Contentious doll names - gods and so on.

There are just some names I couldn't name my dolls. They could have the perfect meaning, but if they don't sound right to me, I just can't name them that. For example, the majority of male German names have very strong meanings, but I don't like the way they are pronounced. However, I absolutely love the sound of female German names, which are strong, yet delicate at the same time. (And not names like "Helga" or "Elsa", but like Elisabet, Freya, Hannelore.)

Also, I couldn't name my doll the same same name as a family member. (I love the name "Aurora"-which means "Dawn"-but since it's also my mother's name, I couldn't name my doll that.)

 

I don't think names should be too sacred, we've chosen the names of our gods for millenia. Why can't we name a daughter, horse or doll after them?

I finally decided to name my DD 'Honoria', because everytime I hear it I think of M.A.S.H.

"...and your sister oner-reeya"

LOL

 

Ah, corrected! Very interesting.

Does anyone have different names for the same doll when he or she is in a separate costume? Or is it x-doll dressed as y in your mind?

 

I pick up names from everywhere possible, anything from misspelled words I wanted to base something off of, to names of angels and fallen angels. Ancient and urban mythology monsters. Sometimes there's a peticular inspiration to a name, and others just like the way it sounds.
As for names I would never use, I really fins it unlikly that I'll be naming a boy vampire like doll Alucard, Liam, Angel, or anyother myriad of mass popular vampire dolls. It just seems cliche for me to do it. However my roommate is saving for 2 Pukipuki anime faceed dolls that she will make into an Ed from FMA cosplay doll, so of course his name will be Ed and Roy, and I've seen several other dolls named after favorite popular characters and it just seems charming for the doll.

 

An archeologist doing a dig in Greece adopted a dog and called it by a man's name, say, Demetrious. His Greek assistant was very upset, and said that you can't call a dog by a man's name, only by a diminitive, like "Little Demetrious." When you are playing in someone else's turf, you never know what is going to upset people, and should try be sensitive. On your own turf, do what you damn well please (unless it is drawing a political cartoon of Mohammed).

 

I named my favorite cat 'Jacques Cousteau' because of his resemblance. You can give animals people names.

 

It somehow always annoys me when there's people that name their dolls after devils and pretend they're the spawn of all evil.
I mean the extreme cases, where they think the dolls will one day rule the world and stuff.
Otherwise I don't mind dolls being named Belial or anything.
Personally I've been wanting to name something Taco for a loooong time, but I can't do that to my doll ._.
So my next cat is my taco victim ;D
On the other hand, naming your dolls things like strawberry seem more normal to me.

 

Names like 'Strawberry' are clearly for the cute/pretty factor, or in connection with the fruit. Nobody thinks that Barbie-sidekick doll 'Midge' was named after the insect, right? It's diminutive and cute as well as symbolic, which can work for either a sweet doll or a riotous, misbehaving punk one. Just for the dissonance factor ^_^ Taco's also for the appeal of it, not just to shock people by 'LOOK! HE IS NAMED AFTER FOOD, AREN'T YOU OFFENDED?!?' That would be the only really offensive thing for me, or the only thing that would be contentious about nouns as names.

If you're aware of what a name means in another language and you still want to use it, feel free, but be aware of it. You might name your doll for a famous bearer or simply for the name itself and its sound-- Victor is just named Victor because I enjoy the name itself and its connotations rather than for anyone named that-- but if someone points out to you that there's an egregious misstep, you shouldn't have to abandon the name completely.
We named our (very even tempered and sweet) German Shepherd after the, shall we say, mercurial Zelda Fitzgerald. Who I'm sure isn't flattered by lending her name to a literal female dog but the name works well. Nothing wrong with people names for objects, just be careful about who you brag about them to. (Nobody call her estate, please...)

 

O hai, I realise you're mostly thinking about people unknowingly using "loaded" names, but if nobody ever used those kinds of names despite their associations, my friend wouldn't be married to a Hungarian named Attila. And there are, I understand, still lots of people being named Adolph around Europe. Maybe less than pre-1930s, but...

Wolfmammy, I don't think Ranma was saying you can't give animals human names. I think Ranma was saying that cultures may have different conventions about what names are or are not appropriate for non-humans, which I'm pretty darn sure is not contradicted by your culture's conventions.

and...

one baby name site suggests that Midge is a variant/nickname of Michelle, while another suggests (more likely to my mind) that it's a variation on Madge, which is ultimately derived from Margaret. So I'm not sure if there's any connection between the doll's name and the name of the insect, it's just that they sound alike. It's a bit different from naming something "Taco."

 

...in that I never really thought very much myself, of naming a doll after a god or a deity. While I myself would not wish to do it, I might find it disrespectful to name a doll 'Jesus' or after the name of any other deity from another religion. However, if you wish to name your doll that particular name, whether after deities or fallen angels, demons, etc. and so on, know that it comes with a consequence.

I myself have named my four cats different names- just because of their personalities- June Bug (he is rather big and NOT as small as his name implies- we also call him 'Big Man' since he weighs 20+ lbs!) Sweetie Pie (because, yes, she is sweet- butshe also answers to 'Lil Girl' - because she's our only cat who is a 'lil girl'!) Scampers, well, because he 'scampers' about- and our oldest cat- Henry- because he's mischevious and always finding himself in trouble, like the cartoon comic character, Henry.

