How do you name your dolls?

BJDs are pretty, so mine are all named after flowers. Sometimes I have to twist and stretch the concept to fit, but it remains. My other rule is not to use the same flower twice. For example, as my first girl is Yu Wei, I'm not naming another one Rosa.

 

At this moment I have three BJD - two boys and a girl (JJ - 1/3, Keith - 1/6 and Sanya - 1/4). All names are totally spontaneous. It can be said the dolls themselves chose them

 

I REALLY wanted to name Chloe something else. I mean, her sculpt is Chloe. Fairyland has a very very very veeerryyyy popular Chloe sculpt that is literally everywhere so I tried. I wanted to stick to the theme of the name which is a Spring, blooming. It’s also another name for Demeter I think, which is neat. I had a list picked out to choose from, I never make any final decisions until the doll is in my arms.

When she arrived Chloe was her name and that was it.

For my next doll, I am really hoping Corni will not stick. I hate that name lol! I kind of have a name picked out but, like I said, I make no final decisions until I have the doll in my arms. It’s like they tell me who they are once we “meet” in person. It sounds funny but I don’t know how else to describe it, but I’m talking to other doll people so I’m sure others know what I mean haha

 

I just happen across names that match my dudes. I literally saw a truck drive in front of me that said "tacoma" on the back and I thought "oh that's perfect"

 

Since I make a lot of characters outside of BJDs, I just have a huge list of names that I like. I'll see a new name that really strikes me and add it to the list. I tend to have a name and character already planned for a doll before I get it, but I remain open to the possibility that when I get that doll, the name could change entirely! But that's what the list is for, I can just peruse the list until I land on a name that does fit.

And if I'm really stumped, I have a baby name book and I'll use an online random number generator to select a name from the book. It's kind of a "leave it to fate" method. But it has given me some really great names that I never would've considered.

 

Mine are often named for people I've met that were nice. A lot of my man dolls have J names. I also like old-fashioned lady names for my girls, so they have those, like Francine in my avatar, but I call her Francie. Also, some of my dolls don't have names, even if I've had them a few years, they will tell me when they are ready.

 

Avery was based on a really, really old character. The guy I dated 16 years ago suggested the name when I was coming up with her. I liked it so I used it.

Hector started out as my back-up D&D character for when my player character died in a D&D campaign. I played the game for most of undergrad. Everyone lost 3+ characters other than me, as my girl just had all the luck, so I never got to use him. I liked the unutilized character so much I made him a doll. The campaign was horror-themed so his last name was horror literature-based. I just thought Hector went well with it.

The girl that lived through that whole D&D campaign was Minerva. I wanted a witchy name for a witchy character in a horror campaign so I'm pretty sure I just googled witchy names and it came up. The character was super special to me after playing with her so long so I made her a doll.

 

I have named them after characters in stories that I have written over the years, even names from silly stories I wrote as a kid! I have also named them after characters I created in video games, which also then inspire the doll's character and style. Some I have named because of the dolls history, for instance one of my dolls was stuck in Russia for a while so I chose a Russian version of a name I loved as a child.

 

I use BehindtheName.com a lot. I try to find names with meanings and origins that match their characters. I have a cat boy named Leon, a flower fairy named Ephemera, and a doll based on fox shape-shifters named Kit- short for Kitsune. The second two I came up with on my own. I tried to call my newest doll an Arabic name for nearly a year, but it didn't work. He doesn't look Arabic so it didn't really fit. He now has a Scandinavian name instead. I'm not really sure why I named an elf man Firenze (the Italian way to say Florence) but it seems to fit him.

 

I just pick a name that I've always loved in my head and name my dolls those names, but sometimes my dolls have a theme and I name them after that!

 

All my dolls are based on existing characters (even the OC ones), so I named them the character they represent with the exception of my favorite BJD. He does have a character with a name, but in the story he belongs to, his name was cursed so he can't use it (it literally can't be pronounce by anyone even himself, due to it being cursed). I thought back when I got him it would be cool if that was also part of him in real life (as a fun tie to the story, not as having an actual curse). So I would call him what everyone in the story he belongs to called him, which a word in-a-non-English-language, because he lived in an area where that language was prominently spoken. Later, it got a big cringe-worthy because people referring to him wouldn't know how to properly spell the word, and I couldn't help myself but think of the word spoken with a very heavy accent in my head. After a while of that, I decided to stop using that word and just go with his sculpt's original name -- which I probably also mispronounce, but at least I don't know how it is originally pronounced/sounds-like to have a cringe-worth-fest in my head about it. DX

 

I seem to have gone with a theme for my boys and the girls have been given names I love and that I think suit them and have no relation to each other. My first BJD was a boy and he was the only one for quite some time.

 

It depends....either I like the name the company gave them or I name them myself. When I name them myself I give it a mind set that my dolls are these awesome anime characters. I like to give my dolls a feminine name. I always felt like feminine names fit so well with awesome anime characters. Also all my dolls are male.

 

I used to give dolls names, but after I have more than two dolls, I started to just call their official names...... It's really not easy to always find some names for them!

 

I tend to name dolls after other media I really enjoy, even if the doll's design isn't related to it's namesake. ^^" For example, I have an Akira and a Darcy, from Persona 5 and Pride & Prejudice, respectively.

I'm currently trying to come up with a name for my Myou Delia but I'm totally at a loss. I've been trying to pick a name for her for about 6 months now, from baby name websites, asking friends, combining words/names, etc. But nothing seems to fit and it's suuuch a pain because I hate referring to her as just "my doll" lol

 

My original plan was to have all my dolls named after goddesses from different cultures. Then one of my girls arrived and informed me she was was Guinevere, so it became mythical characters, then my smaller girls came and they decided that they were going with names like Jane and Maggie. So best laid plans and all that. In the end the doll inspires the name and sometimes it involves renaming them till it fits.

 

I've ended up with names associated with what I was doing around the time I ordered the doll.

For instance with my first doll, I was playing a mobile-game around that time. One character was called Marcello, so somehow my doll ended up with that name too. With my second doll, right after I ordered him, I was watching YouTube and some random commenter in the video had the name Kester. I liked it and used it for a name. Now with my latest doll on order, I've named her after a Digimon character, Rika, since I've been playing the Switch game. I've been lucky so far with the names just popping up when I need them.

 

I'm not very good at naming my dolls. I don't know why, some are still nameless up until this day and I just use their sculpt names for now until something else seems to click.

My newest doll however has currently adopted a name that I hope will stick. She came to me during the Covid-19 crisis so I thought it would be important that she got a name related to it to remind me that every second is precious.

I named her 'Oonagh', pronounced 'ou-na'. It is said to come from the Irish word 'uan' which is supposed to mean 'lamb'. Her character is pretty docile so this was fitting. Another meaning attributed to the name comes from Latin and means 'one', often translated as 'unity'. Both these explanations were very fitting as well since this girl only has one eye and was also the first doll I ever bought from this company. As far as 'unity' goes, it's something that's very important at all times. The virus is also called Corona and the pronounciation of the name is every similar to 'Ona' and 'Una' so one more ticked box.

So you see, sometimes a doll just clicks with a name and sometimes they make you want to go mental trying to find a fitting one. I think it's one of the most fun aspects in the hobby: finding out a dolls name and their personality. I'm not even sure my current girl will keep this one but so far so good.

 

Naming dolls is hard for me. I’m never good at naming anything. So I usually just spend a lot of time with the doll until I figure out a name that feels right for them. Like with my newest Liam, I waited until after I had gotten his faceup and clothes all perfect then it made sence to keep his sculpt name because he felt like a Liam.