Name Translations

[Feldy]

this is something for all you japanese anime obsessed freaks out there. like me ^_^. anywho, this is the transelation for some names ill edit this post when I find out more.

Kite=Young
Usagimaru=Bunny or Rabit
Terajima= Works for or cares about
sry thats all more on the way..

[Duskino]

Not all the character's names are in Japanese... Kite, BlackRose, Mistral, Gardenia, Marlo, Balmung, etc... those are in English or some other language.

"Kite" in Japanese would be pronounced 'kee-teh', not the English Kite.

Nuke Usagimaru and Ryoko, on the otherhand, ARE Japanese.

Not all the names are translatable. Look for if the names are in Hirigana/Kanji or in Katakana first. If it's in Katakana, then it's not a translatable word, for it's not in Japanese.

[Feldy]

well I heard that Kite was was japanese and that it meant "Young One".
Im completely,100%, sure about the other ones I said though.

[TheUltimateTwinBlade]

well maybe that meaning to Kite can be applyed to him, young one=New to The World?

[Silence]

... Kite is supposed to be an English word, not a Japanese one. That's why it's pronounced with one syllable rather than with two like Japanese words ending in 'e' (like Natsume) are.

And kite in English is a word meaning 'bird of prey.' Also the name of a geometric shape and, of course, the thusly-shaped (and also bird-like) toy.

There's another problem with your translation - you're wrong about Usagimaru. 'Usagi' is 'rabbit,' yes, but then they also added 'maru' to the end, which means 'circle' (or zero, or money, or perfection, or whatever). What that means, I don't know. Would someone who knows Japanese tell us the most likely translation for that together? Perfect rabbit? Bunny circle? Strange stuff...

A third problem - are you sure about that translation for 'Terajima'? You should know, of course, that her real name is 'Terashima Ryouko.' They changed the name to 'Terajima Ryoko' when they translated the .hack games into English, for some reason. So it probably doesn't mean anything anymore.. And my dictionary doesn't have any entry for 'Terajima,' though I could be wrong, I don't know any Japanese, I just rely on dictionaries. XD Latin and English are the only two languages I know. Working on Greek, too! ^^;;

However, if I'm right, maybe you should break 'Terashima' down too. 'Tera' is Japanese for 'temple.' 'Shima' is Japanese for 'stripe' or 'island.' So, maybe Terashima is 'Island Temple' or something?

Anyway... I'm interested in this stuff. I already know what most of the names mean, like the origin of almost all of the Phases' names, and so on. But I had never researched any of the Japanese names of characters before, so this is very enlightening. Post more as soon as you think of something else to translate... though I doubt there are that many words left in .hack that I don't already know the meanings of o.o; maybe two or three... *shrug* Lessee! *goes to research every major .hack character's name before posting*

OK, here we are! Some other names in .hack (not them all 'cause I don't know ALL the names of the .hack charas ever named anywhere o.o just almost all of them XD maybe I'll try to translate some of the super-minor characters in .hack later, too, just for fun)... which I just spent about three and a half hours researching online (o_O;;)...

