Surnames in DB

[Piccolo Daimao]

Now I was just wondering if there are surnames in the Dragon World or not.

I know that on various DB fan sites, Bulma has bee given the full name "Bulma Briefs". However, I remember someone saying that characters in the Dragon World don't have surnames (even referencing Videl's comment about surnames being uncommon nowadays). But then there was an argument back referring to Dr. Briefs, as "Briefs" has to be his surname, as "Doctor" is simply a title. Then, it is said that Dr. Briefs is a name itself, and that "Briefs" isn't a surname at all.

On another note, Japanese names are normally written in the surname preceding the forename, e.g. "Toriyama Akira". However, in English, we would write it out "Akira Toriyama", with the forename first. This generally seems to be the case, with the exception of "Son Goku". "Son" is Goku's surname, so, in English, we would write it out "Goku Son". However, with "Son Goku" being written out in this way even in English, it would look weird to most of us to write it out "Goku Son".
So, with Japanese names, should we be writing all out of them out in the traditional Japanese way, or should we stick with our English way?

[SSJSteve]

There was a thread about surnames a while back. That might help you.

http://daizex.fanboyreview.net/viewtopi ... =8&t=11831

[Amigo Ten]

I recall Hujio adamantly stating (quite a few times) that Briefs was not a surname, and that his name was simply Brief.

I can't think of any surnames other than Son though.

[Kaboom]

Aside from various Dr. Slump characters having cameos, I'm pretty sure "Son" is the only surname we've been privy to in the series. Evidently they're just plain rare in the Dragon World, as mentioned by Videl when she connected the dots about Goku and Gohan.

And yeah. "Brief" is actually the dude's name, and "Mr. Satan" is just a stage name, not a surname to go with "Mark" or anything.

[TripleRach]

Now I was just wondering if there are surnames in the Dragon World or not.

I know that on various DB fan sites, Bulma has bee given the full name "Bulma Briefs". However, I remember someone saying that characters in the Dragon World don't have surnames (even referencing Videl's comment about surnames being uncommon nowadays). But then there was an argument back referring to Dr. Briefs, as "Briefs" has to be his surname, as "Doctor" is simply a title. Then, it is said that Dr. Briefs is a name itself, and that "Briefs" isn't a surname at all.

In a fictional world where almost everyone has only one name, it doesn't make sense to automatically assume that a character has a hidden given name just because they have a title like "Doctor." If Kuririn suddenly got a PhD and became Dr. Kuririn, would you suddenly start thinking that Kuririn is actually his family name? And thus his daughter's full name is Marron Kuririn? Because that's basically the problem with "Brief." There's no evidence anywhere in the Japanese version that it's a name for anyone but the crazy smoking doctor guy. Anywhere that her full name might be listed, like the character lists in the tankoubon, the anime credits, the guidebooks, her various in-series introductions, Gero's "Hey I recognize her," there's only "Buruma." No "Buruma Buriifu," no "Buriifu Buruma," nothing. "Videl Satan" was another common one that people liked to assume, but I guess that one's not going to be a problem anymore.

But the only important characters who are definitely confirmed to have surnames are the Sons. There's also the Dr. Slump cast, and a few minor filler and movie characters who have two names (like the Money family in DBZ Movie 9), but that's about it.

On another note, Japanese names are normally written in the surname preceding the forename, e.g. "Toriyama Akira". However, in English, we would write it out "Akira Toriyama", with the forename first. This generally seems to be the case, with the exception of "Son Goku". "Son" is Goku's surname, so, in English, we would write it out "Goku Son". However, with "Son Goku" being written out in this way even in English, it would look weird to most of us to write it out "Goku Son".
So, with Japanese names, should we be writing all out of them out in the traditional Japanese way, or should we stick with our English way?

I used to write all Japanese names in Eastern order, with the surname in all caps to avoid confusion (which isn't a terribly common method, but I picked it up from Chinese and Japanese on Usenet, so it's not like I'm the only one who knows it). But nowadays I only do it for fictional characters, like SON Gokuu and NORIMAKI Arale, while I do real world names in Western order, like Akira Toriyama and Masako Nozawa. It kind of goes against my policies of consistency and purism, but since many famous Japanese tend to romanize their own names in Western order, I figure it's just too fanboyish to defy that.

