Changing your doll's name

At first I always call my dolls the original company name and after a few weeks when I think up a bit of a personality, I'll change their names. Sometimes I don't even change their original company name if I feel the name given is already what I was looking for.

 

I've only changed one doll's name so far. Julian started out as Æthelstahn. I intended him to be a sort of model doll who could where anything without it being out of character. His personality was flat and he was meant to be a shapeshifter but as this I never really bonded with him and because of that never worked on him. After deciding to change into Dr. Julian Devorak I got excited about him again. Since then I've gotten him a body, eyes, commsioned a wig and also got him a nice soom outfit second hand. He just wasn't working as he was before so changing him was a good idea. Still need to update his bio though. Not sure if I'll change a doll's name again but anything's possible.

 

I have thought about it this in the past and while I was really considering it due to taking so long to decide I ultimately never changed it. I just see it as a "there was a reason past me chose this" kind of thing.

 

I've done this a few times. Once with a boy that I renamed, restyled but still didn't connect with and he ended up being sold. I did so recently again with my girl (fka Riley and currently known as Diana) that I was about to let go, but a change in look for her and a different name has made me fall in love with her all over again. It's fun and funny how things fall into place sometimes.

 

I don't think I will ever change the name of my child after decide it at the first time, so it will be a fixed name forever. (In real world, it's rare for people to change their own real name, right?!)
But for nickname, it's different. One of my child, who is the main character in my stories, is having at least 6 or 7 nicknames.
Thanks God, I'm sure I have a lot of name for them to be called, it might cost me a lot of time to prepare, but it's really fun!
Moreover, one way to call a name could have a lot of different ways to write and vice versa, especially when playing with Kanji.
For example: Tsukimi could be "Looking to the moon", or "Mid-autumn Festival", or even "Heart of the moon" in meaning.

 

I successfully changed one doll's name from Lorelei to Bronah but that was because she was originally going to be an upgraded version of an OT doll but I couldn't bring myself to have more than one Lorelei.

I tried to change another doll's name but with no luck. I tried to change it like, 3 times, but no. She's definitely Amaya and I can't see her as anything else.

 

I have had several dolls with just first names for months, and then I'd come up with last names for them. So... kind of? I don't think I have ever changed anyone's first name though, but I have given some nicknames I use more than their real one.

 

I have a doll that changes names all the time. I just haven't found one that works yet!

 

I've changed doll names a few times. Some of my characters I've given my dolls have been sort of half-baked and as I flesh them out more and more the original name doesn't fit. Or they've been established but have grown over the years with me and now their name doesn't fit either.

 

I never thought I would change a doll's name because I carefully think about each character before deciding on buying a doll, but it has finally happened to me too.
For a couple of years now I've began to notice that the characters I designed for my first 2 dolls 10 years ago are not my cup of tea anymore. Back then they were a representation of the things I felt, but now I find them flat and uninteresting, and I think that's why I haven't been doing much with them lately. I'm changing their names and personalities on their profiles as soon as I have new wigs, face-ups and clothes for them.
It feels kinda frightening to be honest, but I also can tell it will be for the best as I think I will enjoy them more and also the hobby itself. I'm glad I'm not alone in this and reading your stories made me realize that maybe is not that big of a deal.

 

I have changed the name and character design of a few of my BJDs before and probably will do this again since I spent some time not participating in the hobby much over the last couple years and don’t feel attached to or interested in the way I fashioned some of my most recent BJDs. Redoing some will make me more interested in those dolls and be a good way to get back into doing face-ups, being in the loop about products, etc. This process will almost definitely include changing names, though it is more about making changes to the idea of the characters I use to fashion the style of the dolls. For some I may assign an entirely new character that will have a different name, and for others a character rework might include a name change.
One character is getting a name change, but it’s an in character development and not a rework.
I think I want to change the names/characters of my two oldest dolls, but it’s harder with them. In some ways, I am least interested in the designs and names of my oldest dolls, but they also feel like relics, uniquely preserving some of my own interests and attitudes as well as hobby trends from when I was younger.

 

I had one girl for the longest time who I couldn’t figure out. I kept giving her names I liked but they never really stuck.

Then one day after I gave her a fresh faceup, I tried a wig on her that she had never tried and bam, a name came into my mind that’s she’s kept ever since.

 

I've had one of my dolls for over a year now and I still consider changing his name. I don't have anything better in mind and his current name is fine, I'm just not 100% sold on the choice, you know?

 

Names aren't super important to me I suppose, whatever I came up with at the time is what I usually stick with! Plus, I like the nostalgia of the name over time. I've never even considered the thought of changing them.

 

I've never changed one of their names, but that's probably because 4/5 of my dolls are shells of my already existing characters whose names have been decided/finalized for a long time. However, I don't think there's anything wrong with changing a doll's name! If a name no longer fits, then its totally alright to change it. I could see myself doing it in the future if I happen to buy a doll that is not based on a pre-existing character or if I change my character's name.

 

I have on and off but it's rare. I tend to make it so they fit who I want them to be but on the off occasion I can't, they somehow create their own personality.
I have one sculpt I'd prefer to find in NS but I'm keeping his WS for now. He does not fit anyone at the moment.

 

I like the tension in this thread between the feeling that a doll has a correct name (Who knows, maybe they'll just tell you if you listen hard enough?) and the feeling that, as with any human, a doll's name is something you can't change without going through some pretty serious work (emotional if not bureaucratic). ...Two competing ways to respect a doll's personhood.

I think I'm in the latter camp. I wrote down a name for my doll kind of on a whim and now I'm having to reconcile myself to the fact that don't think I can change it. ^^

 

I don't think I ever really changed a dolls name, but I have had dolls that took a long time to before I knew what to name them. A few of them had several names that they sort of tried on for fit for while, but since I knew it might be temporary I don't think of it as change, really, more of a process.
I do have one doll who, while he has his actual name, I mostly ended up calling him by a nickname. That one was not planned, it sort of happened in the dynamic between his character and the charachters of my other dolls.

 

The only time I changed a doll's name was when I forgot what I had named them. I had a boy and a girl doll who I intended to be a pair, but I got busy with other doll projects and by the time I got back to the pair, I forgot what I'd named them. I ended up just keeping their sculpt names.

 

I like finding a name that I think suits them the best.