Original or New names?

Unless it’s a specific doll made for character from a show or a game, I give my dolls their own new names. Nothing wrong with the company name but I just want to make my dolls mine and give them a new character.

 

I almost always give them new names, unless the sculpt name fits, which has happened one time by total coincidence in my 11+ years in the hobby.

For me, dolls represent my existing OC characters, and it’s very rare that I buy a doll or even pick a sculpt without already having a character fleshed out. My characters are as important as the dolls themselves, maybe even more so. A doll can be beautiful, but without a character, they don’t last long around here.

I choose names and come up with stories through role play. Usually, they’re somehow connected to another person in my crew, either through family, friend, coworker, classmate, hobby acquaintance, whatever. I work them into one of my stories, or they get created around whatever role I need filled. Then I think about that role and what the character should be like to fit in it, what they’d look like and what name would fit it. I play the character for a few weeks or months, and if I develop a bond to them, then I start looking for a doll to fit the image in my head. The doll is almost always named long before I even start shopping.

In the rare case I receive an unplanned doll (gift, trade offer, contest prize, event freebie, etc), I still do the same except kind of backwards. I look at the sculpt and try to imagine what kind of character they’d be and how I could work them into the crew, and go from there.

The one time the sculpt name and OC name matched was when I had created a character named Erica and was looking for a shell for her but not entirely sure what I wanted. I got offered an Iplehouse Erica in a trade and she was perfect, so it was a total coincidence!

 

All of mine have or will have their own names, aside from my two Ringdoll vampires, who were not bought for anything other than pure aesthetics (although, Jade is nicknamed Munie/Muna). It just depends on why you bought the doll (purely aesthetics or for a character) and if you like the sculpt name.

 

Depends! If I come up with a name before or shortly after I hit the buy button, it sticks. If I don't, I keep thinking of the doll as whatever the company named it, and by the time it comes home, anything else sounds weird...kinda like changing a pet's name after you've had it for awhile. It's that three or four month waiting period that determines how I'll think of the doll after it arrives.

 

Mine always get their own new names. I do have one doll (Myou Doll Ben) that has a name that sort of matches the sculpt name (Benjamin). That's because I had the name chosen before deciding on the doll.

 

I like to change the names since I usually have a character in mind. If I really like the company doll as is, I would still change their name and make a background for the character so it becomes more personal. As for the story, I come up with some it at one point and continue to build on it as the character develops. I may stumble upon accessories I really like and want to add, so I may add how the character got it. I also like to make character profiles such as their favorite food and their likes and dislikes.

 

Usually it's trawling through baby name sites for a couple of hours to find a name for me. Hypatia was the only one where I onew exactly what I wanted to name her as soon as I saw her. I can't keep the company name. It almost becomes a technical term in my head.

 

I always give them new names but when I talk about them a lot of times I refer to their mold name & color. I almost never refer to their full name even if I did come up with first and last name for the dolls. Sometimes I even forget their last name if I don’t check their profile oops XD but ya usually I already have picked out their name before they arrive, or like a couple options and when I see them I would call them by the one that seemed most suitable.

 

I give OCs their own names. If it’s a random doll, I’ll pick a name I like or ask people for advice. Most of my own characters are from some books I wrote, so they have names and stories beforehand. Fan characters just have the name of whoever they’re based on.

 

So far, my custom dolls have gotten their own OC names, but factory default dolls (like my Dearmine Lorenz) will keep their original one... since to me they are not individuals in the same way. If I end up customizing them in the future, maybe I will rename them.

 

I mostly give my dolls new names! Unless I love the name the company gave them/think it fits best! I don't ever name them until maybe about a few weeks of having them, since I base my dolls off oc's they create themselves to be!

 

My first 2 dolls ever are both character from a show and game series so I don’t really count them in this case but for my 2 most recent dolls, the one I bought to shell as an OC so his name is already picked but for my other one, I was actually inspired by the recent hurricane that came by Florida.

I bought him as the hurricane started to form and received him after it had passed us. It was kind of like destiny that I got him because he was second hand and the exact sculpt I was interested and the name Dorian inspired me to create my own character for him based on the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

It seems silly but his name just came to me like he did.

 

I'm jealous of folks who have huge, complex OC characters and stories. I don't have that kind of imagination.

I only have one doll whose name has remained consistent. Probably not coincidentally, she was my first expensive doll, and it took me a long time to save up for her body. She has a personality and time period/setting, but no real story.

I forget the others--they aren't based on any particular story or character, so the names just don't stick, and I end up calling them by their company or head-sculpt name.

 

I always give my dolls OC names, but when I talk about them I usually use the sculpt names just because I don't expect anyone else to keep track of all my characters!

 

Through trial and error I have found that if I don't have a full first, middle, and last name ready for my doll before they come home, the doll never stays around for long. Most of my names are pulled from a book, movie or experience that I was interested in during the time that I bought the doll. After so many years of being in the hobby I have somewhat of a time capsule of names, and looking at my doll's names makes me remember what I was doing during that time.

 

I have done both. It depends on the doll for me. One of my newer dolls, i bought already had a name of Mina and it seemed to fit her. So, I left her name the same.
The others I have named or in the process of naming. I still have a boy and girl to name.
Sometimes it is a name I like or it is their character. My cat is named Goku because he runs around and climbs so much. He reminds me of son goku from saiyuki.
I am listening for new names all the time. I named one of my girls after watching an anime the other day. I liked it znd it fit her.
I don't think that there is a right or wrong way to name your dolls. Just go what feels right for that particular doll.