Quote:
Originally Posted by Riful
Good question. As a matter of fact they call Uma Thurman ユマ・サーマン (Yuma). The Japanese wikipedia explains that - just as you said - her name means horse in Japanese, so they decided to render it as ユマ Yuma in Katakana. Unfortunately there is no source, but it doesn't sound impossible.
Personally I don't think Uma's name is part of the "ambiguous" ones, since it was quite easy to find back then when I tried to look for corresponding names, thanks to Uma Thurman. The names that really give me a headache are "Riful" or "Isley" or "Rigardo" or something  |
Yes, since they don't want to call anyone a horse, THEY changed it. Since they don't want to use the name Uma, why should we change it back from Yuma? Simply put it's not what they wrote (and it stinks of 'dumbing down' style editting that I am allergic to).
We can guess as to what they meant, but why bother? They say Yuma, we can say Yuma. I think if we're not certain, then providing a valid transliteration and leaving it alone is the best policy.
I could, by the same logic, decide that riful most closely resembles "Riffle" and say that 'RAI' and 'RI' are 'close enough', but it's just a silly guess and trying to impose that guess on others is not my thing.
When it's obvious like KUREA (Clare) or Jean or someone, sure, but finding a reference on wiki where the japanese DELIBERATELY misspell something trying not to offend a weirdly named actress by fiddling with her name becuase it means horse in their native language is a bit of a stretch.