Saiyan Name Puns

[The S]

Well, it took me a while, but I believe I've found every available Saiyan name pun (excluding Fusions, because you can easily see where their names came from). I know most of you already knew this, but I thought I'd post it for those who don't know it all already.

Bardock: Named for "burdock", a root used for cooking and medicines.
Totepo: Comes from "potato".
Brock: Short for "broccoli".
Broly: Comes from "broccoli".
Bra: Female undergarment for the breasts.
Bulma Jr.: Is named after her ancestor.
Celipa: Comes from "celery".
Gohan: He is named for his "great-grandfather", but since he wasn't Saiyan, I choose to note that Gohan is Japanese for "wild rice".
Goku: His full name, "Son Goku", is the name of the monkey king in Saiyuki, the Chinese myth that Dragon Ball was losely based on. Goku is also Japanese for "extreme" or "very". Also noted: his Saiyan name, "Kakarotto", comes from "carrot".
Goku Jr.: Is named after his ancestor.
Goten: I am unable to find a name pun for this one.
Vegetaou: Vegeta is short for "Vegetable", and "ou" is Japanese for king.
Nappa: Nappa is named for a type of cabbage.
Pan: Pan is Japanese for "bread".
Paragus: Short for "Asparagus".
Raditz: Comes from "Radish".
Trunks: Shorts used for swimming.
Turles/Tullece: Debatable. I and many others say it's Turles, coming from "Turnip", but Mike and Julian say it's "Tullece" and comes from "lettuce".
Vegeta: He was named for his father.
Vegeta Jr.: Was named for his ancestor.
Pumpkin: Named after (surprise!) - a pumpkin!
Pambukin: Named after a pumpkin.
Toma: Short for "tomato".
Zorn: Named after "corn".

[Deus ex Machina]

I have a quick question about Gohan's name; all the sites I've seen listed the pun as being rice, as you listed. But in one of the DBZ episodes, they were making it seem that the pun was on the Japanese word for "meal" (Chi chi is screaming at Goku because all he can think about is eating, and while she's screaming "Gohan", he reacts to it) So, is the pun on both, or what?

[TripleRach]

Well gohan does usually refer to meals, from what I've seen. But most literally, it means something like "honorable rice".

I don't know the etymology of the word, but if I had to guess, I'd say that eating rice and eating at all became synonymous at some point, and now it's become idiomatic.

[Deus ex Machina]

Well gohan does usually refer to meals, from what I've seen. But most literally, it means something like "honorable rice".

I see...so where can I find dishonorable rice? Or honorless food in general.

[Adamant]

Celipa: Comes from "celery".

Nope, it's parsley.

Original name: セリパ (Seripa)
Parsley written in katakana: パセリ (Paseri)

[SaiyaJedi]

Pretty good job... there's just a few I want to take issue with.

Celipa: Comes from "celery".

Parsley, actually. In Japanese, it'd be pronounced "pa-se-ri," while the character's name is "Se-ri-pa." Just a rearrangement of the syllables, that's all.

Gohan: He is named for his "great-grandfather", but since he wasn't Saiyan, I choose to note that Gohan is Japanese for "wild rice".

"Gohan" refers to cooked rice, not the wild kind. Uncooked rice is "kome" or "okome" (as it's usually seen with the honorific prefix), while wild rice is "makomo."

Goku: His full name, "Son Goku", is the name of the monkey king in Saiyuki, the Chinese myth that Dragon Ball was losely based on. Goku is also Japanese for "extreme" or "very". Also noted: his Saiyan name, "Kakarotto", comes from "carrot".

Don't bother with the "very" bit. Toriyama took the character's name from Journey to the West, and that's the long and short of it. Besides, his name's Gokuu in Japanese, not Goku (which we only write for convenience's sake).

Turles/Tullece: Debatable. I and many others say it's Turles, coming from "Turnip", but Mike and Julian say it's "Tullece" and comes from "lettuce".

Not debatable. "Lettuce" in Japanese is "re-ta-su." The character's name is "Ta-a-re-su." Rearrangement and adding in a long vowel. It's not a stretch at all, while the "turnip" explanation (which seems to be based on the name given in the English dub) is dubious at best.

That should help, methinks.

[*PINHEAD*]

I'm pretty dumb on the matter, but my friends who take Japanese as their secondary language class say that "gohan" can mean rice or a meal (lunch, I think).

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

Gohan is cooked rice, but there are ways that it can mean a meal, although I forgot. My teacher was talking about it in Japanese class, maybe I can ask her next week
I think Toriyama was going for the rice pun, since the Z TV guy goes "Gohan? Rice? They're having a lunch break, amazing!" when Goku says "Your turn, Gohan!"

