Doll Names : Orginality vs Characters

I kind of have a both deal. I have an original MSD, and I'm remaking an original SD to a fan doll....at least I'm thinking about it. I'm a massive Hellsing fan, so I figured I'd make an Alucard doll. However, I'm also a massive Dracula fan, and I do have a tiny story to play with there. Due to this little change, I've considered making coffins and stuff, so it all depends I suppose. XD I have both, so there! I suppose, to me, fan dolls are a form of cosplay, so there's my little bit XD as stupid as I sound.

 

I love creating names, but I usually always choose character names for my bjds. It seems all the names I like are characters! For instance, I was going to call my Sooah doll Heather, but then I realized Heather is tha name of a game character I like. So I tried again and came up with Tomoe. It's nice but it's still a character name of sorts. Oh well, as long as you like the name go for it.

 

My few dolls are modeled from my favorite group of RP characters.
The one from my own character is named Lycopê : for nearly 20 years I choose my characters' names from flowers or plants, in different languages (first it was easy, now it's more a challenge !^^) and the lycopus is a plant whose name means "wolf feet" in a Latin version of the original greek name (my character is a Lobo, a kind of werewolves in her world).
And for the other ones the names are the one chosen by their players. The only one I changed is the one of the only NPC-based doll because it came from an anime I don't find fitting in the universe (sometimes DM are lazy ! :P)

 

I like either kind of dolls, but I think OCs are much more fun to create. And if someone uses my OCs' names, that's fine because they're pretty common: Erin, Derek, and Nicole. :/ So you can't really "steal" such common names, but if you use the name and character, that's obviously a problem.

 

My girl's name is completely original. I was gonna name her after the chick in Witchblade (the anime version) but then I was ehhh nahhhh... then I woke up in the middle of the night one night and went KLOEY!! and then fell back asleep xD

 

I have four dolls and three of them are original characters. The forth, Yuichiro, s inspired in Yuichiro Takiguchi, a Battle Royale's character. This character appears in two (or three? I can't remenber) Chapters of the novel, he's a otaku and he gets murdered by Mitsuko Souma (you little b- LOVELY gal.) The character is not like other copyrighted ones. He's under copyright, of course, but i think i can play with him and his story better as I could do with characters like Lelouch, Sanzo, Sebastian or Ciel (for example). I mean the Autor didn't tell all his story in the novel, so I can figure it how I want uwu. Dimitri Ren and Alexander (and soon Shizuo too, I hope) are all my RP characters I used on some RP forums (or I'm already using).

 

I fit both categories, so I get to answer both questions! Yay!

Character Dolls: Existing
Most of my dolls are from Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak. It's Larten's fault. At first it was just an idle thought that if I ever found a sculpt I liked available in purple, I'd have to get it with red eyes and name it Gannen. I'd hand sewn a Vancha March outfit for Benny, the first guy outfit I ever draped myself. Then came A-kon. I only meant to get a green wig for Benny's Vancha costume... but I'd just inhaled Ocean of Blood over a two day period, and he looked so much like a Larten I just had to get him. (I'm still agonizing over whether or not to give him that signature scar or leave him early-series-II-style. I know I want to get his vampire scars on eventually though.) Next thing I know I'm getting him an Arra and a Darren, and getting Darren an Evra. Still haven't found my Gannen, but as far as my wallet's concerned, that's probably for the best!

I enjoy having my vampires because Larten and Darren both like to dress up, so I get to make fancy red things for days~ ...plus, being vampires, they don't mind going barefoot, so I don't feel obligated to spend forty bucks on shoes, lol. I loved finding Arra because I love how her sculpt fits her personality; she just has this expression like "No, I will not shake your hand. You suck." I can't wait for Evra to come in because I have kickass customization plans for him to make him a snake-boy and not just a green doll.

Yeah, it's a total fangasm. But it's also a mountain of projects. And I love every minute of it.

