Non-Japanese characters naming convection

[NK_500]

Not really an important question but I'm quite bothered with it. I've discovered is when they(Japanese people) named the non-Japanese characters such as Laura Bodewig(Infinite Stratos). While Laura(character) is a German but "Laura" sounds too English. This can be explained that Japanese people have trouble pronouncing German names and words. Maybe this one just for me but I think there is better German-sounding names.

What about Arab or Persian ones? It actually even weirder. In Gundam 00 Marina Ismail sounds Malaysian than Arab, Kurd or Persian, which are Marina's possible ethnicity. Again it's the language barrier. They can pronounce "Marina" right but I think they have trouble pronouncing more Arabic-sounding names such as "Benazir" and "Masitah". Just curious though.

[Kimidori]

I think most japanese author don't really care about it, As Long as It Sounds Foreign.

[Kyuu]

Consider this example:

Makise Kurisu

or

Chris Makise

or

Kris Makise

If you take the name "Chris" and spell it in Katakana - you'd get: クリス. The other complication of these characters taking on "foreign names": the conversion backwards (Japanese -> English) gets confused. But of course, "Chris" is commonly used as a guy's name, but it can be used for girls too -- in the form of "Kris".

Too bad, they didn't name her "Christina".

[Akito Kinomoto]

Originally Posted by Kimidori

I think most japanese author don't really care about it, As Long as It Sounds Foreign.

Bingo.

Although if a traitor-like character were named Judas it would probably mean something. I know it was the name of the mech used by a character in Xenosaga. So yeah. Meaningful names and all that.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by Kyuu

If you take the name "Chris" and spell it in Katakana - you'd get: クリス. The other complication of these characters taking on "foreign names": the conversion backwards (Japanese -> English) gets confused.

A great example of that is Gunslinger Girl where the official translations render two characters as Jose and Hilshire when Giuse and Hirscher make more sense in context.

[Klashikari]

It isn't really anything to analyze either, considering they even go as far as giving male name for female characters and vice versa (or even food/item... Dog Days is a major victim of that: Adel and Valerie, every royalty characters and their dessert name).

[Beltane70]

It's gotten better in more recent anime. The 80s were notorious for odd character names for non-Japanese characters. My personal favorite is Marvel Frozen from Aura Battler Dunbine, who happened to an American character from Texas.

[KholdStare]

For me, it's not a problem as long as you're consistent. And to be consistent, I follow a simple rule:

If the character has a first and last name, how are they spelled (on the official site) in Japanese?

1) Cross Yuuki (黒主 優姫) last first
2) Noumi Kudryavka (能美 クドリャフカ) last first
3) Laura Bodewig (ラウラ・ボーデヴィッヒ) first last
4) Alisa Bannings (アリサ・バニングス) first last
5) Oosawa Maria (大沢 マリア) last first
6) Makine Kurisu (牧瀬紅莉栖) last first - here, Kurisu is not even in katakana, so I'll just treat it as Japanese
7) Rebecca Miyamoto (レベッカ 宮本) first last
8) Soryu Asuka Langley (惣流・アスカ・ラングレー) last first middle

So in short I adopted the "if they're supposed to be spelled this way in moonrunes, then me too" idea. However, there's a few weirdos among the bunch.

9) Chiaki Kurihara (チアキ・クリハラ) first last - this sounds fully Japanese, but the official name is in katakana (???)
10) Subaru Nakajima (スバル・ナカジマ) first last - same as above, not sure why some are in katakana

And the last weird thing is this name:

11) Taneshima Popura (種島 ぽぷら) last first

The order of the name isn't the problem, but the spelling of Popura is. Either the anime or manga mentioned that she was named after the Poplar tree. But her name isn't in katakana. There is no right answer, but in my opinion, she is named after it, but that doesn't mean she is it. Therefore, I prefer Popura over Poplar.