For Second Hand Owners - Your stance in changing the doll's name

If you like the name, keep it, if you don't or just want a different one, then change it. No need to ask, because you own the doll. That being said, if it's a friend it's a bit harder, but then I would just talk to them. Any good friend would accept that that doll is now yours and you have every right to change it.

 

I've had a lot of second-hand dolls, and sold a bunch on. Most of the second-hands I didn't know the old name, or if I did I ended up changing it. There was one where I did keep the old name, but he was a very particular doll and it just kind of stayed with him. XD Don't know if the person I eventually sold him along to kept it.

The ones I've sold, I don't care if the new owner kept the name or not if they knew it. That's between them and the doll.

...I've also got a doll who still doesn't have a name after five years. >_>;;;

 

I would actually prefer that the new owner give the doll a new name. My dolls are usually purchased to be shells for my original characters that I created over 15 years ago. It would be weird to see the failed shell still hanging out with my OC's name. In fact, I love seeing what the new owners do with them! They didn't work out for me, so seeing them get a new life and a new personality is really exciting.

That being said, if someone knew my character name and kept it, or conversely changed it, it still wouldn't really affect me in any way. At the end of the day, I sold the doll, so it's not my property anymore. I would never expect a buyer to ask my permission to do something with their new purchase. Of course, it wouldn't bother me if they did ask, but I wouldn't expect it. Also, if you were to ask and didn't get the response you were hoping for, you're still 100% totally within your rights to do whatever you please as far as the name is concerned.

 

If someone wants to keep their doll a certain way then don't sell it. Once I buy it it's mine. I can name it, style it, mod it, sell it, or even destroy it as I like. The previous owner gives up all say when they sell the doll.

 

This. Exactly this.

Teddy

 

It would not occur to me to ask permission to change the name. I wouldn't ask if the doll had a name before. Iwould not agree if a previous owner requested I keep the old name.
I have sold a few dolls and would find it strange if a buyer wanted to keep the old name. I guess I think of the name as belonging to a character and the doll being a representation of that character.

 

The only time I think you should ask permission is if you're wanting to use the same name the doll was originally given by its previous owner. But in my opinion, once that doll is paid for and out of the previous owner's hands, it's not theirs to say what you can and can't do with it anymore. I went through the same situation when I got my second doll. I wasn't sure if I should change his name or not because I was new to having a second-hand doll, but I didn't jive with the first given name. I didn't ask permission--I just changed it. And later on when I spoke to the previous owner again, as she's a friend, she seemed very happy that I'd changed him to fit my personality.

A lot of people get rid of their dolls because they either don't want them anymore and prefer to do away with the character, or they're shelling the character and getting a different body for it. I don't feel it's exactly "right" to use the same name the doll came with unless you really like it and have the seller's permission. Otherwise, I say feel free to change it. If the seller gives you grief, then they clearly still have attachments to that doll and shouldn't have tried selling it to begin with.

 

Why? They don't own the name. If you like it and want to use it for the doll, that's no-more something they have a right to object to than your changing the name.

Teddy

 

Well, my thoughts were more along the lines of "If you want to use the same name that reflects the character the previous owner had shelled." You wouldn't want to be accused of stealing someone else's character design, is what I was saying. I've seen that happen in the community, and it can get nasty. Obviously if the new owner wants to use the same name, but have it for a different character, that's different. My wife and I own two dolls named Frankie and Frank, but they have no relation to each other at all. We just liked the names.

 

It depends on the doll. One of my secondhand dolls came from a friend. Her original name - Fawn - fit her so perfectly that I wound up keeping it, with my friend's blessing. For another one, I ended up using her original name - Ophelia - as her middle name. It just sounded right - Theda Ophelia. But for my others, I don't even know their original names - if they even had one, that is. So they got their own names.

 

One of my dolls I bought second hand, and I already knew the doll's name when I bought her, but it never occurred to me to ask permission to change the name. It's my doll now, so I'll change whatever I please. In fact, I think I'd feel weird keeping the name instead! As if there was still a part of the old owner present in the doll, a constant reminder that I'm not the first owner. I don't know, it just seems kind of weird to me. I don't think anyone should have to ask permission to change a doll's name, or appearance for that matter.

That said, I think if you want to keep the original name, then it's polite to ask the old owner. With some of my dolls, I know that if I sold them I wouldn't mind the new owner keeping the name as long as they didn't intend to keep the character as a whole (because I sold the doll, not the character), but some of my characters (shelled or not) have uncommon names to the point that it'd feel weird to me to see a doll I know was mine previously keeping that character's name. Still, it's the new owner's right to do that too if they want and there's nothing I'd be able to do about it, whether I liked it or not.

 

Once you pay for the doll, that doll then becomes your property. It's an exchange of sorts. You pay money, they get money, they send doll, you get doll. From then on out it's your choice of what to do with said doll since you've paid for it.

 

I buy dolls to shell my OCs, so I never keep the previous owner's name.

Likewise, I would feel very uncomfortable with someone keeping the name and character I gave a doll. Often when I sell a doll, I'm reshelling them into a new doll, and when I sell the old one, I'm not selling my character with them. This is why I usually fully wipe any character specific tattoos, markings or faceup.

 

To put it simply, if I'm paying for the doll, it's mine to do with as I please. However, having said that; I've been tempted twice to keep the name given by the previous owner. They were both characters I was very attached to (both by the same former owner as it happens), but in the end I realised it just doesn't work that way for me. They need to be entirely mine. So gave them parts in my own stories, with new names. I did keep their face-ups as they were a huge parts of why I loved these particular dolls.

 

i dont think you have to keep the name. i dont even think you need ton ask the seller whether or not you need to keep the name, its your doll now do as you wish

 

A fair few of my crew have had previous owners... Only one (Kessari, whose name and general character idea were kept with the express permission of his first owner-) retained any ties at all to their "former life" after coming to me. I'd think it was a little odd, personally, to be expected to retain any of that once a doll changed hands.

 

I think that it's expected in this hobby that the name would change once the doll changes hands. If the new owner wanted to keep the character it's pretty common to ask permission from the previous owner in that case, because the previous owner might be re-shelling that specific character. The secondhand dolls that I've purchased have become my own, and I haven't kept anything about their personality or name from the previous owner.

 

When I'm buying a doll I like to ask for the doll's old name and character. If the seller doesn't want to tell me that's fine! While I do change the name, I like to incorporate the old character and name into my own if I can. I think it's a cute way to pay homage to what the doll once was.

 

I wouldn't even bother asking. When you sell the doll you give up all rights to control what happens to it in the future. The same is true for surrendering a dog to a shelter. Anyone who has to control what a new owner does with a doll shouldn't sell the doll. Period.

 

A few of my dolls are second hand. I don't even bother to ask the previous owners for permission, since they sold the dolls to me, for me... it means they already let go the privilege of naming the dolls, giving a background and so on. I paid a sum of money to get the dolls, it's obvious that I want the dolls to be my OC, not someone's OC.