Name Pun Round-up

[linkdude20002001]

Steve Simmons' subtitles on Dragon Box 2 call him "Buleberry", and his partner "Raasberry".

That makes sence. Buruu translates to blue, so buuru would be bule.

[Amigo Ten]

Spopovitch and Yamu have no puns? What about the fat bloke Krillin fights?

[linkdude20002001]

Bacterian? Well, that would be a pun on bacteria. You're right. He should be on the list too.

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

Bacterian is on the list. He's talking about Panpoot or whatever from the 25th Tenkaichi-Budokai.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I thought it was just "Shi" (four), "Ten" (heaven) and "Oh" (king).

Taken separately, yeah, that's how the kanji would sound... But here...
You asked why, but I'm afraid I can't help you with that one: I have no idea.

EDIT: A quick Google search pretty much confirmed what I suspected: it's just a sandhi. In other words: "it evolved that way and that's it".

Thanks. Gotta watch out for those weird Kanji readings.

[Herms]

Spopovitch and Yamu have no puns? What about the fat bloke Krillin fights?

I don't know about them. Yamu could be a pun on "yam", although that seems like it would be more fitting for a Saiyan, since it's a vegetable.

Bacterian is on the list. He's talking about Panpoot or whatever from the 25th Tenkaichi-Budokai.

Panpoot's the guy Goku fights in the first round of the 22nd TB. The guy from the 25th is "Punter". Not sure what, if anything, that would be a pun on.

[Puto]

Tard
Named for mustard.
Source Spelling:: マスタード/masutaado
Name Spelling: タード/Taado

I can't help but laugh at the final romanisation for this.

Catapi
Named after the humble caterpillar.
Source Spelling: キャタピラ/kyatapira
Name Spelling: キャタピー/kyatapii

You should have rendered this one as Caterpie :P
Pokémon ahoy.

Tolbie
Named for the beetle, which he resembles.
Source Spelling: ビートル/biitoru
Name Spelling: トルビー/Torubii

Tlebee?

Toteppo
Taken from “potato”
Source Spelling:: ポテト/poteto
Name Spelling: トテッポ/Toteppo

Maybe Totappo would be better?

Gurumes: [D6]
Daizenshuu Explanation: “The name of Movie 1’s enemy, King Gurumes, is a pun on the word gourmet, meaning fine dining or a connoisseur of good food. At the time, there was a gourmet boom, with numerous collections of TV shows and magazines. King Gurumes was a character who adopted and embraced that trend.”
Source Spelling:: グルメ/gurume
Name Spelling: グルメス/Gurumesu

Gourmes?

Bongo: [D10]
From vongole, as in spaghetti alle vongole, spaghetti with clam sauce.
Source Spelling:: ボンゴレ/bongore
Name Spelling: ボンゴ/Bongo

Vongo?

Sauser: [D10]
From “Thousand Island Dressing”.
Source Spelling:: サウザンアイランド・ドレッシング/Sauzan-Airando Doresshingu
Name Spelling: サウザー/Sauzaa

Maybe Thouser?

Planet Konats:
From “coconuts”
Source Spelling:: ココナッツ/kokonattsu
Name Spelling: コナッツ星/Konattsu-sei

...Conuts?

[Herms]

You should have rendered this one as Caterpie
Pokémon ahoy.

Huh, looks like the Japanese name for the Pokemon is spelled exactly the same as the DBZ character. How about that?

Tolbie
Named for the beetle, which he resembles.
Source Spelling: ビートル/biitoru
Name Spelling: トルビー/Torubii

Tlebee?

Toteppo
Taken from “potato”
Source Spelling:: ポテト/poteto
Name Spelling: トテッポ/Toteppo

Maybe Totappo would be better?

I don't really feel the need to have the character spelling follow the name pun to the letter like that. As long as the spelling reflects the source enough for people to potentially figure it out, I think that's OK. Plus, I think a certain amount of obfuscation is good. But one reason I did include the source and character spellings is so that people can use it to decide for themselves how they want to spell a name.

Maybe Thouser?

That is in fact how his name is spelled on Japanese Carddass cards and whatnot. I've been thinking of starting using it, especially since the spelling "Sauzer" makes people think his name comes from "salsa" or "saucer". But force of habit is hard to break.

I guess I should explain more about the logic behind my list (I may go back and paste this into the first post too). This is a list of all the name puns I know of. If a character isn’t listed, that means I don’t know what, if any, name pun they have, not that they necessarily have no pun. Well, either that or I forgot about them or am just putting them off to do later (like the GT dragons, or some of the attack names). There are in fact a few names that Toriyama has confirmed as having no name pun (Popo, for instance), and these I’ve actually included in the list so people will know that there’s no pun for them.

