Sure, but we're talking about made-up names, here, not actual English words.
Still, they are writing in a foreign writing system, and often tend to make mistakes when doing such. We could easily make similar mistakes trying to write in kana, although it would be less difficult because the spelling of English words is often not as directly related to sound like Japanese kana is. English spelling is confusing in that way.
They could easily make mistakes such as forgetting what vowels are extraneous, how certain English sounds are commonly spelled, and using "l" instead of "r" or vice versa. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to see something say "Pikoro" or "Fleeza", despite these obviously not being how the names are intended to be. Also, these spellings can be inconsistent. Gokou was used on merchandise, but Gokuu was used on a shirt (or was it a hat?) in the show.
Yeah, "Gokû"/"Gokuu" would be more logical/accurate, considering it's a Japanese name...
But aren't we using "Taopaipai"? Logically, it should be "Taobaibai".
And "Chaozu" should be "Jiaozi".
I'm unfamiliar with this "Taobaibai" spelling. Is Taopaipai an approximation of a Chinese name? Is "Taobaibai" a romanization of Chinese (and out of curiousity, is it pronounced differently?)? If it is, then yes, I suppose we should use Taobaibai, since Taopaipai would be an approximation of it. It's the same reason we use Shenlong instead of Shenron; Shenron is merely an approximation of the Chinese Shenlong. (But, like with Vegetto, we fans, including myself, use the former out of habit... And perhaps ignorance of the fact that it's pronounced different as a Chinese name, which I didn't know.)
As for Chaozu, didn't Funimation (and Viz?) use "Chiaotzu"? Isn't that a viable Chinese romanization? If so, then yes, Chiaotzu is more accurate than Chaozu (not sure where Jiaozi comes from), since Chaozu is to Chiaotzu as Shenron is to Shenlong.
But Gokû or Gokuu (yes, the single u version is technically inaccurate) are Japanese(-based) names, so... Yeah, Gokou is inaccurate, even though it's on official merchandise. There's a reason it's filtered.
Why not?
The "kya" became two "ka"s, that's one alteration from the original English word. The "to" not being extraneous would simply be another alteration.
One could say also argue that the "b" in "bejitaburu", which is meant to be a "v" in that case, is alterted during the pun to name transition to "Bejiita", making it "Begeta". The "i" in "bejitaburu" was changed to a double "ii" in "Bejiita", so why can't the "b" change as well? The thing is, the "b", just like the "tto" in kyarotto and Kakarotto, undergoes no visible changes at all during this transition, and thus there is no reason in the slightest that it would be altered. Nothing indicates that "tto" is altered at all, unlike the "kya", and the only reason I see is that it helps the whole Vegetto arguement.
In my opinion, it's pretty much the other way:
1) Technically, the final "to" in "kakarotto" might not be extraneous. It could simply be another alteration of the original "carrot"/"kyarotto" word.
2) "Vegett" or "Veget" would be even more "Vegeta-biased" than "Vegetto", to the point where it wouldn't even really work, in my opinion (where's Gokû? are we sure he's in there somewhere? ^^; ).
3) We do have an official "Vegetto" spelling, and it's the only one I've ever seen on Japanese merchandise.
The way I see it, it all points to the final "to" not being extraneous.
Number one I already basically covered above. The "tto" underwent no visible alteration between the name and the pun, so there's no reason to think it was alterted like the "kya" was. If this Vegetto discrepancy didn't exist, then we probably wouldn't be questioning if it's extraneous.
Number two, my line about seeing no reason for the "tto" refers only to Kakarotto, not Bejitto... That's the name that came first, after all. So that's not really a reason it shouldn't be Kakarrot.
Nevertheless, you're exactly right. The point I was making with that paragraph is that no usage of Kakarotto and Bejitto as a pair is perfect. Thus, it's up to preference. Using both "Kaka(r)ot" and "Veget" has both pros and cons, as do all the other pairings of these names. The pros, in this case, are consistent "un"romanization standards (changing "tto" to "t" in both cases) and accurate (meaning close to most probable original intention) "un"romanization (changing "tto" to "t" in Kakarotto, as is obviously intended considering the name's origin and how "tto" commonly changes to "t"). Its con, as you pointed out, is that it is completely unnoticeable that the name is a mix between Vegeta and Kaka-whatever, which is a shame.
