Name Pun Round-up

[Hujio]

Viz and FUNi sliced it down to "Kakarot" because, technically, that's what it is.

According to...?

It's just how the name is appropriated into English. Like how "Seru" becomes "Cell", or "Dabura" becomes "Dabra". In Japanese, words can't end on a consonant sound, apart from an N, like Gohan/Goten (I think there's other exceptions, someone else could no doubt explain it better), so it has to be Kakarotto rather than Kakarot.

Exactly why it should be Kakarot rather than Kakarotto when translated is something I'm clueless about, but if it was supposed to be Kakarotto I'm sure someone would have said so by now.

I think people are blurring the line between translation and transliteration. This seems to be something that's brought up a lot and then gets argued about. Kakarot is a transliteration of カカロット (Kakarotto), not a translation. There is no actual translation for the name, because it's a name. You can't just translate a name from one language to another, except in rare cases like Cell or Trunks, where the names are take straight from English. You can say what a name means, but you don't translate it!

Think of it this way. My given name is Heath, which is English, meaning "field of heather". If you were to actually translate my name, and only God knows why you would want to do that, then that's what it would mean. But no one calls me that, because it isn't my name. They call me Heath, because that is my name. The same applies to Japanese names. Take Toriyama Akira (鳥山 明) for example. His name is made up of the characters for "bird", "mountain", and "dawn". If you met him in person, you wouldn't call him "Bird Mountain at Dawn", you'd call him Toriyama Akira or Toriyama-sensei, or if you're a complete ass-hat, just Akira. The same can be said for the fictitious name Kakarotto. In English, Kakarotto, Kakarot, Kakarrot, and Cacarrot are all acceptable transliterations of the name. There isn't one that's really that much more correct than the other. And so, this is where personal preference comes into play and arguments commence.

So, are we all on the same page now?

[Amigo Ten]

Okay, but is there a reason why it's always transliterated without the to on the end? I can't recall ever seeing Kakarotto on an English language product.

[Hujio]

Okay, but is there a reason why it's always transliterated without the to on the end? I can't recall ever seeing Kakarotto on an English language product.

It could be for two reasons:
(1) Most English words don't really end in a hard vowel sound. Or I should say, it isn't too common, so they just dropped it.
(2) The pun is on carrot, so they decided to have it end the same way, without the "o".

My guess is they did it for both reasons, but maybe just a touch more of the latter one.

[Olivier Hague]

Okay, but is there a reason why it's always transliterated without the to on the end? I can't recall ever seeing Kakarotto on an English language product.

It could be for two reasons:
(1) Most English words don't really end in a hard vowel sound. Or I should say, it isn't too common, so they just dropped it.
(2) The pun is on carrot, so they decided to have it end the same way, without the "o".

Most probably, yeah...
And here's a reason why it probably shouldn't have been spelled without the final "to": "Vegetto"
"Kakarotto" (or "Kakarrotto"?) "works" and would make a lot more sense in the end, when the Vegetto thingy happens...

[Amigo Ten]

Which is why Viz changed it to Vegerot, as someone said.

[Olivier Hague]

Which is why Viz changed it to Vegerot, as someone said.

Er... Yeah, "thanks"? ^^;
I'm just saying they wouldn't have had to change anything if they had called Gokû "Kakarotto" (or "Kakarrotto") with the final "to".

[Amigo Ten]

I'm still not sure if I prefer to change to Vegerot over just keeping Vegetto, given that they don't use Kakarotto. Funimation just kept Kakarot and Vegetto (spelled Vegito, but whatever), and I could never work out where the name came from until it was explained to me.

Vegerot gets around that problem, but it's just an unpleasant sounding name.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Okay, but is there a reason why it's always transliterated without the to on the end? I can't recall ever seeing Kakarotto on an English language product.

It could be for two reasons:
(1) Most English words don't really end in a hard vowel sound. Or I should say, it isn't too common, so they just dropped it.
(2) The pun is on carrot, so they decided to have it end the same way, without the "o".

My guess is they did it for both reasons, but maybe just a touch more of the latter one.

Number 2 is probably why they did it, since Kakarot is closer to carrot.


On that subject, shouldn't it be Cakarot because it starts with a "c" like carrot.

[Herms]

So, should include fusion characters? I guess I thought they were too obvious to include. Though the main thing I'm trying to add next is technique names.

