Question about the Senshi secondary/kanji names...

[Metroidvania]

I believe this has to do with the kanji and how their locations, I admit to being slightly ignorant on this topic...

But, like Hotaru's name meaning Firefly, or Usagis' meaning Rabbit in the Moon.....

Or Even Ranma's Chaos Horse/Demon.....

Do the rest of the Senshi have anything similar?

[Spokavriel]

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Sailor-Moon-1181/names.htm

This page has an incomplete listing but it's more than you have now.

I don't know how accurate it is to Canon though.

[WG_Writer]

here is a link to name info sites, I will update shortly with the info directly

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/5976/sm-characters.htm
http://www.moonprism.net/translations.php

(sorry about formating, site does not like formating much)

Names listed family name first, (#) contains note to see at bottom
Tsukino Usagi___ Sailor Moon________________Rabbit of the Moon
Mizuno Ami_____Sailor Mercury____________ Friend of Water(6)
Hino Rei________Sailor Mars________________Spirit of Fire (1)
Kino Makoto____ Sailor Jupiter____________ Sincerity of Wood
Aino Minako____ Sailor Venus______________ Child of Love (5)
Chiba Mamoru___Tuxedo Kamen______________ Protector of Earth (or Earth's Protection)
Chibi-Usa______ Sailor Chibi (Mini) Moon__ Rabbit of the Moon (2)
Tomoe Hotaru___Sailor Saturn______________Firefly of the Earth (3)
Tenou Haruka___Sailor Uranus______________Swinging Cloud Sky King
Kaiou Michiru___ Sailor Neptune____________ Full Ocean King
Meiou Setsuna__ Sailor Pluto______________ Instant Dead King (4)


1 could be Beauty of Fire as well, however, 'Spirit of Fire' is more in tune with the character as a miko.
2 same as mother's name since her actual name is still Tsukino Usagi, Chibi-Usa is just a nick name
3 This one is constantly debated. The characters used in the name can be taken several ways and this is the simplest.
4 some times refered to as "Underworld" instead of "Dead", But Dead is literal
5 I have seen it translated as Beautiful Child of Love as well, but most of the names can have Beautiful in it as part of the translation, so using it throws off the pattern. Technically in my opinion Beauty of Love would fit more with the character, but I have not seen it translated this way.
6 Ami's translation of Friend is the commonly accepted one, however it should be noted that it is gained by combining the 2 kanji of the Name, rather then taking both kanji. This is not really a bad thing as names often are punned this deep, but some would argue the opposite. The "real" translation is Asian Beauty, but this meaning feels out of place when next to the rest of the names and even the family name.

[mondu_the_fat]

Ami Mizuno
"Asian beauty of WAter"
"Secondary beauty of water"
"Friend of Water"
"beautiful center of water"

Mizu can be read as sui;
suisei = Planet Mercury

Rei Hino

"Spirit/Soul of Fire"

Hi can be read as ka; kasei = Planet Mars

Makoto Kino

"truth/sincerity of wood"

Ki can be read as moku;
mokusei = Planet Jupiter

Minako Aino

"Beautiful little Child of Love"

Being an older character than the rest of the cast, Minako's name does not reference any planet


(Source: BESM SM RPG)

[nuclear death frog]

I think this article is immediately relevant.

[WG_Writer]

NDF: as good as that article looks, and as good as his arguments are, he contradicts himself in it more then once. He also misses several known characters. The character used for Ami holds the same meaning as the french word Ami (friend) and argues against Ami meaning friend because Ami means the masculine version of friend in french. It has the feel of someone with an English<>Japanese book, rather then someone who actually is proficient in the language.

Further the 'no' at the end of the names is a point of inconsistency in their arguments. (they start most of the names I saw pointing it out, then seems to forget it, also says ( This is a real name so 'no' doesn't mean field, this is not a real or common name so it is.))


Not saying that the article is bad, it has a lot of good information and a nice breakdown, just be careful using it and take its usage with a grain of salt like every other source.

This article is very mono and preachy saying "This is the translation and meaning" but when ever translating anything in Japanese there are multiple meanings.

[Metroidvania]

Hmm....

Well, thanks for the help, Spok, WarG, Mondu, and NDF.

A combination of your findings gives me at least something pretty concrete to work with.


As for NDF's articles apparent slight bias....It's for a plot purpose, so I think I'll be all right just this once.

[Seraphim]

All the Senshi first names (other than Ami and Minako) don't technically have meanings to them at all since they are written in hiragana, and in Rei's case katakana.

This site is pretty good. >http://www.geocities.com/lunararchivist/punhigh.html

Though there are multiple kanji pronounced 'rei' and can mean 'cold', 'zero', 'command', 'etiquette', 'example', 'age or 'return', along with 'spirit'. There are probably more, but that's all I could find on this 'site

[lwf58]

This site is pretty good.

That's a rather nice breakdown. Not 100% accurate, but better than average. When the article says "Makoto is technically a guy's name", it's dead wrong. Makoto is commonly used for both girls and boys.

Something else that is not mentioned is that spelling a word with katakana has a meaning in and of itself. Katakana are used almost invariably for non-Japanese (foreign) words, and the characters chosen are as close to phonetic as the limitations of the language permit. So although her name is spelled "Rei" using katakana, the very fact that it uses katakana implies that it's actually the western name "Ray" or "Raye".

Being from Sailor Moon, though, the name probably does contain several layers of puns.

