Contentious doll names - gods and so on.

I've yet to see a doll named anything offensive to me. As a Christian I personally wouldn't name a doll Lucifer or Satan or anything. But if others choose to do so, that's their business.

 

I don't mind, a name is a name, it doesn't imply anything offensive no matter what most people associate it with

 

Since I'm not religious at all, I can't say I am personally offended by god names and the like, but I do think it shows a bit of a lack of respect.

 

I have dolls named Kali and Hermes, after a Hindu goddess and Greek god, but live in a culture that is unlikely to be offended by names from "myths". I know that there are at least three Loki dolls on the forum, due the recent rise of the name in pop culture. I wouldn't name anything Jesus, Allah, or Satan, as those names seem offensive because they have so much intense faith associated with them. Nor would I call anything Tarantula, as I shudder just thinking about large spiders. So names being acceptable or offensive, is both a cultural and personal thing.

 

I'm a devout Christian, and I do not find any problem with naming a doll Jesus. I would be a little put off if they named their doll Jesus Christ. Jesus was his given name, like John or whatever. Christ is the title that is considered Holy.

 

Still? This thread has been going since 2008 & the fact that people actually STILL worship those 'myths' has been mentioned in many posts, but still this....
Now most Pagans won't take offence of course. I'd say my view on naming things is that naming something Names it - the name lends a character to whatever that Name is bestowed on. So absolutely I'm w/you on the tarantula thing - Never would I do that cause I've major arachnaphobia...
I had a cat named Loki (cause he was tricksy) & one named Thor (not tricksy LOL - just, you know, awesome & golden) - my heathen friends thought that was fine!

 

no wards that implies to another meaning, even if people don't mean to let others think the undermeaning. That is to say. For example I like the name ivy, but I won't use it for naming anything, since it makes people think your want to go to good colleges . It is disturbing. But Ivy is a good name.

 

Doll is like your BABY… why given him/her a name in the offend way….?? I wound't to that…. I gave my very first dollfie a name… his name "Taki" And I love him!

 

People have been named after gods/religious figures for thousands of years. Jesus, Muhammad, Thor, Diana, Athena, Venus. All these names and more are still in use, but were originally names of gods or religious leaders.

I don't see where it is disrespectful. The opposite, actually. Someone might name their child Athena in the hopes that she will grow up to be a courageous, intelligent woman. It is a tip of the hat to something positive.

Most times, doll names are used to illustrate personality. An association with a particular god gives you an idea of the personality. Chances are, someone that named their doll Loki intends for that doll to be a clever trickster. There isn't anything wrong with that, as long as you aren't using a name to deliberately degrade or mock.

 

I personally am not offended by religious names, but I am unlikely to name my dolls after any kind of religious figure, past or present.

 

I'm not offended by doll names.

For the record, my second doll's name is Loki. Oddly enough, Loki is not named after the Norse god, and at the time when I got him, I didn't really even know anything about the god or the Marvel character---I got my boy in 2008 before the Thor/Avengers movies (and I'm not a comic/superhero fan anyway). I heard the name from Dogma, years before, then forgot about it until my boy was on the way home, and the name "Loki" just popped into my head for him. It had no special meaning at all for me or my doll, I just liked the sound of the name and it fit him well.

I have given dolls Biblical names. My boy Kier is from an Irish Catholic family, and he and his brothers all have middle names of saints starting with "J". Kieran James, Cian John, Killian Joshua.....They're names that fit my dolls' characters and background, but it has no personal religious significance to me, even though I was raised Catholic. They're just names, I don't find it disrespectful or offensive.

 

Closest I came to that was in a story, the villain called herself that to...be a terrible person... (she's the villain after all)

 

I guess I would never name a doll Katsuya or Kagerou because they sound like bad words in my language. XD

 

Well, I probably would not name my dolls after a serial killer but I have to admit I have named a doll Dahlia because of a certain fascination I have with reading about that case. I would not however have named her Elizabeth Short. To me that would have been horribly disrespectful. The dolls that I've seen that are representations of things like that, like the Ringdoll JTR doll, I think they're very cleverly done but it's also a very disturbing choice in terms of them deciding to make that. Those Living Dead dolls they've been doing that and far worse for a long time now and it's not that much different. Most of them will make me laugh but JTR was a real killer. He may be mythologized now but at one point he was a real person running around killing women. I infinitely prefer my monster dolls fictional. I don't like to see Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, real people who have supposedly committed crimes as dolls.

