Meaningful Name/Video Games: Difference between revisions
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** The main trio of the [[Kingdom Hearts (video game)|first game]]: Sora, Riku, and Kairi; Sky, land, and sea, respectively, though Sora is the only one that is referenced: "''There are many worlds, but they all share the same sky.''"
** Moving on to later games, you have Namine. ''Nami'' means ''wave'', while ''ne'' can mean either "sound of" in Japanese, or "born from" in French. There's the obvious reference back to Kairi, with the water-related name, but remember: {{spoiler|waves are formed by wind moving over water}}. The joke behind all this? {{spoiler|She's Kairi's Nobody, and was created when Sora freed Kairi's heart from his body}}.
** Then there's the Organization, who're all pretty simple to figure out; they're [[Significant Anagram
*** The 'X' itself having a meaning: It signifies Xehanort's obsession with the χ-Blade, the memories present within Xemnas, his Nobody.
*** Then there's Xion, whose name is loaded with double meanings. There's the first (phonetic) part of her name, ''shio,'' which means ''tide'', and is another call back to Kairi. {{spoiler|This is a [[Red Herring]]: she's not connected to Kairi like Namine is, but rather she's an imperfect copy of Sora's memories and therefore takes on Kairi's form. Then there's the references to ''scion'', meaning ''heir'', as well as her original name: '''No. i'''. As in the ''[[Ret-Gone|imaginary number.]]''}}
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** The city of Kirkwall is also actually another meaningful name. Kirk is an old word in English for church. So it means Church Wall. Given the content of the game... well... you decide.
* In the assorted ''[[Carmen Sandiego]]'' media (computer games, game shows, and the infamous TV series), all the villains save Carmen herself have such names. Baron Wasteland (succeeded by Baron Grinnit, easily the cleverest of the gimmicks), Jaquilene Hyde, Contessa, Dr. Sara Bellum (not to be confused with every other campy mad scientist ever created), Miss Demeanor, etc.
* ''[[Disgaea]]'' had a comic relief [[Recurring Boss]] named Mid-Boss (who called himself "Vyers, the Dark Adonis"
* ''[[Drakengard]]'' has a love affair with these. Caim is Gaelic for Cain, who was big on the murderin' of his brother. Arioch is Hebrew for "fierce lion" and was also the name of a fallen angel in ''[[Paradise Lost]]'', both apropos to her character. Seere is also a demon, a prince of hell with 26 legions who was of an indifferent nature, not evil but not good, and very beautiful. Manah, from the religious concept of ''manna'', and her character being referred throughout the game as a "tool of [[God Is Evil|the gods.]]"
** In the sequel, the dragon called Legna which is Angel spelled backwards. Considering that {{spoiler|Angelus is the dragon of the first game (and Angel in the Japanese version) ''AND'' Legna was the same dragon that killed Caim's parents and made a pact with Inuart}} this is [[Foreshadowing]] in spades.
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** "Big Mama". It's a playful phrase, as well as an obvious [[Distaff Counterpart]] of "Big Boss", and its literal meaning is obvious (since Big Mama gave birth to Big Boss's children). However, "Big Mama" is also a Chinese term for an internet censor, internet censorship having been the goal of The Patriots in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'', providing an indication as to what organisation she works for (or rather, formerly worked for).
** "Big Boss" managed to have a [[Meaningful Name]] way back in the first and almost storyless ''[[Metal Gear]]''. It's a cute nickname people give to the director of their company, which makes sense since he's in charge of FOX-HOUND. It's also a cute nickname given to a video game [[Final Boss]]. In ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater]]'', this was revealed to be a title he received upon killing The Boss, who was the game's most powerful character that the entire story focused on the eventual killing of - ''The'' Boss of the game, if you will.
* Every character in the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series. Most of the names describe disposition or occupation, in both Japanese and thanks to some [[Woolseyism
** "Detective Dick Gumshoe"
** Redd White (of Blue Corp.)
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** This also streachs beyond characters aswell. Case three of ''[[Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney]]'' features a fictional made up disease named "Incuritis" that is incurable. {{spoiler|well, save from an extremely hard to get drug that can only be brought into the country illegally}}.
* In ''[[The Sims]]'', some of the playable pre-packaged characters include Don Lothario, Castor Nova, Nina and Dina Caliente, Brandi Broke, and Nervous Subject. Everyone has a meaningful name.
