Naming dolls and keeping sculpt names

I've never kept any sculpt names for my dolls. I feel that they need to have personal names to really be mine, if that makes any sense. Also, a lot of the sculpts I have, have weird names, so I just can't bring myself to keep them.

 

I usually name mine, nut I have one doll that is a one off fullset so I kept the sculpt name for her ^^

 

One of my dolls have kept the sculpt name because he looked like the original name. He had a different name in my stories, but I had to change it. All the others have a name I've given them.

 

A few of my dolls have kept the sculpt name, so far. I collect dolls more because I like the way they look. They’re like art pieces to me, not really characters, so often, I don’t really find a name I like as much. The only exception is when I think the name is too strange. For example my Pong2 and Nanuri17 both have unique names because their sculpts were more like descriptions as opposed to names, imo.

 

I always give them their own names, it makes them more unique that way.

Except for the last doll I got, I kept her sculpt name as it seemed to fit her personality.

 

Sometimes a sculpt has a name I really like and I’m tempted to keep it, especially since it takes me forever to choose names & I spend MONTHS referring to them by their sculpt, but some part of me feels wrong about it. Not sure why.

And at some point I was planning a character named Luka (which I dropped & never got a doll for), and I was thinking of a unoa girl at first, but then I realized minifee luka would be a good pick and I really really didn’t like that xD

 

Unless I've picked out a name long before it comes home, the poor doll is forever stuck with the company name because that's what I've been calling it in my head for months. On the other hand, if I've already named it before it comes home, that's the one it keeps - to the point where I sometimes eventually forget the original sculpt name.

 

I always name my dolls - it makes it feel like it's my personal doll rather than just any [insert sculpt name here]. I also really enjoy the hunt for the perfect name when I find a new doll. I have a list of names I like - when I manage to match one to a doll it makes me more excited about them.
The only time the sculpt name would be kept is if that the doll fit a already named character and it just so happened to be the name of the sculpt too.

 

I'm terrible at names and it takes me forever to find the right one, but still my dolls never keep their sculpt names. When they're nameless I just refer to them as "The Narae" or "My Mousse," that sort of thing. I guess I tend to view sculpt names as more like descriptors than names in and of themselves. Currently I have more nameless dolls than named ones, but I'm working on getting individual names figured out for everyone. A slow process but a rewarding one in the end. (For instance "my mousse" is currently having "Amanita" and "Morel" thought over, while other dolls have longer lists of potential names in the running still.)

 

I've given mine their own names. Though my Rens I was going to keep her name Rens until I got her custom accessories, then her name came to me. There's nothing wrong with keeping sculpt names though if you think it fits them

 

My dolls have personal names, but I was very tempted to actually call Dollchateu Colin by sculpt name. The name suited him in my opinion and I had no previously existing character for him. He was impulsive buy -- to buy a doll without long planning is unusual for me.

 

I only kept one sculpt name, my Granado Michael. I feel it suits him, and his character is an angel, so...

All my other dolls have names I chose for them. Well, I do have a couple unpainted floating heads I call by their sculpt names, but when they get bodies and faceups, I'm sure their true names will come to me.

 

I kept the sculpt name for my first doll because I had no character in mind for him. He's a Ringdoll Carlos but most of the things I have named have always had Latino or Hispanic names, so it just seemed to work for him.

 

My dolls get named as their original sculpt names are often strange. Naming dolls is a big part of the fun of getting a new doll. Unless something pops into my mind, I find myself searching names associated with certain nationalities until one calls to me for a specific doll.

 

Usually, I have named characters way before I have the doll to represent them, so I've never kept a sculpt name. Most often, I start thinking of them as the name I give them the moment I decide to buy. Occasionally, I've come up with a character for a sculpt during the wait for them to come home.

 

I might keep the sculpt name, it’s Chloe and I like it! But I have been looking up similar names or names with a similar meaning just in case I decide not to keep the name.

 

I think in my case it would be odd to keep a sculpt name. My first BJD would otherwise have just been named Hound, which would probably be a bit silly.

