Your dolls's name/s: The story behind

Avalon - His name was supposed to be Arcani which meant Destined for Greatness. Avalon means Island of Paradise. I liked the name Avalon better because Arcani just didn't fit him when I got him home. And I waffled over it for HOURS.

Avery - I picked it because I knew when I got her she'd be Avalon's sister someway or form. She was supposed to be a more steam punk themed character at first (like one sibling super into it one not) but that fell ways to the wayside as I started to think about her more and more. So I went with "A" names. Ironically her name means Elf Counsel. She is infact an elf - just an elf with sealed powers thanks to her brother's mistakes.

Vala - This name was fairly easy to choose. When I was looking for a proper name for her, I wanted it to be a good one. She was my first true blue original I was shelling so I wanted it to be a good name from her old one. Vala is a Welsh name meaning "Chosen" yes I did this on purpose as she is chosen for something great.

Kazumi - her name was supposed to be Akane cause I liked the name a lot. But it just wasn't her. So I went around and around and finally... Kazumi. Meaning Beautiful Harmony.

Noah - Okay. I'm gonna confess right now. She's named after Noah Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh. I didn't remember much about the Virtual World arc when I got her but the name always resonated with me. Sooo Noah she was. No other name stood out to me but Noah. So Noah she is and Noah she stays.

 

Momoko- because she's peachy skin toned and a bratty lolita, names after the leading lolita on Kamekaze Girls LOL

Prism- its a really cool sleek name imo. Her style is gonna be more avant-garde and whimsical. She's also super deadpan and cheeky (love her lol)

 

Rog is Roger Dennis, named after my Father Roger and my Mother's middle name Dennis.
Dale is Dale Caroll, named after my sisters Carol Roxanne and Rebecca Dale.
Eirwen Colden, a Welsh name that means ‘white as snow’ and Colden means 'dark valley'. He is a minor deity of snow, that snow found in dark places when all other snow has melted.

 

Mun Chaeri is a Korean name. "Mun", or "Moon", means "gate"; "Chae" is "collect" or "gather", and "ri" is a particular type of white jasmine. So her actual name means "gathering white jasmine at the gate", which is kind of pretty. Since Chaeri is pronounced like the English word "cherry", Cherry is one of her nicknames. So is Riri (ree-ree). Sometimes her name is Anglicized to "Cherry Moon", but that brings up too many Prince references.

 

Murmur is a pun on myrmecology, the study of ants. Because she's an ant person. :V

 

Only gonna do a few as I have so many now

Oliver Dennett: Named after Oliver Twist. A rich boy who always ran away and played street kid. And the name Oliver always stuck out at me for both of those. Knew someone in hs with the last name Dennett, very rich and pretentious kid, but I really liked the sound of it. I thought it flowed well with Oliver and...Let's face it, Oliver Dennett sounds like a rich kid name
Kishen Hartwell: Black and blue. Taken off the streets at a young age and given this name by his captor after the state he was in. A bruised face with black curls. I knew someone who had Hart as a last name and thought it'd sound nice with Kishen, but ended up deciding a single syllable surname didn't flow as well
Luken: Bringer of light. Originally started as a fun little character on an Ask website, signed LS for Loyal Servant. When he became a full character, I wanted to keep the initials. I've changed some things now and unsure of what last name to give him human form, so it's just Luken now. Luken felt ironic to me as he was originally a demon species that couldn't tolerate sunlight. Now, it's worked into his human story as having been raised in a catholic convent by nuns, named after St. Luke
Eden Gray: Was a little hard to name. I knew I wanted them to be non-binary and wanted a more neutral name. They have a sad soul and Eden just sounds like a melancholy name that suited their color scheme. Needed a last name and for some reason kept going back to Gray for them

 

Mio - the previous owner leave the mold name, so I keep it
Minea - named after Vassalord character, one of my bff named the doll
Erzebeth Blavatsky - inspired in Erzsébet Bathory the bloody countess and Helena Blavatsky
Ichel - inspired by “Ixchel” the moon goddess in mayan culture
Oliver - named after Oliver Twist
Laura - is the name of my first OC
Ian - I just like the name, is short and easy going like the character
Usagi - means bunny and she is a DD Sailor Moon

 

Some new ones on the list:

-Amor/Amoricia--needed an A name, because her dad named she and her twin with the same letter (so he could keep track that they were siblings--he has too many kids to keep track of. Her name had to be long and a little bit of a mouthful, because the names he gave her siblings were (Venestus and Dialeptos being the most egregious), and it had to have a nickname built in that he'd be mad she uses, which, Ness and Dia both do as well. Her sister's name was Aurelia (derived from their father's name, Auratus) which was one of the only names he's been normal about ever in his life. I decided early on that I wanted her name to be Amor, and worked backwards. The name Amor, which I know, similar to so many languages word for love, is an ironic name because she's aromantic--which, as a demiromantic, was a little homage to something I have in common with her.

