Forum - View topicMeanings of character's names.
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hentai4me
 Posts: 1313 Location: England. Robin is so Cute! |
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Indeed. it's just that the original poster seemed suprised that names have meanings. If he's a New Zealander then chances are he's (perhaps she?) is from either a British or Maori background and both cultures have meanings to their names. |
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f2th
Posts: 7 Location: New Zealand |
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To clarify, yes i'm from NZ, of british descent.
The difference i see is that most english names are not words in common usage with that meaning. I never heard of anyone named "Cherry-Blossom" if you see what i mean. Most people don't know what their english names mean, or looked it up once and promptly forgot. |
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abunai
Old Regular
 Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Smith. Bailey. Miller. Woods. Forrest. Gardner. Butler. Cook. Et cetera. - abunai |
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f2th
Posts: 7 Location: New Zealand |
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yeah, i said "Most" not "All"!
can you pick and English name at random and automatically know the meaning? Say "Phil", or "Shaniqua"? what does "Bailey" mean anyway? can we get this back on topic please ? it was fun finding out what the names of anime characters mean, and what extra meaning that gives to their personalities. |
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abunai
Old Regular
Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Stipulated.
Yes, I can. Although the former is originally a Greek name, and I beg to question whether the latter is an English name in any way. Though I suppose the case could be made that it derives from an ethnolect or sociolect of English... oh, nevermind.
It's the term for the outer wall of a castle (as in the "motte-and-bailey" style so favoured by the Norman conquerors of Britain), or alternatively, the area enclosed by this wall. The name has been part of English naming conventions since the middle ages.
Yes, I agree -- we've veered a bit far off the track. Getting back on topic, two names that often occur in anime as either personal names or surnames are Miyabi and Makoto. These are in fact the names of two of the three "uniquely" Japanese virtues praised by the court poets and scholars of the Heian era (794-1192). 雅 (miyabi) is "courtliness". 誠 (makoto) is "simplicity" or "sincerity". Oddly, or perhaps not so oddly, given its meaning, the third virtue never puts in an appearance as a personal or family name. 哀 (aware) means ”sensitivity, sadness, yearning", and is closely related to the probably more familiar term natsukashii. The absence of this third virtue is probably the result of its potentially negative meaning. The use of "virtue-names" (such as the English names "Faith" or "Hope", or even "Modesty" or "Chastity") is fairly widespread around the world. One place, related to anime, where aware does occur is in critical analysis of the anime medium. Certain anime (and non-anime Japanese films) reflect this Japanese tradition of mono no aware, a sort of sad consciousness of the transience of existence. For instance, that is the case with Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. - abunai |
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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As can I for most greek, latin and biblical names. Doesn't Phil get it's root from the Greek word love. As in philosophy, pedophilia, or hemophilia (blood lover). Isn't this why Philidelphia is the city of brotherly love. I always thought the name Phil Hartman (sp?) was as cool in it's redundancy Yomiko Readman. Phillip Fry of Futurama was named after the screwdriver of the same name. I do not know any Shaniquas in real life or fiction so I would hardly consider it a typical name. Then there are the huge collection of Heathers, Ashleys, Brooks, Heaths, Halleys and Glens which are fun nature themed names. The very popular Christian, Chris, Christina, Christine and all of the variations. Actually any biblical (David, Matthew, Adam, John, Mary, Joshua, etc.) name will have an association to it. There are a slew of names that have that are great homonyms as well, Phil (fill) being such a case. Another fun one is Robin which is traditionally not named after the bird. One story I wrote had two characters named Miles and Art, both who had ties to their homonym name meanings, not the true roots of Miles (soldier) and Art (Arthur). Of course Miles was also named after Lois McMaster Bujold's famous Miles Vorkosigan character, who was in turn named after Mark Twain's character. This trend is not only local to the US and Japan. My favorite British show is Spaced where it is even pointed out that the main character Daisy is named after a flower. There puppy is even named Colin, although that one is a bit more obscure. Black