What Do You Call Your Dolls?

11 hours ago, froggubi said:

Hah! When I'm talking to my mom I call my girl her granddoll! Glad I'm not the only one XD 

On a similar note, for years my mom would ask "when are you getting me a grand-dog?" Welp, dog now acquired, we need to find a way for my mom to meet her grand-dog, since we live in different states lolol. We'll probably also have a grand-doll involved, just not sure who yet.

 

I usually just refer to them by name, but then again, I do only have a few at the moment. 😅

It also depends on who I'm talking to. For most people, they're "My/The dolls", whereas if I'm talking to other doll people, like online or at a con, it'll be "My/The girls".

For my two boys I do often refer to them as my dollies or boys or sometimes my sons. 
Specifically my doll Kobo who is an original character is most often called my son. 
Meanwhile my other boy Dazai is also my oshi and fav character so I do sometimes call him my husband lol

It totally depends on which doll we're talking about:

Dolls that were purchased because I like the character or wanted to make a particular character, and that therefore will remain that character fall in a few categories:

• Ranko and Mirei are "daughters" (step-daughter?) or at least "daughterable", since they're young girls whose character quirks evoke parental feelings. 
  • Miyu the Vampire Princess should technically fall into this category too, but at the same time she's technically almost immortal and would probably hate a doting parent (and/or condemn them to some horrible fate totally by coincidence), so she probably belongs more into the "Highly Dangerous Monster" category (more on that later). Since she's technically also not a traditional vampire, and therefore not a bat, I can't call her a "Highly Dangerous Beast". Besides, calling her that to her face might lead to unsavoury results...
• Adult characters, or characters that canonically count as "adult" and not as "moe", such as the Sakura Taisen girls, will just be my "girls" - and possibly "boys" if I ever manage to get or make one - although considering the kind of canon male character I would want those might also fall into "needs a doting parent" (Hi Saiyuki boys 🤗 - broken boys that look like they need a cuddle are best😅).
• Three cosplay characters are "ships", besides being "girls". And obviously the custom Miku I want to make is a "synthesizer".

The Azone girls with minimal original canon backstory and other canon characters I don't know well probably also mostly fall into my "girls", yet also:

• Mashiro, due to her origin in a 18+ game and being a busty fox, can only a be a "Highly Dangerous Beast", one that has dark designs (for a given definition of "dark"...).
• Amane clearly is a "beast". Whether she is a "highly dangerous" one I somewhat doubt, though.
• Luluna either is a vampire or thinks she's one, which should make her a "highly dangerous" due to the risk of bites if she were interested in that yet instead I mostly get the occasional question about buying that sweet red juice at the supermarket. *Sigh*
• Lilia and Cecily both are "highly dangerous" but obviously not "beasts" or "monsters", even though Cecily does insist she wants to go to nightclubs the whole time and therefore might qualify for what the Dutch call a "kroegtijger" (which is a beast only metaphorically).
• Fururu, being a cat, is certainly a "beast".
• Kanna is very normal. Fortunately. And very pretty.

As for my OCs, considering most of them are batshit insane, certified supernatural, little bit beastly (it's in the username), or otherwise abnormal, they can only be "Highly Dangerous Monsters" or "Highly Dangerous Beasts" (if they have beast-bits). Should I ever do a doll meet, these are the terms I will use when asking who I should bring if I were to take an OC. But "girls" (and the occasional "boy") is also fine for them.

Well, that was way too long and too rambling.

And it gave me an idea for another character: Loveless' Ritsuka, which would let me combine all of the above into a single doll.

 

Usually I just call them "my boys" as a whole, and their names individually. Sometimes "my army of tiny men".

Their 1/3 versions often get the label "big boys", esp the resin ones. Because I only collect the two same characters I also often put which kind of doll they are in front of their name, so MDD Haruka/Fuuta, DD Haruka/Fuuta etc.

2 hours ago, MoiBakaDesu said:

Sometimes "my army of tiny men".

Pffft, this made me chuckle! 

On 6/27/2026 at 2:28 AM, caiusdolls said:

I do often refer to them as my dollies or boys or sometimes my sons. 

Aww that's so sweet!

On 6/27/2026 at 6:56 AM, Kemonomimicry said:

at least "daughterable", since they're young girls whose character quirks evoke parental feelings. 

I love this description, I totally get what you mean! XD

On 6/27/2026 at 6:56 AM, Kemonomimicry said:

although considering the kind of canon male character I would want those might also fall into "needs a doting parent"

Canon male characters... I think I'd be interested in Alphinaud, Len, or Kaito myself! 

