That's to get around the weird rights limbo the last few Sherlock Holmes stories are in, not an attempt to be cool
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Hilarious attempts by Japanese developers to give their characters "cool" Western names
- Thread starter ScOULaris
- Start date
That's to get around the weird rights limbo the last few Sherlock Holmes stories are in, not an attempt to be cool
Butt can be a South Asian Muslim surname, and I've also seen as an English white surname.
Earlier this year I was remarking how funny it it was that "Valentine" was a stock surname in Japanese media.
Jill Valentine (Resident Evil)
Ivy Valentine (SoulCalibur)
Vincent Valentine (Final Fantasy)
Valentine sisters (Guilty Gear)
Keith Valentine (Shadow Hearts)
Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop)
Valentine is an actual surname and shows up in western media as well, of course. But it shows up a lot in Japanese games and anime with a lot of prominent characters sharing the name.
Three of these characters are undead (Vincent, Ivy, and Keith) so clearly it's associated with gothic romance. It makes sense. It's just funny think think, huh, that's a lot of Valentines.
Jill Valentine (Resident Evil)
Ivy Valentine (SoulCalibur)
Vincent Valentine (Final Fantasy)
Valentine sisters (Guilty Gear)
Keith Valentine (Shadow Hearts)
Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop)
Valentine is an actual surname and shows up in western media as well, of course. But it shows up a lot in Japanese games and anime with a lot of prominent characters sharing the name.
Three of these characters are undead (Vincent, Ivy, and Keith) so clearly it's associated with gothic romance. It makes sense. It's just funny think think, huh, that's a lot of Valentines.
I know that Tomino names are Tomino names and Jamitov's name probably plays on Quattro's but the actual origin of Quattro's surname is likely based on Charles Aznavour's real Armenian name.
Charles Aznavour - Wikipedia
Last edited:
Not japanese, but might as well come from a japanese game considering how ridiculous it is :
Mother fucking CYPHER RAIGE
Mother fucking CYPHER RAIGE
I agree, yeah, sort of comicbookish. Definitely sounds like a wrestler stage name.
don't forget Mr. "Filthy Acts at a Reasonable Price" Funny Valentine from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. (though he's from a manga and not a game originally so this might be cheating for this thread)
Even in the localization, his name is Eddie Hunter. Skate is just a nick name.
Something about including the middle name makes it parse weird / it's funny having one as normal as Kenny among all those other batshit names. For whatever reason, they do it for the entire Kenny line throughout the Star Ocean series:
Claude C. Kenny (the original Star Ocean - this one is fine / has alliteration to fall back on)
Ronyx J. Kenny (Star Ocean: The Second Story)
Emmerson T. Kenny (Star Ocean: Ingegrity and Faithlessness (5))
Yeah, I remember seeing that name around release and knowing in my heart of hearts that M. Night Shyamalan, Garry Whitta and Will Smith (who I'm relatively sure came up with that name / the rest of the general mess that is the concept of the movie) are all big Star Ocean 4 fans.Not japanese, but might as well come from a japanese game considering how ridiculous it is :
Mother fucking CYPHER RAIGE
considering the poster's name is german i assume it was a joke.
my great grandmother was named Edelgard.
Faye Valentine is already an anime/manga character I snuck in so don't worry.
Oh yeah, that's kinda weird. I somehow skipped over the middle initial when reading the post haha
Not a Japanese game, but it still fits just as well in terms of "cool" names. Jet Brody from Fracture
This one got me ever since I was a kid. I could never take him seriously being called Squall Leonheart with 3?4?+ Lion motifs on his person. FF has a lot of these silly ones but I always found Squall the king of "its cool right!?" character designs.
Also Kor Metor from Tales of Hearts. Tales and Star Ocean are also full of nonsense cool guy names.
Not a Japanese game, but it still fits just as well in terms of "cool" names. Jet Brody from Fracture
that is the most 2008 thing i've ever seen
fake edit/google fu: yes that game was indeed released in 2008
I'm honestly surprised no one has yet mentioned my boy Rad Spencer from Bionic Commando.
Sure, his full name is Nathan Spencer, but IIRC that was retconned in later. Either way:
Rad.
Spencer.
I don't think these two necessarily count as neither Cloud nor Squall are "western." That being said, I don't think this thread has been consistent about that anyway. But I at least know a bit about these characters, lol.
Edit: actually, I misremembered the thread title. Literally all four parts of Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart are western words, so I'm wrong here. My bad!
Sure, his full name is Nathan Spencer, but IIRC that was retconned in later. Either way:
Rad.
Spencer.
This one got me ever since I was a kid. I could never take him seriously being called Squall Leonheart with 3?4?+ Lion motifs on his person. FF has a lot of these silly ones but I always found Squall the king of "its cool right!?" character designs.
Also Kor Metor from Tales of Hearts. Tales and Star Ocean are also full of nonsense cool guy names.
I don't think these two necessarily count as neither Cloud nor Squall are "western." That being said, I don't think this thread has been consistent about that anyway. But I at least know a bit about these characters, lol.
Edit: actually, I misremembered the thread title. Literally all four parts of Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart are western words, so I'm wrong here. My bad!
Last edited:
OP
OP
Oh he looks like Alain chabat , a french filmmakerOn a similar note...
The names in Ace Attorney are localised in the West, they're not thought up by Japanese people. Edgeworth's by name is Mitsurugi Kenji originally if I recall.
Can't forget the classics
Bimmy is my favorite terrible name of all time lol. I always found some of the names from Final Fantasy to be hilarious. Cloud is one cool cat but his full name always made me laugh a bit, Cloud Strife. lol
The man with probably my favorite name for a character ever:
Dogs Bower.
This is a wildly underrated post, character and video game. I salute you and award you the victory medal for winning this thread.
Damn...
My life has been a lie, thanks.
Don't get me wrong I love Fatman, I just think it's a hilarious name :p
"Edelgard"
Worst name I ever heard. Could you imagine if that one were real?
Ein Edler Name für ein Edles Weiblein.
Yeah, it's pretty amazing that you can look at that character and know exactly which generation he originated in.
