I’m writing a short story about a seemingly normal family, where strange and disturbing things keep happening until you finally learn that they are dolls being manipulated by a little girl.
I need doll names; frilly, girly names that a little girl might name her toys. I originally thought of [name_f]Lily[/name_f], but I’m naming the girl [name_f]Lilith[/name_f] nn [name_f]Lily[/name_f], so that one’s out. I briefly considered [name_f]Sophie[/name_f], but it’s very meh.
I need both girls’ and boys’ names, so please offer both. The doll characters are simple, somewhat cliched; what a small child would come up with. Any help is appreciated.
[name_f]Amelia[/name_f], [name_u]Ariel[/name_u], [name_f]Celeste[/name_f], [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], [name_f]Clara[/name_f], [name_f]Ella[/name_f], [name_m]Erik[/name_m], [name_f]Grace[/name_f], [name_m]Henry[/name_m] [name_f]Isabella[/name_f], [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_f]Katherine[/name_f], [name_f]Mabel[/name_f], [name_f]Mary[/name_f], [name_u]Max[/name_u], [name_f]Melody[/name_f], [name_f]Olivia[/name_f], [name_m]Oscar[/name_m], [name_m]Peter[/name_m], [name_m]Philip[/name_m], [name_u]Rex[/name_u], [name_m]Victor[/name_m], [name_f]Victoria[/name_f], [name_m]William[/name_m]. Sorry it it’s not what you’re looking for, these are just some names I consider of frilly type.
[name_f]Evangeline[/name_f], [name_f]Francesca[/name_f], [name_f]Francine[/name_f], [name_f]Liliana[/name_f], [name_f]Esmerelda[/name_f] are what I think of for frilly, but they may be too long.
[name_m]How[/name_m] little is the girl? Are we talking four-year-old? Ten? A young child would pick names that weren’t names at all. Dragon. [name_f]Moon[/name_f] [name_m]Hopper[/name_m]. [name_f]Sunshine[/name_f] Sparkles. Bumblebee Flyer. Stuff like that. Any parent who ever asked their little one for ideas on baby names for a younger sibling could list some really funny names young children come up with. A combination of fun words or characters from books/movies they’ve seen. Superman. [name_f]Dora[/name_f]. I don’t know what kids watch anymore. Maybe some flower-faerie type names. [name_f]Buttercup[/name_f]. Twinkleshine. Starbright.
I remember some of the names I loved when I was 8-12, if that’s more the range of your characters age. [name_f]Twyla[/name_f]. [name_f]Jessamine[/name_f]. Devony. Stormshadow. Haha, okay, so I was still in the mixing fun words stage. My point is, think about it from the perspective of your character. [name_m]How[/name_m] old is she? What does she read? Watch? What year is it? What names or words would be part of her vernacular?
@redrobin: I like [name_f]Ella[/name_f] and [name_u]Max[/name_u] off of your list, thanks. @mbrow222: The long ones are a tad too complex, I’m afraid; I’m not looking for frilly so much as simple and girlish. I’m liking [name_f]Rosie[/name_f], [name_m]Tim[/name_m] and [name_m]Kevin[/name_m]. @rkrd: I like your boys’ options, especially [name_u]Freddy[/name_u] and [name_m]Ned[/name_m]. @grackym: Maybe not [name_f]Annabel[/name_f], but [name_f]Annie[/name_f] or [name_f]Bella[/name_f]? Your others are a bit too much for me I’m afraid but I like nicknames or variations of them: [name_u]Tally[/name_u], [name_f]Gemma[/name_f], [name_f]Cat[/name_f] and [name_f]Lucy[/name_f]. @redwoodfey: She’s roughly in the 6-8 range. It’s not specified, for she only appears at the very end of the story. You’re really supposed to guess who or what the main characters (the dolls) are before it’s revealed; for this reason, I’m trying to stay away from names like [name_f]Moon[/name_f] [name_m]Hopper[/name_m], as I think most readers would have difficulty believing Mrs. and Mr. [name_f]Sunshine[/name_f] Sparkles were ordinary people. When I mentioned [name_f]Lily[/name_f] and [name_f]Sophie[/name_f], I hoped to convey the style of names that I wanted: simple, girly, well-known, something she might see in a picture book, or a classmate at school.
This is the ticket really. So, names that were in the top 100 eight years ago are the names she’d be sharing a class with. Ten random names of each gender for 2005:
When we started playing with Barbies the names got gradually frillier as the years went on: [name_f]Jenny[/name_f], [name_f]Samantha[/name_f], [name_f]Isabella[/name_f], [name_f]Gabrielle[/name_f], [name_f]Camilla[/name_f]. [name_m]Male[/name_m] names stayed pretty simple: [name_m]Bob[/name_m], [name_u]Andy[/name_u], [name_m]Simon[/name_m], [name_m]Brian[/name_m]. (We didn’t have many boy dolls. I am still a bit bitter about how this restricted our storytelling.)
My ten year old sister’s favorite names are [name_f]Merida[/name_f], [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_f]Hailey[/name_f], [name_f]Pauline[/name_f], [name_m]Jake[/name_m], and [name_m]Felix[/name_m]. From when I was five to when I was eight I was obsessed with the name was Scott. Our dog’s name was Scott and I still insisted we should name my little sister Scott.
I like the girl name [name_f]Maisy[/name_f] (also spelled [name_f]Maisie[/name_f]). It’s whimsical and pretty, and sounds like daisy.
I also like Tahti for a girl as well.
I had a weird obsession with Cabbage Patch Kids when I was five or six (like, seriously. I had six or seven of them). They all came with birth certificates, so they were already named. I had a [name_f]Sally[/name_f], [name_f]Emily[/name_f], [name_f]Paige[/name_f], [name_f]Cleo[/name_f], [name_f]Lily[/name_f], [name_f]Molly[/name_f], and [name_f]Maddie[/name_f]. So maybe that helps a bit. For boys names, try looking for more vintage names. They tend to sound frilly. I mainly used [name_m]Joshua[/name_m], [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_m]Adam[/name_m], and [name_m]Jacob[/name_m].