Contentious doll names - gods and so on.

You're very welcome! You can find a few more links here, here and here!

 

Hey, me too! Linguists in da house (what? what?)!
I have loved the Omniglot site for a very long time. So much information! So much fun!

And now I'd better get out of this thread before a mod comes to remind us that this is an On Topic Area...

 

Conifer's real name is LucIFER o' CONnor, but nobody (that's still alive) in the storyline knows that. His personality is somewhat linear to the depiction of Satan in John Milton's Paradise Lost and not so much to the general public's perception of the devil.

A name's just a name to me. I have no problem using "touchy" names to name characters and dolls--BUT, I will never name my child Lucifer or the sort. As beautiful the name may be to me, it's not to everyone else and having that name's just asking for trouble.

 

Personally, I find no harm in giving dolls such names. I mean, I hope to name two of my future dolls Cain and Abel, but that's not because I really like the two guys. In all honesty, I heard about them in "Godchild", and I just fell in love with the names. XD

Really, I have no problem with contriversial names.

 

im still choosing on whether on naming my next doll Lolita or Consentes, now i know people wjo lke to read dont like the name lolita a lot beacuse of that one book, but i love it!

 

My cat's name is Hermes, and boy does he live up to the name.

The only names I avoid are ones I genuinely dislike. As for the Jesus issue, I'm not Christian, but I simply don't find the name appealing.

 

Since there is linguistic party here already, I might join too then.
In univercity i was tought not to be embarassed by any words, sentences and such, whatever ugly it may sound to my ears. So I'm kinda used to it, and all words are just words to me, unless they gain some special emotional meaning to me. ( Like names of loved ones, pets, etc.)

 

I'm not really surprised that I found the Welsh conversation here... In SCA, it's all too popular to be of a Celtic origin, though nothing can hold a candle to the Irish... I chose a Welsh persona for myself, but many people do not think Welsh immediately when they hear the name "Elena." It is a verified Welsh name, but it is versatile.

Like many others, I find "Jesus" to be unappealing because of its sound more than its connotation. My Juli will probably end up keeping her original name (Juli) because I've been thinking about her by that name for so long. Her various personas may have different names, but as I am Amalia at heart, so she will likely be Juli.

~Angelkitty

 

I think it really depends on the identity you have planned for your doll. I'm a stickler for being as original as I possibly can (although admittedly, my creativity fails me occasionally), so I named all my dolls uncommon names I researched on the www, and they all have original characters (as in, they weren't created to be a character that already exsists that I'm aware of). I refrain from naming them after characters/icons/gods from stories, anime, games, religion...but thats just me. I've seen a lot of beautiful dolls that were created to resemble specific characters.

And if someone wanted to name their doll after someone/something, well, its their doll, they paid for it, they can do as they please. There are a lot of things people do in the doll community that I don't quite agree with, but its not my doll to say they can't do that. If something is offensive to you/me, the best we can do is just ignore it and avoid it as best we can.

 

I don't really care what folks name their dolls, but I do wonder about their taste and mental state if they choose infamous names like Hitler or Dahmer. I get a giggle out of the terribly ostentatious names, contradictory personality profiles, and complex back stories folks come up with sometimes. I wonder, if they spent that mental energy giving themselves bigger lives, where would they be? It's a point to ponder.

 

I'd tend to agree. I named a doll Eun recently because I wanted the meaning of the name to evoke her character.

That aside, as long as harm is not intended by giving a name, there really isn't a problem with it. Taking offence is something a person does to themselves. Logically, it is assuming that another person's actions revolve around oneself. Thus, it's their problem not yours (assuming you're not chasing them around with the doll :P).

 

I think it's offensive. It's a holy name that should not compare to any animate or inanimate person/object. I dunno that's me.

 

Forgive me, but which name is holy?
Why is it important that a holy name not "compare" to anything that's less holy?
How do you feel about a name that is not holy to you, but might be holy to someone else (for example, pre-Christian gods from Europe that are worshiped by some modern practitioners)? Is that still inappropriate? Is it okay?



I'm asking this not to say that it's wrong for you to feel certain names are offensive, but to encourage you to actually participate in the debate/exploration aspect of this forum. When all we write is a bare-bones "yes" or "no" answer, this conversation becomes a meme instead of a debate.

 

I don't think giving a doll a complex back story takes away necessary mental energy to take care of our own lives (not to mention that not all of us want the lives our characters have, lol--there are some types of excitement I don't need in my life). It's no different than writing stories as a hobby, and in fact that is where some of our characters come from. Nothing wrong with injecting a little creativity into what you do

Though I remember a friend of mine telling me about how she explained the different things she liked to do with her dolls to her sister-in-law. When she told her about creating stories around her dolls, her sister-in-law responded with amazement "wow, that must be really tiring." We never quite figured out where the exhaustion was supposedly coming from, but then you kinda had to know her sister-in-law.

 

Of course, I should be more specific and add more to this debate.
Excuse me if I have trouble portraying my thoughts. (I was refering to Jesus as the "holy name")
***It's really a matter of respect of others and their beliefs. ***
If I were an athiest and I named my doll "Jesus" people are probably going to get offended. Even if He means nothing to you He will mean something to someone else.
I asked myself a mental question. :

"What if this person kept their doll with a holy name secret? And didn't share it's name with anyone, would that be okay?"

Then I thought. Ok that's still not okay (too me) Just knowing that it's still out there is kinda wrong. If the name is discribing something less holy, yes I have a problem with that. It's common respect. Why would you have to name an inanimate object like that something so holy anyway?? There must be another name that could go with your doll.

Maybe I'm just wacky, so don't ask me why I feel this way.

***please tell me if I have offended anyone. If I have I am sorry.***​

 

I could never name a doll something I was uncomfortable with, no matter how much the name may suit. In the end the doll's character is something I create, and while the character may seem to run off on it's own a bit, it all comes back to my own imagination and moral allowances.

 

well for me i think lucifer is a cute name, because i never think of satan when i hear that name XD
i always think of a black cat *~*

 

do you consider lucifer a "holy" name?

 

I'm a Wiccan and I would be kinda irked if I saw a doll with the name of a God from my chosen Pantheon (Greek). Less so if they were a doll of that god, after all, they're part culture part religion. It would also bug me a lot less if it was from a pantheon I used less or was a common name.

Not like majorly. Wicca's hardly one of those pushy religions. I'd like, roll my eyes. If I was in a bad mood.

As far as other religions go, I would never ever use say, a Hindu god name. I don't know how much, if any, that would offend a Hindu, but it would offend me. Of religions I have less respect for I would just hate the name.

Okay, I don't want to put it like that, by level of offense would be correlated with the validity of the religions beliefs. Jesus would be off limits, cause Jesus is cool, but Lucifer's a go-go, as an ultimate evil force is a silly idea. Also, Roman deities are the Greek deities under less cool sounding names, so they're fine too.

BTW, my view of the validity of your religios beliefs are no more important than my view of the validity of your choice of socks, so don't get offended.

 

I wanted to name my doll Jashine after a religion in the serious Naruto, but I couldn't do it because it looks kind of satanic. >.< W.e. I wouldn't freak out if someone named their doll something like that however. I just wouldn't do it personally.