Naming Your Doll References!

I actually turned to the DoA community for help in finding a name for my doll. After many suggestions I settled on Aisling. It seemed to be the name that stuck the most. I just uploaded a picture of her and asked for help. It's great to hear everyones suggestions.

 

For me, it really depends. I have Winter (got her in November and Winter is my favorite season), Molly (Pokemon 3 is one of my favorite childhood movies), Phoebe (it just worked), and Zelda (creating Princess Zelda). I used baby naming sites a lot when I was trying to figure out a name for Phoebe. It all depends on the character I would want, and what just sticks.

 

I just like names that kind of... Like.. Fit together. For example, my boy's name is Alister Alexander Poet. I don't know. I guess it kinda has a ring to it?

 

I usually have a letter in mind (or theme), so I'll google "Names starting with L" or "Nature names" or whatever I'm thinking, and end up on baby naming sites. Often find myself using the site Babble (I believe that's what its called?)

 

Interesting and funny thread as I'm going trough the stage of finding a proper name as well at the moment. I hope I'll have found one by the time he'll arrive. He was advertised with the model name Pansy, but it's no Pansy to me... I have the same problem with my 3D characters. Funny thing also is I can't rename them after I named them. I like names like Victor for example, which can be Vic in short. But happens that one of my 3D character is called Victor, and he's blond. So I can't do that. Funny business naming a doll

 

I kind of do this too, but more based on sound. Like with my first girl, I knew I wanted her to have a simple Japanese name with lots of vowels, and for a while I tried to force Ame (which means both rain and candy) on her, but it just didn't stick.... then one day I was watching From Up on Poppy Hill and the main girl is named Umi (meaning sea or ocean) and I was like- Oh My God! Thats it! It just stuck.

With my second doll, a young gypsy boy, I was playing with names that had a T or K in them and also a Y or short I sound (ih). I came to rest on a variation of the combination of some friends' names- Tynnith, Tyn for short.

My big guy is secretly royalty, but he dosen't know it, so I wanted to give him a very majestic name with a simple nickname. I tried a bunch of different names, but nothing stuck...
Then, same as my first doll, I was watching Steven Universe, and in a flashback of a side character you see the name of his guitar- Jader, and that was that I still haven't figured out what its short for though......

 

I usually just either use existing names that I like such as Vaughn or Sophie, look on a site like babynames.com for ideas, or if it's a fantasy character just make something up like Valerian(which I discovered just now is a kind of flower? lol) or Kessarin.

 

@Nefla Wat. The OC in my avatar's name is Vaughn, and one of my MMO characters is named Valerian.

To answer the topic - I plan to shell characters with dolls, so I just use their names. I come up with them just by thinking of a name that sounds good and/or is relevant to the character, or use a name from something I'm currently interested in. Plenty of time is spent on Behind the Name and such. I haven't made a brand-new character in years though.

 

Haha awesome

 

My two boys had names picked before they got here. Johnny's name came from a combination of several musicians that I listen to, while the elf-eared Alistair got his name from a book I had about Santa Claus's elves. Chloe is an unusual resin color, so I chose a name that meant "green." So I get my names from a number of sources. If you're having trouble with picking a name, I suggest the following:

*Dig into the media around you. Is there an actor or actress you like, or a musician or an athlete that has a name you like?
*Do any of your friends or family members have names you like?
*Does your doll have any special attributes like horns or wings or an unusual resin color? If your doll is an unusual color you could pick a foreign word for that color. If your doll is blue for example, you could name him or her "Azzurro," Italian for blue.
*Where did your doll come from? Is he/she Korean or Japanese or Chinese? Names from the country of origin appear to be quite popular.
*If all else fails, there's always the list of hurricane names. If the hurricane names don't suit you, the typhoon list might do. Typhoons tend to be named more original things, where as hurricanes often get names like "Bob" and "Jane."

 

I don't really take references... but probably indirect inspiration.
My characters are either from a fantasy world, or Japan, so in one case it's made up names or words and in the other case it's just realistic japanese names. I go for the sound of them and their meaning in relation to the character.
I avoid certain too popular names because they often loose their appeal if everyone seems to have a character with that name, but if I still like a name and it just so happens that someone famous named their doll/OC that too, who cares, I won't change my characters just cause someone else had the same idea... even though sadly a lot of people are then quick to call copycat.
Most of the time, I pick characters names after making the character, when I know what kind of personality they will have and what they will look like, as it makes it easier for me to pick a name that fits.

 

So for my dolls, I always kind of just went through the Alphabet and looked at which letter I liked for the Character.
And once I singled out a few letters, I let them sit and see which one feels the best, if that makes any sense at all.

And then I would think of some names with said letter, or look up names too and do the whole thing over again until I found a name that I feel comfortable with. Also I always try finding names with a meaning and/or a story, because that makes them more special to me.
So that's how all my dolls end up having absolutely weird names.
Like Beelzebub and Calantha.
It happens!
But I'm very happy with them^^

 

My doll's name... Shana Helen Maleficum

While I was looking at the doll's photo from her previous owner while she was on layaway, I told to myself that she looks like a Shana but then the name Helen keeps popping up my head too. So that's how I got her first two names.

Maleficum came from a witch name generator suggesed to me. I wanted her to be some what magical, a mage or a sorceress or something like that...

 

I tend to go through names until I find one that works, which is also how I name characters in general. Letters just get put together or I find a few letters I know I want the name to start with them I go through baby name lists. Raleigh sounded nice and when I saw him, the name stuck. Aldric was actually just a place holder name I had used during high school English class because I hated calling Frankenstein's monster "the monster" and thought he deserved a name. I needed Raico's name to fit a specific acronym within his story and I couldn't think of a name for my girl so one of my friends actually came up with Andy's name. Her full name is Andromia. One I plan to get very soon is actually named after an actor I like. The doll and his story will have nothing to do with the actor or any roles he's played (that I know of, I have far from seen all of his work), I just think his name is nice sounding.

 

I try to find names that fit. And by "fit" I mean fit in the story, fit the doll's nationality or culture, fit their personality, or fit what kind of species or creature they might be... and so on.

By doing that, I have been able to complete them, or bond with them better. Sometimes I pick a name but it doesn't work, but eventually something does, and usually in some odd but meaningful way, the doll will tell me.

 

Hmmmmmm I tend to focus on country of origin for my doll's 'character' and then narrow it down to a name with a meaning that describes their personality.

 

When I started the hobby I was always looking for good and perfect names, something with a meaning that fit in my doll. Nowadays I don't care about this anymore, if I listen to a good name and will give it to one of my dolls