[Dayspring]

The people from Mount Paozu (the Son family) and from Gengoro Island (Dr Slump cast) are the only ones to have surnames? Then surnames must be a hick thing in the DB world.

[Travis Touchdown]

I... never thought of it that way. That kind of makes sense.

[Amigo Ten]

Chichi and Ox King are hicks aren't they?

[Dayspring]

Chichi and Ox King are hicks aren't they?

I kind of meant more of a regional thing. 'Hicks' to imply which regions in a funny way.

But if I have to explain the joke, the joke's not funny.

[TripleRach]

Something I forgot to mention before about the name order deal.

Goten has that shirt at the end of the manga that says "Goten Son" in alphabet letters, so the series itself does kind of give some validation for using the Western name order.

[Hujio]

I recall Hujio adamantly stating (quite a few times) that Briefs was not a surname, and that his name was simply Brief.

Yep, that'd be me! The characters name is "Dr. Brief", just like Bulma's mom is only ever referred to or credited as "Bulma's Mom". We really don't know if Bulma or her Mom's last name is Brief, since neither is ever referred to as such. In fact, we don't even know if Brief is Bulma's Dad's last name. It might just be his first name, just like those doctors that tell people to call them by his first name to be more informal, like "Dr. Bob" or something.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I recall Hujio adamantly stating (quite a few times) that Briefs was not a surname, and that his name was simply Brief.

Yep, that'd be me! The characters name is "Dr. Brief", just like Bulma's mom is only ever referred to or credited as "Bulma's Mom". We really don't know if Bulma or her Mom's last name is Brief, since neither is ever referred to as such. In fact, we don't even know if Brief is Bulma's Dad's last name. It might just be his first name, just like those doctors that tell people to call them by his first name to be more informal, like "Dr. Bob" or something.

Could I ask...why is it "Brief", not "Briefs"?

[Godo]

Could I ask...why is it "Brief", not "Briefs"?

To be brief, it's just a pun on "Briefs", so it doesn't have to be identical.

[VegettoEX]

Could I ask...why is it "Brief", not "Briefs"?

Because it's ブリーフ博士 (burîfu hakase) and not ブリーフス博士 (burîfusu hakase).

To be brief, it's just a pun on "Briefs", so it doesn't have to be identical.

That's fine and dandy if you want to go that way, but if you're trying to be self-consistent about stuff, トランクス is not called "Trunk"; he's "Trunks" because it has the ending "su". Therefore, this character is "Dr. Brief".

[Herms]

Because it's ブリーフ博士 (burîfu hakase) and not ブリーフス博士 (burîfusu hakase).

Well, technically ブリーフ/buriifu is the usual way of writing "briefs" in Japanese, and the doctor's name is spelt the same.

[linkdude20002001]

And you don't say "I'm wearing a brief", you say "I'm wearing briefs". Dr Brief doesn't even sound like like it fits in with the underwear theme (though, Bulma doesn't either), but Dr Briefs does.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Because it's ブリーフ博士 (burîfu hakase) and not ブリーフス博士 (burîfusu hakase).

Burifusu isn't even used in Japanese, burifu is. Is there even a singular of briefs?


His name is a play of briefs not brief. Because we don't say "I have a pair of brief" or whatever. It's just not grammatically correct.

[Rocketman]

Japanese doesn't do plurals like English does.

[Herms]

His name is a play of briefs not brief. Because we don't say "I have a pair of brief" or whatever. It's just not grammatically correct.

But still, it's a play on "briefs", not the word "briefs" itself. So you don't necessarily need to add the "s" on the end.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

His name is a play of briefs not brief. Because we don't say "I have a pair of brief" or whatever. It's just not grammatically correct.

But still, it's a play on "briefs", not the word "briefs" itself. So you don't necessarily need to add the "s" on the end.

Huh?


If it's a play on briefs (the underwear) it wouldn't make sense to call him Dr. Brief.