Behind the name

Ask questions about the personality and backstory of the multitude of characters in the Suikoden series.
eldrasidar
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Re: Behind the name

Post by eldrasidar »

Kiefer is the german surname equivalent of the English Cooper (from the job where one makes and fixes barrels), and although there are numerous similarities between German and Swedish, and the other scandinavian languages for that matter, it wouldn't actually work in the Scandinavian patronymic naming method, because Kiefer is a job title surname(Smith), not a lineage surname(Johnson or Johansen/Johansson). It also isn't spelled right to be Scandinavian, and is therefore anglicized(much like how Johnson is the anglicized Johansen). For males, Norwegian and Danish mostly use the -sen suffix, while Swedish and Icelandic tend to use -sson(unless the father's name ended in an -s, in which case it would just be -son). So it would have to be spelled Kiefersen, or Kiefersson. If you were looking for the Scandinavian version of Kiefer you might try the Danish last name Bødker, but then you wouldn't use the -sen suffix. But then we would have Louis(more likely Ludvig) Bødker, not Louis Keeferson. So nope, Louis is definitely not Scandinavian, despite those blue eyes. Given that he is Zexen, which takes most of it's background from Germany/Switzerland/Belgium/Luxembourg/Holland/France(places along the Rhine), I'd look to those countries for his name's origins, along with the origins of most of the Zexen names.

PS
IMHO Ludvig Bødker would have been a much better name. Then again I like using ø's.

PPS
of course, to do that, Konami would have to include the ø symbol in their games...
Shinyo
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Re: Behind the name

Post by Shinyo »

Luca Blight
Lucca: Light (italian) [also there is a town or village named Lucca or Luca]
Luca: "born from light" (italian name)
... not quite fitting, right?

Yuber
As already stated means "Shade". Now I found out, it's kurdish aswell, just like Pesmerga.

Kuromimi
From what I know "Kuro" means "black" (japanese).
I'm not too sure of "mimi" though..

Code: Select all

I think it was translated as "cat" somewhere (maybe in some random anime? I don't know  :mrgreen: ).

I read on some websites that "mimi" is also used as a nickname for persons (in french) like Marilyn and Miriam. Also used as a spanish pet name for Mira, Maria, and Noemi.
And yes, I know that "neko" is the japanese word for "cat" :P

Flik
Cop(?) (dutch)

Varkas/Vargas
"Varg" means "wolf" (swedish)

Hilda
"Hilda" means "War" in Anglo Saxon, "Battle Maiden" in English, "Fighter" in Swedish, and "Battle Maiden" in Teutonic."
(Heh, kinda looks like the meaning of Hilda and Luca should be switched..)

Alex
Short form of "Alexander" which means "Protector (of men)" or "defend(er)" etc.



EDIT: Note that everything written in "code" is total nonsense, so just ignore it :mrgreen:
Last edited by Shinyo on Tue Jan 11, 2011 9:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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FliktorForce5
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Re: Behind the name

Post by FliktorForce5 »

I thought Kuromimi's name translated as black-ears in Japaneese, but I don't remember where I read that...
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Shinyo
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Re: Behind the name

Post by Shinyo »

Well black ears makes a lot more sense than black cat, eh? I mean they are more like dogs, anyway.. as I said I'm not really sure about "mimi".. also I just tried google translate and yeah.. you're right :D
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Rooks
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Re: Behind the name

Post by Rooks »

Just realized that Geddoe's name could be taken from the title character of Samuel Beckett's play, "Waiting for Godot." It has been a long time since I read the play, so if there are any sly references to the play in the game I have not noticed them. But it is at least a possibility that the translator did not see the reference and romanized it as Geddoe.
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Raww Le Klueze
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Re: Behind the name

Post by Raww Le Klueze »

Unlikely, because it's supposed to be Ged. And there's virtually no similarity between ゲド and ゴドー.
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Hirathien
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Re: Behind the name

Post by Hirathien »

Are you saying Geddoe is supposed to be Ged? That's a weird name if I ever seen one.
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Raww Le Klueze
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Re: Behind the name

Post by Raww Le Klueze »

Cause Geddoe is much more normal? And I'll have you know Ged is an actual name.
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Hirathien
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Re: Behind the name

Post by Hirathien »

Wow, I had no idea that Ged is an actual name. Well, to me Geddoe kinda seems more real, than just Ged. But then again, different culture different names I guess.
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Re: Behind the name

Post by Antimatzist »

Wow, never heard of Ged. But yeah, Geddoe sounds somehow more.. natural.
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Re: Behind the name

Post by Antimatzist »

I will repost Juan's idea here:
There is this Filipino Folklore that the title is "Juan Tamad" which you translate to english it's Lazy Juan. The character name is Juan and he is known for his laziness because he waits the guava to fall off the tree rather than get it he just wait under the tree. When I played S3 and saw Juan and his characteristics it reminds me of this folklore. So did Konami base Juan character from this folklore or it's just coincidence?
The story even has its own wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Tamad

I don't know if Juan is based on the story, but they are quite funny if you ask me :D
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Rooks
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Re: Behind the name

Post by Rooks »

Melville
Elliot
Alanis

Herman Melville

Thomas Sterns Elliot

. . . Alanis Morissette? Hmm. . . I think my idea about Melville and Elliot is correct, but Alanis just does not fit in at all. I can't recall any female authors with either the first or last name "Alanis," and I was wondering if the translation for her name was correct. If so, I could have thought of at least 50 female authors better than Alanis. . .
eldrasidar
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Re: Behind the name

Post by eldrasidar »

Hard to say. Certainly the Herman Melville and T.S. Eliot seems compelling for being part of a trio of literary figures. If it is a trio though, you've got a hard time coming up with a third one, since other than being well-known writers, Melville and Eliot have almost nothing obvious in common, they wrote in different times, places, on different topics, in different styles, and different genres. All they got in common is being well-known English language authors. Assuming Alanis is supposed to fit the sequence, her name would have to be last name of some English-speaking writer presumably writing somewhere between 1800-1950. Like you say, there's not a single writer who's name is Alanis. Perhaps an Allen or Alan. But I can't think of any particularly famous ones. If we think the author should be female, that also doesn't really help, as at least can only quickly think of two that might work, Louisa May Alcott and Jane Austin, neither of which is at all close.

I'd say there's a very good chance that either:
A: the name is very poorly translated, which I don't think is actually the case in the particularly instance or...
B: the name is not part of a cute trio. This seems more likely to me, simply because of the lack of female first names that are also used as last names in English, compounded by the lack of well-known writers with them.
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Re: Behind the name

Post by Antimatzist »

Maybe Alanis should be a female version of Edgar Allan Poe. But I'd rather say it's poorly translated.
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Rachael
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Re: Behind the name

Post by Rachael »

Don't forget Borus' unfortunate last name: Redrum!
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