** Holly Alto, which's a play on "holy", who's the only good-natured Alto in a family that's [[
* ''[[Psychonauts]]'' has several:
** This includes El Odio, the rampaging bull that torments the thoughts of a Spanish artist. {{spoiler|the name translates to "The Hate", which turns out to be appropriate when you figure out where El Odio came from.}}
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*** His first name is also notable when one considers [[Rasputinian Death|something else]] that Rasputin was known for, specifically, the "official" cause of his death: [[Super Drowning Skills|drowning]].
** Oleander, {{spoiler|who is the big bad}} has a name that refers to a poisonous plant.
*** Like the entry on Raz, above, his first name is also worth mentioning: Morceau, which is old French for "morsel"
** Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello's names are both [[Bilingual Bonus|significant in their native languages,]] German and Portuguese respectively. ("Nein" is "no" in German and indicates his repressed nature. He's also the one who first introduces you to the Censors, who have "NO" as their battle cry. "Vodello" is probably a play on the verb "to fly," and her specialty power is levitation. She's also very upbeat and optimistic.)
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'':
** You've got the eponymous main character, who's really fast.
** The guy with two tails is named Tails, but his real name is even
** The guy who punches things and has spikes on his knuckles is named Knuckles.
** The [[Big Bad|man]] shaped like an egg is Dr. Eggman. His other name, Ivo Robotnik, also has meaning: he makes [[Mecha-Mooks|robots]], and his first name is "Ovi" (latin for "egg") spelled backwards
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** The Erazor Djinn is a double, as he wields a giant straight razor like a sword and wants to erase the 1001 Arabian Nights.
** Fang has an enormous fang (almost a tusk, even) sticking out of his mouth.
* In ''[[Pokémon]]'', most of the significant characters (e.g. Gym Leaders and the Elite Four) are barely-concealed
* ''[[Castlevania]]'' uses Meaningful Names:
** Juste and Richter mean "Just" and "Judge" respectively, appropriate for a pair of vampire hunters, no? Additionally The Just scale is actually an old means of developing the octave scale, as opposed to the modern tempered scale. [[Castlevania: Symphony of the Night|Music?]] [[Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance|Hmmmmm]]...
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** Christopher and Simon have the names of a saint (the patron of travellers, even) and apostle respectively.
** Christopher's son has a Meaningful Name as well, though an understandable translation snafu robbed the overseas audience of it: 'Solieyu' is a phonetic spelling of the Japanese katakana phonetics for Soleil - the French word for sun. Bad puns are a bonus!
** [[Retcon
* "[[Arcana Heart|Aino Heart]]" means (roughly) "Heart of Love". [[Love Freak|'nuff said]].
* The ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' series uses meaningful names for nearly every character and enemy, as well as a good dose of theme naming.
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** [[Anthropomorphic Personification|Cap White]] is a white blood cell that just so happens to look like a nurse. Now switch the name order around and think of the [[Hollywood Dress Code]] for nurses...
** The Rhombulans, whose leader is in a rhombus. Also a shout out to [[Star Trek]] and the Romulans.
* In ''[[Ristar]]'', both the protagonist Ristar (a star-shaped creature) and principal antagonist Greedy (a solar system-looting [[Space Pirate]]) have rather obvious [[Meaningful Name
* ''[[City of Heroes]]''' Jim Temblor is a mutant with control over the Earth {{spoiler|and the son of the supposed villain who destroyed the Overbrook neighborhood via earthquakes, Faultline.}}
** During a [[La Résistance|Resistance]] mission in Going Rogue, you're supported [[Offscreen Moment of Awesome|offscreen]] by a pair of snipers, named "Griefer" and "Headshot". Guess where the names come from.
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* In ''[[Odin Sphere]]'', there's a ring called Titrel that plays a huge role in the plot. One of the protagonist's names, Gwendolyn, means "blessed ring". Her sister (who falls in battle at the very beginning) is named Griselda, and ''her'' name means "dark battle". There's a mountain called Horn Mountain in the game. Another protagonist's name (Cornelius) means "horn".
* Brad Fang, the wolf-man in ''[[Contra]]: Hard Corps'' for the [[Sega Genesis]]. His teammate Ray Poward? Not so much.
