How Long Before You Named Them / The Importance of Naming

I've had my boy for... almost 2 months and a half and I haven't named him, it's so hard... BUT it has to be the perfect name!

 

Mine all have names already, though they're not here. They're characters that had names already. Unfortunately AFTER I named them all I keep seeing dolls on here, some the same mold, and many gotten after I'd chosen the names, with those same names! I guess some molds just look like a certain name. The names are pretty firmly set, however, so I'm going to just go with them and hope no one thinks I'm a big copycat. There are only so many names, and only so many that "fit" each mold as well.

 

I LOVE naming things, so I name my dolls right away... sometimes I'll wait until they arrive so I can make sure the name suits them, though. But I'll often have names in mind before they arrive. Names aren't that important, but I like names, so they do matter to a certain degree.

 

I'm almost obsessive about naming my dolls. I compile name lists, lists of possible kanji for the top names on the lists, and really mull over the names for weeks. Once the doll order has been placed, I go into overdrive and feel some real pressure to pick a name by the time the doll arrives. The only real exception to that so far has been Masuyo, who has been named and developed as a character for almost a year (I got him for Christmas). The other dolls were named either a week or so before they arrived or within a day of actually arriving. I'm kind of like the OP I guess -- if my new doll didn't have a name I would have a harder time bonding with him or her, which is why I spend so much time thinking about and picking names before they arrive.

I have one other doll's name planned, though it's going to be several months before I can even consider buying him. I have dolls other than him planned too, but they're so far in the future I'm not worried about naming them yet. I'll deal with it when it's time to order them.

 

I think names are very important. Like you said, it takes away from the bonding if he or she does not a name. I would agree with that greatly. It's like knowing someone for a long time and they don't tell you something very important and you feel that. I don't know.

Anyway, I usually decide on a name first along with their image. After that, I go hunt for a doll that snaps to that person's image and go find wigs, eyes, clothes, etc for them. Sometimes it's vice versa and I find a doll I absolutely love and just want him or her! Then I try to create a character for that certain doll with how they look, what color hair, eyes, etc. After that, I look up names or think of names I like that click with the image.

That's what happen a couple of times...it happening backwards. It helps to create more characters for my story. ^_^

 

I haven't even orderd my first doll and i've named him already. I am obsessed with naming things. I have always been that's why doll collecting brings something else good for me which is being able to name things lol. I have lists and pages and books full of names. I can't wait until i get him!

 

I made a list of names I liked before my boy arrived and chose which name suited him best from the list when he got here.

 

My iplehouse boy arrived and I was so happy. Though I didn't figure out his name till that evening, almost right before I went to bed. XD I couldn't think of anything, and I glanced down, and the author of this book I was reading's name jumped out at me. Not like, the last name or anything. But "Sasha" Definitely clicked. I felt like this spark..or...something. I dont know how to explain. I said it a few times, and it just looked right for him. ^_^ Turns out he's my lovely Russian boy. 33

I planned my second doll, Ethan. 33 His full name too. On a whim I decided to make m next doll into his character, which was very angsty and all that. () eventually I just added things onto his character in my head, and Ethan just fit too. Ethan Scott Woodrow.

Now I just need a last name for Sasha...I have it in my head, I just gotta figure ou how to spell it. >_>;;

 

i bought my dollie and sort of had an idea in my mind but i couldn't choose which version of 'odette' i wanted... in the end when she arrived i felt wierd looking at her and calling her 'odelle' so it got changed to 'odette' but even that feels a little wierd, lol.

 

The second I saw the AoD Wang Zi, my mind put him in white hair with green eyes and said in a very calm voice, 'This is Lucifer'.

 

Part of it may depend on whether your are buying the doll to fit a pre-made character or whether your inspired by the doll themselves. I'm usually the former, so it takes a while for me to get to know them before I can name them. A few have had several names before I found the right one.

 

My imagination is so overactive, so it's caused me some problems...
I really didn't want to decide anything about my first boy until I got him. I wanted to actually see him and play with him a bit to see what he was like before I named him or anything.
...Buuuuut that didn't happen. I thought of his name three weeks before opening his box. ;_;
And the girl I'm buying in April this year already has a set name, personality, and backstory.
I really wish I was able to let the dolls come to life themselves after they get home, but I just end up thinking about them too much to NOT imagine what to call them, and what they'll be like.
Ah well... I guess it is nice for them to come home and get to be called by name right away, at least.

 

*Sigh* My very first boy is on his way (he should be here any day now) and his name just hasn't come to me. I agree that he'll probably tell me when he's ready but it's making me a tad paranoid not having been able to figure it out yet =.=

I'm not going to worry too much about it though, I figure eventually I'll be able to find the perfect name for him ^.^

 

my girl had her name long before she arrived and it fits her so well. from looking at her the name (pandora) came into my head and it just worked. after naming her i based her character around the name and the doll of course... for my planned dolls... its not so easy. the one im saving for now has no name and i have no ideas. i have a few months though so it shouldn't be a problem

 

I have yet to actually purchase my first doll but I start naming while I am picking them out. I think the name still can come with the doll so I think it's still possible to change your idea for a name afterwards. It took me two months to name my pet cat webkins and I actually renamed him. I think it's when you finally look at something and say "he/she looks like a ______ (fill in name)" when the name is finalized.

 

I have dolls that are named before they arrive, but a few who retain their mystery until I get their personality. Fawn and Daemon are two who were very at ease in their identity (Grin!) but my Apollo and other Uyoo elf still have me stumped for the time being. Daemon got his name after my love of computers & the dread mailer-daemon (LOL) and I will likely name the Uyoo Elf after a character of Dragonlance Chronicle fame. Plus there are more, but they'll tell me when they're ready!

 

I want to name my incoming girl after my main character of my novel, but I've decided to wait until I see her before I decide. I hope something clicks.

 

I usually figure out my dolls names as soon as I purchase them, but that does not mean there name will stick. Most of my girls have had at least one name change.

 

I go backwards. As a fiction writer, I look for dolls to match characters I already have. For instance, my Rhunad is a vulture demon with talons instead of normal feet. So when I found Soom's Euclase, he had to be mine. And Unidoll's Ark has a big nose and a sour expression that perfectly matches my Fayrin.

I have had a character evolve out of Euclase's second head, the Meditation head. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, and I was considering selling it, until a Fey popped up in my head, and after a day, I got his personality, backstory, and so on and so forth. Within a week, he told me his name was Farel.

With naming, even just characters, sometimes it works like that, where a name just comes to me. Other times, I need to work on it, I string together syllables, speaking them and testing how they sound and how they roll off the tongue, and typing them to see how they look, and I put them together that way.

 

that is so great that you were able to come up with a name for your boy i am happy for you!

to be honest i know who my doll is going to represent before i get them. i have spent a lot of time when i was growing up developing characters of mine. when i decided that i wanted a doll i realized that i wanted to feel closer to these characters be creating something that is a huggable version of them XD. so that is what i did.

it is interesting though. before i complete a faceup and other customization, i don't feel that the doll is the character. but with the right wig, clothes, faceup ect. it just works.