As for three, I'm not talking about Bejitto in that quote, and I've already voiced my opinion on merchandise reliability. *points to Gokou*
So... the one reason for Kakarotto to not be Kakarot (not talking about Bejitto) is that the "tto"
might not be extraneous in this case?
But what's your basis for saying it's "more accurate"?
"Kakarrot" would be closer to the "carrot" pun, indeed, but more accurate? Now, that's another matter altogether, isn't it?
Besides, who said puns always have to be obvious?
I'm saying it's most likely to be more accurate to the name's original intention, to be specific. You have a point that there is no rule saying puns should be as obvious as possible... If there was, we would be using "Cacarrot".
Like I said above, just because the alphabet spelling of the name is closer to the word the pun is based on, that doesn't necessarily make it "more accurate", in my opinion.
There's no "rule" saying the name should be as close as possible to the word it's based on. In the end, it's all up to the author anyway. Extreme example: when Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116's parents decided their child's name would be pronounced "Albin", it was their prerogative, as they're the ones who came up with the name in the first place.
Well, that's the way I see it, anyway.
But it's more than the fact that it's closer to the pun. The sound "tto" as an approximation is almost always meant to be "t", and there's absolutely nothing to indicate this instance would be any different (ignoring Bejitto for now, as there was a time where Bejitto didn't exist). The word Kakarotto stems from contains a "tto" in the exact same place as Kakarotto that is meant to be a "t" and is not visibly alterted during the name to pun transition, presenting no apparent reason for their to be a change.
This all leads me to believe that the "tto" is extraneous, especially when I see no indication that it isn't. I'm sorry, but saying "it might not be extraneous" isn't good enough. As said before, the "b" in "Bejiita" might not be meant to be a "v", but that's rather unlikely. The "tto" in "Kakarotto" might not be meant to be a "t", but that's rather unlikely.
Edit: Looking at it now, you quoted me talking about Kuririn, so... Oops. My points still stand though. Anyway, I think the fact that it comes from "Kuri" seems to indicate to me that the "u" is not extraneous, but each to his own.
Besides... Yeah, I like playing that card, so here goes: Bulma! ^^
"Buruma" (kana) is a pun on the English word "bloomers" ("buruma-" in kana). What would the "accurate" alphabet spelling be, then, according to your reasoning? ^^
Well, the pun is burumaa, which is "bloomer", but the name is "Buruma", so... As I pointed out some time ago in another thread... Blooma! But, for the same reason I say Kakarrot yet say Vegetto, I say Bulma out of habit and because it sounds good. Of course, if you ignore puns, Bulma is also a correct way to say it.
"Kakarotto" is like saying "Buruma" though, and saying that since the "aa" was alterted, either of the "u"s could have been alterted as well, making them non-extraneous... Which there is no indication of. Notice I'm not meantioning puns at all here, I'm just talking about the standard romanization guidelines that indicate one of the "u"s in Buruma is extraneous and indicate that the "tto" of Kakarotto is as well. There's nothing that indicates otherwise.
The point of my big paragraph comparing all the possible Kakarotto/Bejitto name pairs was not to show my personal preference, but to show the pros and cons of each, and to show none are perfect. My last paragraph shows my personal preference. No, I don't like the name Veget. Yes, I do think it's perfectly fine to say Kakarrotto and Vegetto, or Kakarrot and Vegetto. I'm just pointing out what's very technically "wrong" and "right" about them.
As for the Barduck thing, yeah, I guess we have different approaches. I consider the meaning of the name to be somewhat important, at least. Personally, I think the change from "dakku" to "dokku" is somewhat unrepresentable in the English spelling, like the long second vowel in Vegeta and the long virst vowel in Videl, but I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. (Thinking about it, I suppose if the difference from dokku to dakku is really more of an alteration and not an alternatative approximation, then "Burdack" or "Bardack" could make sense... I just don't think it is.
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