My Williams is probably the only one that got close to his sculpt name; he ended up being called Willington, or just Will for short. And funny enough, after he had a wig change, he looks not too unlike Captain Harlock, just with both of his eyes, so he did end up retaining some of the "pirate" persona, just in a different fashion.

 

My Angel Fantasy Alice kept her sculpt name because the name just fit. I was also tempted to keep my Minifee Sircca's sculpt name but another name called out to me first.

I'm not opposed to naming dolls after their sculpts, especially if the name fits after you've personalized them!

 

I enjoy naming my dolls. It's subtle, but they all have a theme. By changing from their sculpt to the names I choose, they become mine and part of the group.

 

For the most part I don't keep the sculpt names because my dolls are all shelling pre-existing characters. However, I've kept the names for my Ringdoll Qinzhe and Meng He because the company gave them a story already that I like a lot, and it's in fact the reason why I got them in the first place. Those two I don't even see as being different from the company's characters (they're like fan character dolls for me), so it'd be weird if I didn't keep the sculpt names.

 

I don't intentionally keep sculpt names, but sometimes I find myself referring to them by their sculpt sort of instinctually if I spent a long time really dying for the sculpt. My DZ Benjamin (Roscoe) and Dream Valley Thorn (Terra) are always getting the brunt of it, I almost always call them by their sculpt name accidentally.

 

The only doll in my collection who kept his sculptname is 5SD Gabriel. It suits him. The others all have their own names, although sometimes it takes a while before I find a name that sticks. So there are a few still unnamed at the moment.
Funnily enough all four of my unnamed dolls are sculpts that I've wanted forever but didn't expect to find... I snapped them up as soon as I saw them, but I didn't have time to really prepare a character for any of them.

 

I keep some names, and give unique names for others. If the doll is an OC, I name it after its character, but if I don't have an OC and I'm just buying the doll because I want to make pretty clothes for it, I don't come up with a unique name for it.

When talking about my dolls on the forum, I often refer to the name of the sculpt if that makes it easier for people to think of it (my Souldoll Rye is named Layn, but since I chose to use that OC's name as my forum name, I call her my Rye when talking about her to avoid confusion, it's significantly easier to call Pyria my Vesuvia because everyone knows what a bronze Vesuvia looks like), but some of my dolls have been heavily modded to not look like their original sculpt at all. I will never call Aeona a Soom Onyx, unless someone's asking me what she was before she was modded, because she's had her nose eyes and ears modded, and dyed blue. But that's more an artifact of the fact that I feel that on the forum, "what doll is this?" is an important piece of information that people want to know.

 

To be honest, I have never been good at naming... The doll I currently own doesn't have a name yet because I don't know what names are suitable for them

 

I like naming my dolls and giving them their own in depth characters. I usually feel like they aren't really "mine" if they keep their sculpt name, company faceup or fullset.

However, I did have one instance in the past where I did keep the sculpt name! I had a character named Erica, hadn't picked a sculpt yet for her but got offered an Iplehouse Erica in a trade, and I took it as a sign that she'd be perfect.

 

One of my dolls has kept her sculpt name as a nickname (Fang), mainly because I thought it was a completely badass name, and didn't want to completely abandon it. A friend of mine and I refer to her as variations of Fang, usually to humorous effect. Fangerella, Fangster, Fangle Bells, etc.

But otherwise, I'm a die-hard renamer. I *love* naming things. So much.

 

Both my dolls have ended up taking on personality traits for various circumstantial reasons- and their sculpt names don’t fit at all. I’m still trying to figure out a name that suits my second doll (an Myou Silvia) because she’s about as ungraceful and unfeminine an elf as one could find...
But yeah, I name them- or rather I learn their names through a process of discovery after getting to know them.

 

I've never done that myself, but for some reason my husband and my mom decided that Summer (my PukiFee Mio) really ought to be called "Puki". So, even though she does HAVE a 'personal name', around here it's rarely used when she comes up in conversation. Her line designation is her nickname, I guess.

