I'm working on a screen play, and I need quite a few anime names. If you think you have any good ones, post them here.
The Rules of Anime: Every color of the rain bow is acceptable for skin, eyes, and hair. Little kids are often more powerful than adults. Old people are more powerful than the little kids and the adults combined. People are overly dramatic and state the obvious a lot as if we the viewers can't figure out what is happening. Ah here we go: Any random assortment of syllables of made up words is a name! If you want an "anime" name. It's easy. Pick one at random, use symbolism, or just make one up. The Japanese do it all the time.
I know the difference between japanese and when someone throws some random syllables together. My point was mainly that anything can be an anime name (I've seen anime characters with some weird names). If your looking for anime name,s anything goes.
Why don't you pick some common Japanese names? You can't miss with that one. edit:Seems like tvtropes doesn't like hotlinking. Oh well.
If you are at a loss for anime names based on the Japanese language, please PM my friend (ok, he's my freaking husband, are you happy now?) Helmut II who just joined this site. He speaks fluent Japanese and I have resorted to his help many times in translating names and sayings from that language, which I don't speak or understand myself. I'm sure he won't post in this thread, even if you were to beg him, so if you want some ideas, or a translation, you have to PM him. yours in Chaos, Scarlett
XD. I just mean made up names ok. People make up names in anime (and TV in general) all the time what's the big deal ? (Char anyone? Amuro? Trowa? Jio? Goku (It's a name now but prior to DB it wasn't)? Piccolo?)
You're perfectly correct. I can have an anime with completely American names. Might be a bit odd, but I could do it. Kids Anime especially makes up silly non-Japanese names, or borrows words from other lnaguages, 'specially english.
Names of anime (as in, titles of the Japanese cartoons, to allude to?) or names of characters in some anime, or original names for original characters that could easily fit in an anime (I can only think of Hiro Protagonist now, but that's no example.) Or possible English translations for anime names? (Kaoru becomes "Cory," Kenshin becomes "Kenshie" for some strange reason and I think they should have either kept Kenshin or Anglized it all the way to Ken because that's just awkward. Usagi becomes "Bunny"... Ranma stays Ranma.) I'll assume it's the second, since most everyone else has. Unless you're fluent in Japanese and have an ear for what's "aesthetic babble" worthy of naming babies and beloved characters with, though, I would recommend just naming the characters real Japanese words and names: http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/KateMonk/Orient/Japan/index.htm
Troa is a Japanese proximation of the frech word for three Goku may not be an actual name, but it is a Japanese word, essentially means "Very" Amuro Is most likely a Japanese approximation of "amour" Jio is probably chinese. Piccolo is most likely a Japanese approximation of pickle, since they did use a bunch of food names. They don't use made-up names any more than Noth American Fanatsy writers do.
XD. Ok. I won't be talking a Japanese naming conventions anymore. I'm obviously not as informed as I thought.
I have seen names that seem made up, but with so many languages on Earth the name is bound to have a root in some language. But since Anime is typically Japanese, it's best to stick to Asian influence. I like short and simple. My two favorite names are Lailua (Lay-loo-uh) and Yoori (Yoh-ree) It sounds better pronounced in Japanese, where the L sounds like the beginning of a rolling R when in the middle of a word and the R sounds like an L. Also the double O as in 'Yoori' is called a long O like the O in the word 'Go'. Japanese is an absolutely confusing language if you're American like me Yuna Hiro Aryu Sylvia (Used in many animes despite it's European/English root) Bronard (One of the names in a long list of comical type characters) Names like that, they sound Asian, and occasionally English, and since most animes are Dubbed for English, it's pretty safe to go in a more western style name choice for some characters.
Saya, Kai, Riku, Akihiro, Ryuk, Raiko, Misa, Lavie, alvin, Claus, Alex, Sophia, Tatiana, Dio, trust me, I could go on, I've seen hundreds if not thousands of anime's (the above names come from Blood+, Death Note and Last Exile, all excelent anime's). The thing with Anime's are that the producers are quiet fornd of using European (especially French) and Russian names, if that character "looks" French (Sophia and Alex) or Russian (Tatiana). There aren't really specific anime names... although in some (far fromm all) anime's, symbolism is a must.
One of the easy things to do is to find a translator, pick out some words you think would make good names, and translate them into Japanese (if you're cheap like me, I suggest freedict.com. *is shot* DX). One name i'm fond of using in RPG's for a 'next generation' anime forum is Ryuu, meaning dragon. It has plenty of variations, like Ryuuk (kind of) Ryuuzaki, or just Ryu. Also, you can combine words. Like Kaze (wind) and Neko (cat) combine equals (more or less, I think) Kazeneko (Windcat). Be creative as you will and change the names as you like them to be changed.
Anime names is a broad generalization. If your talking about character names used in anime, it varies depending on anime, actually. If the anime's setting is North America, if the show is well-done (which a few are, and a few aren't) they will use North American names, same with any other setting. As a writer I think its important to pay attention to ethnicity when choosing names that are specific to, well, ethnicity. As for Japanese names, search the internet. There are a few good sites with both male and female names, and meanings behind them, which I use frequently. Since the Japanese language is very poetic, its easy to mix and match (like MajorInkSpill said) Its great to be creative, but don't be cliche or too out there when creating these, anyone who even faintly knows the language will be laughing their head off. For example, using Ki (which litterally means Fire) for a character who uses Fire is a bit cliche. There are plenty of other names that would go well with a fire-using character. I use the language for a lot of character names, and find it quite interesting.
Just as a note to everyone, the names in Dragonball are mostly katakana names for vegetables. "Kakarot" is carrot "Vegeta" is vegetable "Piccolo" is pickle Bulma is actually "Buruma" in the original Japanese and it means "bloomers". i.e. Every member of the Briefs family is named after underwear. Son Goku is not a made up name. It comes from "Journey To The West". Son Goku is also a character in Saiyuki. And I do not suggest putting together syllables that "sound" japanese. There are directories of baby names for Japanese that are translated into English. In fact, here's one. http://www.babynamenetwork.com/baby_names/origins/Japanese_baby_names.cfm
Thanks Helmut, I never would have thought of that. Another thing to remember is that anime is not a genre in the same sense as fantasy or science fiction. It's the Japanese word for animation, and can be every genre, so the names are just as diverse. Dragon Ball is a very silly show, so it has some pretty silly names. Goku's son's name is gohan, and that is a kind of rice. In other cases, they only use real Japanese names, like for all the human characters in Sailormoon (as far as I know).
You're quite right. European names in anime are usually okay also, I've found. (Edward, Alphonse, Alucard, etc.) I still remember back in the day when it was all called "Japanime".
Yeah, that kind of bugged me, especially when I learned the exact translation of "anime." Technically, it refers to animation no matter what country it comes from.
Mitsuki Miaka Nuriko Takuto Taiyou Yuu Ginta Sora Dasuki Izumi Tohru Hikaru Akira Hinata Sakura Yazuki Kyoko Miki Hiro Shigure Sai Hiroko Yoshigi Kanon Yuri Mitski Icheero That is a part of my collection. I have been collecting names for about six months. If you need anymore just let me know!!
