Naming dolls and keeping sculpt names

For the most part I don't keep the sculpt names because my dolls are all shelling pre-existing characters. However, I've kept the names for my Ringdoll Qinzhe and Meng He because the company gave them a story already that I like a lot, and it's in fact the reason why I got them in the first place. Those two I don't even see as being different from the company's characters (they're like fan character dolls for me), so it'd be weird if I didn't keep the sculpt names.

 

I don't intentionally keep sculpt names, but sometimes I find myself referring to them by their sculpt sort of instinctually if I spent a long time really dying for the sculpt. My DZ Benjamin (Roscoe) and Dream Valley Thorn (Terra) are always getting the brunt of it, I almost always call them by their sculpt name accidentally.

 

The only doll in my collection who kept his sculptname is 5SD Gabriel. It suits him. The others all have their own names, although sometimes it takes a while before I find a name that sticks. So there are a few still unnamed at the moment.
Funnily enough all four of my unnamed dolls are sculpts that I've wanted forever but didn't expect to find... I snapped them up as soon as I saw them, but I didn't have time to really prepare a character for any of them.

 

I keep some names, and give unique names for others. If the doll is an OC, I name it after its character, but if I don't have an OC and I'm just buying the doll because I want to make pretty clothes for it, I don't come up with a unique name for it.

When talking about my dolls on the forum, I often refer to the name of the sculpt if that makes it easier for people to think of it (my Souldoll Rye is named Layn, but since I chose to use that OC's name as my forum name, I call her my Rye when talking about her to avoid confusion, it's significantly easier to call Pyria my Vesuvia because everyone knows what a bronze Vesuvia looks like), but some of my dolls have been heavily modded to not look like their original sculpt at all. I will never call Aeona a Soom Onyx, unless someone's asking me what she was before she was modded, because she's had her nose eyes and ears modded, and dyed blue. But that's more an artifact of the fact that I feel that on the forum, "what doll is this?" is an important piece of information that people want to know.

 

To be honest, I have never been good at naming... The doll I currently own doesn't have a name yet because I don't know what names are suitable for them

 

I like naming my dolls and giving them their own in depth characters. I usually feel like they aren't really "mine" if they keep their sculpt name, company faceup or fullset.

However, I did have one instance in the past where I did keep the sculpt name! I had a character named Erica, hadn't picked a sculpt yet for her but got offered an Iplehouse Erica in a trade, and I took it as a sign that she'd be perfect.

 

One of my dolls has kept her sculpt name as a nickname (Fang), mainly because I thought it was a completely badass name, and didn't want to completely abandon it. A friend of mine and I refer to her as variations of Fang, usually to humorous effect. Fangerella, Fangster, Fangle Bells, etc.

But otherwise, I'm a die-hard renamer. I *love* naming things. So much.

 

Both my dolls have ended up taking on personality traits for various circumstantial reasons- and their sculpt names don’t fit at all. I’m still trying to figure out a name that suits my second doll (an Myou Silvia) because she’s about as ungraceful and unfeminine an elf as one could find...
But yeah, I name them- or rather I learn their names through a process of discovery after getting to know them.

 

I've never done that myself, but for some reason my husband and my mom decided that Summer (my PukiFee Mio) really ought to be called "Puki". So, even though she does HAVE a 'personal name', around here it's rarely used when she comes up in conversation. Her line designation is her nickname, I guess.

 

I do a bit of both. For example, all my DDs have their original name, mostly because they are character specific. I also have never named my Soul Doll Lappy Bunny, I just refer to her as "Lappy". Most dolls that I am buying for the character they represent I will not name, but others who I create a story for or are buying become a representative of an OC I will give an original name; Lappy is one of the only exceptions to this rule.

 

My dolls are OC shells, so they don't keep their sculpt names. Every so often when I need to differentiate between the doll and the OC I use the sculpt name - I've tried to give dolls different names from their associated OC to eliminate this problem, but it just doesn't fit.

 

The only sculpt I kept the name of is one of my Fairyland PukiPuki's, the Madeline one. I thought it was too cute a name to change but I may do so in the future, as a friend's doll is also named Madeline. Probably not though.

 

My dolls are based off of OCs, so all my dolls are named when I can see my OC in them! It would be interesting if a sculpt ever came out with the name of an OC that suited it, but considering a lot of the names I choose are bizarre (they just pop into my head sometimes and that's what they're called), I highly doubt it.

 

I’m guilty of keeping the sculpt names. My dolls are their own characters and not based on any other ocs. I think a big reason the sculpt names stick is because I refer to them by the sculpt name when talking about them. It’s easier for me to go “I love my fairyland Altis!” than saying “I love Simon my fairyland Altis!” Call me lazy I suppose! I have exceptions but I don’t usua feel much pressure to name my dolls.

 

I never leave the sculpt names, some of my dolls have curious names like Coconut, Kiwi, Litchi
So I give them a different name according to their story and personality

 

I would never keep a sculpt name. It feels a bit lacking in effort and impact to me, so I would rather name them myself. I also choose names with particular meanings to suit the doll and that isn't something I can typically achieve by retaining the original name of a sculpt.

 

Four of mine retained their sculpt names, two more have a variation of their sculpt name, and one has a name sort of inspirted by their sculpt name.

The rest all have different names.

Teddy

 

So far As the owner of one BJD I have named him and plan to name the rest in the future.

 

None of mine have kept their sculpt names. Although I do refer to them as that until I've found their name. When I've named them before they arrive it often doesn't seem to work out and they don't fit it. I am guilty of changing names within the first few weeks while I'm getting to know them as well.

 

Like many of you, I am terrible at naming things (it's really a very good thing that I don't have any flesh-and-blood children; the poor things would be nameless until they could pick for themselves!) So I kept the sculpt names for some of my resin crew.

Things started getting dicey when I got multiples of certain sculpts, and then I had to come up with names. Eventually.

And I admit that I couldn't let myself keep the sculpt names for my Haru Casting dolls, knowing that those were the (nick)names of Haru's actual children. Somehow that didn't seem right at all. So they got names right away, even though I had to literally pull names from a bowl because I couldn't decide!

But yes, I like to keep a sculpt name if it's at all possible. I'm not averse to changing the name later, if it seems right. So far, though, Lisa has stayed Lisa, Grace has stayed Grace, and Gene has stayed Gene.