 

I do a bit of both. For example, all my DDs have their original name, mostly because they are character specific. I also have never named my Soul Doll Lappy Bunny, I just refer to her as "Lappy". Most dolls that I am buying for the character they represent I will not name, but others who I create a story for or are buying become a representative of an OC I will give an original name; Lappy is one of the only exceptions to this rule.

 

My dolls are OC shells, so they don't keep their sculpt names. Every so often when I need to differentiate between the doll and the OC I use the sculpt name - I've tried to give dolls different names from their associated OC to eliminate this problem, but it just doesn't fit.

 

The only sculpt I kept the name of is one of my Fairyland PukiPuki's, the Madeline one. I thought it was too cute a name to change but I may do so in the future, as a friend's doll is also named Madeline. Probably not though.

 

My dolls are based off of OCs, so all my dolls are named when I can see my OC in them! It would be interesting if a sculpt ever came out with the name of an OC that suited it, but considering a lot of the names I choose are bizarre (they just pop into my head sometimes and that's what they're called), I highly doubt it.

 

I’m guilty of keeping the sculpt names. My dolls are their own characters and not based on any other ocs. I think a big reason the sculpt names stick is because I refer to them by the sculpt name when talking about them. It’s easier for me to go “I love my fairyland Altis!” than saying “I love Simon my fairyland Altis!” Call me lazy I suppose! I have exceptions but I don’t usua feel much pressure to name my dolls.

 

I never leave the sculpt names, some of my dolls have curious names like Coconut, Kiwi, Litchi
So I give them a different name according to their story and personality

 

I would never keep a sculpt name. It feels a bit lacking in effort and impact to me, so I would rather name them myself. I also choose names with particular meanings to suit the doll and that isn't something I can typically achieve by retaining the original name of a sculpt.

 

Four of mine retained their sculpt names, two more have a variation of their sculpt name, and one has a name sort of inspirted by their sculpt name.

The rest all have different names.

Teddy

 

So far As the owner of one BJD I have named him and plan to name the rest in the future.

 

None of mine have kept their sculpt names. Although I do refer to them as that until I've found their name. When I've named them before they arrive it often doesn't seem to work out and they don't fit it. I am guilty of changing names within the first few weeks while I'm getting to know them as well.

 

Like many of you, I am terrible at naming things (it's really a very good thing that I don't have any flesh-and-blood children; the poor things would be nameless until they could pick for themselves!) So I kept the sculpt names for some of my resin crew.

Things started getting dicey when I got multiples of certain sculpts, and then I had to come up with names. Eventually.

And I admit that I couldn't let myself keep the sculpt names for my Haru Casting dolls, knowing that those were the (nick)names of Haru's actual children. Somehow that didn't seem right at all. So they got names right away, even though I had to literally pull names from a bowl because I couldn't decide!

But yes, I like to keep a sculpt name if it's at all possible. I'm not averse to changing the name later, if it seems right. So far, though, Lisa has stayed Lisa, Grace has stayed Grace, and Gene has stayed Gene.

 

That would never have worked for me - several of mine only have sculpt numbers, not sculpt names (and I have duplicates of them too).

Some of them took a while for their names to come, and one never actually got named. She was referred to as, "my elfie girl," for so long that "Elfie" became her name by habit more than by actual decision.

Teddy

 

Some of my sculpts keep their names as I got my ringdoll Dracula to be Dracula his name stays but my saint was bought for an oc so his name changes. I think it depends who you bought your doll to be.

 

I usually have a character ready for my dolls before I buy them, so they often have a personal name from the beginning. Some however have arrived before their character has fully formed, so it might take some time before I decide on a name.

My dolls definitely need to have their own names, sculpt names are too generic and not "mine". Also I get to pick the names I like the most.

I go back to referring to a doll by its sculpt name when I've decided to sell it and want to distance myself from the character it embodied, so it comes back to being just a doll and not my character.