.hack Main Character Names
A-20 = Japanese, a class number
Balmung = German, Balmung (sun beam), the name of Siegfried's sword in the epic opera 'Ring of the Nibelung'
Bear = English, bear (a large, fierce forest-dwelling animal; to carry, endure, support)
BlackRose = English, black (the non-reflectant color associated with such things as being evil, dirty, and gloomy) + rose (a fragrant but thorny red flower of the genus Rosa)
BT = English, abbreviation BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwich) with the Lettuce taken out
Crim = English, shortening of crimson (a vivid red color)
Elk = English, elk (moose)
Gardenia = English, gardenia (a fragrant white flower of the genus Jasminoides)
Ginkan = Japanese, Ginkan (the Milky Way galaxy)
Kaze = Japanese, kaze (wind, breeze; the common cold)
Kite = English, kite (a bird of prey; a flying toy)
Marlo = Japanese, maro (myself)
Mia = English, abbreviation MIA (Missing In Action)
Mimiru = Japanese, mi (fruit, nut, seed; content, good result; person, body, main part, oneself; sword; not yet; three) + miru (to look after, to take care of; to examine, to view, to see, to watch)
Mistral = French, mistral (a strong north wind that blows in France during the winter)
Moonstone = English, moonstone (a translucent, pearly gemstone)
Natsume = Japanese, natsume (jujube tree)
Nuke Usagimaru = English, nuke (a nuclear device) & Japanese, usagi (rabbit, hare) + maru (circle; zero; money; perfection, purity)
Orca = English, orca (killer whale)
Piros = Hungarian, piros (red)
Rachel = Hebrew, Rachel (sheep)
Sanjuro = Japanese, Sanjuro (thirty years old), the name of a wandering samurai in the 1961 movie Yojimbo
Sieg = German, shortening of Siegfried (victorious peace), the name of the legendary hero in the epic opera 'Ring of the Nibelung'
Sora = Japanese, sora (sky)
Subaru = Japanese, subaru (unite; the seven-star constellation Pleiades)
Terajima Ryoko = Japanese, tera (temple) + shima (island, stripe) + ryouko (two tigers, two rivals, dragon and tiger; hero; clever writing)
Tsukasa = Japanese, tsu (steal) + kasa (bamboo hat, shade; umbrella, parasol)
Wiseman = English, wise man (a sage)

'TWILIGHT' Event Names
Apeiron = Greek, apeiron (infinitely large, hopelessly complex, undefinable; the unbounded chaos before Creation)
Aura = English, aura (an invisible emanation)
Corvenik = Japanese, Corbenik (-no meaning-)
Gorre = British, Gorre (kingdom from which no one returns), a land in Arthurian Legend
Fidchell = Irish, fidchell (the art of wood), a board game in which a king and his guards battle a horde of attackers
Helba = Egyptian, helba (fenugreek, a cloverlike Eurasian herb with white flowers, bitter seeds, and aromatic leaves often used as flavorings)
Innis = Irish, innis (island)
Lios = Celtic, lios (enclosure, garden, fort)
Macha = Irish, Macha (battle, crow; plain), one of three war goddesses
Magus = Latin, magus (magician, sage)
Morganna = Welsh, Morganna (from the seashore), the female form of Morgan (sea circle)
Skeith = Norse, skeith (race course)
Tarvos = Celtic, tarvos (bull)

.hack//LEGEND Main Character Names
Hotaru = Japanese, hotaru (firefly)
Kamui = Japanese, Kamui (one who represents the power of God; one who hunts the power of God)
Komiyan III = Japanese, Komiyama (old mountain shrine) & Latin, numeral III (third)
Magi = Latin, magi (of a magician)
Mireille = Hebrew, Mireille (God has spoken)
Ouka = Japanese, ouka (Europeanization, Westernization; imperial influence, assimilation of new territory; cherry blossom; forcing down; glorification, eulogy, song of praise)
Reki = Japanese, reki (run over; stoned to death)
Rena = Hebrew, Rena (joyous song)
Shugo = Japanese, shugo (protection, safeguard)
Zefie = Japanese, Xefi (-no meaning-)

Fun! :D Correct me if any of those are wrong! ^^;

P.S. - Note that those were the meanings of the English names. Obviously, many of the English names are different from the Japanese names. For example, Sanjuro has a last name in the Japanese games which means 'Sandstorm,' and Moonstone's name is the Japanese word for 'Moonstone' in the games, and Marlo's name is 'Maro,' and Piros's name is 'Piroshi' (which I was unable to find ANY sort of translation for at all (though it seems to be a non-totally-unique name in Japan), so I just stuck with translating the English name), and so on. So don't tell me that I skipped a step with some of the origins, I know that already :P My only concern here was to give the English name and give as many likely meanings as I've found for it (for example, for all I know, 'Mimiru' could also be a combination of 'mimi,' or 'ear,' and 'ru,' or 'bend over,' but I didn't include those because they make no sense at all ^^;). Sometimes, as with Komiyan (a.k.a. Komiyama) and Marlo (a.k.a. Maro), going back to the Japanese was required to find any meaning. Other times, as with Macha (a.k.a. Maha) and Fidchell (a.k.a. Fidhell), going back to the Japanese version of the .hack games would actually have made it impossible to find any good meanings for the name.