Generally I won’t bother explaining who characters are unless they’re extremely obscure, and especially if they’re only named in the credits and guidebooks and not in the actual episode/movie/special. This guide also covers only the Japanese version, and for translations and romanizations follows my own rather haphazard naming scheme, and for the time being at least I won’t go into the various ways a name has been translated/changed in different adaptations. I’ve only listed ways a name is changed or translated in Viz or whatnot if the character is so obscure that people here might only be familiar with the adapted name.

Here’s some elaboration of the various sources I cite:

DragonBall Forever
A name pun guide on pages 158 and 159 has Toriyama explaining the name puns behind numerous characters. It only covers manga characters, for obvious reasons.

Daizenshuu 6: Movies & TV Specials
This book includes a “Memorial” section after its summary of every two or three movies. These Memorial sections include pictures of the various paraphernalia that were put out with each movie, including posters and pamphlets. More importantly (for this guide, anyway), they also include a paragraph giving various behind-the-scenes type info, including inspiration for name puns. Most of these puns are also covered in TV Animation Part 3, but since this daizenshuu goes into more detail, I’ll generally quote it when possible. The Memorial sections are on the following pages:
Movies 1-3: p.40
Z Movies 1-3: p.68
Z Movies 4-5: p.86
Z Movies 6-7: p.104
Z Movies 8-9: p.122
Z Movies 10-11: p.140
Z Movies 12-13: p.158
TV Specials 1-2: p.178

Daizenshuu Supplemental: TV Animation Part 3
Often called Daizenshuu 10 for short, since it was released last of the ten daizenshuu. A table in the “Planning” on page 68 lists movie character name puns for movie-original characters. It’s a lot more thorough than the name puns included in Daizenshuu 6, though some names are covered in D6 that aren’t here, such as for the Big Gete Star. Being a table, it generally only lists the names and their source, so I usually won’t bother quoting from it.

DragonBall GT Perfect Files Vol.1
Page 51 lists the name puns for most of the planets that appear in GT, and some of the original characters. Vol.1 only covers up to the end of the Baby arc, so that’s all the name puns cover as well. Vol.2 contains no similiar name pun list.

DragonBall Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume
Page 91 has Toriyama explain a bit about Freeza’s name pun on his reason for using name puns in general. Page 48 lists goes over name puns, but contains no information not given in DB Forever, so I never reference it.

Keep in mind that any name pun without a source is essentially a guess. Obviously some guesses are more likely than others (do we really need an official explanation of what Mint’s name pun is?). For source-less puns that are more speculative, I’ll try and say “probably” and “possibly”. However, any pun I bother to include on the list is one I think is very probable, fitting both the character’s name and the general flavor of DB puns fairly well. Of course, how likely counts as “likely enough” can be subjective.

[SilverPlaqueVII]

Nice call Jake! How about some extra windups:

Ginyu Special-Squad (The Ginyu Force)
Each member of the squad is named for a dairy product. The Special-Squad itself (特戦隊/toku-sentai in Japanese) is named after the Super Sentai series, a genre of Japanese children's television programs that feature teams of costumed superheroes battling monsters. These shows are produced by Toei, owner of Toei Animation, the animation studio responsible for Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT. Footage from Japanese sentai shows were edited, dubbed, and combined with new footage of American actors to create Power Rangers. Sentai shows typically feature teams of five costumed heroes, each one a different color, who fight using elaborate poses that originated in Kabuki theater. The connection to the Ginyu Special-Squad should be obvious. In his Daizenshuu 2 interview, Toriyama admits this connection, saying his inspiration was his son’s love of sentai shows. The Great Saiyaman also shows a strong sentai influence.

Ginyu
From milk, specifically cow’s milk.
Toriyama Explanation: “This is of course from gyuunyuu. I thought it’d be good to think of the names from things that you put in refrigerators, so I was able to complete the names for the Freeza-related characters without much difficulty.”
Source Spelling:: 牛乳/gyuunyuu
Name Spelling: ギニュー/Ginyuu
FUNimation Dub name: Captain Ginyu

Gurd
Toriyama Explanation: “I thought that I’d name all of Ginyu’s underlings after dairy products, and Gurd is taken from yogurt.”
Source Spelling:: ヨーグルト/yooguruto
Name Spelling: グルド/Gurudo
FUNimation Dub name: Guldo

Jheeze
Toriyama Explanation: “This is a pun on cheese.”
Source Spelling:: チーズ/chiizu
Name Spelling: ジース/Jiisu
FUNimation Dub name: Jeice

Butta
Toriyama Explanation: “Butter of course.”
Source Spelling:: バター/bataa
Name Spelling: バータ/Baata
FUNimation Dub name: Burter

Reacoom
Toriyama Explanation: “It’s cream.”
Source Spelling:: クリーム/kuriimu
Name Spelling: リクーム/Rikuumu
FUNimation Dub name: Recoome

I decided to add the FUNimation dub names to it for the Ginyu Special-Squad.

