How do you name your dolls?

I've run with a star theme. I have a Polaris (my first and my profile pic), Deneb (my second design/current WIP); Rigel (Souldoll SeoJeongU) and planning for my next one (a DC mini Bella) to be called Spica.

EDIT: and now I have Capella (Luts Junha), Luna (Angell Studio Greater Snow) and Sol (Angell Studio White Deer)

EDIT2: and practice head is named Alpha Centauri nicknamed Alpa or AC (Doll Family-A Karl) and incoming boy Altair (Luts Elf Diez / 2020 winter event head)

 

My boy is an OC and was named long before I got my doll for him. For my girl, I tried to picture a little of her character (but I ended up naming her after an OC anyway) and picking a name I thought matched it. Perhaps go based on the sculpt of the doll. A firm, manly sculpt? A name that fits that look in your mind... hope that makes sense, lol.
Looking forward to seeing your new dollies!

 

I wish I could tell you, but it just sort of happens! Some of them get named in groups, or in families, some of them not. Most of them have a first and last name. Only a couple of them kept their previous name when I bought them from a friend, not exactly the same, but a version of their old name. Several times I tried to have a name picked out before the doll arrived, but that has NEVER worked out for me. The doll always looks at me like "THAT'S what you're going to call me? I don't think so, lady!" Sometimes it's not until I find the perfect eyes and hair, and then suddenly their name just comes to me!

 

Mine are all characters in my role play, and they usually get their names based on what feels right for them. Sometimes, it's not even a name I like, it just pops into my head and sticks.

 

I feel like I'm the smallest percentage of non-character doll owners here. But I don't have characters (role playing, writing, or drawing), so my dolls don't have back stories when I buy them or names. I literally wait forever until a name comes to mind, and I mean forever
I have taken a solid year to name some dolls because I wait to "hear" it from them. The quickest one that I think I've ever named was Julian, and I was working on his second faceup and the name just came to me. I was skeptical at first, but the name stuck and it is what it is.
I try not to put too much pressure on naming them because I don't want to force myself to make a name work before I feel connected to the doll. It keeps me from feeling like it's a chore and I can just enjoy the process of finding it out.

 

I belong to the smallest percentage of non-character doll owners too!
I started collecting in 2010, so for all that time I could not come up with names for my dolls. Always was thinking, what could be good names for them, collected names I heard that I found interesting.
So, one day I was done with the situation I guess (like a year ago). I sat and searched for names on "find your baby name" pages, and analysed my list of "interesting names", modified some, and choose first and last name for all my dolls (almost)
So I'm not so good at it, but that's how I did it.

 

I'm currently using "Season of arrival" to be part of their name. Winter for the one comes on december/ Spring for the one just arrived in march... But I guess if you have more doll this might not practical enough

 

I mostly go with what feels right for the doll as I get to know their character.

The majority of my SD sized dolls (and some of the smaller ones) are Victorian children who have suitable names for the era (Edith, Cressida, Bracken, Hannah). Some of them over-the-top names that are shortened to pet names for every-day-use (Serendipity/Sera, Ephigenia/Phige, Clytemnestra/Nesta, Alphonse/Alphie, Roberto/Bobbin etc.)

The exceptions to those naming conventions are:

- I have one named after the friend who persuaded me to buy her

- Two named for characters in books (well one got the name first then became the character form the book, then I had to find her sister - I hate having to hunt for a sculpt to fit a predefined character)

- A couple whose names ended up similar to ot the same as their sculp names (Raphael, Arin, and Ikarus becuaseI like the names anyway, Pip, whose sculpt name was Pipi)

- January who arrived in that month (plus I already liked the name from seeing it in a book)

- Several whose names just had to wait until they occured to me (Elfie, who was "my elfie girl" for so long she became Elfie by default, and Willowbark, whose name popped into my head after several weeks) or who refused all the names I came up with and "picked their own" even if I didn't like their choice (Winnie).

Teddy

 

Two of mine are OCs, so their names were picked before the sculpts.

Two are based on my favourite Capcom characters, so theirs were picked by their parent company before I chose the sculpts.

 

I’m one of those who is heavily into character, so all my names express something about their individual characters. And I don’t mind getting a little quirky with it either. I have an Imaginaria who was an imaginary friend, a Bellamorte who is a deceased fairy, an Angora who is a cat, an Aubergine because it’s the color of her hair and sounds French (her character is an antique French automaton.) And I’ll repeat a name if it suits...I have a Chinoiserie Rose, a Second-hand Rose, and a Bohemia Rose. And I’ll totally make up a name too. I currently have a doll on order whose name will be Euphemera (combined from an old family name Euphemie and ephemera) because she will oversee the cataloging of antique paper momentos. Basically, anything goes here, but it’s all distinctly character driven.

 

I have a storyworld built around my dolls and most have a pretty defined character before they arrive, but not names. I wait til they get here and choose eyes and wigs, then I pick a name that fits their appearance and character type. The most complex naming I have is a group that are all merfolk, and their names all have 3 syllables, end with an ah sound and most are derived from a word that means water.

 

I just.... love language, words, names, the sound of hearing them spoken. (Weird, eh?) So I keep a little list of names that I just found and loved at first sound, the quirkier the better. I find them in books, in real life people, in TV documentaries and oddly enough very often in the final credits of international films.
So when a doll comes along, I look at the list to see if something feels right for that doll's character. Something usually does.

 

Well, as I've mentioned before, most of my dolls shell pre-existing OCs, and I usually name those by making lists of names and words that relate to the character somehow and then playing mix-and-match with the sounds.

 

My doll names just sort of happen. Some of my dolls I've known right away, others have taken their time and for one doll it took another person who spontaneously said "I think her name might be Beatrice" and he was absolutely right, it fit her beautifully. I usually don't have characters for my dolls before they arrive, but some times I make a list of maybe-names so that I have a place to start.

 

originally years ago I had a theme, but that got boring after a while, so now I just go with whichever name pops into my head, often before I get the doll but after I've bought it, and usually it fits somehow! I've changed my own name a few times and once by deed poll so names seem quite flexible to me - if you don't like it, change it ^_^

 

I pick a general theme (like time period, language, etc), and then I try out a bunch of names, just to see what fits. I don't really worry about meaning. I'm more concerned with how it sounds. Sometimes I try a name for a couple of weeks before deciding it does or doesn't fit. Other times, it seems like the first name I think of is absolutely perfect. I wish I had better advice, but naming anything is always a problem for me, haha.

 

My dolls are OCs so the names are usually there in advance, but sometimes shelling a character who’s been vaguely in my mind can really help! I recently got a new head which I bought on impulse because I just felt a draw to it. She’s ended up becoming a character I’d made up a long time ago, but didn’t have a name or real solid idea for. Now with a doll of her I know the name, and that the vague image I had wasn’t really the character 100%. My OC feels a lot more solid now

 

My dolls generally "tell me" their names. Sometimes I have names picked out in advance but when the dolls arrive they laugh at those names and refuse to respond to them. I find that if I wait long enough and listen carefully, a doll will tell me her name.