I believe that is correct, where the J is more like an H sound. That’s how I’ve always said it and heard it, anyway. 
Josefina was always one of my favorites, too, even though I never had her. It is interesting, as you say, how most girls seemed to want historical characters based on how much they looked like them, as I was also one of the exceptions. I had Kit, but I looked more like Molly or Samantha for sure!
This thread was so much fun to read! Thanks!
I love the research you did on this! I agree, [name_f]Molly[/name_f] seems well suited, my great grandmother was a [name_f]Molly[/name_f] born in 1906, so it easily could have been an honorific choice too!
I think the American girl dolls use the trend of a name that’s currently popular at the time of a dolls inception and its also plausible as a name plucked from the era more so than the most commonly used names in said era, which is a good marketing tactic but a bit of a fudge up on the accuracy which considering how soft subject the books and brand are kinda fits.
I just LOVED American [name_f]Girl[/name_f] Dolls when I was young. I have such fond memories of them. It especially helped that I was a little blonde, blue-eyed, half-Scandinavian girl with bangs named [name_f]Kirsten[/name_f]. I was convinced that our last names were the same (they aren’t; they just both end in -son or
-sen, like most Scandinavian surnames lol) and that we were twins.
Anyways, as I got older I desperately wanted a nickname that I could go by (my family called me [name_f]Kirstie[/name_f] when I was little but I loathed it for some reason and made them stop, which I came to regret). On my quest to find/come up with nicknames for [name_f]Kirsten[/name_f], of which there aren’t too many, I came across [name_u]Kit[/name_u]. I also loved [name_u]Kit[/name_u] Kittredge when I was younger, and thought her name was so cool and fun. The second I realized I could use [name_u]Kit[/name_u] as a nickname for [name_f]Kirsten[/name_f], I knew I had found my new moniker. And that’s how I went from sharing a name with one American [name_f]Girl[/name_f] [name_u]Doll[/name_u] to being (partially) named after another lol!
Honestly, American [name_f]Girl[/name_f] does a really good job down to every single detail of the doll. I know that for [name_u]Kaya[/name_u] (not going to say her full name because I will write it wrong) they had a team of elders from the tribe she was supposed to be from come in and design her outfit, face shape etc. She is also the only American [name_f]Girl[/name_f] doll to not be showing teeth because that is meant to be a sign of aggression in the tribe!