Doll Names : Orginality vs Characters

My first boy Davin is based off a pre-existing RP character I have. My incoming Minifee ShuShu is based off the character for his cousin in the same RP universe. I love being able to make my characters tangible; makes them all the more real.

 

All the dolls I'm planning on buying are all from an original story that sprouted in my mind after I first saw Rory (Island doll Cookie). Rory's name was initially going to be Nakia because it means believe, which is essential to her storyline (she has "imaginary" friends) But it just wasn't a name I liked, and I couldn't get used to it. (and I hadn't even bought her then). I can't remember how she became Rory, but it truely is the name for her.
Evangeline (Evie) is home with me and I'm still waiting for Rory to get home. All the others are simply on my wishlist. I gave the kids names that I really like but know I wouldn't give my own kids. The adults just got names I like. They are all from a baby name book.
The anthro's are all named after Periodic Elements.

I've never considered making a character doll after somebody else. I don't think I ever would, though I do think the people that do (for example, Azulafan199 has like the WHOLE Percy Jackson squad) are very devoted to it and do a good job.

 

Most of my dolls are original characters with unique names and backgrounds; I don't think I'd be offended if someone copied any of their characteristics, just curious as to why.

 

Originally, I disliked the idea of having a doll made specifically to a fandom character. I felt that it was unoriginal and that dolls should have their own personalities, not something pre-determined and set in stone.

But recently I have seen a new light. I have been a part of a specific fandom for some time and have fallen so deeply in love with its characters that I feel as if they are my own. I write stories about them constantly and in these stories, these characters are built farther then the series goes with them and I feel like they've become my own.

The character that I intend to create a doll after soon to me will never again be who he is in the show he comes from, but instead my own twist on him. So when I look at the doll, I will see an original character born from a fandom character, instead of just a fandom character.

 

I've never thought of making my dolls into Character dolls. Ever. I want them to just be them. :3
I DID however decide to throw THEM into my comic, guest starring as mer people, but it's only them because I love them. The characters are of the dolls, not the other way around. :3
I would, however, like for Lo to cosplay with me. 8D

 

I don't have any character dolls, and probably won't. If I feel the need, I'd probably have one of my existing dolls do cosplay, since that's something I do as well ^^

Why do you enjoy original dolls?
I guess I don't like the idea of a copy. I can bond to a character I know inside-and-out, but it might be strange to have a character that someone else invented, and knows inside-and-out. Also because it was just so cool how I had a doll with no character suddenly come to life and spill his guts, everything about him, and become something unique ^^

Do you find it distressing or upsetting when people emulate your original doll or copy his/her name without asking? Or do you feel names are just names and are up for grabs.
No one has copied my boys (that I know of), so that doesn't really apply. I have seen other dolls with the same name, but I don't mind that. I didn't make up the names; actually, the dolls I have at home have Biblical names. The girl I have on layaway has a more unusual name, though. It fits her character because it means "relating to springtime", and it's Latin, the language that would've been spoken in her time. I found it on a baby name site, which pronounced it with the 'c' making an 's' sound, but it should be said with a 'k' sound, so if someone else did have that same name, it might be pronounced differently anyway ^^

 

I will go for the original doll too, I believe that will be interesting to create a complete original background and personality for your doll, it will also give a lot of freedom, because from an already existing characther you do not have a lot to choose, or at least is what I think

With the BJD you can play and develop your imagination, so it will be better to have a blank sheet of paper to start, it could be very intersting. of course each depends of each person, and everyone have the right to enjoy in the way that suit themselves.

 

We have original and character dolls at our house. Where my daughter came up with the name Halo Aphrodite, I'll never know! But it suits the doll perfectly and her "personality" developed out of it. My SD boy was just going to cosplay as Death the Kid from the "Soul Eater" manga, but it was so adorable that he's just "Kiddo" full-time now.

 

I like character dolls, but if/when I ever get one I will most likely give it its own unique name. I wouldn't call it the name of the character it is modeled after. I notice that a lot of people do that, and it makes me feel like my doll would be less special since it would share the same name and looks as many other people's dolls. So I would try to come up with another name for it. I know that many people have the same name, and that many dolls have the same name, but I would like her to be just a little different from the same model as her. When and if I get a character doll, I would use their character outfit sometimes but I would probably have them in other clothing more.

 

Me and my significant other have an interesting story that can follow along the lines with this topic discussion.
We both have dolls that emulate people that are real, and we adore, but we have also gone and developed further into personalities, so in a sense they become our own characters, morphed with quite different personalities.

We also have two original character dolls, and we love all of the equally. I think that if you take a base of a person, and accentuate on certain attributes of theirs, they can become something totally different and therefore you have a new character.


-Justi

 

I absolutely prefer to have dolls with original character (even there'll be influences from something that's already existed). Because that way, I'll have a total freedom to style them however I want without feeling awkward.

I'll upset if others copy my dolls entirely (name, face-up, style, outfits, background, etc). But if it's just a name, I don't really mind.

If there's a popular doll's name that I knew before I named my doll, I won't give my doll the name because it'll just remind me on the doll that's not mine. But I won't change my doll's name if I found out that name already used on a popular doll later.

 

I'm not a big fan of fan art (lol) and I'm a writer anyway, so all my dolls (well actually I only have one for now ^^ are characters created for the mold. Their stories are more and less in the same world.
I like having original names, so I invent some and some I find on the internet.

For my first doll, Näri (ä pronounced like the a in "at"), I was looking for an Australian name because I had found some cool ones earlier, but then came to think of ä and thought what the hell, that gives her attitude. >u> "näristä" is a dialect for "to complain" in Finnish.