[Seraphim]

True. *nods*

[nuclear death frog]

NDF: as good as that article looks, and as good as his arguments are, he contradicts himself in it more then once. He also misses several known characters. The character used for Ami holds the same meaning as the french word Ami (friend) and argues against Ami meaning friend because Ami means the masculine version of friend in french. It has the feel of someone with an English<>Japanese book, rather then someone who actually is proficient in the language.

Further the 'no' at the end of the names is a point of inconsistency in their arguments. (they start most of the names I saw pointing it out, then seems to forget it, also says ( This is a real name so 'no' doesn't mean field, this is not a real or common name so it is.))

On 'Ami', he's right. "Ami" is indeed the French word for friend -- a male friend. The word for a female friend is "amie". This is a significant difference. French as a language has a specific gender for all or nearly all nouns. Furthermore, in speaking French, there are many verb conjugations (personal, you [informal] imperative, you [formal] imperative, we [group tense], they [group mixed male/female], they [group female only], or he [another person].

Je, Te, Il, Nous, Vous, Elles, Ils.

Verb conjugations and gender-specific nouns cannot be ignored. Nor can names.

As to the character meaning "field" and pronounced "no", it's only in the surnames of Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako. It's not in Haruka's, Michiru's, or Setsuna's surnames; it's not in Hotaru's surname; and it's not in Mamoru's surname.

[WG_Writer]

On 'Ami', he's right. "Ami" is indeed the French word for friend -- a male friend. The word for a female friend is "amie". This is a significant difference. French as a language has a specific gender for all or nearly all nouns. Furthermore, in speaking French, there are many verb conjugations (personal, you [informal] imperative, you [formal] imperative, we [group tense], they [group mixed male/female], they [group female only], or he [another person].

Je, Te, Il, Nous, Vous, Elles, Ils.

Verb conjugations and gender-specific nouns cannot be ignored. Nor can names.

As to the character meaning "field" and pronounced "no", it's only in the surnames of Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako. It's not in Haruka's, Michiru's, or Setsuna's surnames; it's not in Hotaru's surname; and it's not in Mamoru's surname.

Half correct on both counts, the two characters that make up Ami together make friend (I may be incorrect on this, but half a dozen sources I have used claim this, I get "Sub-beauty" using babelfish though, but that is notoriously unreliable), just because Ami is friend in one language does not preclude it in another, like color or colour (depending on where you are) for both French and English.

(French is my second language, a bit rusted after 10 years of lack of use though, I hope Japanese becomes my third language)

And you are correct that 'no' is not in the 'outer's' names, but Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto have their own addition at the end, 'ou' which has a meaning roughly of 'king' a masculine King, so not "Queen".

Mamoru doesn't because he "Isn't a Sailor" so its to keep him seperate, I guess.

As to Hotaru... I have no Idea, but since her name links oddly back to earth there might have been another reason that was supose to exist but was dumped. truthfully when it comes to names the first 5; Tuskino, Hino, Mizuno, Aino, Kino, and the last 3; Meiou, Kaiou, Tenou; I think it would be foolish to look past name patterns and write them off as meaningless.

The important thing to consider is that most writers, especially Japanese writers like puns and hidden meanings. The article you referenced is great for literal meanings, but doesn't cover pun meanings at all which, given the culture he is referencing, is down right short sighted. Its as I said, someone who has an English<>Japanese dictionary and is going for literal translations.

[lwf58]

The word "earth" in regards to Saturn refers to "soil" or "dirt", not the planet Earth. It's an element in Asian alchemy. In Japanese, all of the planets except for Earth are named after elements.

The Japanese girls' name "Ami" does not mean "friend". The Japanese use the French word "ami", but it's a loan word spelled with katakana. Not the same at all. Her name is spelled using kanji, not kana.

[nuclear death frog]

And you are correct that 'no' is not in the 'outer's' names, but Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto have their own addition at the end, 'ou' which has a meaning roughly of 'king' a masculine King, so not "Queen".

And in the second article, which was linked from the first at the bottom, he covered the differences for the -ou surname people (Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna), and Hotaru who has her own particular entry. And in the third article, linked from the second, he covered the problem of the Three Lights, and Mamoru. So I don't see what you originally complained about with him not covering characters. The links were all there.

[WG_Writer]

The word "earth" in regards to Saturn refers to "soil" or "dirt", not the planet Earth. It's an element in Asian alchemy. In Japanese, all of the planets except for Earth are named after elements.

The Japanese girls' name "Ami" does not mean "friend". The Japanese use the French word "ami", but it's a loan word spelled with katakana. Not the same at all. Her name is spelled using kanji, not kana.

I stand corrected. Still I am half way sure the friend was intended (as a pun), but there is more doubt now.

And in the second article, which was linked from the first at the bottom, he covered the differences for the -ou surname people (Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna), and Hotaru who has her own particular entry. And in the third article, linked from the second, he covered the problem of the Three Lights, and Mamoru. So I don't see what you originally complained about with him not covering characters. The links were all there.

I was not referring the meaning, I was referring to the pattern, the author named characters with similar sounding last names with Mamoru and Hotaru as obvious exceptions.


My big point here, as I have said repeaditely is more directed at the tone of the article that their literal translations can only be taken a certain way, and that many writers, especially in Japan, use puns extensively. I am less knowledgeable in some areas, such as Sailor Moon, but taking Ranma for example, his name is multiple puns. The article does a great job giving literal translations, but does not cover the puns at all, which hurts the true name meaning in my opinion.