-Valentine: Okay, Val was one of my hardest characters to name, because he named himself, so I had to figure out what someone who ended up a vampire in the 90's--a fairly recent immortal--with a complicated relationship to gender goes with when he decides new life, new me. I know 4 or 5 other names that he tried on in the early months, but as he settled into his new place in vampire society (and drank his sire for power, but shhh that's incredibly illegal) he took the name Valentine. It's memorable enough for him, and somehow it just felt right when we tried it out. I knew I needed a kind of masculine name for him--he's a lesbian, he uses he/him and dresses very femme, and all this means that his queerness is pretty inextricable from his presentation and signifiers--he doesn't want to be taken for a woman, or a man, so he really mixes and matches name/pronouns/presentation. yes he and his gf are lowkey me exploring my own complicated relationship with gender and happened while I was reading a queer theory source for a paper--I really have just started creating characters to explore parts of myself. It also sounds a little older than he is--fitting, given that he pretends he was around in the victorian era so that his blood potency looks less suspicious.

-Alia/Alianora/Addison Crane: Alia is also a newer vampire. Mid 90's like Val. I needed a human name, which she uses informally with friends and people she's known for a long time--it was her human name, and it refers to a part of her identity. She's still the girl who went to concerts with her friends, and had all these plans that are indefinitely on-hold as a vampire. Addison Crane came to me spontaneously--she actually stole it from another character, and then started a naming tradition. The name Alianora came from a poem I read for class: The Tunning of Elinour Rumming--Alianoura was the name of the historical person it may have been written about. The paper I was writing when I made Val's character was actually about queer dynamics in the alehouse in that text--basically Elinour wasn't performing femininity in a way the speaker finds acceptable, but was being given wedding rings from ladies in exchange for ale, which when she gets compared to the ale at line 99, kinda makes that sound like she's got some lady-admirers, and I loved that tie-in. And I loved the weird archaic spelling. So it became a thing that in the line of succession of this particular family, your sire gives you their human name to mark you as their successor. Alia was given the name when she proved herself, because this vampire had stubbornly refused to name a successor until her. Crane is the last name for a particular group of vampires in...LA I think is the setting I'm using? That use the last name as shorthand to indicate someone's part of their little group--I just got it because I spontaneously named a character Addison Crane and it flowed off the tongue right. Crane also sounds a lot like a French verb, to fear, which works for a vampire family.

The paradise lost Arc I've set up is pretty self-explanatory: Eve, Satan, Sin and Death are all canon names from the text. Lilith isn't from PL but has some interesting thematic parallels. I've gotta say, this isn't the first time I've borrowed characters from classic lit, but it is one of the most fun. Sin and Death aren't finalized as characters yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion the body I'm dyeing is going to one of them.

 

Most of mine are back on page 2, but for my two most recent dolls:

Chara is Gaelic for "friend" although I'm pretty sure technically in the game they're from it's just short for "character"

& for Frisk I'm gonna assume they meant it in the "frolic" sense rather than "a pat down by the police" cause lol.

 

I'm pretty new to the hobby, so I only have 2 dolls:

Link: He's named and styled after Link from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Celeste: She's named after Celeste from Animal Crossing, although I honestly picked it because it's a beautiful name and it fit my girl's face and overall demeanor.

 

I don't have any completed doll characters at the moment, so they don't have "real" names yet. However, my current plans include a doll/character named after a porcelain doll I treasured as a child (I named her Tanya, which I thought was one of the most beautiful names ever, which later became Tatiana or Tanya/Tania for the character/bjd).

The next doll on my "to purchase" list is a full Bimong Dandelion - I own several Dandelion heads, but I'm saving for his latest 53cm version (who is looking gorgeous!). Her tentative name is Jeanette, which isn't at all Korean but in the story she has a Korean mother and American father, and in my actual life Jeanette was the name of a very dear family friend. I'll probably give her a Korean middle name to pay tribute to her heritage and also to the doll's sculptor. But who knows if I'll stick to that character when I see the actual doll!

I also plan to name a doll/character after my very intelligent, beautiful, and (on occasion) grumpy cat, but I haven't found the right doll yet.

 

I did this years ago, but my crew has changed entirely, so......

1. Brendan Antony Morelli (similar to Brandon "Bam" Margera/Italian names-- initials spell BAM)
2. Cooper Cameron Henley (Alice Cooper/liked the name/Don Henley)
3. Adam Ryan Capp (liked the name/Ryan Dunn/Johnny Knoxville--> John Clapp--> Capp)
4. Nathan Christopher Koenig (liked the name/Chris Raab/friend's last name)
5. Adrian Phillip Gregory (namesake was Andrew but wanted a slight variation/no reason here, they just seemed right)
6. Maximillian Samson Silverstein (Max Goof, Goofy's son/variation of friend's name/CEO of my work)
7. Amir Angel Lindström (Amir Derakh/Criss Angel/Linde Lindström HIM)
8. Marci Janine Richter (Marcy Playground/Blink 182 nurse/Jason James Richter)
9. Penelope "Pepper" Imogen Flaherty (liked the name Pepper, but wanted given names she would never go by/Michelle Flaherty from American Pie)
10. Charlotte Kathryn Diaz (liked the name/Kat Von D inspired/Cameron Diaz)
11. Sally Margaret Morelli (cute name/wanted a "grandma" family name/Italian name, Bren's cousin)
12. Harriet Persephone Trent (Henrietta Biggle from South Park inspired, similar name/something unusual but pretty/Trent Reznor)
13. Rosemary Opaline Bledsoe (Rosemary's Baby/rhymes with Marceline from Adventure Time/Bled-->Blood- she's a vampire)
14. Elsa Astrid Sundberg (Swedish names I liked--No, it's not for Frozen, she was named well before that movie came out!)

