Doll Names : Orginality vs Characters

I personally prefer a mix of originality, existing fiction, and something that says "this is a part of me." My doll has two names in the works, Rinel and Hyerin. Rinel is an amalgamation of two manga characters' names as well as mine, though the character herself won't be following any specific storyline. Hyerin was made to reflect how I have both an English name and a Korean name (but believe me, it can be a bureaucratic nightmare), which was then based on the name of a childhood friend from Korea.

So while the names themselves may not be fully original (I know that names that end with -el are pretty popular here, and that there's an actual Souldoll "Hye"), they have a lot of planning and personal meaning behind them. Therefore, I'd be awfully miffed if someone claimed to have the exact two names, surname, nationalities, and origins behind theirs.

As for actual fleshed-out character dolls, I see nothing wrong with them. Just because you made a resin incarnation of x (who may have a defined personality and wardrobe) doesn't mean that you can't have your own thoughts on how he/she would dress and act in other contexts. Like good fanfiction, it's fun to watch when someone's interpretations are dead-on without horrible OOC-ness. Most popular authors or artists admit to being inspired by other creations anyway. But conscious rip-offs/plagiarism are another story.

 

A name is just a name, doesn't really have anything to do with the actual doll. It wouldn't bother me if someone ripped off a name I thought of because really, I'm ripping it off from ... something. Obviously I'd have heard it before. There's really no name that you can pick that hasn't already been picked before for a person, pet, etc. Even if you change the spelling, that spelling is already being used as well. Plus, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

 

Names get used over and over and over- I think being posesive over just a name coincidence dosn't work. It gets abit creepy when its the same sculpt that has the same name as your doll, but it happens, eh?

I think it crosses the proverbial line when someone goes out of their way to do a direct copy of a character doll you came up with- not just the name, but personality, clothing, backstory...ect. Off-topic mind, so I'll stop here

 

Well, I'll talk about my dolls/future dolls. The original an the based ones. ^^
Based Dolls:
Marianne: Took her name from Code Geass' Marianne, Lelouch's mother.
Mikhail: Mikhail is an angel and got "two names". His angel name, Mikael, was inpired on Angel Sanctuary's Mikael and his human name, Mikhail, is a name that I love so much and was found he first time in LOST.
Dante: Inspired on my favorite game main character, Dante.
Aegnor "Link": Aegnor is inspired on Zelda's Link. But Link is his fake name, so he's kinda original too. XD"
Marie: Marie's name was taken from Le Roi Soleil (French Musical) Marie Mancini. ^^
Lenore: Based on dead girl Lenore. XD

Original Dolls:
Zackiel: His name was took out of no where. I wanted to call him Zack, but I like big names. It happened at the time I as reading Angel Sancutary so...
Zack + Zafkiel = Zackiel.
No. You don't have to understand. XD
Monike: Monike's name is like a fusion of all german names I loved. XDDD I loved so many names/last names and since she's a noble, I can put thousands of last names so it's when it ended like:
Monike Isabelle Starland MarkGraft Eckhard. XD
Justin: His name is actually Justinus. He just says his name is Justin. He was kinda inspired at Justin Timberlake, but no so much. XDD
Nathallie: That name came from my mind suddenly. Don't even ask. XD

 

I am having a difficult time naming my BJDs. I have thought of names, but they don't seem to be "right". I have kept several of their original names. The dolls have their own story combined with their story. I am sitting her with my Hana Devil next to me and for the life of me, a proper name has not come forward. It is making me nuts. Her personality is there, but the name eludes me. AnnMarie

 

Character dolls can be fun, I suppose, but I'd think you'd bond a lot more with a doll you built up its personality from scratch on. I think original dolls are so much more personal, and lovable.

 

I have both. Doll's that I have given history, characteristics, personality , and a original name And dolls that have taken the name of the character who pretend to be.
I believe that the name is a very important thing to think much. Names gives them everything. strength, vitality. To appoint my dolls should raise his personality, his history, his behavior toward others and then I give then a name.
I usually use to be named in connection with his personality.

Byaku -> in Japanese can mean "White" Being a feline spirit by what I chose resemble the name of "Byako" (white tigre mythological).
Azazel -> Angel who taught humans makeup and weapons. He was kicked out of heaven for wanting to rig the "elections" to Metatron (right hand of god).
Alantha ellemmiïre (Thae) -> Elven name for "midnight star". since it is an elf turned vampire I thought appropriate to mix the two things.

