Would you discard that “perfect” name if…

I've never discarded a doll's name after I found the right one for the character. A lot of it is because the vast majority are based on my OC's and I tend to look up the meanings of words in other languages, so I'm aware of what they mean. ^^

 

Haha, I do occasionally, when I realise that the name that I have chosen is the same as the name as someone I know. Sometimes, it can feel a little strange to me, to associate the two.

 

Well, I've never had that problem myself-- I'm in the 'research names beforehand' group, since most of my dolls or planned dolls are specific characters. In fact, so far, everyone is specifically named after someone.

Pete and Billy are character dolls, so there's no option of discarding those names!

Vince is named after a character, but isn't meant to *be* him, just to sometimes resemble him for fun. His own character/personality has developed, and his namesake is a great initial inspiration for him in many ways, and I have yet to find any alternate meanings for his name in languages other than its own language of origin.

My little disembodied head is named after a character (who has a few different incarnations) who will eventually have a mature adult self-- I researched his name very carefully when I first started writing about him, and I wouldn't change it if I learned that it was a false friend for something really ridiculous. He already has a ridiculous nickname, after all.

 

I have totally regular names for my dolls. My girl's name is Lucy and my boy is named Rasmus (a common name here in Sweden.) and I get a lot of people that wonder why I have such boring names for my dolls. Well, it goes with their story.

So, if that name feel right for you. I would not give a crazy birds hrm what other people think. Maybe you can even have that as a thing, people missunderstanding his name. But, if it is what felt right for you, I would not change it. =)

 

Definitely not, most of my characters have "invented" names... For example, when YEARS AGO I was thinking on a name for my main rol character, I just thought "Hanabi" was cool, and the surname... I don't know how or why I thought on "Miura". Later I realised "miura" is a kind of bull, or something, and as I am spanish I didn't like that because of the "festivity" we (unfortunately) have in my country.
But as I didn't know anything about the word "miura" when I thought of it, it's ok, I think, I'm not going to change her after years... :_3

 

I wouldn't care myself. Especially if its another language that I don't speak. Personally I'm not a big fan of the Asian names, and the few non English names I do like are mostly French or German which I can speak a bit of

 

if the name fits them then use it, if it's too glaringly annoying in the pronunciation discard it or change it just slightly to fit your needs/wants...

 

Names can affect how we feel or perceive a doll or a character. I once had an RP that I loved, but when I found out my friend named her character a certain name so that our characters' names would be the same as a famous fictional couple, I felt a little betrayed because I had been adapting our story to comic format at the same time and I had no knowledge of this other work of fiction. Years later, I'm turning one of those characters into a doll now...but I've actually renamed him so such a name doesn't get in the way of me connecting with him.
A separate story:
I have had a character for eleven years now named Inu, and I'm finally turning him into a doll. As his name makes him who he is, I can't even think of how to change it... despite the name being extremely cheesy. (But hey, I made him when I was 14!) Since then, I've given him a properish name, but Inu is still enough a part of it that he still goes by it as a nickname. One thing I can't change is his last name. That is just too hard for me.
Point being, a name is an important thing. It is how we will identify our character, our doll -- it is why most of us agonize over what handle to use on forums, or what usernames we have on twitter, or what pen names we use when we write. I spend hours looking up names and their meanings before I apply them to my character (nowadays, at least... not so much when I was a teeny teen) and I'm a firm believer that a name greatly influences the person or thing that bears it.
One trick I use is to try to hide the name I like in another name (like in Inu's case) or I try to rework the name so it carries the same sound or feeling (Like Rhee's case, instead of his name being Ri.) Changing the spelling could work, or only keeping one part of the name could work, too... especially if you want to base your doll off a character, but want to have the freedom of growing the character into someone of your own.

All in all, don't feel alone in this problem... it happens to plenty of us all the time!

 

;w; Hmm, well I do a lot of researching before I choose a name, so I don't usually have such a problem. I usually choose a name for its meaning. But even so, I actually think its kind of funny and cute when a name can mean something else or has a strange connotation. A lot of times when that happens, I like to wiggle a reference to it ironically in their character/story. Then again, I have characters named Apostrophe and Asterisk, so I'm kind of used to people thinking my characters names are silly even without being translated in another language xD

xD Plus, "mad bird hospital" in not nearly that bad, in all honesty. I wouldn't change the name if I thought it fit the character, especially if it isn't something that everyone is going to know without translation, etc. I'd probably just make the character hate/love birds/hospitals just to be sneakily ironic.

 

Personally, the funky translation wouldn't bother me, I've heard some beautiful names that mean something weird, as well as stupid sounding names with a nice meaning. I'd only really consider discarding a perfect name if someone else had it and it seemed to suit them better, I have a major problem with being like someone else.

 

this is one of the reasons I take so long to name things, I take into consideration the way it's written, the way it sounds (in my primary languages) and what it means so I would probably never have this problem and even if I did I don't think I'd change it