And I have an off topic tiny terrier named Minnie because she is the mini version of my real dog.

 

I really enjoy coming up with names and finding meanings for them :>

Dolls I currently have:
Risel
- this is a name I actually made up to some extent. I saw the name "Rivel" somewhere and liked it, but didn't really feel it suited the character, so I changed it a bit to Risel. As far as I know it's not a real name anywhere. Previously this doll was named Dolce (meaning sweet, derived from dulce) but I wanted a refresh and changed it to Risel.

Dolls I plan to get at some point (all for shelling existing OCs):
Aster
- Aster is both a type of flower as well as an old latin term for "a star". I named this character Aster over 5 years ago without really thinking about it much; the character has changed a lot since then but I've found ways to incorporate her name's meaning into her narrative. The relation to flowers (a natural substance, something that lives and dies) and stars (something with a magical sense to it) ended up becoming important to her character as a homunculus (a human being created fully-formed from natural materials, through alchemy). I'm still looking for a suitable sculpt for Aster but she's the doll I want to focus on next.

Azoth
- this is a character I actually designed based off a doll sculpt (Minifee Rens), although I haven't had the chance to buy a Rens for myself yet. Her character existed before the sculpt did, but I was struggling to put a face to the name. When Rens came out it was like something clicked and I thought "that's her!".
The name Azoth is also a real word; "azoth" was considered to be a universal solvent in historical alchemy and something really old 'alchemists' (or just very early scientists I guess) sought to create. Later on the word became a synonym for the actual substance mercury. I chose this name because in the story most of my characters are from, Azoth (the character) is a goddess that oversees the flow of magic, and is considered the source of all magical energy. I wanted to choose a name with a fitting meaning for this role.

Laciel
- Laciel is a sort-of made up name? It's intended to sound angelic, similar to names like Raziel, Uriel, Jophiel, etc (supposed angels recorded in some religious texts). After choosing it I realized it looks like the french words "la ciel" or "the sky", which wasn't intentional but suits an angelic character anyways. I picked it up from the game Inotia 3, which had a character named Laciel in it. There's a few sculpts I'm considering for Laciel, but I'm having a hard time finding suitable ones in 1/4 scale.

Nosferatu
- taken from the old real word of the same spelling, usually meaning "vampire". The character in question isn't really a vampire, but I liked the imagery it gave, and it's being used for a demon character anyways. He does have a sort of vampire-like appearance in some sense. I've already decided on a sculpt for this doll, it's just a matter of finding it secondhand and then commissioning a faceup artist.

 

Airistal - a name made up with no meaning online pronounced: Air-is-tal
I liked it because it's a blend of the air element and crystal.
She is my heart and soul character that has inspired a lot of my drive to get into the BJD hobby. I so badly want to see her brought into reality.
Bartholomew - having many furrows is one of the meaning for this name. I felt like it was a strong but also endearing name
He is meant to be Airistal's betrothed.
Dartania - from what i find online (which isn't very much) is just a timid name but to me personally I thought it was a strong name to suit an eventual queen of an entire planet.
Elijah - Of course has some religious meaning but I personally loved it because I saw the character it's meant for is a soft loving person to Dartania but also strong enough to help bring a new age of freedom to a war torn galaxy.
I also love names after flower / plant names all of the planets inside the galaxy I am creating is named after some sort of plant.
The Incandesa Galaxy holds 4 main planets each holding their own royal families.
Gunnera is the home planet of Bartholomew
Agapanthus is the home planet of Airistal
Helianthus is the home planet of Elijah
Acanthus is the home planet of Dartania

There are many more characters in the whole story but those are still being worked out in my head.

Thanks for reading!

 

My boy have name Ricky. Originaly I called him Olie because he is dollzone Oliver. But I wanna different name for him. When I watched Harry Potter I liked the name Godrick but it doesnt suit to him. So I shorted it and he is Ricky

 

My very first bjd, Meika, got her name from what I chose for my "name" when I took German back in seventh grade. Stuck with it for 5 more years of German till I graduated HS. I like the way it sounded and honestly, just seems like it fits her.

 

Most of mine just popped into my head but...

Zen is short for Zenobia; and ancient warrior queen
Largo (named after a James Bond villain)
Ariadne sounded elven and musical as well
Kevin, Ennara, Tyran, Serafina, Talen, Abisha, and Malcolm all originated from past RPGs I'd played
Waldo was named from Where's Waldo because he went missing for 2 weeks during shipping to me.
Everyone else was either something I made up or just a name I really liked and felt fit them

 

Going to add my new doll to my previous post

Autumn: She's my goth witchy doll and I felt like it just fit her. I contemplating naming her Artemis, but I wanted her to have a more mainstream name.

 

Well, at this point I still have a couple without names, but I'll share the ones I've got.