 

I only have four at the moment and changed all their names. However if I bought a BJD and loved the name I would keep it as I am terrible at thinking up names for my little beauties

 

I keep the name of the sculpt. Unless I 1. don't know that sculpts' name for whatever reason, 2. can't pronounce the sculpt name , or 3. bought the doll 2nd hand and the previous owner gave the doll a name and told me what the name was.
I'm just terrible at naming things.

 

I usually rename my dolls but i tried to keep them in theme or use the same alphabet as their original!

 

I've only named one so far, but I changed it from the sculpt because the name didn't work for me, but I tried to use the sculpt name as inspiration, I have plans to leave some future dolls with their sculpt name (unless when I meet them the name doesn't really fit for them in person) and others I plan on changing

 

I usually try to name my dolls. Some dolls I know their name immediately as soon as I meet them. Usually I have a list of possible names and then the decision is made once the doll arrives. Other times, like with my tiny Yuli, I knew her name before she arrived and in fact had her for about 3 days before I realised that her sculpt name 'Yu' was part of her actual name...but she is actually named after an imaginary friend from childhood.

The only doll that has kept his actual sculpt name is my Bluefairy Pocket Fairy Peter. Nothing else suited him, and until I finished his faceup yesterday, I didn't even know if I'd keep him as his factory faceup freaked me right out. Now I think he's a cute little thing that I quite love

Personally, I find that naming a doll is a very personal thing. I think it can demonstrate an understanding betweening owner and doll...and an attachment. I guess I'm a bit funny like that :/

 

I have two additional Bambicrony Emilys not currently listed in my signature/profile page, as I'm deciding what to do with them. One is a fullset who I previously just referred to as Emily.

Emie, despite being an Emily, was actually a character long before she was shelled so is not an example. I did change the character's appearance to fit the doll I fell in love with, though!

 

All but one of mine have thier sculpt names so far. The one that doesn’t was purchased to be a particular character so he was alway “Spark” in my head from day one.

 

I loved naming my dolls. It felt special to receive them and begin looking for a name that fit them.

 

I currently have only one full doll, and two heads on the way.
And I did just keep the sculpt name for my doll, and the floating head would be exactly the same as the sculpt name as well. It's just simpler and easier.
I think if I start giving them custom names, I'd get confused very fast...especially I'm bad at naming things..
To be fair, I didn't really think of giving my doll names until I created my first doll profile. XD

@Teddy what you said made me smile!
Because at one point I was thinking of the same thing. if I get two of the same sculpt, I'd number them, Like..if I get another Alice head, she'd be Alice2.....

 

Names are so fun and important! I am so used to naming characters for writing, though...but I have no shame, I will happily change the name of a fullset doll if the company name doesn't suit.

 

I had planned to name my first doll something else, but when I finished her face up the sculpt name just...fit. However my second doll has a different name and my recently ordered doll will also have a different name. I'm not sure of the name for my new doll, but I don't care for the sculpt name.

 

Same! My DDs kept their names since they were fullsets.

If I were to customize a doll I would try to come up with a name that fits the character. I'm bad with naming as many of you mentioned but I would do my best. I feel like some sculpt names suit the doll though.

 

There have been sculpt names that I've REALLY been tempted to keep... But I try and create my own names for my dolls. (Although sometimes the names will be similar to the sculpt names!)

 

If I buy a Doll chateau Evangeline, I keep her name because I always liked that name. But I like to change their name for something more personal. It's part of the bonding process for me.

 

I never keep the sculpt names for my dolls; in almost every case I knew who I wanted them to be and what I would name them before I ordered them. If by some coincidence a sculpt I wanted happened to already have the exact name I wanted to use, I would be fine with keeping it though.

 

Normally I keep my sculpt's names until I can't think of a name for them.

 

For a while, a couple of my dolls have reverted to being referred to by their sculpt names. It was while I was struggling to bond with them. But, for the most part, they usually have a name before they arrive. It's the ones that I wasn't quite sure on characters for prior to purchasing that have given me difficulty with names. Hence why I don't have too many impulse dolls.