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

[Herms]

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.

"Son" is the Japanese pronunciation of "Sun" (孫/孙), which is a very common Chinese surname.

For as much as I looooove the series, that is the single most that I would have changed if given the chance.

Why?

[dbboxkaifan]

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.

Stan Lee (one of my favourite actors of all time) named his son as Pilot Inspektor. Is Son strange compared to Stan Lee's son name? Probably not.

[CaBrPi]

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.

Stan Lee (one of my favourite actors of all time) named his son as Pilot Inspektor. Is Son strange compared to Stan Lee's son name? Probably not.

That's Jason Lee.

Stan Lee is the father of basically every Marvel Comics character you can name.

[dbboxkaifan]

Stan Lee, Jason Lee, god dammit, I used the wrong first name.

I meant to say Jason Lee, the guy from My Name is Earl and who's unfortunately a Scientologist.

[Super Sonic]

Back then things were different with saying names in Eastern orderon US tv. Remember Oroku Saki from TMNT? In the original comics Oroku was his family name and Saki his given name. The first cartoon kept the name but Oroku became his first name and Saki his family name, which his relatives had as their last name as well. And like many One Piece characters, even the ones whose names sound like their in Western order anyway, "Goku Son" just doesn't sound quite right.

[ACCloud]

@Super Sonic - Actually, not true about TMNT. Saki is still referenced as his first name constantly - no one ever just called him Oroku. They always said the name order as 'Oroku Saki' as a reference to the Japanese naming system (just like Hamato Yoshi), but Krang often referred to Shredder as just 'Saki' in the first series of the 80s cartoon. So it had actually been done in the 80s with no confusion or consequence.

I'd say it was just a case of Funimation simplifying things. In English, we usually only mention the first name, so they never felt the need to mention his full name. I agree, though, it would've been nice to hear the full name somewhere pre-Kai - I always loved it whenever Piccolo and Bulma refer to him as 'Son' throughout the series.

[dbboxkaifan]

I always loved it whenever Piccolo and Bulma refer to him as 'Son' throughout the series.

I don't remember clearly, but I think Kibito and others said "Son Goku-san" with the honourific (san). Dunno if anyone who watched Japanese w/Eng subs ever got confused with Son and San.

[The Time Traveller]

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.

That's pretty wrong, kids wouldn't be confused so long as Gohan, Goku, other Gohan and Goten all have Son before their names, kids would catch on unless they're the kind of kids who think the Earth is only 2012 years old.

[Puto]

@Super Sonic - Actually, not true about TMNT. Saki is still referenced as his first name constantly - no one ever just called him Oroku. They always said the name order as 'Oroku Saki' as a reference to the Japanese naming system (just like Hamato Yoshi), but Krang often referred to Shredder as just 'Saki' in the first series of the 80s cartoon. So it had actually been done in the 80s with no confusion or consequence.

Actually, there was one episode of that show where they introduced Shredder's brother, Lieutenant Saki. Pretty sure it was consistently interpreted as Japanese name order in every other episode though.

[Xiao Long Li]

Dunno if anyone who watched Japanese w/Eng subs ever got confused with Son and San.

Don't know why anyone would, it's easy to tell between a surname and an honorific, especially when they're pronounced differently.

[TonyTheTiger]

Never underestimate the likelihood of "just because."

[cRookie_Monster]

...
First off, random people watching DragonBall Z on TV circa 1996-2001 wouldn't even know what the series was from Japan.
...

This is such a good point for the dub in general...dunno why I never thought to say that. I think I'll steal and post in a thread that's over in the Music section



I'll credit you Gozar ^^