Would you discard that “perfect” name if…

I actually wouldn't think it'd matter what the meaning of the name meant. If it fits them then go for it! My first doll's name is Tsuki, which means "moon" in japanese. But I didn't really pay much attention to the name meaning until afterwards. Sure, it's not like what yours is, but even though I have no idea how that meaning fits with her, Tsuki suited my doll so much and I stuck with it. Even if someone asked why I chose that name and if there was meaning behind it, I would just say it's just a name that I found that fitted her. ^^

 

I used to live where people would never pronounce foreign words correctly (sometimes just to irritate me, I swear), and I came to be pretty well used to being laughed at for odd/weird names, or being made fun of for being insanely particular how names are pronounced. I try and do research on names I take a liking to, or words I want to use as names, just to make sure that in the original language, it isn't something cheesy or weird. If someone else pronounces it incorrectly and makes it sound weird, I'll correct them if I'm 100% sure I'm right (which I look up spoken and audible pronunciation if at all possible).

I guess, in short, go with whichever name you like best, irregardless of how it sounds to someone else.

 

In response to the issue of using Kazuki's name....you could simply choose different kanji for his name and therefore have a different meaning but retain the pronunciation. That gets around the entire issue altogether.

I wouldn't get rid of a name if it had a different meaning in a different language if that language is irrelevant to the doll's character. I mean, my first name is a common Korean last name, and in high school we had a Korean exchange student who liked to joke that if we got married, my name would be Kim Kim. My one Japanese girl, Reina, was given that name because it can be used as a Japanese name with kanji that read "the sound of jewels" and is the Spanish word for queen. Both uppity meanings work for her, and her father also speaks Spanish so he would know that. If he didn't, it wouldn't matter in the context of their story.

 

Yeah... I know what you mean. My boy's name is Giriko, after Giriko from Soul Eater (though that wasn't the reason, it just happened to fit) and now I'm iffy about it, because his character is actually supposed to be French, and I'm trying to write a story with his character but I can't find any other name that suits him that well Dx
I sympathize with you

 

Nope. I wanted a Japanese name for one of my boys and after going through quite a few with really awesome meanings, he chose Torio. Torio means 'bird's tail' in Japanese. It is against his character but he liked it and it fit so Torio it was.

 

no, I only speak english so unless it sounds bad in english then I'm okay lol

 

I guess your situation is somewhat unique given you're taking an alphabet that you share with another language, but not the meanings. I can't see this happening to me, but I fully understand why you changed the name. As long as you like the new name, it's all good.

 

I'm a linguist, so yes, in the interest of accuracy and giving my dolls names that are balanced both in my language and other languages I research a name fairly well before I bestow it permanently on one of my dolls, and a name that had an odd or bad meaning would definitely be out of the window fairly quickly so I wouldn't get attached to it!

I speak English and Welsh and I have a working knowledge of Latin, Greek, French, German and Spanish, so I can usually spot straightaway if someone else has made a bit of a boo-boo with naming their doll something unfortunate in another language. If the doll owner knows and doesn't care, then that's fine and up to them, but it would definitely deter me from giving my doll a name that didn't at least work in my two primary languages, English and Welsh.

A pet peeve of mine is actually seeing other people use Welsh names for their dolls and spelling them incorrectly or giving a girl's name to a boy or viceversa. Welsh is a phonetic language, so spellings are very fixed in Welsh whereas they are somewhat fluid in English. The name 'Branwen' is a girl's name meaning 'fair raven'... the name 'Branwyn' is a boy's name meaning 'fair raven'. As a Welsh speaker it's quite jarring to see those things mixed up, and when you consider that Welsh is not a majority language, it's concerning that the language is being misunderstood - especially if someone later decides they would quite like to learn Welsh as a language and then discover what they think they already know is incorrect. It's very disheartening for a language learner.

