What Does “SSJ” Stand For?
“SSJ” as a full acronym stands for “Super Saiyajin” (超サイヤ人):
The 超 in the phrase is typically read as chō in Japanese (meaning “super” or “ultra”). For this particular transformation and title in Dragon Ball, there is furigana — little kana alongside the kanji indicating its intended pronunciation — telling the reader to pronounce it as the English word “super” (written as スーパー or sūpā).
The rest of the text is simply サイヤ人, read as saiya-jin, referring to the race of tailed alien space warriors in the series that Goku and Vegeta belong to. The actual race name is サイヤ (saiya, an anagram of 野菜 or yasai, meaning “vegetable”). Depending on the context, 人 — meaning “person” and acting here as a suffix to the race name — can be read as jin or hito or nin; in this case, its intended reading is jin. (See the series’ “Artificial Human” terminology of 人造人間, or Jinzōningen, as an example where 人 has multiple readings within the same word!)
Fandom Historical Usage
Keeping the race name “untranslated” as a full “Saiyajin” (or “Saiya-jin” with a hyphen to separate the suffix) was fairly common in early English-language fandom. In August 1993, superfan and documentarian Curtis Hoffmann’s summary of tankōbon volume 17 introduced this new cast of characters:
It’s important to remember that, with the exception of Harmony Gold’s brief attempt in 1989 (which didn’t touch any “Z” material anyway), there was no official English language adaptation of any portion of Dragon Ball in the United States, and therefore no official precedent for any spellings. Certain spellings fell in and out of favor as different community leaders (such as Hoffmann) used them, and/or as fans pieced together more of the various name pun series.
Shortly after this, Dragon Ball fan Glenn Wang (who regularly posted on Usenet and hosted the fansite Capsule Corporation) began compiling a series of frequently asked questions on rec.arts.anime (and later alt.fan.dragonball as well as on his own website). Here in December 1995 — post-Dragon Ball syndication broadcast, but still pre-Dragon Ball Z syndication broadcast — questions about “Saiyajin” and spellings in general were top of mind!
That all said, “Saiyan” as an adaptation was also in wide usage by this point. In one of the earliest anime fanzine appearances to cover this era of the franchise, an overview in the Summer 1991 (#4) issue of Animenominous! — pre-dating Hoffmann’s and Glenn’s documentation by a few years, nevermind FUNimation’s English dub — referred to them as the “Saiyans“:
The “Saiyajin” spelling was regularly used in fansubs of the day as well, which naturally led to those watching to use “SSJ” abbreviation.
Why Not Just “SS”?
“Saiya-jin” was in enough regular use that “SSJ” as an “English abbreviation” was a natural fit. That said, a few other common “SS” acronyms have historically been cited as reasons against using “SS”:
- The World War II German military force — Schutzstaffel — was abbreviated with “SS”. The late 1940s were not all that far removed from memory and active education in the 1990s, and considering Japan’s alignment during the war, English-speaking fans often cited these circumstances as a reason for the “more-specific” addition of “J” in the acronym.
- “SS” also referred to a specific type of screw steamer boat, making phrases such as “SS Goku” moderately amusing.
Usage of “Saiyajin” Internationally
“Saiya-jin” as a “full phrase” was also regularly and widely used internationally outside of English adaptations, leading to cross-pollination of terminology and acronyms that later trickled down to English-language fandom.
The Mexican Spanish dub uses “Saiya-jin”:
The German adaptation likewise does the same (without a hyphen):
Beyond just “Saiyajin,” look to terminology like “C17” and “C18” (meaning “Cyborg 17” and “Cyborg 18”) from French fandom as examples that regularly made their way into other-language fandoms.
The “Saiyan” Spelling… in Japan!
That all said, a “translation” of サイヤ人 as “Saiyan” has regularly been used in Japan, and long before any English-language dubbing by FUNimation.
One of the more prominent examples of this is on the “Super Battle Collection” line of figures from Bandai, which present names in both Japanese and English:
Incidentally, these figures were mainstays of advertisements in the back of mid-1990s American video game magazines, introducing the “Saiyan” spelling to an entire new group of fans.
With the introduction of convoluted transformation named like “Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan” (via 2015’s theatrical film Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’), even the original Japanese rights-holders have been forced to use acronyms to fit text into small spaces, in this case opting for “SSGSS”:
The English Dub “Saiya-jin” Drop
In FUNimation’s original 2002 production of Dragon Ball Z episode 245, as Goku explains the various levels of Super Saiyan to Majin Boo, the writers inserted a line for the confused-yet-intrigued Boo parroting back: “Super… Saiya-jin?”
There is really nothing more to this tidbit, other than it serving as an acknowledgement of the pronunciation and knowingness that fans would recognize it for what it was. This line was adjusted in the eventual Boo arc dub for Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters.
Why Still Use “SSJ” Today?
There is always some sort of holdover when it comes to incoming and outgoing generations of fans — spellings and preferences that may be common in one era may no longer be in fashion in another era, while the “old guard” still holds onto and uses what they know and love. There’s a bit of imprinted inertia when it comes to these things.
You’ll also commonly see a personal “aesthetic” justification for “SSJ” over “SS” — an opinion that it just “looks better” or is “more iconic” or “more descriptive” than without the “J” at the end. This of course gets complicated with things like “Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan” — “SSJGSSJ” as a full acronym is a bit unwieldy!
As seen with the Spanish and German examples, someone using “SSJ” may not be from an English-speaking territory, and while they are conversing “in English” with fellow fans, they are using terminology from their own localized version!
There is really no “right” or “wrong” (or even “more right” or “less wrong”) answer here. There are plenty of reasons someone may use “SSJ” just as there are several reasons someone may use “SS” all on its own.
Additional Resources
Want to learn more about these topics and a wealth of other ones? Kanzenshuu has you covered! The following sections may be of interest to you:
As with everything you’ve already read on this page, the same goes for the rest of the site: what you get here is well-researched and documented information from experts who care, with no ads and no nonsense. We do this because we love it, and because you deserve it. Want to show a little appreciation, though, and get more involved?