[Sedorna]

Now, I've always felt that Pan's name was a double pun. There is the bread motif, yes, which goes along quite well with her father's side of the family. However, there is also Pan, the horned demi-god with the pipes. That would go along quite well with the puns from her mother's side. All in all, Pan is perfectly named.

[El_Diablo]

Is Pan "bread" in Japanese? I thought it was just Spanish and some others.

I think Goten means "Heaven" (or so some crappy translators say)

[Sun_Wukong]

Gohan is cooked rice, but there are ways that it can mean a meal, although I forgot. My teacher was talking about it in Japanese class, maybe I can ask her next week
I think Toriyama was going for the rice pun, since the Z TV guy goes "Gohan? Rice? They're having a lunch break, amazing!" when Goku says "Your turn, Gohan!"

Is that where the dub got the brilliant idea -_- to add in the line about Gohan being a pizza delivary boy? Or was it just Funimation's stupidity that added it in.

[Corvus Moore]

Probably...stupidity but who knows,at best they thought it would be a nice in-joke.

[Daimao]

Now, I've always felt that Pan's name was a double pun. There is the bread motif, yes, which goes along quite well with her father's side of the family. However, there is also Pan, the horned demi-god with the pipes. That would go along quite well with the puns from her mother's side. All in all, Pan is perfectly named.

I'm all for that. In fact, my feeling is that our goat-legged, flute-playing friend was the primary basis for the name, with the "bread" connotation being a lucky coincidence.

And yes, the Japanese borrowed the word "pan" from the Portugeuse to refer to bread.

[Shadowolf]

This pretty nice book I got called "The Anime Companion" defines Gohan like this:

Gohan (Cooked Rice): The staple of Japanese cooking, eaten with every traditional meal, and many non-traditional ones. Most scenes where breakfast (choshoku) is served include gohan served in small bowls (chawan). Since gohan is such an essential part of Japanese cuisine, the word itself has also come to mean "a meal."
Examples: Whether serving cooked rice or not, Kasumi uses the phrase Gohan desu yo! to call the family to a meal in Ranma 1/2: Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire (ep. 2). Ataru's mother in Urusei Yatsura can often be heard using this phrase.

No mention of DBZ here or for that matter in any of the book. I'm guessing copyright on that one but the examples here show gohan has both definitions.
Ok, I'm gonna stop being a geek now . . .

[The S]

Well, sue the writers of my Japanese-English dictionary for writing "wild rice" for Gohan.

I have never seen anyone refer to her as Seripa. I guess that wouls make a lot of sense.

I remember Toriyama once making a joke to the Goku/Very thing. Maybe that's all it was - a joke.

And anyway, Julian, you're the language expert here, not me. But I still think Turres' name could still be from turnip. (Taaresu = Taanepu)

[Sedorna]

I found something pretty interesting. It's probably not a coincidence that Goku's Saiyan name is Kakarot/Kakarotto/however you wanna spell it. After all, the Japanese word for carrot is ninjin and the Japanese word for human is ningen. Sound kinda like, don't they? And Goku does live with the humans, after all.

[VegettoEX]

anyway, Julian, you're the language expert here, not me. But I still think Turres' name could still be from turnip. (Taaresu = Taanepu)

That's quite a wild stretch, especially considering there's already a great deal of other characters with names that simply reverse a string of syllables... it's a common trend. I mean, c'mon... the whole basis for the entire race is the same way ("yasai" vs "saiya").

And for the love of God, people need to settle on a spelling for the damn character's name.

[The S]

I guess it would be, but you can never be too sure. Unless I see some information in the form of an official guide or something, I myself will still see it as unconfirmed. In fact, before coming to this site, I have never seen or heard anyone refer to his Japanese name as Tullece - not even Japanese people.

And by the way; I knew that Saiya was backwards of yasai, but I also heard that the Tsufuri-jins were named after the Japanese name for fruit. But isn't that kudamono? Unless they used some sort of mangled version of the English word, I don't see it.

[VegettoEX]

And by the way; I knew that Saiya was backwards of yasai, but I also heard that the Tsufuri-jins were named after the Japanese name for fruit. But isn't that kudamono? Unless they used some sort of mangled version of the English word, I don't see it.

"fu - ru - u - tsu" (the English word "fruit" in katakana)

vs

"tsu - fu - ru"

So yet another example of the exact same naming convention .

[The S]

Man, I really had a terrible sensei in high school. She always said it was
fu-ru-u-to

I really need to take Japanese college courses