Clarice, my Island Doll Ivy. The name means "bright, clear" and has a gives me a kind of spooky, mystic vibe. I thought it suited a monochrome gothic lolita doll fairly well.
Tegwen, my Aileendoll Snow Rot. The name means "white, fair" and you can't go wrong with Welsh for a dragon!
Matilda, my Luts Zuzu Delf Mati, for obvious and uncreative reasons.
And last of the named ones, Rene, my Luts Zuzu Delf Velo. Originally an Aramis fullset (that I pillaged the clothes and wig for another zuzu) I wanted to give him a name that reflected his beginning as a Three Musketeers character. So, I picked the real name of the character known as Aramis!

 

My dolls have a mix of aesthetics and character meaning behind their names.

Sophia:
I just liked the name Sophie and always wanted to use it somewhere. I turned it into Sophia for a touch of elegance, and so I can get away with nicknaming her Fia for short, haha. The name means "wisdom" in greek, which doesn't exactly fit my girl's personality, but she does seek knowledge in the sense that she's curious. Biiiit of a stretch on that one, though.

Viola/Violetta:
Thinking about it, I actually stole this name duo from a character in the Ace Attorney series by the same name. Except I switched the nickname to being "Viola" for my girl while the game character's nickname is "Violetta". Both names are really pretty to me and felt fitting for her ladylike nature. Viola is latin for the violet flower, with symbolic meanings of innocence, faith, and modesty. It's also a name of the violin's cousin, viola, a reference to one of my favorite musical instruments in an indirect manner, haha.

Faline:
I wanted to give this gal a cat-like name for punny reasons, and because I wanted to call attention to the cat theme in her sculpt's fullset outfit. Faline was chosen for it's play/variant on the spelling for "feline". It also means "in charge" in Irish, a nice nod to her bolder personality.

Lumi:
This boy's story is tied to fae creatures, so I wanted to give him a pleasing name that was more gender neutral/fantasy-esque. I also wanted a name relating to the winter season. Lumi means snow in Finnish, and it wound up matching him perfectly. It's soft and sweet, and felt like a very fitting name for his blue and white color scheme of his fullset. I was also inspired by an instrumental song titled "Lumi" by a_hisa, that also carried that winter theming in it. Plus it's cute! A cute name for a cute boy~

 

Casey: my first character and his original shell was my first doll. Originally I modeled how I styled Casey after a doll I saw on DeviantArt, totally fell in love with and that made me want to get BJDs: a freckled, long haired ginger boy named Leslie. Casey is a name I picked because I also wanted him to have a technically unisex but traditionally female name, like Leslie. Casey has since gone through so many changes while I found his character and the only thing the same about him (and that even moderately resembles Leslie) is his name.

Gabriel: Just always wanted a son named Gabriel, and got this doll’s original shell before I was anywhere close to having kids of my own. Still have the character in a new shell, and still plan on naming my first son Gabriel.

Pluto: She’s a Doll Chateau Pluto, custom blushing and wig, but no name I came up with ever fit her as well as the name Pluto.

Georgia: I sent the money to purchase her body while I was on a drive from Florida to Georgia. Georgia just kind of popped in my head in reference to that doll, and it stuck. Later, after buying her head and clothes, I was trying to decide on her actual name. With her vampire head sculpt and steampunk style clothes, I decided she was to be a Victorian era vampire who has embraced the steampunk style in order to re-join society. So I was looking for traditionally Victorian names… Georgia was on the list of names. Decided it must be fate and stuck with Georgia.

Oracle: Originally Oracle was an unnamed floating head with a third eye mod. When Georgia’s body came in the mail, I wanted to do a small photostory of her meeting the boys, Casey and Gabriel, but she didn’t have a head yet. So I grabbed Oracle’s head and popped it on Georgia’s body for the photostory. But now she needed a name so the boys would have something to call her until Georgia’s real head showed up. Oracle popped into my head and stuck… but now she needs a new faceup because the character that popped into my head around that name does not fit her faceup D:

 

Wilhelm: I was walking in a graveyard when that name popped up. I love its vibe. It has a perfect feeling for his character. It's old enough and I like it much more than for example William. (It has also been in a Barbie movie, and I remember loving it as a kid :'D)

Julius: The same story with Wilhelm! I also took his name from a grave... I actually do this a LOT with my characters.

Jaron: I have absolutely no idea. I bet I just came up with it because I don't remember hearing it anywhere ever. I love to create names for my characters myself.

These two were not that deep haha :'D I usually put lots of effort to my characters' names, but sometimes it goes exactly like this. I bet every writing person knows.

 

Whooo boy, here we go!

