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Original poster

Does your girl name her dollies or soft toys?

31 replies

zebra · 18/10/2004 18:20

Because mine (3yo) doesn't.
Not that I worry. I wouldn't even notice, but it's obvious that other people think she must have names for her babies & animals.
"What's the name of your doll/giraffe/zebra?"
"Beebee", "jraffe", "'ebra", she replies, factually confirming the obvious.
So I'm curious ...If your DD names her dollies/soft toys, did you teach her to do that? Did she learn it from other children? From TV? Did she do it spontaneiously?

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KateandtheGirls · 18/10/2004 18:21

My 5 year old didn't do it until she was probably close to 4 years, and my 2.5 year old doesn't yet. I think it takes them a while to make that leap.

WigWamBam · 18/10/2004 18:29

Not until recently, and she's 3y5m old. Even now it's only certain toys, and not one of her dolls have names, although she doesn't play with dolls much, she prefers cranes for some reason. Sometimes she gives toys names and then forgets, so changes the name repeatedly.

hana · 18/10/2004 18:41

dd (also 3) calls things by their names too - ie dolly is dolly - she distinguishes them by big dolly, little dolly, dolly with bonde hair, etc etc) and her stuffed animals are 'bear' 'monkey' etc etc. I too wonder about when they might if ever get 'names'! Think it's cute that her dolly is just dolly!

although she came up with a name for the baby - she likes cinnamon at the moment!

tamum · 18/10/2004 18:46

Dd does, and has done since she was tiny, but ds was the same as your dd, looked at people as if they were mad when they asked him what his soft toys were called.

Dd came up with some memorable ones- one of her earliest names (she was just 2) was "Fnicholas Birthdayparty" (I hope I'm spelling that correctly ). My old Tiny Tears doll was re-named "Jennifer Grunton". Boy, did people wish they hadn't asked her when she came out with that one- it was extremely difficult to keep a straight face.

Hulababy · 18/10/2004 19:00

DD (2.5yo) started naming her babies in the past 3 or 4 months. They are normally named after her friends at nursery. Before that they were all just called Baby. Aparted from baby Annabel, who came wih a name anyway - DD called her Baby Belle.

Teddies and soft toys haven't been named yet though.

Moomin · 18/10/2004 19:13

unless we give a toy a name when we give it to dd she names EVERYTHING she has either 'ffion' or 'pea'. Ffion is a girl at nursery - no idea where pea comes from!

Aimsmum · 18/10/2004 19:25

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turquoise · 18/10/2004 19:25

I think my dd was about 4 before they got proper names. Before that they were: big baby, new baby, cheeky baby, baby boy etc.

throckenholt · 18/10/2004 19:25

do boys count ?

my DS1 (3) has teddy, doggy, rara (lion), and grilly (gorilla) - I don't know if they are names or not .

bakedpotato · 18/10/2004 19:39

lots of dd's friends, now coming up to 3, aren't interested in naming. but she has always been keen on it. she first wanted to call her big doll, which she got around 2, 'Peter Rabbit'. we steered her away from this should i feel guilty about it? probably and then she said she wanted to call her Ella Pella.

excellent choice, we thought. however as her language got better, she started to express extreme disgust at our pronunciation. finally she got there herself. "Not Ella Pella -- ARABELLA!"

arabella is not a name often heard in these parts. i will admit to finding it faintly traumatic having an arabella in the family (dd is forever introducing her to people, or just making reference to the arabella who lives with us). no idea where she got it from -- poss Little Arabella Miller with her blooming hairy caterpillar?

all my sister's toys, pandas, dolls etc, regardless of sex, were called Jesus or Gareth

Original poster
zebra · 18/10/2004 19:40

That's just it, DS doesn't name his tractors, steam engines or cranes -- why should DD name anything?

OP posts:
Nimme · 18/10/2004 19:51

DD (4) haven't named anything until the Barbies arrived. Now everything has a name and the baby she is expecting (when mummy has her baby) has already been named. Before that rabbit, who went everywhere with her, was/is just rabbit.

popsycal · 18/10/2004 19:52

my ds aged 2y 2m has a dolly that he has named baby tooda

no idea what it means or where it came from

his soft toys dont have a name at all

tooda is obviously special - as apparently baby tooda is also in mummy's tummy

Hulababy · 18/10/2004 19:57

Oh, forgot. DD gor a large toy elephant for Christmas aged 20 months, which she adamnetly insisted that it's name was "Mouse". This was despite knowing that the animal was an elephant. He was simple "Mouse" the elphant to her!

And she wanted our friend's to name their new baby boy "Shepherd's Pie" because "she likes them both".

littlerach · 18/10/2004 19:59

DD1, 3.5, names all her dolls, sometimes 2 will have the same name. They are usually named after people she has met or goes to nursery with, she does have one called Millie which is her name, which does get confusing as se refers to her and we don't know if she is using the third person to tell us about herself! They all keep their names, never changed. And we have to try and remjember them too!!

scaltygirl · 18/10/2004 20:18

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jampot · 18/10/2004 20:34

ds has been more inclined to "name" for instance a teddy he won at the school fayre some years ago was "Annabelt" (?) and his Bear Factory Bear is "Dumperling" he has names for plenty of other toys. Whereas dd tended to stick with the manufactured name as in Ty beanie babies.

Tissy · 18/10/2004 20:38

dd is 2y9mo, and the only things she has spontaneously named so far are her pink and blue elephants, called Pink and Blue Rumpeta respectively. These appear to be names rather than descriptions, as she knows that they are elephants.

motherinferior · 18/10/2004 20:39

Isn't that a Rumpeta as in the Elephant and the Bad Baby, who went rumpeta rumpeta rumpeta all down the road?

DD1 tends to name things after her friends at playgroup, I think.

sobernow · 18/10/2004 22:16

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yurtgirl · 18/10/2004 22:31

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prefernot · 18/10/2004 22:42

We named all dd's toys and she's stuck with the ones we've chosen so far even the rather stranger ones like 'Mr. Klaminski' but I guess that's 'cheating' as it's not her own made up names? She's 2 and she named a small teddy 'tiny teddy' and a horse 'owdy' (?) and another horse 'bowt' (??). She also sticks to the t.v. names of people like Noddy and Big Ears, Laa Laa etc. Oh yes and she named her favourite dog 'wolfy.'

sallystrawberry · 18/10/2004 22:44

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Yorkiegirl · 18/10/2004 23:59

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Thomcat · 19/10/2004 00:16

We name her dolls, mainly after wonderful waitresses who made our day/evening by doting on Lottie and taking her off into the kitchens and stuff while we ate! Her favourite rag doll is Lilly and she was also our favourite waitress!!!

I've worked hard at not letting a favourite toy develop but it happened anyway, if lilly isn't with us I get it all day - 'Lilly, Lilly, Lilly' over and over. She's learnt to cup her hand round her mouth and tip her head back and call her! Luckily she hasn't really sussed what shouting is yet, which is amazing coming from my house!