Early dolls were called stump or tocke dolls. Tocke means block of wood in German. They had no arms or legs and were easily carved out of one piece of wood. They were later known as poupards and were said to represent babies.

Early English wooden dolls were intricately carved covered with a thin layer of plaster and varnished. Later these carvings became cruder and less individual as the dolls became more widely produced.

Peg woodens or Dutch dolls were mass-produced from 19th century. The heads and limbs were painted and the rest of the body remained as rough wood.