Contentious doll names - gods and so on.

A name is a name, I think.
I am naming my Cuprit after one of my goddesses, however I do not find this disrespectful.
Although were someone to call their doll Jesus....

 

Oh b/c i saw this on Wikipedia: Freyr (sometimes anglicized Frey, from *frawjaz "lord"[1])

But that's all good anyway because I wanted to name him Frey and not because of any god just the name itself.

On another note I decided to change the doll I talked about earlier as Eve back to Yvonne. I just like it better I think.

 

I have no problem with people naming their dolls as they please, but I agree there are names and names that hold particular connotations or might be offensive; said names vary greatly from culture to culture and people to people. For instance? I think many if not all of us would frown upon the name "Adolf Hitler". In my country, though, it's possible that most people would disapprove of "Abimael" (a Hebrew name meaning "my father is God") because that was the first name of the leader of a feared terrorist group. In a lighter side, I should add that lots of people also consider naming your son "Damian" as a very bad idea (and maybe a bit "satanic"), because of "The Omen" movies. People pay more attention to popular folklore/pop culture than history in my country, I'd dare say.

Also, religious names are pretty common in my country, and I even named my two Obitsu dolls "Eve" and "Adam", but just because "they were the first ones" (the first dolls I ever got, that's it; I was rather uninspired when choosing names for them). I'd rather prefer "common" names for my dolls, but I do admit to have named all of my characters at a MMORPG after mythological goddesses or heroines. Speaking of which, there was a certain player of a friend guild who named his priest "Jesus Christ". Maybe we were a bit disrepectful there, but we couldn't help laugh when we saw Jesus Christ (the priest, that's it) healing other players' characters, or making sacred water out of common water (which serves to give your weapons a holy element in-game).

 

I think the thing to consider when it comes to naming your BJD is the process by which you arrive at their name. For example my Izraphel, was named before i even knew what sculpt he was going to be.. as odd as it sounds the personalities for my dolls are forged in my mind and the sculpts sort of jump out at me when i do finally find them... so if per say some one did decide that the appropriate name for their doll was in fact Jesus, Mohammed or any other religiously tied figure i would assume that there is a well thought out logical reason for that doll to cary such a lofty name, and i very much doubt the owners of said dolls name them as such with intent to offend any one.

 

I gave my first doll, Hyun, a Korean name. I don't think it's in actual use, but nevertheless it means "virtuous". I pictured him to be of Korean origins, so that's why I picked that name - and "virtuous", because he's supposed to be a shaman/exorcist whose purpose is to prevent evil demons to tempt humans and turn them into their slaves. I wanted to "hommage" the Korean culture, because I see there are lots of owners who give their dolls Japanese name, and some even Chinese, but I almost never see dolls with Korean names.
My little girl, Jean, was named after my deceased grandmother. Some months after she had left this world, I was surfing the web and found this little cutie. I immediately fell in love with her and thought that that name *fitted* her. She reminded me of my granny for some unknown reasons. ^^;
As for dolls with the same name, well... It happens. We are billions on this planet, and there are millions of us collecting dolls so yes, it might happen. Unless you've named your doll, like, "Akwhlghùneddu", I think it wouldn't be so rare to find someone whose doll has the same name you picked for yours. Arguing about it would be perfectly pointless, just as much as it would be arguing with someone who bore your same name because s/he does. Personally, I would have a good laugh at it and congratulate with the other owner for the "good" choice in names, hahah!
Copying names is, well, another thing. Again, I don't find it to be so extremely annoying, probably because I never was a victim of any copycat. And even if I was, I'd think of it as a hommage for my dolls. If someone is copying you it means this person has a good opinion of you, isn't it? I'd never try to look like someone I had a low consideration of.

 

I have a Korean coworker named Hyun, so I'd say that yes, it's in actual use.

 

I wouldn't use the name "Blah" but I do like Ayumi!

 

Yes, I live in Mexico and I have a lot of friends named jesus, so i think it should bother anyone. the pronunciation is more like "hey-sus" just try listening some christian spanish music.. and you'll probably find the word there..

I'm looking for names to my first doll.
It's gonna be a boy, and these are the names I'm looking so far:

•Santiago
•Vladimir
•Louis
•Edward [no! not because of twilight!!]
•Dimitri
•Demetri
•Prince Sou [I made that one out :p]

 

I think any name is up for grabs, as long as it suits the dolls personality.

The only problem I have when naming anything, is that I would never use a name of someone I know, or a name that sounds to similar, because I want my doll/character to be a unique creation so that a unique personality can develop.

 

I think it's nice that people want to avoid offending others, but what is quite benign in one culture can be offensive in another. Certainly there are names that would be good to avoid-- for instance Adolf Hitler and Charles Manson, as others have pointed out, but a lot of names are ambiguous. Lucifer, for instance, means "bearer of light." What a beautiful derivation. And Damien, which causes many to think of "The Omen," is a name that is completely benign to many. It's a saint's name, despite the movie connotation. I think the problem with avoiding any name that might offend is the problem with being overly PC in general-- it tends to stifle creativity. It's intent that's important here. Any adult who names his or her doll Adolf H is trying to stir the pot. But Jesus, Lucifer or Damien? Possibly not.

And how can you be sure you've covered all the bases when trying not to offend? I practice Zen, and I can tell you that the media has bastardized a lot of images and ideas held sacred in that tradition over the past few years. But malicious intent was not there, so to me it's not a big deal.

