Naming Your Doll References!

I'm still trying to figure out my girls name, I've done so much to figure it out. Ive looked at name of characters I've liked from shows and movies and literature. I've done randomizing name things. I've even sat in front of my girl and said random names hoping somehow one would just make sense with her face lol.

 

My dolls have been both stubborn and easy and one is down right impossible. I learned my dolls 'tell ME' what they will accept as a name. Dolls have a nasty habit of 'deciding stuff for themselves a lot.

That being said my first doll refuses yet to give me a proper name (or take any I've tried yet ><) He goes by his 'character' type name he was designed as... Soul Dolls "The Marauder" (Kagel head mold). To this day he won't give up his real identity prefering the piratical name he earned ;p... I call him M for short lol.
My next 2 were a hit me between the eyes doll told me what her nane was... first middle and last just blam! her same order co resident had the sculpt name Luna and it mostly fit ... she goes a lot by Lu...

Recently my dolls had a flurry of name activity... names I've seen in books, and from Behind the Name site were flying around like crazy. Some like Dexter (sculpt name) kept that name but accepted his middle and last finally... Edan altered his to Eathan and swiped a book name for his last and a manga character name for his middle... But is was his little sister that decided the family name as hers mostly came out of a book and she told me of the 'family relations' when she came out of her box O_o... Ya I'm a bit ruled by my resin kids...

So I've pretty much taken every avenue to name my dolls lol or be told what their names are ><... As of now all my 'kids' have 'full names... except M... all I know is he is a peer of the realm, a member of the Ton and was never suposed to come close to inheriting his family's positions titles, lands etc... he had thought he would die in the wars as a spy for the King O_o... But plans change... and one day he will allow me to know what titled family he had to take over ;p... maybe lol

 

Mine are all based off of characters I've written in roleplays - normally, I either make up the name based off whatever imaginary language I've made up for that character (i.e, my faun Areha, whose name means 'whisper'), or I take book characters, like Aramis.

 

Honestly I suck at naming dolls, I changed my Doll Leaves Kiki name 3 times before I decided on Natsume, which is from the anime Gauken Alice. It's not basing off the character though, the name just fit.

 

I have used Japanese names with special meanings, names from medieval tales, names of actresses in vintage movies, names from a French wine and sometimes it is a simple derivative of the stock name. And sometimes a random name pops in my head. As long as it suits the doll in question.

 

I don't have a doll yet, but I think this will be how I name my first doll regardless. I'd probably wait until I had them at least near completion ie; with a wig, eyes and clothes. Maybe a faceup too. Then just wait until a name comes to me. I usually think of a letter that suits the character the most. I'd maybe try to build a name out of sounds after that. Or I'd find words that suit their character and view them in different languages. I always like to make sure I not only like the sound of the name but the look of it written down too.

 

Most of my dolls have bits of themed/ referenced names from (my favorite) movie/ tv characters. The movie character ones tend to have their names in the title of the movies (that I adore).. Like Benny & JOON, LILO & Stitch, PROMETHEUS & BOB (doll pet names). John Smith was referenced from Dr. Who. Then there's the Twin Peaks themed names...
Audrey, Donna, Cooper, Leland

My name ideas are just bizarre references. Most of my dolls have more than one name + nicknames, due to all my weird references. Not very original I'm afraid. ^^;

 

It depends... I mean, so far my guys are all named after characters, but Vince isn't meant to be a character doll, I just happened to really like that name for him, and he sort of 'developed himself', but informed by the traits that led me to name him after that character.

Well, technically my floating head is named after an original character, and I researched names based on where he was from, and then he wound up with the nickname 'Moz' because in the story I'd written, his lover is the type to shorten any name down to one syllable if possible (and to stick a 'z' in things, why not?).

And then I've sort of wavered back and forth on who to 'bring home' next between a character doll and another OC who's sort of meant a lot to me, but with the OC (leaning towards her heavily again and putting together a saving plan I hope doesn't get dashed again), I really thought about not just where she's from (and her family's religious background), but the kind of name her mother would have picked for her, and what meaning would resonate with her as the person she becomes. So I named her Estee, the French form of 'Esther', not only because it's a name and story her mother would have liked, but because Queen Esther is the type of figure that she would then see parallels with, and whose traits she would go on to strive to emulate.

 

I have one theme if I can stick to it - I like naming my dolls in the language of their 'birth' place. Dolls from Korean companies get Korean names, Japanese companies Japanese names etc. They do tell me their names on their own though. My newest girl I was convinced was 'Alice' for a bit until she firmly corrected me that she's called 'Haruka' (she's a diva but I'm learning to deal :P).

 

Mine tend to name themselves without much hassle. Naya basically named herself, and Maraj required about 5 minutes of searching to find a perfect name that she loved.

 

I name all my mini-size dolls from Marcel Proust characters and my SD-size dolls from Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mystery series characters.
My very large dolls I give very large names like Lemuel (from Gulliver's Travels) and Xanthe, one of the Amazon women.
I might also make an exception for a doll with a particular characteristic such as my Ringdoll Mona who has a crying sculpt. Her name is Deirdre which means "sorrowful" or "broken-hearted".

 

I'm very bad at names (I have a cat named kitty!) There's a lot of names I like, but none that I love, or that I feel fit my doll perfectly. I've really liked the idea of picking something that starts with the same letter as the sculpt name though. It narrows the choices by a lot. I look at the baby name sites pick a few I like, and then look deeper into the meanings and orgins of the ones I'm fond of ^^

 

I often choose medieval English names for my characters here:
Medieval English Names
Really good site!

 

I got Serenade's name from a video game called Eternal Sonata. The PS3 version has a character named Princess Serenade, and I just thought it made for a really cute and romantic sounding name and wanted to use it! x3 I didn't really want to name her that just for the sake of doing so, though, so I made sure to give her a backstory to where naming her Serenade made sense and actually suited her.

 

Books or favorite tv shows. Most of my dolls were named after my favorite characters from my favorite books and it seems to help me bond faster with them too. I have 2 dolls who were name after childhood friends.

 

I'm terrible at naming dolls. Most of my dolls are known by the names the manufacturer gave them. It's awful. I know.
But often I feel like they have names... I just don't know them yet. I have one doll that I called by her manufacture name till I took her outside for some photos. I liked her but I didn't love her I suppose. Then we did a photoshoot of her in the winter and it became obvious. Her name is Snow. And I just loved her since then. I still have trouble remembering that's her name. I called her by her other name for so long. But I'm glad I know now.

So I guess I just wait till they let me know what's right for them. It rarely works! But there you have it.

 

I have a list of names that I like written down from various tv shows/movies/books. For example, my newest boy is named Kieren after the character in the show In the Flesh. Otherwise, I'll browse baby name websites, haha.

 

I don't always pick names the same way. Some are named after movie characters, some after singers and some just have names I thought were nice.

Min Hyo Shin is the name of the protagonist of a Korean horror movie. Kurumi Shinozaki is actually named after two different characters from a Japanese drama.
Samira, Elide, Liria and Rowena are just names I picked up randomly, there isn't any story behind.
Takanori, Daishi and Rise are named after singers.

One thing they have in common is that I always come up with their name quickly, I don't really research for it. I look at them and decide what's their name. Even my floating head has a name.

 

That's actually really cool, to 'happen upon' your doll's true name. I only have one and I already named her, but it took me a long time. Maybe next time I'll just wait for it to come to me

 

Literally, last week I named my first Pullip. And I've had her two years... *Facepalm*