosd girl's name. It's been Chiisa for years now... I'm thinking of changing it to *technically* Chiasa and adding into the backstory that she pronounces her own name wrong by saying "Chiisa" since she's only supposed to be like 6.

 

My dolls have their real name (the one I use when I introduce them to friends or post their photo on twitter) but I always call them by nicknames e.g. the fat guy or sis-con (Japanese word for over-protective brother ^_^) at home.

 

i have changed the name of my dolls when i did new face-ups. wigs etc and the old character didn't fit anymore. it's easy to do at that point since it is almost a new doll anyway

 

I'm in the middle of such an experience.
I have a character who was my first doll back in 2013. I love her to bits but recently I feel we don't connect, like she is great and all but I don't feel the same way I used to about her.
She is quite sweet but I tried glasses on her and also a different kind of clothing and really felt like it suits her. I also started learning how to make wigs and she looks awesome in the third one I made (one long side and one shaved side).
Her possible new look is so different that it doesn't seem to match her former name and personality so I'm thinking that renaming her would be the best but, at the same time, I feel like I'm betraying her previous character?
Not sure what I will finally do, but learning about others changing names eases my mind.

 

I haven't change my doll's original name, but I'm thinking of her nickname.
I receive her about half a year.

 

Ohh, I recently had this! Though rather than a few months, my doll decided it was time to change things up after a couple of years!
My DC Hugh had been modeled after one of my OCs for the longest time-- Niall! But recently I bit the bullet and made a wig for the doll from scratch, and when the dust settled and I got the beb dressed and styled up, I realized they weren't Niall anymore!

Now my DC Hugh is named River. I kept over some key aspects from Niall's character, but made River their own character for the most part...and now I just feel so relieved. I had been bummed out because of how hard it was to get Niall 'just right', but now River dictates who they want to be and I follow that moreso than the ideas I had made for Niall prior to getting the doll.

(To be honest I'm finding it much easier to let the dolls decide who they are rather than try to shape them into a preconceived idea of who they should be! It's much gentler on my wallet XD)

 

I've had my avatar doll (B&G Sandra) for over 5 years, which is a record for me as I'm so fickle with my dolls She was called Erica until a few months ago when I decided I didn't like the name for her any more, since I'd worked with an Erica (very nice lady but she was linked to the name in my mind now!) And I was just bored with the name - I am fickle after all and have changed my own name several times in my life! So I decided to call her Kiko. It was a struggle at first, and I had to constantly correct myself, but now it's more or less stuck - she doesn't seem to mind anyway In real life some people call me by my birth name or derivatives, and some people call me by my new name (which I changed about 13 years ago) - I answer to both, and I'm still the same person, although I do hesitate when someone new asks me my name LOL *thinks hard before answering* But I guess it means I don't really worry about names for my dolls too much.

 

I usually think long and hard about a doll's name, to the point I had a name before the doll. Others are character dolls and thus already named.

That said, I called one girl "Susie" for a few weeks, as I had it as a stand by name good for any possible doll. It didn't fit so I ended up changing it. (I much later got a doll who's been "Susan" for years now.) Then there was a doll I co-own with my mom. She vetoed the names I suggested, and the one we settled on didn't thrill me. As co-owned doll stays with me, I changed her name back to one of the ones I preferred.