As far as religious names are concerned I don't have a problem with it. People all over the world name their kids and pets after deities, messiahs, saints, whatever all the time. What's the difference between doing that and naming a doll after one of those things? Nothing much. I have learned though that sometimes doing that can be kind of serendipitous. At least with a doll you're not likely going to have trouble with it. I named my new little boy cat Loki because I am fond of mythology and I already have a cat named Lilith. I call her Lily when she's in angel girl mode. Lilith when she's in total snarky b- mode. She's very much a dual personality cat. She can be a total sweetie or she can be so darned mean she stand down a rottweiler. When she's in a good mood she's lovely, but when she's not she's really NOT and you'd better not mess with her...I wanted an "L" name for him too. So I named him Loki. Oh boy did I get what I asked for! He's a sweet boy, he really is but he's also a jealous, sneaky, mischievous, little hellion. He loves to pull pranks, start fights with Lily, and he's always into anything and everything he shouldn't be. He's more trouble than 10 toddlers sometimes and he's not growing out of it anytime soon apparently, sigh.

Aine my green Miro Annie doll she's actually named after an Irish goddess. I kind of liked "Annie" and chose Aine so she could have a more formal name and yet still have "Annie" as a nick. She's technically Aine de Vert but we all call her Annie around here...

As for religious stuff on dolls I'm actually smack in the middle of a very special Mary necklace for one of my dolls. I have a little box of these very, very old antique French silver and enamel medals. The enamel work on these is quite beautiful and the really intricate ones are getting more scarce these days. When you try to buy them in antique shops they can be a bit pricey. Maybe a bit too much so for me to be making doll necklaces out of them but they've been sitting in a box ever since I inherited them and I just liked the idea of making something more out of them. I got to thinking about it and I decided I was going to make a doll necklace or three out of the ones I liked then do the same with the rest only make them human sized necklaces instead.

I don't quite know that the person that I inherited them from would quite approve. She was Catholic and they were actual sacramentals to her even though she more collected than wore these. But they're mine now to decide what to do with and they're too valuable to just donate to some church and besides which my experience with churches and such have been that even when I wanted to do that they only end up selling it all on Ebay because all they want to do with anything antique and religious these days is to sell it and put the $$$ into the church bank accounts. In the end I can live with turning them into a project or two and selling them because I figure I might as well. They'll just get sold to benefit some church fund anyway and end up with another collector. The chance of them actually being worn again by religious people is pretty scant. As art or antiques there is a pretty good lot of people out there who do love this stuff and collect it but so many of the young Catholics I've met it's just "junk" to them and they don't particularly want it.

 

Ok, that one's abt me xD

I have one doll named Poussie (shortened as Puss). That's at least how I spell it these days. But the pronounciation is as simple as of a female cat
I came up with it as a joke and then it got stuck. It's funny to think though, that some people could take it as offensive (so I've been told). I mean, we did have a Soom Minette and we have PukiPukis... right? Plus, I think my name is quite uhm... normal, considering that there is indeed a French place named 'P*ssy' (the censoring sign just in case...v.v) near a river called Lacroix. I found out about it loong after I'd named my doll: Puss Delacroix (after that painter, yes

All in all, I tried to find a name closest in sound and spelling and the best I could come up with (as the character's official name) was Percy.

btw, [MENTION=44438]CloakedSchemer[/MENTION] I think Biblical names are very pretty Not all (tho it's a matter of taste) but some of my favourite are Biblical (e.g. Ruth ) I like the meanings that come along with them.

 

I don't think I would find any name offensive. But I think that naming your doll after a literary/cinematic character, hero, or god is just kind of cliche and unoriginal.

 

You've basically just eliminated MOST names there, ichabod9 - and insulted a good number of people on the list. Congrats.

 

While none in particular would offend me I'd probably avoid certain names just to avoid people who would be taking issue with it. Unless I really liked the name, then well...the doll's getting the name. I don't see any reason to make a fuss unless someone intentionally named a doll in a certain to garner a negative reaction- in which case it's probably best to just ignore them and not pay them any mind anyways.

 

I agree Temishi. I don't think there is offensive names, just offensive intentions. It is my policy that intentionally disrespectful people get respectfully ignored. Don't feed the trolls and all that.

 

@Teleri, I doubt if what @ichabod9 said could be even regarded as offensive, not to mention insulting The very question in the topic was what we think about it and they merely expressed their opinion (without further e.g. calling names the people who do the allegedly 'unoriginal' thing as is naming a doll after fictional characters etc).

Plus, considering the amount of dolls I've seens named so (after a divinity or a fictional character), this indeed seems... popular at least.

Personally, I'm somewhat not sure if what I do would appeal to those who were my inspiration, (so, ssshhh! ) but my Stacey was named so as a tribute to an ex-guitarist of l.a.guns, then Faulkner's famous southern gothic novel's title influenced my Rose. Talking of unoriginality, as much as I loathe the character of Frankenstein, I still named my boy 'Victor' and he does often remind me of the novel itself. Lastly - as spooky as it is - Marcel(le) is after my own name Do I consider some of those inspirations clichee? Sure xD I'm rather self-conscious and fine with it.

ps. I think it applies well to other bjd stuff, not just dolly names, but to quote S.Dali:
"Those who don't want to imitate anything, produce nothing". One of my mottos, tbh