Why was "Son" not used as Goku's family name in the dub?

[matt0044]

...until Kai that is. After all, it wouldn't be hard for the kids to know that Goku's family name goes first?

[Gozar]

Considering FUNi was aiming DragonBall towards 7-11 year old kids back in the day, as opposed to the 13-16 demographic they seem to be shooting for these days with their DVD's, yes it would be confusing. First off, random people watching DragonBall Z on TV circa 1996-2001 wouldn't even know what the series was from Japan. In addition, I've got to be honest, it was Anime that taught me that family names come first in Japan, and this was when I was already a teenager. It would be pretty confusing for little kids, they would likely assume that Son was his first name.

Personally, I would have liked it if they had thrown at least a reference to his family name Pre-Kai. For example, just once referring to him as Goku Son. Just so it was at least out there.

[dbboxkaifan]

It was used on international dubs just not the Canadian/American dubs.

The only time that Son Goku was said in DB in English was in Kai's FUNimation dub. That I can remember.

[soulnova]

Is strange... also in the Spanish dub they sometimes didn't use the Son surname. I remember mostly the narrator using "Son Goku" at some point in the series while the rest simply used "Goku". Even then, most kids knew that his full name was "Son Goku".

[dbboxkaifan]

Is strange... also in the Spanish dub they sometimes didn't use the Son surname. I remember mostly the narrator using "Son Goku" at some point in the series while the rest simply used "Goku". Even then, most kids knew that his full name was "Son Goku".

Latin Spanish was more or less Goku, Gohan, Goten without the family name, but the Castellano dub... Oh, Songohanda.

But to Castellano's dub advantage, they didn't change Chichi to Milk.

[Hellspawn28]

I think they would know that most viewers watching the show would be like saying "Why is his first name Son?". I didn't know that family names come first in Japan until years later as well.

[TRL]

It's hella confusing, son.

[dbboxkaifan]

It's hella confusing, son.

If FUNimation since the start had used it it wouldn't be confusing to anyone, people would get used to both names.

[TRL]

You didn't get my hint. The kids wouldn't have understood why everyone's calling eachother "son". The english language does the confusing.

[VegettoEX]

The kids wouldn't have understood why everyone's calling eachother "son".

Well, pronounce "Son" correctly, and they wouldn't think they were calling each other the word for male children or the glowing ball of gas in the sky.

[dbboxkaifan]

Son and Son sound and are pronounced differently.

Son sounds like sun, whereas Son of Son Goku / Son Goten / Son Gohan is Són or Sohn.

You'd know they'd notice the difference, just take the example of DBZ For Kinect trailer the narrator pronounced Saiyan differently (instead of the usual Seiun) and the FUNimation fanbase went nuts.

[LeprikanGT]

I'm glad they kept it out of the dub. For as much as I looooove the series, that is the single most that I would have changed if given the chance.

[Gaffer Tape]

I don't think most people in this thread are giving kids enough credit. Or just aren't remembering what it's like to be a kid. I don't know about you, but a lot of the shows I grew up on had a lot of crap in them: gaping continuity errors, miscolored characters, logistical rubbish. After a while, you just sort of learned to accept whatever TV threw at you, even if it didn't make much sense. So, yeah, I'm sure most kids wouldn't get the concept that Japanese names are ordered differently than American names. But they don't have to. They'd just go with it, the same way they go with flying clouds, shooting beams out of hands, ridiculously spiky hair, and blue catfish guys.

[Hellspawn28]

Well kids today should know what Son means thanks to the Internet. When I was a kid, the Internet was so limited and a lot of people didn't have it. Back in 1996, I doubt anyone can find DB info like we can do now.

[soulnova]

I don't think most people in this thread are giving kids enough credit. Or just aren't remembering what it's like to be a kid. I don't know about you, but a lot of the shows I grew up on had a lot of crap in them: gaping continuity errors, miscolored characters, logistical rubbish. After a while, you just sort of learned to accept whatever TV threw at you, even if it didn't make much sense. So, yeah, I'm sure most kids wouldn't get the concept that Japanese names are ordered differently than American names. But they don't have to. They'd just go with it, the same way they go with flying clouds, shooting beams out of hands, ridiculously spiky hair, and blue catfish guys.

This is true. In fact,when I was watching the first DB episodes in Spanish a year ago, several lines don't make a lot of sense. I went "what the hell did he just say?".

The first 20-something episodes try hard to censor all innuendos and perv talk... and end up butchering part of the story. But I didn't realize until now. Sure I thought that was strange but shrugged and went a long with it. I take my sister as an example because she started watching it when she was 6-7 and she didn't have a problem to understand the story either.

You need to give kids a little credit.

[CaBrPi]

It really confused the hell out of me when I first read the manga. I was around 8 years old or so, the Buu arc was airing on Toonami, and Viz was printing the Androids arc in Shonen Jump. Pretty sure the chapter I got in my first (and only) issue was the one dealing with the fallout of Everyone vs. #17 and #18. I remember Kuririn's flashback to #18 kissing him, Vegeta being pissed, etc.

But I thought "Son" was being used in a similar sense to "Aunt" or "Uncle". Only years later did I find out that it was Goku's surname.

[theoriginalbilis]

If the English dub can keep in very "Asian" names in like Yajirobe and Chiaotzu intact, there's no reason why they couldn't have kept "Son Goku" in there...

[SaiyamanMS]

I'd also like to note for comparison the fact that One Piece never had any issue with surname followed by given name, even back when 4Kids was the one handling the series.

[Hitiro]

Is Son an actual surname used out in Japan? Or just for the Dragonball Universe? Because while you can get some funky surnames in real life Son doesn't sound like it is a surname.

[Saiga]

I don't think it would have been too hard for children. When I was about 5 or 6 I saw Mulan, which used the surname-first order. It confused me momentarily, but I pretty quickly concluded that was a cultural thing.