Seriously though, I still have that list of the various alphabet spellings I found on official Japanese stuff... 'Think it could be an interesting addition?
(or maybe you've already compiled such a list yourself... I wouldn't be surprised!)

Sure, why not? I don't really have a list like that myself, though I've been thinking of looking through the Carddass daizenshuu and listing all alphabet spellings used on cards. Maybe I'll just add in any characters if they're not on your list.

Saibaiman combines saibai, ‘cultivation’, and ‘man’, so they should have been “Cultivated-Men” or something like that, if they wanted to translate the name. Maybe Viz simply dislikes names ending in ‘man’, because they think it’s makes it seem like a superhero comic? Another problem with “the Cultivators” though is that they’re the ones who are cultivated; they don’t actually cultivate anything else. So if anything they should be “the Cultivated”.

Hah, I guess when I wrote that I didn't realize that the Viz name for them is actually "Cultivars" rather than "Cultivators".

[Xyex]

Viz and FUNi sliced it down to "Kakarot" because, technically, that's what it is.

According to...?

I was just going with the pun, there. "Kakarot" is closer to "Carrot" than "Kakarotto" is. To me it's a similar concept (not the same, but similar) as to how "Cell" is closer to, well, "Cell" than "Seru" is. Technically they're both right but one is just closer to the punned word than the other.

Of course, this doesn't stop me from using Kakkarotto in my fanfiction.

[RoarkVegeta]

@SHINOBI-03:Mira-kun was the original name of the mummy from the Baba arc. That's not really a name change..

[SHINOBI-03]

@SHINOBI-03:Mira-kun was the original name of the mummy from the Baba arc. That's not really a name change..

The order goes "Viz name" -> "Original Name" in that list.

[SilverPlaqueVII]

Gure:
Possibly a pun on “grape”, or perhaps also the alien Greys, which she somewhat resembles?
Source Spelling:: グレープ/gureepu or グレー/guree
Name Spelling: グレ/Gure

It's eventually Grey, Jake. Thanks!

[Hujio]

Gure:
Possibly a pun on “grape”, or perhaps also the alien Greys, which she somewhat resembles?
Source Spelling:: グレープ/gureepu or グレー/guree
Name Spelling: グレ/Gure

It's eventually Grey, Jake. Thanks!

Umm.................................. What...? I don't get it... Does she at some point in the future turn grey or something? Right now the pun is on "grape", but eventually it will be "Grey"?

*utterly confused, because you make absolutely no sense, as usual*

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Gure:
Possibly a pun on “grape”, or perhaps also the alien Greys, which she somewhat resembles?
Source Spelling:: グレープ/gureepu or グレー/guree
Name Spelling: グレ/Gure

It's eventually Grey, Jake. Thanks!

Umm.................................. What...? I don't get it... Does she at some point in the future turn grey or something? Right now the pun is on "grape", but eventually it will be "Grey"?

*utterly confused, because you make absolutely no sense, as usual*

He means that Gure transliterates into Grey, which is false because they have different pronounciations.

[RoarkVegeta]

@SHINOBI-03:Mira-kun was the original name of the mummy from the Baba arc. That's not really a name change..

The order goes "Viz name" -> "Original Name" in that list.

*facepalm* Sorry.

[Godo]

@SHINOBI-03:Mira-kun was the original name of the mummy from the Baba arc. That's not really a name change..

The order goes "Viz name" -> "Original Name" in that list.

*facepalm* Sorry.

Why? Can you explain yourself?
I am not agreeing with Shinobi-03, but your post gives no information whatsoever to why you think it's wrong.

[SilverPlaqueVII]

Nikki's name is correct. That name is from cinnamon NOT diary. Nikki's name is a reference to the Japanese word Nikki (ニッキ, Nikki, in romaji), which means cinnamon.

[Xyex]

The order goes "Viz name" -> "Original Name" in that list.

*facepalm* Sorry.

Why? Can you explain yourself?
I am not agreeing with Shinobi-03, but your post gives no information whatsoever to why you think it's wrong.

He's not saying that Shinobi's wrong, but that he was. The "*facepalm*" was him basically saying "I'm an idiot, missed that, thanks"

[Godo]

He's not saying that Shinobi's wrong, but that he was. The "*facepalm*" was him basically saying "I'm an idiot, missed that, thanks"

Ah, that clears it up. Facepalm to my face.
I've been little bit dense lately. Two finals and lots of credits in between, and classes too. Sigh.