Question: How did you come up with your doll's name?

I give my dolls names related to their characters because I like to make them originally from different countries, so I choose names I like from the country I make my doll to be from, like I have Amora she is originally Spanish, Jossette French etc.. but I don't give them a last name, I want to give it a try though, sometimes I call them with the company name by mistake but that's because it's the first name I know them with so it's kinda stick I have never changed my dolls names

 

I had a hard time naming my first doll...honestly no "normal"/human name seemed to fit him. For some reason I just couldn't name him like I would a person because in the end he is an inanimate object. So I eventually settled on the name Octane even though he isn't a "fantasy" character, and I've been happy ever since. But now I just got a new doll and have to come up with a name for him. D:

 

I started thinking about names as soon as I ordered the doll (it was an Iplehouse Stella). I pretty much had settled on the name and whenever I thought about the doll I would always think about her by that name. Well, when she arrived and I took her out of the box - guess what? I immediately realized that the name I had chosen no longer suited the doll. I had to let the doll tell me who she was and she did - it was almost instant and when I told my husband the name, he immediately concurred. So I guess what I'm saying is go with your gut. Have a name picked ahead of time but be prepared to change your mind.

 

Naming is a pain! I debate names for ages before I can finally choose one. I usually go by pictures and decide a name from there (first name only because I don't have a doll 'family', so to speak). I was at such a loss with my first doll, I had no idea what I was going to name her (her company name was hideous) and I started asking my friends what a good name would be (I'd already pestered my family since I realized I'd be getting her XD) Lo and behold, a non-doll friend ended up coming up with her name XD

Try saying names you like over and over and see if you like the sound of it after a while or if it just gets on your nerves. Ask friends and family for advice, too. That helps sometimes

 

I normally have the name figured out by the time the doll gets here and it's often just one that pops into my head when I look at the doll's promo pic or think about how I want it to look. The funny thing is, sometimes I don't even like the name that pops into my head but somehow I know I won't be able to use anything else. I also have a list of names that I like but I usually don't end up picking from it. I even have a doll that's been home for a few months and still doesn't have a name, so there really isn't a tried and true method for me.

 

I don't remember where I came up with my doll's name from...I think I asked around for suggestions from my friends and Lucian just seemed to fit the character idea I had in mind. Though to be honest I mostly call him Lucy....

 

hi haven't got my bjd yet but i do know what i'm going to name her. she's a Iplehouse Bianca it's Amelia

 

My BJD's name is Nauticaa and her name was one I came up with when I played WoW. Loved the name and have used it ever since.

 

Hi I've always wanted to name my first doll Devyn , and i'm so excited because i might be getting her on Christmas she's a mystic kids Evelyn and i think that name really suites her

 

Well, I kept thinking of the book The Count of Monte Cristo when I was ordering my cheshire Monty. So when he finally came, I tried a few others but somehow Monty just stuck. He was going to be a girl at first, but now he is a mischievous little guy.

 

This is so helpful! Inspiration is everywhere, it seems. I'm expecting a new girl this week and I've been going crazy trying to name her before she arrives! Reading through this though..I feel less rushed haha. Ya'll have some awesome name imaginations though!

 

I named my dolls from the their figures.

 

I had a name picked out for my doll already but to come up with it I started calling him Blank as a joke because I couldn't think of a name but it ended up sticking and now his name is Blank. lol

 

I only give my dolls first names
Their names come from japanese or korean characters that I like
For example kaito came from kaito kid
And also when a doll arrives home I think of a suitable name immediately

 

I came up with my first dolls name based solely on my impression of the Ariana sculpt,if I explained why I came up with Cheeks,I'm pretty sure it would sound as if I didn't care for the sculpt but that's not the case at all,I adore it.
As for my incoming Mikhaila she is going to represent a character of mine that I began writing recently,so her name is already chosen.

 

With the exception of the dolls I bought to be certain characters, most of them I named after seeing them/putting them together with their outfits and wigs, etc for the first time. There are just names that are more fitting than others. . I don't know how to explain it! Then there are others that have 'default' names until I settle on something. . . usually something boring like "Billy", but, those I really don't consider names so much as I consider them placeholders, so to speak.

 

For me too it usually doesn't happen until the doll is complete! Sometimes a name just pops up, sometimes I casually browse on the internet and bump into something that immediatly makes me go "THAT'S their name!" A lot of my dolls are still nameless.

 

My names come from pre-existing characters. I tend to like names you don't hear very often. c:

 

I found Nayeli's name messing around on a name generator. When I got her I guess she liked it as well. She refused to be named anything else.

 

How did you guys come up with your doll's names?
When I was younger, I had a list of names that I really liked that I wish I could use (not for my own kids or anything). Over the years, the more books I read, the more I was influenced by my favourite characters from those books, so those kinda got added to the list.

When I started on BJDs I noticed there was a trend for character- and story-creation, so I sought to do the same by actually utilizing some of the names that were on that list. It worked for a while when I had a cohesive story going.

Nowadays when I buy a doll, it's not because I had a ready character for it, it's mostly now driven by "it's pretty and I want it" *lol*. One way I come up with names is by following a pattern of sorts, like the alphabet sequence. Like say, I still don't have a doll with a name that starts with an I. So then the next doll I buy will get a name that starts with that letter, so I look up names/words/whathaveyou online, or come up with something out of the blue if I can't find one that's suitable.

Another "pattern" I had was naming a couple of dolls after settings in Shakespearean plays, because I'm just geeky like that *lol*

Have you ever changed their names?
Yeah, this has happened a few times. Mostly during what I call The Overhaul Period wherein I look at my dolls and see which ones I don't play with as much anymore (those ones get retired (wherein I put them away in a drawer until I figure out whether to sell them or not)), switch the heads and bodies around to sort of create new characters or just change personalities/wig colour/eye colour/etc. If it's a name I really like I usually just give it to another doll when the original bearer of that name either gets retired or sold.

Do you give them first/last names or just first names?
I used to give them last names, usually based on the colour of their wigs. But since I keep changing wig colours on some of them, this whole naming scheme became moot, so I don't bother anymore.