 

I don't mind non-original character dolls, however, i tend to make plushies of them, to save the expense. I do have issue with the way some people react to fan stuff, or things that they thing are fan stuff...
I've had the issue with 'ohmg you are such a pathetic fangirl' over my character (who i am making a doll of, that is to say, I am drawing up my plans for a sculpt, since he has odd proportions, which are inegral to any depiction of him) since I did a sketch of him, that someone saw a week after pirates of the carribean came out. Thing is, the sketch was already a year old... and there was no resemblance, other than that he has stuff braided into his hair

as I've had to say to a couple of people who have taken issue to stuff that was coincidentally the same 'it's almost guaranteed you're less original than you think you are'
so, there aren't to many things you can do without other people having done the same- the only time I've gotten too pissed off over it is when I did a really unusual outfit for a large art doll (that is to say, the pattern was extremely complex, and only someone with unusually good maths skills as well as advanced pattern drafting knowledge (I design 'soft sculpture', but have the fundamentals of dressmaking down, ftr) could have drafted, then someone else did the identical thing (oddly enough, this person or someone with the same username had left a message in the shoutbox of the website I was running at the time, on the page where i had a photo of the costume, with the pattern laid out in the background, too) then tried to claim i copied. Even though their only other outfits were copied from human patterns. And it was a generic swirly tribal design, therefore, unlikely someone else would have made the exact same swirly. And their copy was painfully obvious that they had started with something differently proportioned than the doll it was on, and had taken bits in and let them out to make it fit the new proportions*
it wasn't the existance of a copy that bothered me but that it was so blatantly obvious, and she wouldn't even admit 'inspiration', and persited in telling people that she (in effect) grew skillz overnight, then promptly forgot them once she had the thing made.
*the pattern had the seamlines forming a tribal design,and it was a huge pain in the butt to get them working on a large busted, small waisted doll - the copy hadn't even used a muslin to re-adjust, so the designs were majorly out of whack.

 

To me, a doll of an existing character be a wonderful rendering of the character, but it would still feel stagnant and restricted to another mind's creation in my opinion. And while that's not for me, I don't feel it makes the doll any less worthy of being created.

I'd see a doll that maybe took part of it's name and personality from a character or person as a small tribute though. Just like naming a child in some way after a former family member or a figure the family respected. In that case, it's not in any way to say they're the same, but just a nod in a name.

On another point, I'd love to see several people with a "John Jacob Jinglehimer Smith" (spelling?)in their doll family, but that's just me.

 

I wouldn't like to base a doll on a pre-existing character that isn't mine. Not because I think it's a bad thing to do, but because I would feel that there's a connection between me and the doll that's missing because I can never know somebody else's character completly.

No name can truly be original I think... it's more a factor of how many people would come up with that combination of sounds. Also what someone thinks of as original might not be original.

This is a great example of the fact that originality isn't always original (not meaning to pick on you just your post makes a great point). Now, my native language is swedish... so should we guess what the swedish word for melody is? The swedish word for melody is melodi, not with an 'y' but with an 'i'. So, as a swedish person I might think that melodi is a lovely word, not knowing that your doll exists and that you have seen melodi as an alternative spelling of an english word rather than as a swedish word.
The way you see things melodi is your original name, whereas I'd see melodi as a common swedish word.

So really when it comes to name it's very difficult to scream COPYCAT, because depending on a million factors two people can come up with the same name, even when it comes to putting together wovels and consonants in a way that each person thinks is original.

 

I don't have character dolls, but I love that I can make my own!!! Someone no one else will ever have or can duplicate.
And yes I do get upset if someone copys my doll. but Not there names, I dont care

 

Well, I know what it's like to make a character up in your head and add every little detail to her/him.
I was a huge RP'er when I was a little younger, and I couldn't get enough of making characters.
There are 2 that I really love and that my dolls are going to take the on the roles of being in a way.
So I don't know. Original or character based haha. :s

 

Only two of my dolls are named after characters -- Mini-Me Lady Saiyan and Chabelita.

We all know Mini-Me from Austin Powers. When I first decided that I wanted to get a ball-jointed doll, I said that I wanted to get one that more or less looked like me. Of course, I had no intention of naming her Mini-Me Claudine, because I'm not very fond of my name. I decided to give her my online name, and therefore, her name is Mini-Me Lady Saiyan.

Chabelita (a little girl form of Isabel) is a character from a Spanish Telenovela called Gotita de Amor. It's about a little girl in an orphanage, who desperately wants to have a new mother and father, and start a new life. Although my girl doesn't look like the character in the novela, I thought in my eyes, she looked like a Chabelita to me when I got her.

 

Before I even had received my first doll, I got her wig. I thought about a lot of character names for me, but when I put her wig on, I couldn't call her anything but Nachy (short for Natalie).

