Naming your dolls

Sometimes the name comes instantly and other times it seems to never come at all. Usually the name comes easily when a doll inspires a character. On the other hand when I buy a doll that doesn't have a developed story or the sculpt name seems to suit then I don't worry about renaming the doll. Usually when the name doesn't come right away, it never sticks anyway and I always just revert to referring to the doll by the sculpt name.

 

I didn't name my first bjd yet, but surely it'll take a longer while.
For naming characters in general I tend to get things I have a passion for and modify it somewhat.

As an example, my FFXIV character is named Claudine Amantisa. I'm an insect (and other critters) love, so for the last couple years I'm naming everything with modified versions of insect references.
For the example, Claudine came from Agrias claudina (a butterfly), and Amantisa from Amantis nawai, a tiny itty bitty mantis

 

I haven't used this list much so far for BJDs, but I have used it for other dolls. This is my favorite source by far for unique names:

Kate Monk's Onomastikon

 

for me it's very easy most of the time but sometimes i have to look around. lists online of names helped me loads when i couldn't make something up.
there´s plenty of different kinds

 

Finding a name for my dolls is always difficult. It may take many months before I get one. Sometimes I just ask friends to give me some idea or search it in google (baby names or so ).

 

These are all very good suggestions, and I think it really helped. Especially the one about playing off the sculpt name.

His sculpt name is Pi so I was juts looking at him and Pazuzu popped in my head, and I think I kinda like it and it really suits his sculpt and character in a sort of ironic way so I think I like it.

For those who don't know Pazuzu is the name of the demonic god who possessed Regan in the Exorcist movie. It's an ancient Babylonian demonic god of wind, and his physical description is very similar to him if he is wearing all his parts.

Pazuzu - Wikipedia

It's ironic because he's nice and sweet, not chaotic or evil at all lol. Although just because Pazuzu is considered a demonic god doesn't mean it's evil, a lot of things get misunderstood when translating from one culture to another.

Pazuzu is also the name of the Prof. pet Gargoyle in Futurama

 

I quite struggle to find my doll names! Sometimes, they come quicker, but I find that I don't name them until I am completely happy with their look. The husband sometimes helps, or the BFF, but it does take me a while (and a bit of testing) before I am completely happy with the identity I give them.

 

As for me ,i always look up the dictionary and find a good word for dolls,and i also choose names of Gods in Myth for my dolls,like my first Gluino[human],i love him so much and i think he is perfect,so I name him Narcissus,and my second Gluino{human too},I think it's very lucky for me to have a second Gluino,so I name him Gratias[from "Deo Gratias"],and i named my FCS49 from Volks Ceasar,because I like Ceasar Borgia,and so as Ceasar Borgia has a little sister,i would name one of my girls Lucrezia,i love picking names for my dolls,i even have a little creature from doll chateau,i named him Pegasus

 

I literally adopt my soon-to-be arriving Limhwa doll as my daughter. Whatever name she had, I will rename her.
I've been visiting baby naming websites and have shortlisted a few. When she arrives, I'll see which one stick to her better.

 

For most of mine, the character comes first (even if, as in Vince's case, that character changes a lot once the doll arrives)... but with Marigold, I knew I wanted to develop a character and story when I saw the doll. Since her sculpt name was 'Autumn' and I'd decided I would be creating her as a forest spirit, I wanted her to have a name related to an autumnal plant. Marigolds are the birth-month flower for October, and have very autumn-y colors, so that was what I ultimately went with, but I did do a bit of research into different fall flowers before I decided that she should be tied specifically to my birth month.

 

Ugh, I'm so bad at coming up with names. One of my dolls, I just loved the name of the sculpt, so I kept it as that. Others, it just came to me ...but I have a few unnamed dolls and it's driving me bonkers. Lol

 

I recently got myself a zuzu delf body and working to get the head. I've been sewing for it and recently I have a name I want to give her. I want to name her 'Paige'. I've been trying to figure out why this name popped up. I now know it's because I've been on a Secret of Nimh kick, re watching the movie over again. I want her to be in that type of setting. I also have been watching Voltron again and I really love Pidge and Hunk. I didn't want to use Pidge's name so played around with the sound and Paige is sticking. Any one have this happen to them?

 

This doesn't usually happen for me with specific names, but it does with like...naming style, I suppose. (Though one of my characters is named after one of my professors... It just kind of stuck after a while.) If I've been watching a lot of anime, I'll often go for Japanese names for characters. I also pay a lot of attention to what names mean, which usually means it takes forever for me to name things, because it has to be just right. (For example, I just recently had to name quintuplets... I wanted them to have the same first letter in all their names and I wanted them to be nature based names, because the quints are deer hybrids. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, but it was still quite a process. )

 

Sometimes, sometimes names just pop in after I write a million down and hate all of them. Like Joel, others like my guy hunter got his name because of his characteristics and physical appearance. While my mermaid got her name through help and not liking the original after I got her

 

I've two Lati Yellows, both from France. The one with the cute vampire teeth showing is named Louve, which is French for a female wolf.

The one that's going to be younger and less mature is named Bejou. It's just a French name I like.

 

I usually go for Latin names- recently I've been naming random ooaks after the cosmos~ is: Stella, which is Latin for Star

 

I'm a bit of an amateur writer, so coming up with names is often a breeze. It's the deciding on one that's the hard part!

I usually trawl baby names sites, often with an idea of origin in mind. So, Italian, let's say, or Russian. Hebrew, maybe.

Alex was actually named for a historical figure; no, not Hamilton, but Alexander of Macedon, or Alexander the Great as he's better known. The MK Cris I'm waiting on is currently being referred to by myself as Mishka; it might stick or it might not, as he's gone through a few names already. The Dollshe Saint I'm wishing for will be the doll base for a non-BJD OC that I just have to shell now that I've seen Saint, so his name already exists. He will probably also be the only non-BJD OC that I will shell in a doll.

 

I made a list a long time ago with all my favorite names. Each time I buy a new doll, I just look at that list and pick a name. I still continue to add names to that list each I found a new good name.

 

i've been doing this exact same thing for dolls/rpg characters/pets/etc. for years

 

I am terrible with names. All of my dolls (OT included) just keep the name given to them by the manufacturer.

I'm not the type of person to buy duplicates, so it's not a problem for me.

If I ever had a kid I'm pretty sure it would be legally named "Baby"