[Herms]

I'm currently not going into what the names are in various dubs and other translations unless the character in question is so obscure that I'm afraid too many people won't know who/what I'm talking about if I only mention the original name.

[SilverPlaqueVII]

Sauzer's name is though Thousand Island, but it's some called "Salsa". The name is from the Mexican sauce itself. I really doubt that.

[Amigo Ten]

So that's what Reacoom comes from. I always wondered. Now I understand why Viz used that particular spelling.

[hleV]

What about Vegetto?

[Amigo Ten]

It's just Vegeta and Kakarotto isn't it?

[SHINOBI-03]

In case somebody asks, here's my old list of name changes in the Viz adaptation:

DB vol. 02 - Carrot Master - Toninjinka - His original name translates to "Rabbit who turns people into carrots"

DB vol. 05 - Full Metal Jacket - Sergeant Metallic

DB vol. 05 - Sergeant Major Purple - Sergeant Major Murasaki - Murasaki does translates to "Purple", but due to the nature of the character, it's prefered to be known by his Japanese name

DB vol. 06 - 8-man - Hachan

DB vol. 06 - The Jiggler - Buyon

DB vol .06 - Seat Hurtle - Ure Game - Goku mispronunsed the Turtle's name

DB vol. 09 - All-Seeing Crone ((Sometimes also Baba Uranai)) - Uranai Baba - An "accurate" translation of the name?

DB vol. 09 - Count Dracula - Dracula-Man

DB vol. 09 - The Invisible Man - Suke

DB vol. 09 - The Mummy - Miira

DB vol. 09 - Devil - Akkuman

DBZ vol. 02 - Cultivars - Saibaimen

DBZ vol. 20 - Laem - Idassa

DBZ vol. 21 - Lord of Lords - Kaioshin

DBZ vol. 21- Djinn Boo - Majin Boo

DBZ vol. 22 - Pocus - Pui Pui - the name came from "Hocus-Pocus"

DBZ vol. 26 - Vegerot - Vegetto

And here some notes from Herms:

SHINOBI already noted that Toninjinka means “rabbit who turns people into carrots”, so it doesn’t translate to “Carrot Master”, and he also already explained about Murasaki/Purple.

“Hacchan” is a pet name for Hachi (eight), so 8-man would be a translation of that in the sense of also being a pet name for eight.

‘Buyon” comes from buyobuyo, meaning “soft and flabby”, so “the Jiggler” isn’t really a translation of that (though I guess things that are soft and flabby tend to jiggle).

Suke-san means “Mister Transparent”, so not literally “Invisible Man”, but I believe he is also sometimes called toumei ningen too, which is “invisible man” (well, “invisible human”).

Miira-kun is “Mummy-kun” (kun being the Japanese honorific). “The Mummy” doesn’t really convey the cutesiness of the original, but whatever.

Akkuman is a pun combining (a slightly altered form of) akuma, Japanese for devil, with ‘man’. So Devilman would be a better English name, but perhaps there were copyright reasons they couldn’t do that, what with the Go Nagai creation? I don’t know who has the rights for Devilman in America.

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”.

I already covered Saichourou/Great Elder.

Kaioshin literally means “World-King-God”, so “the God of the Kings of the Worlds”. Which is a mouthful, so I can see why the went with something shorter.

[Olivier Hague]

Maybe Thouser?

That is in fact how his name is spelled on Japanese Carddass cards and whatnot.

But... But... Engrish? Japanese people not knowing what the hell they're talking about?

:þ

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!)

[hleV]

It's just Vegeta and Kakarotto isn't it?

It's somehow Kakarot, not Kakarotto. That's why I'm asking.

[Xyex]

"Gohan" literally means rice, but is used as a general term for a meal. That's the joke, that his name is lunch and it's time for lunch. For an English example, a man named William is being handed a slip of paper containing a list of his expenses: "Bill! Bill."

A more direct example directly from Dragonball would be if Roshi were to make lunch, stick his head out the door, and yell "Lunch, Lunch!"

It's just Vegeta and Kakarotto isn't it?

It's somehow Kakarot, not Kakarotto. That's why I'm asking.

Well, it is actually Kakarotto in the Japanese version. They can't end on a "t" like that, so the "to" gets added to the end. It's why Broly runs around screaming "Kakarottoooooooo" all the time (which is when the "to" is most obvious). Viz and FUNi sliced it down to "Kakarot" because, technically, that's what it is. It just screws with Vegetto's name. Which is why Viz invented Vegerot.

[Olivier Hague]

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

According to...?

[Amigo Ten]

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.