Alordel - One of my D&D characters
Darastrix’Tibur’Vaecaesin - Dragon born as elf - Name given in game to my character by her adopted dragon grandmother.
Deoradhán - Gaelic for "Exile, Wanderer"
Dûrion - Elvish for "Dark one"
χάρις (Charis) - Hebrew for "God's Grace"
Cýron - Elivsh for "New moon"
Korin - One of my D&D characters.
Nkosazana Umalema - Xhosa. I was set on naming her "Princess" and she gave her faceup artist so much grief I added "Troublemaker" to her name.
Phyr'urra - Drow for "Blessed wanderer"
Randireil - Elvish for "Wanderer"
Rhyalyn - One my D&D characters
Soriel - One of my D&D characters (I think I got this one from an Angel name generator)
Woari - One of my D&D characters. Daconic for lost, wanderer

All of my Elf Soo girls have bird-based names. All with three syllables. All ending in "A".
Mierlă - Romanian for "Blackbird"
Paloma - Spanish for "Dove"
Rēvaṇa- Punjabi for "Raven"
Alondra - Spanish for "Lark"
Pěnkava - Chech for "Finch"
Carriça - Portuguese for "Wren"

My Catsy twins have lunar-based names. I have a third name picked out if I ever get a third one as well.
Terra - Highlands of the moon
Marria - Lowlands of the moon

שָׁמִירָה Shamira - Hebrew for "guardian, protector" She watches over all the little anthro/Soomlings:
Sanura -Egyptian for "Kitten"
Jelenia - Polish for "Deer" or "Cleft"
Ylva - Norwegian for "She-wolf"
Varg - Norwegian for "Wolf"

 

Welp here I go. I'm only going to do my SD for now as my doll crew is quite large.

Clarence "Nox" Aberdeen - I wanted something "cool" for his prefered name but on the contrast to have an embarrassing real name that he has an even more embarrassing nickname based on his real name that his grandma calls him (Clancy). Don't remember why I chose Aberdeen though.

Reidar Smith - Some of my dolls are named after my own prior nicknames or online aliases. One of my prior online aliases was 'Ryder'. I decided to butcher the name a bit for this character. I also found out that the name Reidar means 'warrior' so it was perfect. Smith was because I needed a very generic last name and a friend suggested Smith. It has stuck ever since. He is also lovingly called Wolfie or Rotri (which means famous wolf).

Ohn - This one started as a joke. He is my DnD half elf monk and part of his story was that he was raised by monks at a monastery after being abandoned as a child. Elves in DnD lore are known to choose their own "adult" name wen they come of age, and he wanted to choose his one too. He had overheard monks chanting "ohmmm" all the time and decided to use that as his basis.

Holden Smith - I wanted a "country sounding" name. And people from his town tend to have odd names in general. Holden means 'Valley' and he is from Death Valley. So it's a bit funny.

Hariette "Hari" Branwen - My bird man! I thought it would be funny to have a feathery man named "Harry" at first but soon changed it to Hari (said like Har-ee) because I liked the idea of the name Hariette for a male. Branwen means 'blessed raven'.

Nullum Void - Another joke name. Nullum is my DnD homebrew species I call Void Elves. He was unnamed for many years until a friend helped me decide on Nullum since it means nothing, void, or null. Plus Nullum Void sounds like a pun of the phrase "null and void".

Sizzy Smith - One of my childhood nicknames was 'Sissy' and I actually hated it. So again I butchered this into Sizzy. It's fitting for a women with bearded dragon scales all over her face.

Finbar "Fynn" Farlad - My fish boy! Fynn came first with the reasoning "fish have fins, and Fynn is fish, so Fynn be him". The longer first name was a later decision and Farland came from how in my stories, Fynn is a wanderer who comes from a far off land. Far land became Farlad.

Ekon Abasi - Ekon is an African name meaning strong and was fitting for my lion boy. Abasi is also African and means stern, which his family is known to be overly so.

Lyle Van Singapura Chantilly - My oldest OC! Van, Singapura, and Chantilly are all in relation to cat breeds due to my original origin story I wrote when I was a teenager. I actually have many characters that their names are based on cat breeds. Lyle was chosen as a name similar in sound to his father, Clyde. He's connected to a lot of my other characters with similar naming origins.

Angora Singapura - Another cat breed named character. Angora and Singapura are both from cats. She's the mother of Lyle.

Mana Singapura - Mana was named such due to her birth origins. It's a long story but involved a lot of magical power. Eldest bio daughter of Lyle.

Charlotte Singapura Chantilly - I wanted good twin names that were not just rhyming names. Charlotte can have Charlie or Lottie as nicknames, perfect for a tomboy who is sometimes girly. She's the youngest bio daughter of Lyle.

Harlequin Van Singapura Vulpine - Second of the twins, again wanted something not rhyming. Harlequin can have Harley or Quin as nicknames. So these two can do rhyming nicknames if they want. His last name is slightly different due to becoming the heir to another family and needing to take on their name. The other family is fox related so Vulpine is pretty obvious. Only son of Lyle.

Émile Jaheem Bélanger - Èmile was my attempt at naming a different way. I picked origins I wanted and then picked names with those origins that I thought sounded good together. I didn't pay attention to their meanings until after my choices to make sure they didn't seem weird when combined. Èmile means 'rival', Jaheem means 'dignified, and Bélanger means 'one who came from beautiful anger'. Works for a character who is actually a sort of god of death.

 

Beth: His original name is Ezbeth, but I have always wanted an abgious character with the name Beth. Beth is a nickname they got from a person that hurt them deeply. Rani (Beth's partner) started to use this name without knowing the context and it stayed.

Rani: His name is from Disney Fairies. The fairy that had this name was one of my favourites, so I wanted to name an OC after her. I have actually had two OCs with this name.