My dolls are usually named names I'm comfortable with, that may be old fashioned sounding, but sound 'right' to me, and express their pesonalities, instead of some odd sounding name that wouldn't really fit them, so to speak.

 

*pffft* For a price, we won't. ^^

The choice of object being named can indeed be part of the commentary-- the choice of pet species, or the particular appearance of the doll, etc. When I was very small my parents had a pig named Spiro. Then they got another one called Milhous. It was the early '70s, the folks were pretty anti-Nixon-regime. The pigs wound up being used as political speech before being turned into bacon. Very different from giving the same name to a beloved dog/companion.

On the other hand, your non-mercurial and non-crazy Zelda Fitzgerald, being so opposite her namesake, that contrast more clearly connotates fun... like having a 5-foot Dobermann called "Pixie"....

I don't think I could ever seriously name dolls-- or people-- after food/beverages. (i.e, as an actual name, not a nickname.) It's just too cloying. It reminds me of hookers in old movies, or cats that belong to old ladies. Cherry, Cookie, Candy, Brandy, Strawberry, Taffy, Cheesecake, I dunno. It seems to make the thing named into more of a pet, more of an object, than a sentient being.

However, I concede it's true, human parents DO sometimes give their human children such names. I am not a native here in California, but I have witnessed that real naming is often stranger than fiction. Some of the women I know here are named-- and actually use their given names-- Sunshine, Sedona, Tahoe, Chablis and Sage.

 

I actually met someone the other day whose name was Jesus, Jesus is a actually a very popular name in Latin and South-America.

Funny you should mention that, because one of my bjd's names is actually named Strawberry. She came to be named strawberry after the name she was given by the particular doll company and also because of the colour of her resin. She was also given the name after The Beatles song- Strawberry Fields Forever.

 

I'd never call my doll Jesus!! oO"
Thats like...well...not an option.

Hitler...or George Bush...No way!! XDDD

 

This thread is now making me want to get a Puki PongPong and dress it up as some infamous skewed political leader or another...... this is BAD. I can't stop the thouuuughts...! Aughh! XD

 

You've got your work cut out for you: The Barack Obama doll.

 

lol i love how it even says that it looks nothing like him and it doesn't

 

It is one thing to name your doll or dog something that gets other people upset, but why would you choose the name of someone you hated? Unless you were planning to abuse your doll / dog, that is...

 

I was scanning through this thread and got to thinking about my own dolls.... I love obscure, bizarre, often mythological names. I have actually collected names since I was a very small child. I have synaesthesia so certain sounds evoke certain sensations or connections that are very personal. So names carry with them a much richer world for me than they do for non synaesthetics (or at least richer in a different way, lets say).

My doll family will all be mythological creatures, just because I adore mythology and esoterica. So they all have names that either are traditional for their 'species', or derived from the culture from which that species comes. I do a lot of research. Rarely does a subtle association from a name escape me. And yet, even if there IS some kind of negative association, I will always prioritize my synaesthetic feelings fro the name over the possible cultural offense I may be committing. I just feel too strongly about names to care.

But then, I realized, I am getting a Soom Sard, who is going to be my Grigori, or member of the first Fallen during the angelic heresy of Lucifer. I made up a name for him, based on arabic and semitic syllabaries. I realized I was too uncomfortable with giving him an identity that was already too well tread-over. Now, i dont know if thats subconciously because I did not want to offend anybody or if it was just a need to have him represent a unique character, but it did make me stop and think about the motivations behind that decision.

Also I realized I would probably name a doll Shai'tan if I had the right character motivation.... and that's just Satan in its original language. In fact I always wanted a black arabian horse to name Shai'tan. I would have a hard time feeling like I had to defend that choice, though I'm sure many would call me out for it.

I would not be offended if you brought your dolly named Satan, Jesus or Athena up to me, because I am unable as an athiest to personalize other peoples' religious figures. But yeah, I'd be pretty offended if somebody named their doll Hitler, or Dubya, or Osama, with the intention of honouring that figure. But less as a result of the fact that I personally consider these people offensive.... rather more as a result of my feeling that idol-worship to the point of inserting the character of a pop-culture icon into a doll you spend every day with is kind of...well... creepy as hell.

 

Hmm I've never heard of a doll's name that is offensive though
although many are named after V.K band members.

 

The Obama doll thing is weird. (Political figure Minimee heads would be even weirder.) But the only way that could be truly offensive is in how people who buy them use them. Like, you know how people have those action figures available of... Alexander the Great and Moses and Jesus and stuff? (And Benjamin Franklin, and Oscar Wilde, and so on, but those are the only ones I've seen people besides myself purchase.) That could be just a fun thing and not politically loaded at all, but I'd be offended if I saw someone buy one just to gleefully rip it apart and do something terrible to it. (Whether it was Jesus or Oscar Wilde, either way, I'd be... rather annoyed.) There's a difference between disliking someone and doing something creepy and over-symbolic with a depiction of them. It just seems... rude to me. Naming a doll or getting a doll of someone you hate seems quite odd to me. Why would you want it hanging around if you dislike them so much? It seems self-indulgent and a little counterproductive.

I'd be slightly unnerved by dolls of real world villains that are a little too close to home for me (says the girl with a doll head being turned into TDK Joker) but a real life villain portrayed in a hero-worship sort of way like most character or real person dolls are-- I presume because you're spending 300+ on a BJD and making it look well dressed and lovely that you actually find something intriguing or likeable about the character-- would upset me more than one that just shared their name.