Naming your dolls

Hmmm, among my six dorries, three of them (Reaiah, Samael, Cephere) were easy to name since they are based from original characters I used to RP in the heydays of Yahoo!Groups and want them to come to life as BJD's . The other three who were conceived as BJD's first (Eremiel, Hisame, Bian Hua) were more of a challenge, mostly because I want the their names to match the characters I created for them.

 

The best way I’ve found a name so far is for my Luts boy. I was at a store looking at all the plushies and saw a dragon plushie named Sebastrial and knew I had to steal it for him XD

 

I'm very bad at names, which made me write up a list of things to consider when naming dolls and characters:

1: Culture. Depending on where your doll/character was born and raised, they might have a name unique to that country, language and in some cases, religion.

2: Influences. If your character is inspired by, say, a TV show or book, you can subtly take the first name from one character and the surname from another.

3: Mythology. Since these are dolls and not children, you can name a character something like Artemis, Kaguya, Isolde or Anubis without worrying about teachers giving your kid's name a double-take.

4: Symbolism. Fair maidens often have flower names, like Jasmine, Lily, Rose. Is your character ambitious? Maybe name them after a star, like Sirius, Vega, Antares, Electra. (But do note that this particular one overlaps with Greek mythology!) Is your character a free spirit? Name them after a bird, like Raven, Sparrow and other things similar.

5: Mash names together. But do so with moderation, or they can sound really awkward. Catrina and Serena can become Carena and so on.

6: Swap out letters. The GRRM way of doing things, and whose character I'll use as examples: Jane becomes Jeyne, Peter into Petyr and more.

7: Heritage. Are your dolls related? Maybe the doll's character was named after an ancestor, like their grandmother or their father. Or maybe they have a sibling whose name sounds similar to theirs, like Stan and Dan.

8: People you know. You can ask a friend if they're cool with you having a doll named after them. Some might think that the gesture is very sweet.

9: Hobbies, yours or theirs. As a fan of art, you can name them Vincent from Van Gogh. A ballet fan? Odette from Swan Lake.

10: Name generators. Most famously fantasynamegenerators.com which is so good that I'm at a loss for words. There's also the random generator on behindthename.com which is one of the most accurate name meaning sites.

And of course, you can mix all of the above, but preferably not at once as it might become a bit of a messy name...
If I forgot something, feel free to add! I hope this list helps anyone skimming the thread for inspiration.

 

I chose the name of my dolls as soon as I got them. However, they use to end up with another one since I see that the first name does not suit completely their personality or de Oc so never ask me for the name of my dolls when they arrive but some months later (?)