Gene and friends tend to remain their own characters and original names in the sort of fictional world all my dolls inhabit. I deal with the different looks by rationalising it with the use of wigs, make up, body paint, coloured contact lenses etc.

My Integrity dolls are a bit of a crossover, I give them their own names but dolls of the same sculpt share that name - for instance almost all of my Poppy Parkers are called Tamsin and I rationalise the changing appearance the same way I do with Gene.

My BJD dolls are very character/name driven so all have individual names. I do have doubles (young teens and early twenties) versions of several characters and even a third child version of one of them.

I rename all my syb girls except Abbé or OOAKs who keep their original names although sometimes with an addition. The others, whether they are 2OAK or bigger limited editions, don’t feel like they are “mine” until they have their individual names. And yes, like you I keep a list in case I get muddled.

I try to use names which have a meaning for me and sometimes have names waiting for dolls to suit them.