Anyone searching for a doll for the first time runs into a whole vocabulary within minutes: sex doll, love doll, real doll, silicone doll, WM Doll and blow-up doll. Some of those words mean exactly the same thing. Others are a brand name or a manufacturer. And one of them is a completely different product. This article lines the terms up, so you know what you are looking at before you buy a sex doll.
| Term | What it is | Where you mostly see it |
|---|---|---|
| Sex doll, sexdoll | A life-size, realistic doll with a skeleton, made of TPE or silicone | Worldwide |
| Love doll | The same doll; the usual name in the UK and Japan | British and Japanese shops |
| Silicone doll, TPE doll | The same doll, named after its material | Product listings |
| Real doll | An American brand that became a generic name | United States, forums |
| WM Doll | A Chinese manufacturer of TPE dolls | Hundreds of webshops worldwide |
| Blow-up doll | A different product: inflatable vinyl without a skeleton | Party shops, sex shops |
All names for the same doll?
Largely, yes. Sex doll, love doll, silicone doll and TPE doll describe the same product: a life-size doll made of TPE or silicone with a metal skeleton, a realistic face and usable openings. Which word someone uses depends on language and habit. British shops tend to say love doll, American shops sex doll. Google treats the terms as near-synonyms too: search for love doll and you see the same dolls as for sex doll. All of those names lead to one place with us: all sex dolls in stock.
Two terms fall outside that group. Real doll and WM Doll are not types of doll but the names of a brand and a manufacturer. And a blow-up doll is a different product, covered separately below.
Real doll: a brand, not a type of doll
RealDoll is the brand of Abyss Creations, an American company from California that has made silicone dolls since the 1990s. It was one of the first makers of realistic dolls and received a lot of attention in films and media. That is how the brand name slowly became a generic one, like Hoover for vacuum cleaners: many people say real doll when they simply mean a realistic sex doll.
If you literally want a RealDoll, you order from the manufacturer in the United States. The dolls are made to order, the lead time runs into months and the price is a multiple of a TPE doll from stock, before shipping, import duties and VAT. They are beautiful dolls, but it is a different market from ours.
Searching for real doll because you want the most realistic doll possible? Then you are in the right place. Our LexyDoll models are silicone and come closest in detail to what people picture when they say real doll. DutchDoll, our own premium brand, uses premium TPE with a posable skeleton and standing feet. Both sit in our own warehouse and can ship today.
Love doll: the British and Japanese term
Love doll is the everyday name for the same doll in the United Kingdom and Japan. Japanese makers have built realistic dolls for decades and call them rabu dōru, the Japanese pronunciation of love doll. English-language shops use the term because it sounds friendlier than sex doll. There is no difference in substance: material, skeleton and use are identical.
When you see the word, read it as sex doll and compare the doll on the same points: material, weight, skeleton and exactly what is included.
WM Doll: a manufacturer in China
WM Doll is not a type of doll and not a shop, but a large Chinese manufacturer of TPE dolls that has been active since around 2010. It supplies hundreds of webshops around the world, often under its own name. That is why you see WM Doll everywhere as soon as you search for sex dolls, with an enormous catalogue of bodies, heads and options.
That deserves a sober footnote. With a manufacturer name, the doll itself still says little about what you will receive: that depends on the shop placing the order, the configuration chosen and the checks carried out afterwards. Many shops sell the full catalogue without holding stock. The doll is then made in China after your order and shipped, with a lead time of weeks and an import process you have little influence over. How to judge such a shop is covered in spotting a fake sex doll.
We do not carry WM Doll. Doll.shop works with four brands that we select and check ourselves: DutchDoll as our own premium brand, Blazedoll, LexyDoll and RF Doll. For every model, the exact doll you see sits in our warehouse in the Netherlands, checked under our own quality control. Import duties and VAT are already included, you pay the price you see and you have 14 days to change your mind. How the brands compare is explained in comparing sex doll brands.
Blow-up doll: a different product
A blow-up doll is the only word in this list that is not about a sex doll. It is an inflatable vinyl doll without a skeleton, weighs a couple of kilos at most and costs a few tens of euros. It belongs with party supplies, not with realistic dolls. You cannot pose it, the skin feels like an air mattress and the openings are at best a glued-on part.
Our dolls are therefore not blow-up dolls. They weigh 25 to 45 kilos, have a metal skeleton with movable joints, skin made of soft TPE or silicone and a face with inset eyes, eyebrows and lashes. That difference in weight and feel is exactly why you should look carefully at height and weight before choosing a life-size doll.
What to check when you search for real doll or love doll
- Material. TPE feels soft and costs less, silicone is firmer and more detailed. We explain the difference in TPE or silicone.
- Weight and height. A 40-kilo doll feels heavier than you expect. Choose a size that suits your home.
- Stock or import. Is the doll at the shop, or is it made in China after you order? That determines lead time, checks and who carries the risk.
- Total price. With imports, always ask about shipping, import duties and VAT. With us they are included in the price.
- Cooling-off period and service. Within the EU you have 14 days to return as long as the seal is intact. Outside the EU often not.
- Photos. Do you see the exact doll you will receive, or a factory photo of a different configuration?
Our advice
Do not let the name distract you. Real doll, love doll and sex doll describe the same doll, WM Doll is a manufacturer and a blow-up doll is something else. Compare dolls on material, weight, skeleton, stock and total price, and check who is responsible when something goes wrong. Want the most realistic doll we have? Look at LexyDoll for silicone or DutchDoll for premium TPE, both straight from stock. Or start wide and compare all sex dolls on material, height and price.
Not sure whether a doll you saw elsewhere is comparable to one of our models? Send us the link. We will tell you honestly what the differences are, even if the other model is the better choice for you.
