How Long Before You Named Them / The Importance of Naming

I usually have some approximate idea of a name when I'm waiting for a doll. Then I see if this name fits him; it often happens that it doesn't, so, I have to find another one. I usually name them on the first day they arrive but once I had a boy on whose name I couldn't decide for a long time, for the whole month, maybe.

 

Unless I am actually basing a doll on an already created personality, I would have to wait for them to come home before I could actually name them. I could see the default pic for the doll I want, name it, give it personality, but in the end I would only be creating a persona for the default and not mine. Dolls are like snowflakes IMO - no two are really the same - they're all individual ... so I will have to see the face-up and whatnot before naming.

In the end though, the perfect name will usually come to me within a few days. My Miyu was actually called Meiya at first but it didn't suit her ... one day I called her Miyu and it clicked in my head.

Well, that's my two pennies

 

I have been thinking of a name for her since I have ordered her.

Researching, researching.

I have chosen her name!

 

Finding just the right name is so important for more than just bonding...it seems to help set the doll's character as well. So I really work at it hard and do research and more research until I find just the right one. I just had a Mei arrive a few days ago. I had planned to have her dress in wonderful, funky, wild Harajuku street fashion...something that would allow me to be artistically free with my designs. I saw her as a fun teenager, happily hanging on the street with her friends, showing off her latest outfits. While researching names before she arrived, I came across one I really liked...Fianna...that was quite pretty and had some awesome meaning that would work well with her back story. So once she arrived, I began calling her Fianna, as I worked to come up with inspiration for her very first outfit. But I suddenly found myself thinking of more elegant and elaborate outfits for her, and seeing her as a woman in her late 20s, early 30s. That's when I realized I'd given her the wrong name! More quick and desperate research and I chose a name just for the fun of it, Toki. I began calling her Toki and my design plans instantly fell back into the street style clothing I'd wanted from the very beginning. And just as suddenly, Toki was youthened to a 16-year-old again!

 

about a week after she got here she told me her name

 

For my doll Drake, I had a name planned for him. It was Hiia. (hee--uh) but when I got him, the name didn't fit, so, after about 5 days, and my families help, we chose Drake.
For Persephone, she was supposed to be Diana, but after about 5 minutes I realized that I liked Persephone better. xD

 

Oh crikey, I had/have a "Drake" in the works. (I love that name. L-O-V-E.)

Of the six dolls that have gone through my hands, four of them had their names and personalities pre-set before they even got here. They were meant to shell specific characters, so thus they have those characters' names. The first doll I bought didn't have a name for a few days; I sorta stared at him for a bit, then went baby-name-book-hunting, then picked his name out. The last one I finished up started as Random Floating Head A(tm), gotten inexpensively for faceup practice. Then my friend did a faceup. Then I stared at it. Then I REALLY LIKED THE MOLD because it fit one of my extant characters soooo well. And so, he became Grey.

 

I never put that much importance into a name's meaning, what's important to me is how it sounds, does that sound match my idea of the doll. For example, I want a doll like Mimi to have a name, well, like Mimi, it's adorable and she's adorable. If I was naming a Yukinojou I would go with a harsher sounding name like Kazuma because he's very masculine.

I'm not Japanese, and barely know any written or spoken, but I gravitate to the language for names because I love the way they sound. They can be harsh or sweet, and since they're foreign for me are always a little more interesting to me than English ones.

My first doll had to have a name fast because the FCS people wouldn't let me leave it blank I went with "Syuusuke" because I just like the way it sounds. For my next doll, his twin, I went with the rhyming name Yuusuke even though the actual meanings of the names are totally different. Their rhyming quality was the important part for me.

I've also changed some of my doll's names from when they first arrived. My Yuri was originally Shirayuri and I changed it to Katsuyo later because it sounded a little less cute and she was a tomboy.

 

I chose his name a day after ordering him (or, rather, a friend came up with it without knowing what the doll looks like) ^^; I am still waiting for him to arrive, but as I think more and more about him, I realize that his name fits perfectly with his developing character.
I hope my future dolls will also be named like this, as it seems to be a pretty effective way for myself.

 

My first doll got her name maybe a week or two after her arival. I just suddenly saw a strange word in the title of one film, and thought it would be a nice name for her The name for the second doll was already given before I got him, because I had a certain character on my mind, and in this case, the "personality" of the doll came first.

 

I decided on my CH Hani's name (Amelia) around when I ordered her, and that's going to stick. I'm still thinking about names for my RS Mei, though she hasn't even been ordered yet. Logically, since she is based off of my character from the MMORPG Aion, it should be Halia, but I don't think that will end up being her name. I'm guessing I will just have to wait until I meet her. ^^

 

I'm the worst namer.

My first guy told me his name before I got home with him. Some of the others I've had for months, even years, and either haven't named or have forgotten what I named them. It's awful and it drives me buggy.

And then others just... HAVE names whether I like it or not. My DZ Leo was Joseph. "Joe, Leader of the Littles." What a dorky name for an asexual demon kinda guy. Who knows.

I just... go with whatever, I guess.

 

This is what happened with me...I had her for about 10 days when finally her wig came....I had no clue what her name was...I stuck the wig on, and within minutes It was almost like a little voice in my head, but I couldn't hear it clearly (no face-up at that time), buit it had a definate "Z" sound....So I grabbed a name book and thumbed through...when I saw the name Zenobia it was like a lightning bolt (Which is ironic) and I then knew her name.

 

All my dolls had their names before they got here - I have so many characters in my head that my tenancy is to browse doll sites - see a sculpt and then it clicks in my head "OMG that's 'insert name here'" It's happened for both Amaia and Quenta. Also a few other dolls I'm planning to get.

 

for me I was sure wanted my girl to be called Jun, but when I got her out of the box I kept thinking Shinji for some reason. I don't even know where that name came from, and I'm pretty sure it's a boy's name. I guess it's one of those "the doll picked it's own name" moments...

 

I don't have any dolls yet, but for virtually all of the dolls I'm interested in getting, I already have names. For me, the character is very important, since most of my dolls are sort of avatars of characters I've already had... with the exception of the Rosette dolls I want. (But with them, their names will all be elegant or pretty Regency-era English names, like Pippa, Elspeth, etc.)

Granted, I could finally get my doll, realize the name is completely wrong and change it, BUT. -laughs- I don't know for certain yet how my naming will work, but as it stands now, I've got names already picked out.

 

Even though my doll hasn't actually arrived yet, I know what his name is~

I picked him out (DOT Sha, btw) because he specifically looked like an existing character of mine. I wasn't looking to buy a doll when I stumbled across him though.

Although I must admit I sometimes have a little difficulty with completely settling on his name while I'm waiting - I worry that I will tire of his character, and want to dress him in different fashions from his own. But, seeing as that character was the reason I bought him, I figure once he arrives, I will know for certain if it will work for him.

So... I knew his name, before I even knew I wanted a doll =D

 

I need mine to have names before they get here. Even with the couple spur-of-the-moment secondhand ones I've bought, I've immediately started envisioning their final look (even if I know it'll take ages to get them dressed correctly) and figure out what the name should be.

 

I chose my dolls name even before I ordered him. I had a few name ideas, then I decided to name him Oliver, after Oli Sykes from Bring Me The Horizon^^

 

I wouldn't choose a name until I can see my doll in my own arms with his proper wig, eyes and clothing on him. Then I would figure out his character and come up with an awesome name.