On 6/27/2026 at 6:56 AM, Kemonomimicry said:

As for my OCs, considering most of them are batshit insane, certified supernatural, little bit beastly (it's in the username), or otherwise abnormal

Also I feel this in my SOUL LMAO! I feel like most of my OCs fit into those categories too

On 6/27/2026 at 6:56 AM, Kemonomimicry said:

Well, that was way too long and too rambling.

Nooo I had lots of fun reading through it all, don't worry! 

My wife and I jokingly call Boethius "our/my son." (Her nickname for him is Boethi and mine is Boe.) The rest of my dolls are girls, but I rarely refer to them in a group so they're often referred to by their name. I usually use "my girls" though. I view Boethius as a femminiello so he's an honorary girl lol. 

Kseniya technically has a nickname in my OCverse, Senya. Her partner Menelay's is Misha. They are Russian and Bulgarian respectively, and it's cultural to use diminutives as endearing terms. I've become accustomed to calling them by their full names, though. I chose them because I thought they were pretty. 

It was nice to read all the lovely names you call them with! 

For me, it depends to the person I'm talking to. For the people into the hobby and for me myself, I call them the family or the girls (even if we have a man now). For the rest of the people, they are simply the dolls. Calling them the dolls feels so cool, since I have a strong bonding with them. 

Usually "girls". This kind of annoys Kaito but Len's kind of girly anyway and is currently cosplaying as Saber.

Everyone has names which are their default names although Kirika 2 is called Kazuha and I had to name the non-character MDDs.

Most of my doll family have roles. Ciel and Kazuha are the smart pair and help me work on my coding projects. Fumika always helps in my job search. Aqua only appears if we have a party. Rem or Ram only appear on very special occasions. Hana leaves the house a lot, mostly because Misaki's forever outfit is too delicate.

Well, there was another name they had been getting called, but it hadn't been used a lot by my partner or I until recently.

So, in boardgame land, there was a company called Fantasy Flight Games.  They sold games in extremely large boxes that the fandom called "coffinboxes."  When I got into Dollfie Dreams, I started using this same word for the sliding sleeve boxes the limited dolls often came in.  This wasn't because of any true similarity to the FFG boardgame boxes beyond size.  It was more because... well, they kind of function like coffins with the dolls lying in there.

So a combination of reapplying the earlier term for large boxes and the functional use of a Volks box, I started often referring to their boxes as "coffinboxes."

Over two and a half years ago, I went through something unpleasant, and I had to struggle to keep my girls.  Happily, my struggles proved worth it and I got to keep all my doll girls.  The catch was that never again would all of them be out at the same time.  Most of them would have to stay boxed up in their coffinboxes and put away in the closet.

Due to the number of coffinboxes in the closet, it started getting referred to as "the crypt" or "the mausoleum."  "The crypt" is the more common usage.

Rarely, the girls were starting to be called "vampires."  They were in their "vampire sleep."  This was despite none of them having any vampire sort of background in our personal lore.  The closest it gets is that Tecra would probably like to be called a vampiress, but certainly isn't one.  Cynthia likes that elegant gothic vampiress look, but once again she isn't one.

Recently, I had six girls out and decided to get it down to three out and on display.  I'm only supposed to allow myself four out at a time.  So, I put three girls away, and that resulted in lots of comments about "the sun coming up" and "vampire slumber."  

Afterwards, the partner started calling the three girls remaining out "Vampires" and "Vampire Girls."

The three girls still out are Dusk (Ranko Kanzaki v2), Natasha (Anastasia), and Kaede Takagaki.  The partner seems to use "Vampire" to refer to Dusk and Natasha, and it doesn't seem to apply to Kaede.  But it does seem to be universally used to describe girls that are put away in "the crypt," particularly Tecra (Rin Tohsaka v2).

So, that is the story of how my girls seem to have accidentally become Vampires.  It has passed a threshold of common usage and seems to have stuck as a primary reference now.

 

2 hours ago, Gabriel said:

 

So, that is the story of how my girls seem to have accidentally become Vampires.  It has passed a threshold of common usage and seems to have stuck as a primary reference now.

 

Accidental Vampires should be the title of a YA novel or Manga.  I'd read it.  

To toss in my own two cents.  My dolls are referred to as a group as my girls.  I only have girls, so it just makes sense.  

Edited 13 hours ago by DesertPhantom51