Books' main characters are Bernard Black and Mannie Bianco which is just silly. There is also a association with other people with the same name. Names like Luke, Igor, and Conan come with popular ties. You don't name your character, character's sword, or yourself Masamune or Musashi without having most of your Japanese populance having a association. I'm still always amazed how often the name Hideki comes up in post World War II Japan. Even though you might not realize it names like Maximillian and Ruth (opposite of Ruthless) actually mean what you might expect them to. As are the names Woodstock (which has both the concert and bird to associate with) and Victor. One of my favorite things is when one needs an active understanding of both languages to understand a cleaver name. I'm not sure sure if it was intentional, but Cloe in Noir sounds like Kuroi in Japanese which is brilliant. Also the Jyoji George word play in Kaze no Yojimbo is creative. Did you know Noa's labor Alphonse means Ready for Battle in old German. The Kampher in Gundam 0080 means something like strugle or fight, but I can't remember at the moment. I think it has the same root as Hitler's famous Mein Kamph (sorry about the spelling since I don't speak German). There is hardly a popular name in the English language that doesn't evoke an association, literal meaning or fun homonym to it. I could go on for hours on this topic. |
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blind_assassin
 Posts: 755 |
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Only Japanese name that I know the meaning of aside from Sakura off the top of my head is Fubuki. Which means snow storm.
Technically its not an anime name but its from the new Nippon Ichi game "Disgaea 2" and the opening sequence is anime and it has strong anime influences so I think it'll count. And the name Fubuki fits the character since he's from a clan of snow ninjas. |
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Code001
 Posts: 60 Location: USA |
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spoiler[That's because, during the end, he doesn't say those famous words and actually starts to mock the thunder.] 
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Stellarleen
 Posts: 75 Location: Tokyo |
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I just started watching Bleach and the other day I was flipping through a Japanese cookbook that I have and I saw that "ichigo" is Japanese for strawberry. I'm assuming that this is pronounced the same as Ichigo... but I can't imagine that his name is translated as strawberry. Perhaps this is another case of "depending on the Kanji"?
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abunai
Old Regular
Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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That's right: Ichigo's name is written 一護 (ichigo) with the kanji for "one" (ichi) and "protect" (go). The word "strawberry" is written 苺, but pronounced the same way (ichigo). - abunai |
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mrgazpacho
Posts: 316 Location: Australia |
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Actually, there is Arcade Gamer Fubuki, although the only snow storm associated with her would be the exposure of white panties... 
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hayakunero
Posts: 61 Location: 日本 |
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日本語の知識をずいぶんお持ちですね。 abunaiさんなら分かってくれると思いますが、苺と一護は全く同じ発音？ではありません。強く言うところが違うんです。あと高低アクセントもあって、人の名前と物の名前ではアクセントが違うことが多いですね。私は関西弁ですが、共通語でも多分違うと思いますよ。まあ、外人さんにはどうでもいいことだと思うんですが。 
こういう場合は発音が違うというのか、アクセントが違うというのか分かりません。どうなんでしょう？ |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11352 Location: Frisco, TX |
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For those of you who are interested in doing so, feel free to test your hiragana translation skills. |
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abunai
Old Regular
Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Yes, it's quite true that, to a native Japanese speaker the difference between "Ichigo" the personal name and "ichigo" the word for strawberry will be much more audible, and that accent and inflection plays a large part in this. But we are not dealing with small nuances here -- rather, we are dealing with words that seem like perfect homonyms to a non-native speaker. Also, I might point out that not only does the Bleach manga make joking reference to the kanji reading of Ichigo's name, it also (unless my recollection is faulty) makes at least one joke about his name being deliberately misinterpreted as 苺 (ichigo, "strawberry"). So you're right, but you're overstating your case. - abunai |
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hayakunero
Posts: 61 Location: 日本 |
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Thanks. You are always gentle and kind.
 Non native Japaese speakers don't have to care accurate Japanese pronunciation. 
Sorry. I didn't use English. What's hiragara translation? |
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