* The FPS ''[[Hexen]]'', published by Ravensoft, had an [[Big Bad|end-of-game boss]] called
** "Afrit" is a variant spelling of "ifreet", a supernatural creature of Arabic origin (similar to a genie). The game also features two-headed monsters called ettins, named after the two-headed giants popularized in Dungeons & Dragons.
* ''[[Ikaruga]]'' is the name of a type of bird you see in the credits, the Japanese Grosbeak. In fact every ship in the game except the Sword of Acala (itself and the Stone-Like a reference to Vajrayana Buddism) is named after a bird in Japanese.
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** Arthas like (King) Arthur, both whose lives were forever changed when they found a mythical sword, and both became king.
*** And then there's Uther Lightbringer, Arthas' mentor, and Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father/mentor.
**
** Considering Varian's two personalities and the mood swings they cause, it's interesting that his name is Spanish for "they vary".
** [http://www.wowpedia.org/images/d/dd/Akama_TCG.jpg Akama] wields [[wikipedia:Kama (weapon)|kamas]].
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** [[Defrosting Ice Queen|Miranda]] is apparently a derivation of a Latin term meaning "admirable", and given her history it is entirely possible that is intentional. Also, her original last name (before they cast an Australian to voice her) was "Solheim", meaning "Sun home", which probably had something to do with the fact that she is the only major character (except for ([[Multiple Choice Past|possibly]]) Commander Shepard) who is from Earth.
*** Miranda's last name is either a reference to [[wikipedia:Henry Lawson|Henry Lawson]], one of Australia's best and most well-known writers; or to [[wikipedia:William Lawson (explorer)|William Lawson]], one of the trio of explorers who discovered a route through the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, and who subsequently become one of the largest landowners in the country as well as the commander of the Bathurst settlement and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.<ref>Hopefully it ''isn't'' a reference to [[wikipedia:Len Lawson|Len Lawson.]]</ref>
** {{spoiler|"Reaper" is a disturbingly appropriate name for the [[Big Bad
** Shepard is probably so obvious that it doesn't even warrant a mention. Especially since in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' the whole [[Messianic Archetype|Jesus-thing]] is made really obvious when {{spoiler|s/he's not only resurrected, but resurrected because s/he is humanity's only hope}}... ''and'' you recruit a team of twelve people. Shepard also shares a name with [[wikipedia:Alan Shepard|Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr.]], the first American in space. [[Word of God]] is the name was deliberately chosen as a reference to Rear Admiral Shepard.
** Saren. Meaningful in that it's one letter away from "sarin" or "[[wikipedia:Sarin gas|sarin gas,]]" which is over ''500 times more lethal than cyanide.'' Him being a {{spoiler|[[Eddie Izzard|mass-murdering fuckhead,]] }} it's quite fitting.
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* The main character in ''[[Prey]]'' is a Native American named Tommy Tawodi. "Tawodi" is Cherokee for "hawk", and "Tommy Hawk" sounds like "tomahawk".
* ''"[[Metroid]]"'' is a Chozo name meaning "Ultimate Warrior." While it doesn't quite apply to most of the games (as Metroids are almost always portrayed as monsters and antagonists), it becomes a very [[Meaningful Name]] in ''Metroid Fusion'': {{spoiler|thanks to a vaccine made from Metroid DNA, Samus Aran essentially becomes part Metroid. The same Samus Aran who regularly blows up planets and wipes out Space Pirate armies single-handedly.}}
** Also, the name "Samus" can be interpreted as a feminine form of the name "Seamus," a Celtic name meaning "he (or in this case, she) who supplants (ousts, pwns, decimates, etc.)." Fitting, since Samus outs the Space Pirates. Multiple times. In addition, her last name, Aran, can be traced back to a word meaning "island" or isloated
* In ''[[Dragon Quest IX]]'', all of the named Celestrians are based off of the avian constellations. Aquilla, the most important, {{spoiler|outside the [[Big Bad]] who's name is [[Ravens and Crows|Crovus]] }}, is the only major constellation. You can continue this with your [[Player Character]].
** The first town you enter which your character is supposed to look after is called Angel Falls. Near the beginning of the game, {{spoiler|your character falls out of the Observatory into that town.}} Did we mention that Celestrians look like angels?
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