The power of Character and names

[Cure Dragon 255]

Dear DUHRAGON BALL,Is it just me or has the shtick of naming a majority of characters after food, objects, or other nouns in Dragon Ball become stale? I don't hate this aspect of the series, but I sometimes feel it is shoved down our throats whenever more characters are introduced with unconventional (unconventional to the audience, I mean) names.It's like we get it, they're named after something we eat, drink, or use. HAHAHAHAHA
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Maybe I'm missing context about this, and if so please correct me, but how would you feel if they stopped doing this naming process? Would it help for fans to relate to newer characters better if they had actual names than nouns? Would it actually go against the series as a whole because this aspect is part of its DNA? Would anyone actually care who is named what? I'd love to hear your thoughts.Have a Terrific 2nd Half of 2023 : ]Sincerely, ContentExplorer

It’s a system. The story I always heard was that Toriyama implemented this as a way to come up with names for characters quickly. As time went on, he found it was also useful for remembering which characters were associated with each other.

Maybe I’m not the sharpest knife in the crayon box, but some of the names used in Dragon Ball are pretty oblique. It took me years to notice that “Nail” is taken from the word “snail”, for example. It also helps that the names are often taken from non-Japanese words, then their spellings or pronunciations are garbled up a bit to make them less obvious.

Let’s put it this way: What would you have them do instead? The next big villain shows up, and his name is Hiroshi Suzuki? John Smith? Or should they be given completely made-up names like Blorfonertz, or Xylortone? Why is this preferable?

In the end, names are just labels for characters, and if the characters become important enough, they transcend the connotations of their names. Frieza has become an iconic villain in popular culture, probably somewhere on the level of Lex Luthor, or the Joker. The fact that he was named after a household appliance didn’t really matter in the long run, because the strength of the character changed the meaning of the name.

I once read that the reason James Bond was named “James Bond” was to give the character as dull and unassuming a name as possible. He’s not Nick Fury or Flash Gordon, he’s just some regular-ass dude, or so it seems. But over the decades, the name James Bond has become synonymous with flashy, sexy spy adventure. It’s hard to think of the name without picturing a car chase. That’s because of the character. Ian Fleming could have named him Bread Twofist and it still would have probably worked out that way.

For my part, I tried using Toriyama’s naming systems in my own fanfic, and I found it pretty handy. Instead of trying to pick a name for a new character out of thin air, I could confine myself to certain topics and choose a word from those. And it might sound silly at first, but eventually I’d get used to the sound of it, and then it would just be second nature to use it. The same process happens with any name you choose for a character. But by doing it this way, I can save myself the indecision.

Hirohiko Araki has multiple naming systems for the characters in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Fashion designers and labels, musical acts and their songs, and sometimes he just straight up uses Japanese names. It seems gimmicky at first, but then the story gets rolling and you forget about it.

I think the issue you’re having is that you’re viewing it like an active attempt at humor. Like the Heeters have a guy named “Oil” and you’re bored with it because it’s just not that funny. But it’s not meant to be a joke. It’s just a little quirk in the writing, easily dismissed. If you just roll with it, it’s not that annoying.

This is a very thoughtful and well argued analysis. I find it incredibly fascinating that the names characters have dont define them and are the names that are defined by the characters nature and well... character.

[VegettoEX]

Who are the people saying these things? Where are these people saying these things? What more about this analysis speaks to you? What more can you add to the discussion? For example, what are some of the specific names in the franchise that you think line up with this analysis beyond what's already been mentioned?