Character Dolls: Original

I actually didn't count on being in this category, it was just one of those mental notes I made to myself when I started collecting: "Of course if I ever find an Ave doll or a Sasha doll I'll have to get it." I didn't expect it to happen as soon as it did, and I didn't think I'd be this excited to be actually planning to order one.

I'm looking forward to it because I have a weird feeling that having the dolls around will help me connect wit the characters better, and help improve my writing overall.

 

Character dolls vs. Original dolls:

Well, the dolls I chose were originally based on characters from an anime (Gakuen Alice), but I didn't want to use the same names. So I made original names (well, English-language names) and somehow the characters evolved into something else not much resembling the anime.

So they started off as character dolls and then became originals!

The names I chose were ones I liked, first and last names, but I swear they all sound like they came from the cheesiest romance novel ever written. But I like the names!

 

Most of my dolls (and dolls on my wishlist) are for original RP characters of mine, and some are just "I like that doll" and their names and personalities have just come from the doll itself. I do want to make one fan-doll one day - I really want to get a blue RS Long and turn him into Sandoval from the webcomic Oglaf (warning, very nsfw comic).

Personally, I think whatever makes someone happy with their dolls is good. I love seeing other people's interpretations of various characters, and even my dolls who are original characters will occasionally cosplay as existing characters for Halloween and such.

 

Very interesting thread, i just with to share my thoughts about it!

I own so far just one doll based on celebrity facial features that has been casted from MiniMee to look exaclty like him, Jake Gyllenhaal precisely, that would going to be an actor, but he's the only one.

I enjoy original dolls based on original characters mainly as i have a lot od Role Play characters and a lot of creativity, most of the time i don't like the company background for dolls i've bought, same for face-up or costume, i love that in this hobby there's room for creativity, and of course i hate when people steal from my dolls background as i put a lot of effort to create an intricate and detailed background/characters, same for face-up, i has been happened recenlty,and it's very very upsetting, sometimes people do in subtle way just put the same color of eyes, and style of wig...so i ended up keeping just for me the details of my characters...

 

90% of my dolls or planned dolls are original characters. I used to have one based on a RP character, but RL events have proved her dead. Other characters have emerged from the dolls themselves, or an idea I may have had when I saw the sculpt or something.

The one character doll I currently own, and then the 1 character doll I plan on getting this winter hopefully!!!, are the only 2 characters I plan on having. They are more of a one-off from a book series I read/reread/ lol. They are my interpretation of the author's descriptions, more than anything else. So far, the girl character has been met with positive comments! Hopefully the boy's entrance will prove similar.

I really enjoy having my own characters. I haven't noticed anyone copying or emulating any of my dolls, personalities, looks, names, etc. i think it's purely coincidence most of the time. Lots of owner like japanese or asian names, and so we see tons of Yukis, Miyus, etc etc. Some people also stick with the company name.

Whatever makes people happy...!

 

different boats for different folks

I personally only have original dolls, I get there names by looking on a baby name site () while looking at an image of said doll (it's always when they're on their way in the mail)
But taking a doll and character that one loves seems fine to do, if I get a doll I've been pining for I'm gonna be taking the first part of his name from an anime character, or rather the character confirmed my choice of name

as for the names if it's a very unusual name I feel I would at least like to be informed if someone was going to want to use it but other than that names are for everyone

 

Well, in my case I was going to buy a Delf Shiwoo and make him a faun and name him Hiccup... Then I watched How To Train Your Dragon *facepalm* Now I need a new name =/
Lol I don't really like copying names because it makes me feel less creative lol

 

so far I've had a tendancy to make RP characters from my dolls. I made my RS Song into my OC Nohawka who I've had for years. I think I would be a little offended if someone took my dolls name, but it would have to depend on what character I made and how common the name was. I made up the name Nohawka when I was 11, I'm 20 now. so I think it would bother me if someone named their doll Nohawka, but, depending on the situation, I might be okay with it. on the other hand, my RS Long, who I've made into Fowl, well...the name isn't really all too original in itself, so I probably wouldn't be too offended.

