Masochistic Names?

[Nekomancer]

I've always thought it a bit odd that the makers of Suikoden, being Japanese themselves, and aiming primarily for a Japanese audience (that's where this game is most popular) continually choose names that are so hard for the native Japanese speaker to pronounce. I frequent Japanese fan sites and have spoken to a number of Native fans and all of them seem to have trouble with the majority of names. It seems particularly a problem when a fan draws art and then needs to name it using Western character when saving. Here are some of the most common ones I've run into:

Flik: Seems to mostly become the less then flattering 'Frick' (both a common Swiss surname and a mild substitute for the explicative f*ck) or 'Furik' as two consonants in a row are hard to say.

Miklotov: Strangely on a number of Japanese fansites I've seen him referred to as 'Mike' but mostly they just butcher the spelling of this. The funniest ones were 'Microtoft' (I still laugh when I see this one), 'Microtof' and 'Micolostove' Not only do they sound like something else but they aren't even close.

Lucia: Oddly I usually see this spelled like 'Russia' or 'Rusia'

Joei: This one doesn't seem to even have a solid spelling in the English games, switching between Jowy and Jowei frequently. Mostly seen as 'Jyoui'

Luc: So many different spellings from 'Luke' to 'Ruku' to 'Luco' to 'Luck' I actually have no idea how this was meant to be pronounced.

Caesar: Probably some of the more creative spellings I've seen. 'Sither', 'Seeza' and my personal favourite, 'Sneezar' (sounds like the poor boy has a cold, but where did they get the N?)

Chris: 'Kurisu'

Troy: 'Toroi'

Hervey: 'Havei' 'Havey' 'Harcei'

Hugo: Often add a Y to make it 'Hyugo'

Viktor: Mostly just adding several vowels and changing the V to a B. 'Bikutoru' for example.

These are just a handful of the ones that I have written down. My question is why use such hard names? I'm going to assume that it's because they wanted some foreign influences for a more culturally broad game and people always seem to think that foreign names sound 'cooler'

What do you think?

[Vextor]

It's probably because Murayama was well read in foreign literature, and had a preference for a bunch of exotic names.

[Jorge Prima]

Are there spanish speaking forums for suikoden? Cause Luco is close to Luco and it means crazy in spanish! Anyway, pretty funny stuff...
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J et J

[Nekomancer]

[Jorge Prima]

[fuji]

[Tonberry]

Yes, it adds a foreign touch. I'd be pretty bored with this sort of scenario:

Greg: So you're Sam's boy Phil. Quite an impressive little countenance. Listen, Phil. Would you be willing to give the Empire a helping hand while your father is protecting the northern border?

It's so much better with names like Barbarosa, Teo, and Tir.

[Nekomancer]

[Tonberry]

No, no. My mistake. I like when names aren't changed along with translations, just as you do. It annoys me further when they try to correct their changes later on, in a new release. She was Aerith originally, but was changed to Aeris for the English release. Then they go back to the original name? Yikes, that's even more confusing. Just stay with what you call them originally.

As for names too exotic for pronunciation, I honestly think they are good for people. They will have to learn to pronounce difficult things correctly sometime in their lives, so why not get some additional practice. I do agree with you though. It is a lot of fun to see people butcher pronunciations of other cultures.

[Nekomancer]

[HarmonianHiccup]

If you read japanese the pronuciations (I think I just butchered that spelling) make alot more sense. O_o You guys should see some of the name transliterations in my Fire Emblem artbook--it's pretty nuts. The thing about katakana is that it leaves the names open to so many different english "translations."

But it really does add flavor. I mean, how exciting were Phil and Greg (ROTFL!!)? That's how boring Kenji and Yuki are to them.

I dunno.
`^^';;
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[Mattman2]

now thats the ticket! I never really thought about any of this kin dof stuff before. lol btu hey I never really think much anyway. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha oh well. I like yoru ideas.
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"Those with power must use that power to shelter the weak and guide those younger than oneself."

[Dura Sinai]

As stated, much of it is done for flavor and in all honesty is not that far off from how you would pronounce/write names using Japanese syllables.

Much like how most Americans are not particularly well versed in say Chinese or Hebrew literature, the Japanese are most familiar with Japanese names and literature. So when they figure out the romanization of names or the katakana used, they might not know that a certain name is derived from Italian, French, English or German. Some of the names actually I don't believe have any direct ethinic origin. And they sure as heck won't know the few that are directly based on a historical reference.

I will have to give credit though to the creative names/spellings for Miklotov. It is the most commony mutilated name in the entire series. Something about the syllables being awkward for Japanese and Americans alike. But some of the ones you see are quite out there.

[Elzamine]

If nothing else, the Miklotov names gave me a laugh before my class heheee :) Interesting concept of names though!
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-My DeviantArt-

[Eden]

As I read the title of this theme I ahve to think of my name.
Sorry to everyone for writing an uninteresting fact, but I want to tell you something... My name is Holger. In Germany this name isn't very rare, but most of the Holgers are in their 50'. I'll become 20 this year. And my friend call me Holgi... This is adequate for a four-year-old girl, but I'm 19, my weight is nearly 200lbs and I'm about 6'4" high. It's embarrassing.
But some of my friends from Scotland pronounce it like "ogre".
That isn't really better, is it?

Okay, sorry again for my dead end posting ;)
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The Fool