I have a couple of dolls with non-English/non-Welsh names, but I never use any other alphabet to spell them. I played it safe a little with my Dollfie Dream, Momoko Jones, since her given name is a Japanese name with an easy to find translation (I also call her either Momo or Peachy for short ), and Melangell Shigeta and Mafonwen Enku have Japanese family names respectfully taken from the Shigeta family of Volks Inc. and Mr Enku, a sculptor who created Volks' Four Sisters. I haven't tackled Japanese spelling because I really don't want to make any mistakes

 

I don't think it would worry me too much, since it happens with than names of people too. There are a number of languages that use the same character set/letters and words can have totally different meanings depending on the language spoken. I have a friend whose name when spelt the same way means 'potato' in another language.

 

So long as the name works it shouldn't matter what it means in another language, you can't please all the languages all the time, you can only hope please some of the languages some of the time.

 

So what did you name him in the end? =D

 

Nah, if I really was in love with the name and thought it was perfect I would keep it...unless if it ment something reaaaaally horrible. A little silly is fine, but something gross or creepy and I would probably change it.

 

I'd give up a "perfect" name if something came up and I realized it was no longer that "perfect."

The important thing is that it would matter to ME if I realized a name would remind me of something I didn't want it to... If it sounded too weird or like something else, etc. Then it wouldn't be "perfect" if you see what I mean! So I wouldn't mind changing it.

If I really wanted the name and could ignore the other things it brought to mind, then, sure, I would keep it!

There are a lot of great names out there. I don't have a hard time coming up with "better" perfect names!

 

No, I don't think I would. In engish the name means what the name means. Other countries should understand that you named your doll in engish not there language.

 

Wow, I really had a good laugh of some of the examples in this thread! :-) We are being taught several languages from an early age, so most of us are aware that a word or name can mean something very different in another language. And when one has stayed in another country for a while, one realize the same big time. I would certainly not choose another name because of it's meaning in another language. I have a hard time coming up with names, and when it's there, I will not choose another. I have this thing that the doll "tells" me what it's name is. (Not in a "strange" way, though). Before I tried to find a name before the doll arrived, but it almost always didn't suit the doll when I saw her.
Don't worry so much about what other people might think, no matter if they are where you are or other places. Trust yourself and what visions you have. Not before we set ourselves free that way, can truly enjoy the wonderful hobby we have. ;-)

 

@Shantel85: Well, I called my Abadon Castor. He's named after the star/greek character. But, "castor" is also the spanish word for beaver. As you can imagine, first thing my friend said was "I'm going to make him a beaver plush!". I just roll my eyes at that.

Also, certain japanese names make spanish people go rofl-ing. Let's take, as an example, Kagome. In a pseudo-translation of sorts to English, that would sound "Me shitting". Please excuse the wording. But if I wanted to name a doll "Kagome" I wouldn't care less.

Besides, it could be your private joke, to have Fuuchoin mean "mad bird hospital". In my mind, that just became the name of a bird psychologist

 

I don't really care what the meaning of a name is in other lanuages. If I found out that a name I liked meant something super weird, I'd probably just laugh about it.
The name for the girl that is coming home, however, is one I completely made up. If it's actually a name in some other language, that's awesome!
Her name is Adaleize. (I pronounce it AH-da-lies.)

On a short off-topic note, I knew a doctor who tols me that one of the patients she had was a little girl named Placenta.
Apparently, when the mother gave birth at the hospital she heard people saying the word placenta a lot and she thought it sounded pretty so she named her baby that.
If you think about it, it does have a nice arrangement of syllables.

 

I grow extremely attached to names once I have them picked out so it's very difficult for me to change them once they've been in place for awhile, even if I no longer like them. I'm fairly certain if I were to find out a name I had previously chosen was ridiculous or offensive in another language I would still keep the name, but then choose a second name that was a bit more neutral to call the character by as well.

I've actually already done this for quite a few of my characters and it works quite well for me and oddly I don't find it uncomfortable at all to switch between their various names. Although my dolls have their central storyline, I enjoy writing about them in a variety of worlds as well so it also just makes sense to give them more "normal" names. So in this way, Belial sometimes is Basil, Fakia is Fyedka, Jezebel is Jezella..though as simple as these sound I've still yet to find suitable alternatives for Mai, Nazomi and Shetani. Getting a little off track there but it's the same idea. I more often than not refer to my boys as Basil (pronounced Bazil, not like the herb) and Fyedka in public than I do their original names, and I keep their original names for my own head.