... anyway, now I'm done. ^-^;;;;; You're right, translating IS fun!

[Elk]

Kaite (pronounciation of Kite) actually means to write... but using a different kanji.. it means to scratch. XD

...oh... & Reki is pebble.

ahaha...

[Duskino]

"Ginkan" is Japanese for "Silver Knight", isn't it?

[Silence]

Thoroughly and definitely not. The words 'Silver Knight' are never ONCE used in the entire .hack saga. They were completely an invention of the .hack translators. For some reason they decided to try and translate the name 'Ginkan,' even though it's a NAME and there's no reason to try to translate someone's name into the words that it literally means. That'd be like translating a story from English to Japanese and turning the main character's name from 'Max' to a Japanese word for 'Great' because the name 'Max' comes from a Latin word meaning 'great.' That's how silly it is.

Besides which, they didn't translate it properly anyway, from what I've heard.

gin = silver

kan = tree trunk; can, tin, pipe, tube; crown, diadem, first, best, peerless, cap, heaven, emperor; naming; letter, writing brush; perception, intuition, the sixth sense; look, appearance, spectacle; recommend, advise, encourage, offer; strong, just, right, love of peace

Ginkan = Milky Way

Since the character's name is 'Ginkan,' which translation makes more sense to you now? Just forget about ever calling him 'Silver Knight' again and I'll be happy, OK?

Oh, and to the guy who mentioned the incorrect pronunciation of Kite (it's actually Kait, like the English word - one syllable, as has already been mentioned on this thread many times): that's an amusing observation, I suppose, but one irrelevent to the .hack series.. since 'Kai-te' ISN'T Kite's name and so isn't one of the meanings behind his name.

On the other hand, you might be right about Reki. My dictionary doesn't have that word in it, so I checked through Google and some message boards said that the name meant 'stoned to death' or 'run over,' but that might have just been an association thing from the actual meaning, 'stone.' I don't know. My dictionary has different words for 'pebble' and 'stone' and so on. But OK. Thanks for the information, then. ^^;;;

[TheUltimateTwinBlade]

actually.. oukas name came from the word Ookami(did i spell it right?) which means wolf

[Tsunami the Silver Dragon]

Well, I tried but this is all that I got.

Mah(a), Persian mythology:The moon goddess whose light makes plants grow.

Don't know about the rest of you but she seems like a moon goddess to me.

[Rinnu]

Well, I tried but this is all that I got.

Mah(a), Persian mythology:The moon goddess whose light makes plants grow.

Don't know about the rest of you but she seems like a moon goddess to me.

Yes, and likes grass.

[Duskino]

Well, I tried but this is all that I got.

Mah(a), Persian mythology:The moon goddess whose light makes plants grow.

Macha is actually a Celtic goddess, a part of the other Celtic Goddess, The Morgain or Morgana.

[Eggplant of the Twilight]

But wasn't it originally considered to be "Maha", which had to do with Mahou, which meant Magic?

[Tsukasa]

*coughs* Okay... Let one of the Japanese students at this. There's actually a few mistakes and such in this. :/ As a quick note, Japanese often holds a /ton/ of double meanings to it. And many words can have more than one meaning. Because of this reason, Japanese is difficult to translate without the kanji for the words as well.

