Naming your dolls

Circe I thought of her name looking at the sculpt and old company photos (Volks Johanna). She looks like an enchantress! Some of my dolls have normal human names, one has a reference to the sculpt in her middle name, but in another language, it all depends!

 

My first BJD I named SO carefully. She was a rusalka- a Slavic water faerie, so I named her a variation on Lily in Romanian (Krina) because of water lilies. And she was going to have a noir femme fatale theme, so her last name was Rabbit in Romanian (Iepure) as a callback to Jessica Rabbit. I was incredibly proud of myself...and then she came home and just wanted to be an 18th-century, working-class urban fantasy heroine. Now I just wait for them to arrive and name them based on Vibes, so to speak.

(Exceprt the grail I'm hunting for right now, who I named Celandine when I first planned to get her and whose name I am honoring because 14-year-old me was right- It DOES sound cool!)

 

I'm a name nerd so I usually start thinking about their name when I buy the doll and usually by the time they arrive I still haven't made up my mind, that's how nightmare-ish I am with naming dolls.

I take into consideration the personality I give them, the nationality I give them, the vibe I want for them, sometimes something that's also related to me either in general or something that is prevalent around the time between buying them and receiving them. The name's meaning also has to match and it has to be something I like (so I do strongly tend to go for nature related names).
When it comes to nationality I usually research surnames that are listed in census for specific areas of a country where I want them to be from as well.
Many times I learn a lot about history, geography, folklore, mythology and other things as I research, it's fun

 

I am lazy so I just use the same name as the one in the product name

 

If I'm shelling a character, I usually already have a name picked out. Other than that, I have to wait at least until the doll has a faceup and eyes (preferably also wig and clothes) to choose a name that fits their vibe. If I'm really stuck I go onto my favorite name site, Magic Baby Names, and put in the sculpt name or a name that I like that is close to what I want, but not quite right. That site returns a list of names with similar vibes, it's really helpful to me.

 

My poor dolls never get a name. I just call them whatever their "official" name is. That might sound weird but I feel kind of bad for them because of that lol
Most of the time I just can't think of good and/or fitting names.

 

Naming my dolls seems to happen similarly to naming characters in my writing.
I can never just come up with a name and force it on them. Instead, it's often something I just happen across or start calling them as a joke that just CLICKS. Like I'm waiting for them to tell me their names ahaha.

More than half of my dolls are still waiting on names right now!

The first one to ever get a name was my little DZ MiYou. For a while, the sculpt name had just sorta stuck with him, but I wanted him to have a name that was only his! At some point, I ended up calling him 'Minou'—French for 'kitty' because my MiYou is a little catboy—and that's the name that finally clicked for him, in part because it rhymes with MiYou!

 

I try not to name mine before they arrive because nearly all of them don't want to be the characters I have in mind.
Usually I handle them for a bit, try saying the name out loud a bit and see if it sticks.
Some of them use their sculpt names (Ryoma, Saki, Mako), some use a variation of the sculpt name (Mikoto from Miko, Evander from Evan), and some have names plucked from the aether (Aengliea, Yuka, Magome).
What's most important to me is how a name sounds – if it feels odd or clunky saying it, it's not going to stick!

 

I typically extend one word from the official name to create a new name for the doll. Additionally, dolls from the same series will share either the same initial letter or word ending lol

 

Usually I go with the first random name to pop into my head Sometimes some casual research is involved to get the brain juice activated.
Sometimes I keep the sculpt name. Sometimes based on a human name. Mostly it's a random word or something I made up
Whatever, it's good enough to not have to remember their "Make-Model-Size-Edition-Color-Optionalparts-Hybrid-Faceupartist" name every time.
Often the random name I pick ends up having some influence on their character or styling.

 

To update: I have "nicknames" for all of my dolls. The most common are "Pinky Winky," "Littlefoot," "Peanut"/"Peanaximus," "Foofums," and "This-wig-will-fit-you-even-if-it-kills-me."

Incidentally, most of these are nicknames I've also given my pets.

 

Usually, I name them after a show or movie character. I named one of my dolls based on an Asian drama character. Custom made the costume to fit the character. It's a k-drama Iljimae.

 

Oh gosh I'm so lazy. I usually pick an object or something nearby, except for the doll which is based of off a longtime character of mine. My newest doll though was an accident... So I'm trying to figure out a cute way to name her 'accident'..

 

I typically search for names that have a meaning tied to an attribute of my doll. (ie, a bear themed doll named Mishka or a doll with a light brown color scheme named Fawn). I’m also not opposed to giving my dolls strange names if I just think it’s cute haha.

 

Names of my dolls are so different. I first look at the doll, spend time with her together, looking for eyes, wig, making face-up, style..and then choosing for a name. Sometimes doll reminds me somebody, like character from a book or a game. Sometimes name just comes in my mind, it just happens naturally. Sometimes look for inspiration online, if I need something more concrete.

 

Zephii - Named after the cepheid variable stars, but I wanted to change the spelling a bit
Brink - Named from lyrics of a song, "I'm on the brink of something beautiful."
Aporia - Named after a city in FFXIV
Kimmie - Short for my online alias 'Kimochi'
Titan - Named after one of Saturn's moons
Evie - Named after my dad's late Japanese Chin (who was named after Eevee)
Kenji - Named after Kenshin & Kaori's son (Rurouni Kenshin)
Wish & Dream - I like the words, haha

 

Either I see a doll and already have a name in mind. But mostly i just google some names or look on name lists and pick a few. Once the doll arrives, it’s easier for me to pick one. I have only one who troubles me with finding one for her :,)

 

I've often said to people around me that if a name pops into my head when I am just looking at a doll, that's usually a sign to me that the doll in question is meant to be home with me.

That being said, sometimes you get the doll home and the name that popped into your head doesn't really fit. In that case, I do often just spend a lot of time sitting with the doll, dressing and redressing them to try to come up with a name. It can take a good while to make sure I have the perfect name for them.

The easiest named BJD I own was little Basil Vincent, who is in my profile picture. Basil came from Great Mouse Detective because for some reason the sculpt made me think of the anime Sherlock Hound, and Vincent came from Vincent Price who never played the infamous detective but really should have. He also voiced Rattigan in GMD so there was that connection there.

 

It usually takes me a while, so some dolls go years without a name, but on the other hand, some dolls get named before they even get here. First I'll go through my baby name book and see if anything jumps out, otherwise I just sort of ruminate on it. Sometimes I'll name them something that references their theme- for example, my doll based on cosmic horror is named Warren Danforth, two names stolen from Lovecraft stories.

I have too many to list all their name stories here, but they're almost as varied as the dolls themselves.

 

I have names and characters in my head long before I order them.