Lilika: I remember seeing this name somewhere and I wanted to use it, too.

Varpu: It's a Finnish nature name. It suits her really well since she looks like she could be a forest fairy. + I wanted her a Finnish name!

 

All my dolls are associated with birds, and I try to put their bird aspect into their name.

Simurg Syr. A doll from my newbie days, don't remember anymore where I got the name Syr. I think I made it up and liked its sound. It's pronounced 'seer', which was a bit of what the character is anyway anyway. She got her bird aspect much later, and it's her surname too.

Falco Justinian. Also from my newbie days so I don't remember the inspiration. Justinian sounds more elegant than Justin, and I think my idea of him being an angel of justice was there from the start. (No, he's not named after the Byzantine emperor.) He always had surname of Falco, and when I decided to give everyone a bird aspect, it was right there.

Alke Vallant. I stole Vallant from a published fantasy novel: he's an angel of courage, and it sounds like 'valiant'. I found Alke when looking up terms on Wikipedia for a griffin (his original bird aspect, it's since changed) - it has one meaning as a Greek deity of courage, and another meaning of a wingless griffin.

The Anpiel. An anpiel is an angel from Hebrew lore who protects birds. I first encountered the word in my favourite fantasy/SF series, Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun. I knew it long before I bought the doll, and I pretty much built the character of my only 1/4 around its name.

Aongheal Antigone 'Gael'. The sculpt was love at first sight, he pretty much gave me his name Gael right away. Later I was looking up the word roots on Wiktionary, and discovered Aongheal means "all-bright" in Irish Gaelic. It suits a character who's a white seraph, and Gael seems to be an appropriate nickname. Antigone is both elegant-sounding and the genus name for a crane (his bird aspect).

Aix Oshidori. I originally wanted to name her Aisalon (ancient Greek for a merlin), but I'm a bit OCD about naming a cast of characters without repeating starting letters, and A belongs to the Anpiel already. When searching for bird names I came across Oshidori in Japanese - it's a pretty word, I like mandarin ducks and it suits the character. Aix is the bird's genus name, so happens that it sounds enough to Aisalon that I felt I could substitute.

Hayk Severian. The only doll so far who was troublesome to name. Usually I get character names pretty quickly, but my original ideas for him didn't inspire. I've been fascinated by Armenian and Georgian history/culture after learning about them from Byzantine empire history, so I looked there for ideas. I couldn't figure out a suitable bird-related name, but I liked the sound of the Armenian given name, Hayk. Surname? Well, his clothing style is heavily based off the protagonist of The Book of the New Sun -- but he's his own character, and naming him Severian is way too on the nose!!! I tried very, very hard to find a different surname, but nothing caught on, and I was still uninspired when I unboxed him after a very long preorder wait. I've conceded defeat, at least Severian is found in the Armenian language. He's the only one whose name doesn't reference his bird aspect (raven).


Dolls in progress/on the way home ... their names aren't 100% set in stone yet and I hope to run them by some native speakers of the languages. If you're familiar with them and think something sounds amiss or could be improved, I'd be grateful for a note

Yaroslava Zharitsa 'Zhara'. I wanted a phoenix in my cast, and I liked the Slavic firebird stories. I made up Zharitsa from the Russian term zhar-ptitsa, Yaroslava is also Russian and seemed suitable for an angel of joy and vigour.

Glasán Ó Síocháin 'Finch'. Another name kind of stolen off a published fantasy novel: Jeff VanderMeer titled his novel Finch after the name of the protagonist... I thought it was cool, and why not be overt in my naming for once? He's an angel of peace, so I looked for "finch" and "peace" in different languages, and ended up in Irish Gaelic.
I had a different angel of peace before, her name was Halcyon Eirene, and her bird aspect was a kingfisher (Halcyon is a kingfisher genus name and also means idyllic). I've sold the doll and while I love her name, I don't like to recycle names in the same story context. So it's permanently retired and I gave the new angel of peace a different name.

 

My quirk with my dolls' names is that they generally name themselves, as it were, so more often than not, the name just comes to me and winds up sticking. The more personally invested I am in making a doll work, the longer it takes for a name to arrive.

Aiyu Naeuri -- Aiyu's given name is sort of a phonetic offshoot from the K-Pop artist IU, whose music I was really into at the time. Some years later, I began playing FFXIV and decided to port her in as my player character to see if it would help me bond with her more. I made her an Au Ra, which use very traditional Japanese profession-based last names per the in-world lore. Since her given name is somewhat "out there," I elected for a much more by-the-book surname.

Eden -- Technically surname-less, Eden's name came about because I wanted a name for him that is on the feminine end of the unisex spectrum and has some underlying religious/mythological tones. I also enjoy the sort of irony between his name (an idyllic paradise) and the reality of his character (very obsessive/controlling/destructive).

Ingrid Michaelsen -- Ingrid came to me in a roundabout way because of her sculpt name, Mi. I wanted a name that featured the long "ee" sound using an i and read as a little bit stuffy, but would also work on someone with alt/goth leanings. Ingrid, to me, checks all those boxes. Michaelsen was loosely stolen from another collector's online username, as I find this collector's alt/goth characters to be really inspirational for Ingrid's looks.