The one I'll be getting soon, Fear, is just that. She's Näri's imaginary friend that's a bit more than that, since some other people see her too. She's fear, so she's afraid of everything. I also have Winter and Summer.

My other doll-characters' names are Anina, Un, Lloyd, Lewin and Bachi.

 

I actually got into the hobby because I have long wanted to create doll versions of the main characters of the story I have been working on since I was, what, fifteen? For some reason, just drawing the characters isn't enough. I made my first doll out of papier maché; after that, I used clay (twice) and Fimo clay. But I'm not particularly good at doll construction and sculpting, so I put the doll idea out of my head. Then I discovered the existence of bjds.

For me they were always going to turn into my original characters. In a way, that's a good thing, because there are so many gorgeous dolls around that if I were looking for "any" pretty doll, I would have no way of determining which to buy and which not to buy XD. Now, if a doll doesn't fit my characters, I'm not buying it. It's ... a technique :P.

I guess I would be a little bit annoyed if someone copied my character design (actually I think it rather unlikely that anyone would want to copy me, lol), but then again, I do look around myself at things I can use and dolls that inspire me. That's how it works. So I'd get over my initial twinge of annoyance pretty fast .

 

I put a lot of thought into my dolls' names. My husband used to tease me because one of my hobbies is the origin of names. He used to say that I was the only person in the world that read baby name books for leisure. Now, it's all paying off. I especially like unusual names---the more unusual the better. Don't like trendy names for the most part. Especially hate when one of "my" unusual names becomes trendy. :P

 

I love my original dolls. Because they're mine. I made them up, there's a piece of me in all of them. In terms of names though...I'd be incredibly impressed if I found someone who had a doll with the same name as my dolls...most of my dolls' names I made up myself XD They're all characters in my novel, so again, I'd be pretty impressed if someone had the EXACT same design lol

I don't have any character dolls -- to be honest, it doesn't interest me much. I like to have my dolls "cosplay" characters, but all of my dolls are of their own character. ^.^;

 

The main reason I got into BJDs was the freedom to create my characters, whether their my pre-existing character or something I made up on the spot. I find doll based on other people's characters are too limiting.

 

This is what I do too basically. I'll see a doll, it'll start forming a character, and I'll come up with a name. The more the doll is with me, the more the character develops.

I think the only exception is I came up with a character based on a song I like, but the character in the song was just a base and the character has grown in my mind since then.


I also agree that it's nearly impossible to come up with something totally random and unique when naming dolls (or children, or pets, or anything). I think as long as you're not purposefully copying someone's name, then it's ok. Even if you are, imitation is a form of flattery. ^_^ I don't think I would ever purposefully copy someone's name for a doll, but maybe if I really liked a name, I would try to come up with something influenced from it - similar but not exact. All of my dolls so far have real names that I've taken from baby name sites, so I don't expect there not to be other dolls out there with their same names and it wouldn't bother me if there were.

This. ^_^

 

I own only 'original' dolls. Though, sometimes they cosplay just for fun. ;P

Why do you enjoy original dolls?
I've always had a healthy imagination. My dolls are an extension of this.

Do you find it distressing or upsetting when people emulate your original doll or copy his/her name without asking? Or do you feel names are just names and are up for grabs.
I haven't had this happen, that I'm aware of, but I imagine I'd be peeved if someone did that. I invest a lot of thought and time into creating an "image concept" for each doll. This image concept outlines the colour palette and fashion style for each doll, as well as their 'personality' (how they wear their clothes and hair, face-up expression, poses, etc).

The names of my dolls are left up to serendipity and change often, or are less important than the image concept of the doll.
I mean, like, I'd have to be really self-entitled to think that I'm the only/first one in the world to name one of my dolls "Manfred" "Aldous" or "Alice" and anyone else who did that was a copy-cat stealing my ideas.

 

Usually, my dolls are original characters because they just sort of... got that way. I get a doll home, give it a wig and eyes and the personality develops (or, because I have an extremely overactive imagination - is "revealed" to me) over time. It took my Lati K (Edissen) over 2 years to "tell" me what his character was. Now that I've figured it out though, I love him to bits. Other dolls I own were just themselves straight out of the box. I'm typically not a fan of a doll modeled extensively on an existing character but...

Garion and Ce'Nedra are my exceptions to this. They are still original characters, since their backstories are not the same as their namesake's nor are most of their personalities, but when I saw Ce'n, her sculpt just refused to be called anything else, and a Ce'Nedra needs her Garion. Once I had those names, I couldn't help but incorporate a little bit of those characters into my own. I'm including their love for each other, Ce'n's spoilt nature, and Garion's simple, steady ways. I think that's general enough not to cause too much issue. I think of them as a tribute to David and Leigh Eddings more than anything. They aren't meant to be copies, (although I bought Ce'Nedra because she looked so much like what I imagined the character to be- and I did buy a bright red wig for her...) and my two will have their own quirks and things that make them unique, but they are loosely based on characters from one of my favourite book series of all time... *shrug*

 

A little off-topic...but still relevant: I just got my first BJD (YAY) and haven't named her yet. She's a Sprite with long curly brown hair and blue eyes, and I want to name her an Irish name as she looks Irish to me. I have in mind Dairinn (an Irish name), or Naida (Irish water nymph name) or Nai (means breeze). But here's my other experience with naming: I make and sell/barter away original amigurumis on another site, and it's so funny how often people get my creation and email me asking for a name and a history of the character! I used to think that it should be left up to the customer, but most of them don't want that! They want a fully realized character with a history and I've even been asked "who were the parents" in the case of a unicorn I made. So funny. I began including a card with a handmade picture of the creature and the name and likes/dislikes and some history in the package. Customers seem to love that. I wouldn't want to get a doll already named so I don't understand it at all, but different strokes, right?