 

I usually try and match heads with my characters, which happened with my current doll. After a lot of time and comparing though, I realized my character would look terrible as a doll and that I thought more natural-colored hair on dolls were appealing in person. I'm still planning on making my doll based on my character, but I'm going more for an elegant, more realistic version of it that's not impossible to do lol. Anyways, the point is I name my doll(s) after my original characters, it just makes me bond so much with them!

Like, when I'm struggling with making him stand and then suddenly he just falls all over me, I'm like "Oh [character], that's so like you to not work with me...." or "why do you have me so much [character], gosh" but I also think it's a cute idea to name a doll something that you've always thought would be a great name for your future child or a name that grows slowly on you over time as your time with your doll increases. I, for one, think Pete is the cutest name ever, and even though I know it's not super original, because I have some sort of affection for that name, it still works~ (Which is also what I'm naming my next doll)

 

I'm under a year as a collector and I have bought a ton of dolls. Naming them is part of the excitement. At first I would come up with cool names I'd never heard of, next thing, I notice it is the name of some sculpt of a major doll company. Like "Rue" for a guy. At first I felt like, OK, can't use that name.

Now I see it won't matter if names are duplicate. Like many people here in this thread are saying. Pretty unlikely you could ever come up with something that is cool and no one else will ever copy or come up with it on their own too. So I feel freer about it.

Character dolls -- I've been absent to the anime scene except for a very few so I don't know those characters. But I am thinking about characters like "The little match girl" or "The Prince and the Pauper". My jury is still out on that one.

I love to write and I have a very active imagination. I still have many dolls to name, and I will most likely create names for the stories that come into my head as I "play" with my dolls. As I have named them so far, I try it on at first. Call him/her that for a couple of days and see if it feels right.

I began with a theme based collection of names which go along with my username here, DaughterofEden...Eden being that garden, you know the one? So my first names have all been flower and nature related. But they won't all be from my garden.

 

I am working on my own character doll at the moment from a story I have been working on for a while. She basically fits into an already existing film. So she is my own imagination, but just in the same world as the characters from the film. I like having an origional character doll because it sorta makes it feel like a OOAK.

But as far as names go, yah whatever. Names are a universal thing, someone somewhere is gonna have the same name for their doll. My 'circus' story dolls are names after timgs i like. E.g. I have Harper Alexander (named sfter the 2001 Maniacs character), Mae (after My Neighbour Totoro), Anders (after Dragon Age 2) and soon to be a Sheri (named after one of my insparations Sheri Moon Zombie - Rob Zombies wife). I also have to characters with names i created. Their names suit their backstory (they are also my circus lot) they are Hatter and Malice.m My other which fits into the film is called "Crowe", so sure people can copy that. But I mean if she was called "Crowe Hanius Lucifer Mc Gingle Bob Largo The Third" and they copied that...I may be a little mad

 

you have forgotten to ask about costum made Dolls, because there are existing many Characters MDD,SD and so on that are costum made out of anime's, who doesn't exist already! For example i'm trying at the moment to make an Sonsaku Hakufu costum DDdy...

anyway i prefer character Dolls out of Anime's, because i'm a big anime series lover and i really enjoy the characters from the anime's i'm collecting! So it's perfect to have one Anime figure at home, where you know the character from and could enjoy her realness! :=)

 

I have been thinking about loosely basing my I want to soon own dolls on Grimms Snow White and Rose Red. Obviously changing the names, but having their personalities be similar. I don't think there is anything wrong with it. Because everyone will put their own spin on even character based dolls, they will be different no matter what. Which i think is part of the beauty of dolls in the first place.

 

i prefer original , its not like i hate character name but i found original is more amusing

if i name my doll base on some character i'm afraid that i will start to built my doll personality from the character i named ~