Dual meaning is a good example of what I'm saying now: 'Ginkan' is actually written as 銀漢 . 'kan' is actually the first kanji used in the word 'kanji', which is the alphabet used for the name. :D This is also dealing with meanings in empires and China. When merged with 'silver' (the first kanji), it does, in fact, change the meaning to 'milky way'.

Which then goes into play with Subaru. 昴 is the Japanese word for the Pleides constellation. As they're both stellar objects, they are directly linked together in meaning. Now, calling him 'Silver Knight' (which I still don't understand) breaks the pun, however, it's a play on words that is not recognizable in English.


---

Terashima Ryoko - 'Terashima' is a common Japanese last name, as is Ryoko a common first name.　It does, however, mean 'temple bird'.

Sora - This name is a mishmash of two kanji that normally don't go together. The kanji, however, read as 'elegant whip'. It is written as such: 楚良 while 'sora' as in 'sky' is written like: 空 (Odd note, Sora in Kingdom Hearts, however, does reference the sky. Riku is the earth, and Kairi has to do with estrangement.)

Bear - Bear's name comes from the fact that his player's last name is 'Sakuma', 'kuma' being Japanese for 'Bear'.

Moonstone - This is right. I'm just making a note that this is one of the names in the game that was changed from Japanese- it is from 'Getchoseki' which literally means the same thing.　月石

Mimiru - Mimiru is a play on the name 'Mimika' who got her into play The World in the first place.　ミミル

Natsume - This is another common Japanese name.

Mistral - I actually think that 'Mistral' comes from the name of a renaissance poet, strangely enough.

Tsukasa - Tsukasa is a strange one, actually. This is actually, second to the Ginkan/Subaru names, my favorite namewise in the series. The name Tsukasa is a common Japanese name and happens to be androgynous. Written as つかさ, it becomes somewhat feminine. However, when it's written as 司 it becomes masculine. This kanji also bears the meaning of 'director' or 'manager'.

Many names that were in the Epitaph of the Twilight are actually of Gaelic origin.

'Xefi' is not a possible name in Japanese. Thus is is foreign. I'm not sure the source of it, however.

Rena and Shuugo are both common Japanese names. If they are a direct references, I'm quite sure that they are influencing each other in references.

Mia is also a common name.

Another note, take in mind that a lot of the names listed to be Japanese are also written in katakana. While they have some meaning in Japanese, it doesn't always mean that it /does/, as this alphabet is reserved for foreign words. There is also a good chance that they're representing something in writing that can't be translated into English by the fact that a Japanese name is written in katakana. Our language doesn't have the ability to handle many of the 'unspoken nuances' in phrases and such.

As for Macha... It was never considered as 'maho' or magic. This falls into the katakana ruling I stated. The 'c' in Macha is silent, making it to be pronounced like 'maha'. This is something that cannot be expressed in Japanese.

魔法 is magic, or 'mahou'. However, Macha is written like マハ. Which is completely different.

As for the source of Macha:

The Morrigan is a goddess of battle, strife, and fertility. Her name translates as either "Great Queen" or "Phantom Queen," and both epithets are entirely appropriate for her. The Morrigan appears as both a single goddess and a trio of goddesses. The other deities who form the trio are Badb ("Crow"), and either Macha (also connotes "Crow") or Nemain ("Frenzy"). The Morrigan frequently appears in the ornithological guise of a hooded crow. She is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann ("Tribe of the goddess Danu") and she helped defeat the Firbolg at the First Battle of Mag Tuireadh and the Fomorians at the Second Battle of Mag Tuireadh.

Also, Morrigan is possibly derived from the infamous Morgan le Fay.

[Angel of the Apocolypse]

Wow interesting topic. Nuke's name means rabbit circle. LOL ^__^
Oh, Silence, I was reading your list of names and meanings when this caught my attention. Under your .hack main character list there was this:


Kaze = Japanese, kaze (wind, breeze; the common cold)


Who's Kaze? I've never heard of him, or maybe a her, or whoever 'it' is.