Naming your dolls

Honestly, I come up with more names than I do characters or ideas for dolls. I usually write them down in my notebook so that if I ever need a doll name, I've already got a whole list!

 

My mom keeps asking me what my doll's name is. I haven't named her yet... I feel like I can't until I've made her clothes and she has the right color eyes. I don't think I'll know who she is until then, but I was going to get ideas from here for when I am ready to name her. A baby names book is brilliant, and I'm pretty sure I have one from naming my actual children. At least I know I can start there and that I'm not being neglectful for not giving her a name right away.

 

Sometimes names come easily, and sometimes not. In my case, I use titles and can't decide if that's worse (though sometimes they do also get proper names). Can't have any be too similar!

 

At first all my dolls came as defined characters with names and stories, but since last year they came because I though them pretty, so It has been more difficult to think of names. But I like a few sources, like fairy tales (Elisa, Vassilissa) mithology (Lyr, Nausicaa) and real people I admire (Ada). So I go to them when I'm out of ideas and find a name that fits.

 

I'm naming mine alphabetically in order of purchase. And then it was with a Celtic influence, though my Unoa is called Door (after Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere) as it seemed more fitting. I don't know if all the names will stick... If they themselves suggest other names, I'll be happy to oblige!

 

If I don't have a name for the character, I think about his personality and which name would fit.
For example, my Vito boy was meant to be studying architecture so I searched for famous architects on the net and made a mixture with their names and surnames.

 

I use names from a variety of places, but often from favorite books (even if the doll isn't representative of a specific character).

Also it's only fair to say I do change my dolls' names if I feel it doesn't suit them anymore for whatever reason. I've done this several times before and never have any kind of hang-ups about it...

 

That's a very interesting idea. The band Slayer does that with their album tittles.

 

It's neat to see all the different ways people come up with names. I don't have last names for my dolls, but I've seen that a lot in the doll community. I only have four dolls right now, including a new Elf Ducan that I'm having a little trouble finding a name for. My others dolls are named after different things (books, anmie, etc.),but it's only the names that I like, Sebastian, I've always liked as a name but I got really into Black Butler so it was heavy on my mind when I picked it for my Homme Ducan. However, my ducan is NOT at all like Sebastian Michaelis, nor was it my intention to have my doll be him either. He has his own personality that is very different from the character he's named for. Same thing for my Dorian. He was named for Dorian Grey but it was just the name I loved, not really the character.

 

Some of my dolls have names other don´t. Sometimes I just don't find the right name. I don't really care about it but a lot of people is surprised that some of my dolls remain unnamed :P
Sometimes I just call them by the name the company puts to the model.

 

Personally I always just pick a name that I resonate with and that I like (sound, origin, meaning)! Then I customise my doll and "give" them a personality to suit the name (:

 

So far I've been able to name my dolls when I picked them out to buy them. Though I do believe that it depends on the doll when they get to you. My newest doll is named Daiquiri, but I was really unsure when I got her that it suited her. I mulled it over for a while, and I decided that it was right for her, but if I find something I like better I'm not opposed to changing it.

 

Oona's name came easy even though she is just a head right now. Her faceup reminded me so much of Oona from Legend (one of my favorite movies) that I couldn't resist.

My Cherry Elf just got a new name last week as so far, none have seemed to stick. So far so good though!

Now my incoming SD13, I have NO idea what to name her and she should arrive in less than a week! As my first doll without elf ears I'm stumped. I'll have to look into all of your tips.

 

I hemmed and hawed over my boy, Lux, for forever. I initially wanted to name him after an anime character (Cheesy, but the character has deep emotional significance to me), but I decided not to use that name exactly-- I looked for names that had similar meanings instead. 'Lux' was the one I disliked the least, and now I couldn't rename him even if I wanted to.

Liam was named before I even knew I'd be getting a doll for him! He was a very prominent character in Lux's developing backstory. Then I just happened to fall deeply in love with a sculpt that suited him perfectly. I kind of don't want two characters with names that start with the same letter, especially since they're not related, but Liam is now stuck that way and will not change his name. I've come up with an in-story reason to justify this.

Naming things is not easy. Well, naming some of them isn't. Sometimes they're kind and just come with one.

 

Naming is super hard for me and so far none of my doll have names. They all go by their sculpt name.
Will need to invest some time on naming them as well as thinking of their story/character

 

I find that naming anything is really hard! All my dolls names have some kind of meaning behind them. I usually use this big book of baby names I have.

 

I write, but only a minority of my BJDs are characters that I shelled so those were easy. The rest are just really pretty dolls that I wanted, and thus I created a character around them because I love character building a writing stories. I ended up picking their names based on a letter that I felt their name should start with, and then after I pick a few names I check the meanings to see what fits best. I try to choose names that suit them based on the time they would have been born in, and for the spirits and otherwise ageless creatures I tend to look at Greek names, angelic names, etc.

 

When I got my first doll I had no name planned for her but after looking at her out of her box I knew that her name was Isabeau, A name that comes form a list of names meant for me before my parents settled on what I have as a name. When I get anther doll I expect the name to come to me at random after being with it for a bit.

 

I think it is really hard to choose a name especially for the first Doll .... I sat a really long time on my one. But I am not sure if I keep the names I choose for my Characters.

 

I don't have my first doll yet, but I already know the naming process can be difficult. Since I've gone through it for characters, since I write, and for some beta fish I used to have. All the names for my fish had meanings behind them, and I really love names like that, so... If I can't think up a name off the top of my head, I'll use my go-to source of baby naming websites. I use the sites and usually come up with a few that could work and then let the character/fish/whatever tell me which one they like best. Sometimes I can go days or weeks though, before the character will speak to me and let me know their name...