Marcelline "Marcie" Jean Breeland -- Marcie's given name was more or less instantaneous with little input on my part. I gave her the full name "Marcelline" to give her something that read as a little more mature. Breeland is the name of one of the fictional plants in Nancy Drew: Danger By Design, the PC adventure game, that you use to make tea for a puzzle. It was about this time that Marcie started giving me distinct country western horse girl vibes, so I gave her the middle name "Jean" for the alliteration and vaguely twangy nickname-middle combo.

Khadija -- This was one of the rare instances where the name and character existed before the doll arrived to me. It's a name that I find both very phonetically pleasing and also very different from the naming conventions of my other resin dolls. I knew I wanted a name with a long historical heritage, since the character has been around for untold numbers of years, and would be fitting on a character of North African/Middle Eastern descent. I have not given her a birth name nor a surname, as it is canon that she took the name Khadija from a long-deceased lover (a la Pisha from Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines).

Phoebe -- Also a name that came to the character without much input from me. I knew her name needed to be soft with an air of delicacy to it, and Phoebe feels very delicate and soft to me regardless of its history. Phoebe the character is on the younger end in terms of naivete and disposition, but is also very friendly, which ties into the meanings "pure" and "bright." Fun "in-universe" fact is that Phoebe was named by Ingrid, Aiyu, and Marcie, though she had existed namelessly for some time before that.

 

Some new ones hehe

Asael: I constructed it myself back in the days. Names that end with -el are always my favourites and I have many OCs with similar names.
Viktor: One of my favourite names of all time! I also wanted him to have a slavic name so it fits him perfectly.
Nori: I actually don't have any idea! I wish I remembered. I probably just wanted something simple and easy, as her best friend and the other protagonist of the story is named Rani. I probs just wanted them to match.
Kuu: It means "moon" in Finnish and I find the word itself very beautiful. The doll itself is agender and to me this name is pretty androgynous choise.

 

Ah, this reminds me of how stupidly I name my dolls, hahaha.

Ricotta: After I ordered her, I was still thinking about names, and I saw a picture of three cute kittens, and their names were ricotta, cheese, and salad, respectively. In that moment, I was like, "Ricotta, that's such a cute name." I thought, "If she had a sister doll, I'd name her Panna Cotta," and then my dolls would be cotta-s. I thought it was funny that it's pronounced the same way as the Japanese heating appliance called a kotatsu, so... It's all cotta.
Pannacotta: Yeah, she's the first doll that I felt like, "Wow, she's going to be a sister to my ricotta," so it was kind of predetermined that she would be a panna cotta.
Chacotta: From that point on, I had two criteria for naming my dolls: one, it had to be a word that ends in cotta (the actual spelling is cota, kota, cotta, kotta, either way is fine) and two, it had to be a real word. Other than that, I picked something I liked the pronunciation and image of. Her name means something like a nonsense word, a joke, or a country song.
Ecotta: This name refers to one of the varieties of blueberries. It's a peachy flavored variety. I won her in an event, and she was my first 1/6th size doll and a white skin doll. so I thought it was a good name for her, cute little friend.
Corocotta: She was a dog-themed doll, and when I first saw her, I felt like she would be really good at "wait!" So her real name was Laelaps, and she was the hound of Actaeon. After a long time, everyone who remembered her disappeared, and there were only rumors and legends about her, and she was known as corocotta(crocotta) lol.
Holomycotta: One of the taxonomic names for eukaryotic organisms, meaning... It's one of a group of fungi. It was the one that fit the bill and I liked the way it sounded. Because of this name, she had a problem with the production process and she multiplied herself and became a twin X°D
Deuteromycotta: In fact, the first doll I thought of for this name was the current chytridiomycotta, which is how the two names came to be... Both of these names are a type of fungus, Fungi imperfecti and chytridiomycota, respectively. One is a fungus with no observed sexual reproductive stage, and the other is a fungus that primarily lives on dead organic matter or is parasitic on plants, and I happened to have one of my dolls with a setting of indeterminate gender and the other with a setting of dead wood, so... Yeah, the one with the indeterminate gender ended up being a dueteromycotta.
Chytridiomycotta: The name is derived from the name of the parasitic fungus. she's a doll with half of her face sculpted like a skeleton with flowers and leaves, and I gave her the setting that she's like the incarnation of a dead tree (which became the nourishment for other creatures like lichens, mushrooms, small bugs, and fungi), so it's aptly named.

 

Mina - Wilhelmina - popped into my mind when I dressed her in a white Victorian outfit and had a random thought about Dracula. I didn't make any direct connection, but I thought hey, Mina is a nice name, so it stuck.
Candell is a made up name. I think it fits a jester who's a bit dark and faerie-like.
Leona, I wanted to give her a Scandinavian name and style her dark like a vampire, but once I took her home I figured that it wouldn't work. She felt more like a knight, her face is somewhat feline and I imagined her with a long mane of hair.
For Nadia I felt she'd need a Slavic name. I love Anastasia too which is Greek but popular in East Europe, however long names seldom stick.

 

Owned:
- Bun-Bun: A very on the nose and last minute name given to my 3D printed bunny BJD. I couldn't think of anything else, lol.

