How do you name your dolls?

Mine follow a theme of water/weather. I'm sure some would think it very boring, but I love their names and they suit them too.

 

Currently I name my boys by number sequence integrating numbers in different language to regular human names

 

This is boring but I just take something out of their sculpt names and make it slightly different For example my AS peach fairy would be "Peachy", and my Loong Soul YouYing would be "Yuyu". Otherwise I'd forget their names if it's something entirely different

 

Sometimes the doll tells you. Lucrezia got her name because I wanted something that would work for a 16th-century girl from central Europe, but would also abbreviate nicely for her more modern persona. Plus, it's fun to say in a faux-Italian accent.

When I decided on a twin brother, "Lukas" just sorta jumped out as the most similar-sounding boy name. It doesn't work for an Italian kid (it's a German name), but Luca works for the Italian equivalent for Renaissance-style stuff.

And yes, my dolls have both Renaissance and modern personas. This way, I can bring them to Ren Faire and say that they are "models I made of the Fair Folk that are said to live in the woods." While the Good Neighbors have no actual historical documentation, it is period for people to tell stories about them.

 

I do it a mix of ways! Sometimes when I see a sculpt it just comes to me, or maybe I want to keep the sculpts name because I think it fits. If not I either look up baby names (for instance if I have a strong female character in mind I type 'powerful/strong girl names).

 

I don't have a specific way that I name my dolls. Usually a name will just randomly pop in my head and most of the time it ends up working out.

 

It usually takes a while before I know my dolls names. I currently have 4 dolls and for one of them I even asked a FB doll community to help with naming (successfully!). I did come up with a general theme. All my doll names are nature oriented. Ivy, Rue, Willow and Dawn. One of my floating heads will be called Opal if/when she gets her body.

 

Well...not naming them. I just don't name my toy . It's really hard for me to coming up a name.

 

My dolls are all characters from things I write, so their names exist before they do, but that’s kind of a cop out answer.

each story has naming conventions:
-in 4 worlds Oturan/shrike names are usually 1-2 syllables (or have a 1-2 syllable nickname), and fantasy, but relatively easy to pronounce (Coris, Melaka/Mel, Nsiria (Siri), etc)
-in the same universe, children of auratus all have long names that I’ve lifted off of tropical fish, most of whom have nicknames (Kigoma/Ki, Dialeptos/Dia, Venestus/Ness)

In DnD, there’s a lot of in-verse naming conventions already there. Some that I’ve added are
-I name my shadar kai using surface drow naming conventions. (Vidania meant ghost thief and our lady of pointing fingers in surface drow and undercommon)
-some of them are lifted from playable content (Ireena from Curse of Strahd, Glasya from the 9 hells, zariel)
-some of them are my gf’s characters (Aelish/Baelfire)
-honestly, most of my hell characters were just given names that had to sound a little different, but there was no naming convention. (Azerin, Acyra, Nirathos, Akamos, Liriel II)
-Azrael is a name I took from a story I used to care about. She and Liriel have moved, and maybe Ix and Red will find universes to move to.

Outside of them, there’s the Paradise lost gang, who are named pretty clearly by John Milton in his work, but have epithets I will be figuring out (as well as Sin and Death having secondary names).

 

It took me ages. I waited to see the doll in person to make an actual decision. I went through a list of elvish names, latin words and ended up with old Cornish.

I don't really have answers. ^_^

 

Naming my characters / Dolls have always been a long process. it takes forever to search and combine different names and words. it also depends on the sculpt. over the years I have shifted from many aesthetics but in general it´s fantasy names. I usual get inspirations from fantasy games (Example: from software's games. the Dark souls trilogy and Bloodborne) or from Nordic languages, like Icelandic and Faroese. Nuela is a combination of those two languages. I grabbed the name Filianore from Darksouls 3.

My only "odd" name I have is Teatime for my Soom Teenie taco dragon. It comes from the two part tv serie Hogfather, with the villian last name is teatime. I´ve tried for many years to find a better name for my little dragon but no luck as of 2021.

 

I tend to name characters based on personality. Although I still get a list and pick from that-
It starts with going through name sites (behindthename is a good starting point for humans), just picking out a heap that match the oc's vibe. As in using harsher sounding names to suit a much more blunt character, or a softer one for a kinder character. Sometimes picking a few names based on meaning, or language origin. For instance I have an oc called felony because I thought her name meaning crime was funny. Then an oc called Franz because he's German.
Then after I have my list, it's throwing them until one sticks.
A few have names based on nicknames. I liked Ash for one character, and used that as his nickname, but it didn't fit him completely. I thought of Ashlin as a last name, then caved and make it his first. My first doll will be Kireiko, extended from my nickname for her 'Kiri'
Tldr, internal screaming until it fits

 

I named my doll Eden and it just popped in my head I also wanted to keep it gender neutral so I was looking for more of a unisex name. Maybe writing down the adjectives for a name would help (i.e feminine, masculine, vibrant, colorful, sweet, or playful). It just helps with trying to a find a name that targets an emotion or an idea.

 

The names all just came to me. There were different ways that the names were brought to mind, though.

For Lux, I initially wanted to name him Hikaru (After my favorite character from 'Doukyuusei'), but I was told that was a little bit hokey. So I looked at the meaning. Hikaru means "light", so I picked a name that also meant "light". I'm told Lux is typically a girl's name, but I've never let a silly thing like gender stop me.

For Remy, his name was initially Liam. However, my cousin had a baby boy that he named Liam, and I didn't want things to get weird, so I changed the doll's name. I'm an artist, and I enjoy art history; I decided to name him after Rembrandt. Remy for short.

I Frankenstein'd Adari's name from a bunch of syllables that I liked. Apparently, Star Wars got there first. Oh well!

I wanted to give Nycta a night-based name, as she was painted to look like a galaxy. I almost named her Nyx, but I decided to tweak it a little bit.

Yvette was my Confirmation name; I've always had a soft spot for it.

I don't have August yet, but I thought of using that name very quickly. It just popped into my head! I can always change it later.

 

Is it weird to say I wait for the doll to tell me it’s name? I don’t know why but after spending time with a new doll a name just pops into my head and normally sticks

 

That´s not weird at all! we all have ways to come up with creativity :3 I have a girl on order and she is not named yet (let alone a design) I will most likely figure out a name when she arrives, like you do :3

 

I'm working on a setting for mine in my head and mapping it out, and will probably name them as they arrive over time based on where they fit in the setting/town. I am new to this, but so far I do have one, and I named her after her arrival. I'm making a list of future possible names.

 

Their names just are spoken to me after I choose a sculpt. In terms of doll collecting, I choose dolls whose sculpts appeal to me in some way. The character and name comes after.

 

I'm honestly terrible with names. Usernames, character names, doll names. My first doll I named after someone in a movie, my second one I kept the name the company gave her (though I need to change it at some point because I keep saying the name wrong), my third one I named after a person in Chinese mythology, and the fourth I haven't found a name for yet. Names are hard.

 

All my doll names start with the letter "A" because I like having a limited range of names to choose from. I basically go to various baby naming websites, scan the A-names and if one fits the doll in terms of feeling I go with it. If not, I move onto a different baby naming site with more creative names. Naming a doll becomes super easy that way.