 

i feel that, its better for a doll to be what you like it to be, whatever it may be.

as for the name, if someone decide to name their doll the same as yours after they heard the name given to your dolls, and decide to copy it, i think its really just bad.
if its by concidence, i think its ok though.

 

I think that dolls should remain originals , because if not , then their not at all unique. I mean, if you're at DollPa or other doll gathering , won't it be confusing if everyone had the same doll , but with different names? As for names, they're not up for grabs , in fact people sometimes wish the doll would choose their own name . Not only that , but isn't the point of customizing your doll to make it unique? I guess the fact that they base it on other characters is just cause they were inspired by it , or something like that.

 

Hmm... I think it's fun to have character based dolls, but at the same time, allowing your doll to develop it's own character and personality can be just as rewarding.
I rped a lot when I was younger (and still do, on occasion) and have a whole plethora of characters that I love and treasure. My favorite character is one who I've considered attempting to find a doll to fit, because I love him so much. He was one of my first characters and has an extremely extensive background (I've played him at almost every stage of his life, and he's been around for a LONG time), however, he would also be the first and only male doll I plan on having (I really just prefer females).
I've tossed it around, but I don't know if I would ever quite get there--I think part of writing a character (for me) is that a certain part of the character is up to the imagination. In the same way that Harry Potter can be Daniel Radcliffe, the boy from the book covers and illustrations, or the character drawn by a Japanese fan or described in a well-written fanfic. I think a lot of my characters are like that, and I appreciate it. Because of this, I would rather the character be constructed around the doll--not the other way around.

 

I pick my boys names by meaning. If they are Korean dolls, then their names are Korean. I look up names that describe the dolls character. I have not yet made a "character doll", but only because I fall in love with the face and find a character in it all on my own. Does that make sense? My dolls have unique personalities and I pick names to fit them. I do intend to make a doll that will be a character, but it will be one of my own original ones (a DnD character I played and loved for 12 years).
I don't see the problem with making character dolls. If you want to, then do it! It's just like cosplaying. When done right, it's enjoyable for all.
Just understand that when you make a character doll, the situations that you create by cosplaying apply. People will know your doll already and they will be looking for where you didn't hold up to par. They won't need to get to know your doll or it's personality, unless they don't know who they are supposed to be. You also run a higher risk of running into other dolls that were made for that character and being directly compared to their dolls rendition. These things will still happen for everyone else as well, just to a lesser degree.

All in all, just have fun! They are yours and you should love every inch of them!

Kit

 

I made the misatake of making my second doll a character based doll, and the person whom he was modeled after and named for left the band I loved, so I ended up selling the doll because waking up every day looking at him made me quite sad.

I do however have a couple of dolls who are named for people I idolize in the Japanese music world who at least 2 of them have a faceup and hair color etc based on said person. I don't find them constricting at all because I don't let them be. I made the mistake once, therefore even though they share a name their personalities and interactions and character in general are all different and open to my imagination.

I also have several dolls based on original characters of mine from the stories I write that I hope to turn into comics someday when my art style is more refined. I those dolls specifically become muses for my stories for their characters.

As far as names themselves go, they are names and all names are up for grabs. I mean there are tons of people out there with the same name as me, even a few with the same first and last.
Though on the subject of naming after "famous dolls", still it is a name, what becomes distastefull is when someone gives the same mold a name with nearly if not completely identical details. Right now a friend of mine is having issues with another friend wanting to get a doll of the same mold, with the same style and color hair and same color eyes as one that she owns and holds dear and name it the same name, and they are close friends even, so that really kind of irked her when she heard it.

And then off the subject of names, becuase this does pertain, with that I recall someone posted a small pic thread a while back with a shiwoo with two different color eyes and a silver colored wig and said they were just messing around with stuff and got flamed to no tomorrow because he looked too much like xi feng's Ilu. I mean the person even said that was not the doll's typical look and that they were messing around said she had no idea about the other doll in question, but people just assume becuase they know a doll and hold it to themselves as being a "famous doll" that everyone should know it when in itself that's not true at all becuase there are new people coming into the fandom and doll ownership everyday, and new people joining doa every day and I know A LOT of people who don't browse the gallery very often or not at all.

 

Both of my dolls will be based on OCs of mine; Hitsuzen and Yuki. Despite the common name, the character has had the name for over ten years and there's no reason in my mind to change it now. XD I'd also hope that nobody would be offended if both their doll and mine had the name of Yuki, since it IS such a common name.

I have considered making or buying "cosplay" outfits once my dolls get here, to switch the outfits should I decide it'd be interesting. I don't see myself buying separate dolls just for that purpose, though. I'm not even sure if I'd go through with it at all, they might just remain my characters without being switched at all.