To Be Owned:
- Force: Derived from the doll's sculpt name. Plus it was pretty fitting.
- Charlotte: Again derived from the doll's sculpt name. Plus it was fitting and gave off "grew up privileged, but is a nice person" vibes.
- Rudy: Again derived from the doll's sculpt name. Again, it was fitting and gave off "timid, yet sweet and loving" vibes.
- Freya: Again derived from the doll's sculpt name. It also is the name of a Norse goddess which is pretty neat.
- Freyr: Again derived from the doll's sculpt name.
- Cherry Blossom: Derived from a doll's "skin tone". It was a Hujoo Freya with pink skin and the name was "Cherry Blossom".
- Deborah: Again derived from the doll's sculpt name. Again, it was fitting and gave off "grew up privileged, but is a helpful, nice person" vibes.

 

All my dolls who are OC's are dnd or dnd adjacent characters, so their names needed to be uncommon or feel more fantasy-ish.

Vanora is a water genasi, so I wanted a watery themed name for her. I considered a few different ones, and almost went with Ondine for her, but that felt too on the nose. Vanora means "white wave," so it worked with the idea for how I picture her hair looking like a cresting wave. I did eventually name all her family members too (she has 5 siblings) and other than her mom, all their names also have watery themed meanings or associations xD
Faolán, her best friend, I kind of just chose a name that sounded cool. It means little wolf
Mercutio is my bard, and I affectionately refer to him as either discount or knock-off Shakespeare, because when I was creating him, I'd decided i wanted his vicious mockery to use Shakespearean insults. So he needed a name from a Shakespeare play, and even though Romeo and Juliet is my least favorite, I've always liked the character Mercutio!

 

I've already replied to this thread before some years ago, but I thought I'd do it again since my doll plans have changed a lot and the only doll mentioned in the previous post that actually exists is also being changed.

Risel --> Rivel Fhaustal (resin Rivel)
Mentioned in my previous post! (Also the only doll that currently exists/I own) I ended up changing her name to the original inspiration, Rivel. She was supposed to be my "canon" version of that OC, but I've decided to change her resin shell into the FFXIV AU version of her, and shell her "canon" form as a vinyl doll. You can differentiate them as Resin Rivel and Vinyl Rivel.

Resin Rivel's surname comes from the German name Faust/Faustus, which is also from a legend about a man who makes a deal with a demon. I altered Faust to Fhaustal to fit in with the Miqo'te naming conventions of FFXIV. Considering that she becomes a black mage at some point in the FFXIV story, I think it fits thematically.


Rivel Rozenacht (vinyl Rivel)
The new "canon" incarnation of Rivel that will be a Volks DDS Takina whenever I save up enough money to buy her. Her first name is the same, which is the only consistent name related trait between all the AUs.

Her surname, Rozenacht, is a mix of German words (with spelling a bit changed) that roughly means "rose night", but I prefer to read it as night rose.

Her birth name is technically Rivel Ars Faust, with Ars meaning "arts" and Faust still being demon-pact-related, but her mother changes their family name to escape previous family affiliation with the Sanctum from their story.
All the families related to the Sanctum have Ars as part of their surname, so it's an obvious social connection to the organization. It's taken from the Ars Goetia from real life, that book of so-called demonology.


Ruel Acanthe (vinyl)
Rivel's twin. I was originally going to shell her with her resin counterpart as an identical twin but the sculpt for Resin Rivel is unpopular and also discontinued, so I changed my mind on that. She will be a Volks DDS but I haven't decided on sculpt.

Ruel is a made up name, like Rivel, or so I thought (I did honestly just randomly make it up, then I googled it to see if it already existed). Apparently it's a Hebrew boys name that means "friend of god". Considering the main story narrative and the way she dresses, this is actually coincidentally very fitting!
Acanthe, a surname given to orphans of the Sanctum in their story, is taken from Acanthus, which is a plant genus, but is also derived from a Greek word (akantha) meaning something like "thorn" or perhaps "sharp" or "spiky".


Pretty much all the OC-dolls plans from the previous post were shelved, and these three are my main focus now.

 

My OC dolls were originally based off Dream of the Endless and the Corinthian from The Sandman. They were genderbended and placed into a non-fantasy contemporary AU of my making. After they quickly developed into their own unique characters, I decided they needed their own real names.

Corinne "Cori" Monroe:
Cori had always meant to be the shortened form of Corinthian but that nickname is now exclusively hers. A search led me to find Corinne to be the perfect full first name for her. Fun fact: Amara is the only one allowed to address her by that name. The surname Monroe is a nod to Marilyn Monroe because Cori is charming, charismatic, and for a few years, a sex icon in the form of an OnlyFans creator.

Amara Blackwood:
I really liked the name Allora that surfaced my mind, but the internet informed me the Italians would hate it. Then I thought maybe Reverie because it relates to dreams—the French apparently think it's cheesy and cliché, and I'm inclined to agree. By random chance I stumbled upon Amara, a name associated with words such as love, bitter, grace, mercy, and everlasting—that I believe perfectly encapsulate her as a person and her emotional journey. Blackwood is a surname I picked because it evokes an Old English, inherited wealth vibe that is also gothic and mysterious.