 

As Sakuraharu and many others pointed out, the problem is that many names may be offensive in a certain place and pretty normal in another. For instance, in most parts people wouldn't consider offensive "Abimael", which Scyllua pointed, except for its translatation in any case. Names of saints are common in many cultures, while in others this is considered disrespectful. Going further, many names sound bad according to the language: to give an example out of the dolls, the name of the floating island in Swift's Gulliver's Travels (which is also used in a japanese movie), Laputa, sounds close to a swearword in Spanish, and was changed in many editions.

Anyway, I think that we shouldn't give importance to most names that might sound us contentious, for it is possible that the dolls aren't named in order to offend on purpose; and in other cases, maybe that is part of the personality of the doll, which may stand for a parody or so - I guess, though, respecting certain limits.

 

LOL, Laputa is an excellent example. (I love that movie!)

Another is the name Tara. It's a beautiful Irish name, but it's also the name of a goddess in Tibetan buddhism and also in hinduism.

 

i would never ever name any of my dolls normal names like samantha or amber i like odd names that arent used to often

 

I gave my dolls monosyllabic mundane names, 'cuz it was easy. I don't really care what others do, though some choices do cause a smirk or two. The really pretentious monikers with elaborate (and tragic) backstories are humorous and sad at the same time. The majority of owners who do that aren't writing web comics or books; they're making a Second Life through their dolls. Maybe it's cathartic but if the energy and money used on the dolls was invested is making their real lives better, would they be happier, better people?

 

... Then I would have to shake that person's hand.

 

I have no problem with dolls named Satan, Lucifer or any other such thing...clearly a doll is not actually the devil - Resin has yet to have the ability to steal your soul or any such thing and I've yet to figure out why Satan should be a more tender a topic than say any name based on other religions or beliefs.

While some people do believe that names have physical powers I tend to stick with the idea of fearing a name gives that thing power to affect you (not physically, I mean mentally...like people who are afraid of rats and don't even mention the word "Rat" end up wincing visibly when it's said.)

Weather the name is Jesus, Gandhi, Lucifer, Hitler or Mary Jane - really I think what people should be more careful of is the intent behind the name. If I named my doll Emily Hitler perhaps my intention isn't to summon controversy - but instead to use what was just a plain ol' german last name (this is an exadurated example, obviously).

 

People know that naming a doll Mohammed or Jesus isn't worth the controversy. Mohammed and Jesus were great guys, but Muslims and Christiams on the whole feel that naming inanimate objects after prophets and/or messiahs is disrespectful and I think it is an act of disrespect to say you're going to name your doll Jesus anyway because you don't care about other people's opinions or some such issue. Jesus comes from the Hebrew name Yeshua, which can also be 'Joshua', so there are plenty of inoffensive alternatives!

Also, Hitler was never 'just a plain ol' German last name', it was actually a misspelling of Adolf Hitler's step-grandfather's last name. So any and all people with the surname Hitler have to be related to the infamous Hitler to actually inherit that surname otherwise you really are just using it to cause controversy because even the original name 'Hiedler' wasn't a particularly common name.

 

I didn't mean to say I don't care (and I'm really sorry if that's how I came across) I meant I personally saw no difference in naming a doll Jesus to naming it Aphrodite as both are worshipped and sources of great passionate belief and faith to people and that I personally saw no offence in it. I am greatly respectful of people and their deities I meant only to express my own opinion that the intent behind a word (or in this case, name of a doll) is more where offence lies.

Some people may wish to pay hommage to their deities or such through their dolls as a sort of totem...it's not at all my call to stop them, or they could just like the name...and I guess if they're concerned about what they named their doll causing offence people could just say "This is my Soom" rather than "this is Ophiel, my Soom."

Hitler was a exadurated example as stated (I'm a tad brain dead at the moment - I shouldn't post after dealing with tax issues. lol. I meant only to have a name that could be common (I didn't know it wasn't) but could also be associated with a disliked political/religious/historical/whatever character) , though the history of the name was kinda neat...I'd ask more about this as you've obviously looked in to it - but I don't want to go off topic just to satisfy my curiousity.

 

I didn't mean you in particular, I just meant people in general

Generally, totemic dolls don't apply to faiths like Judaism, Christianity and Islam because the followers of those religions aren't allowed to worship graven images or idols and that's pretty much what a 'Jesus doll' would be. I don't object to people naming their doll Thor or Hades because in the cultures that worshipped those gods, totemic symbols were important, I just think that since it's widely known that some religions object massively to inanimate objects bearing sacred names, it's probably a respectful idea to leave them alone.

With names like Satan and Lucifer, I think there is an attraction in the fallen angel archetype, so I don't really object to names like Lucifer. I do object to people calling their doll Satan because that doesn't even have the excuse of being a pretty name. Satan is simply an offensive name. It might mean 'the adversary' but people on the street who ask what your doll is called will be horrified by a Satan doll and won't ponder on the meaning of the name. There are enough people creeped out by BJDs without giving them more of an excuse! The Bible is a great source for uncommon names, but some names are more off-limits than others, I think. Zebedee is an awesome Biblical name

You're more than welcome to PM me if you want to know a bit more, I don't bite When I was in school we had to write an alternative history story and I wrote a "what if Nazi Germany won, Hitler and Eva Braun had kiddies and history changed completely" story, so I did a lot of research!

 

Argh, double post!