Gundam name derivations

[degwin_zabi]

On the TV Tropes character section for War in the Pocket, the article itself asks who in the right mind names their son "Killing". Sarcastic, I know, but it did get me interested, so I started looking up. With some help from my sister and her husband, I found out on here http://names.mooseroots.com/l/262879/Killing that while "Killing doesn't seem to have a meaning, "Killings" refers to a swamp in German, which fits the bad guy's unwanted viciousness in-universe in my opinion. I also tried looking up "Zabi" and found a Polish name that's defined as "frog". Anyway, what's everyone's opinions on how the boys and girls at Sunrise came with names like "Amuro, "Degwin, and "Setsuna"?

[Quiddity]

There are many Tomino character names that are a play on English words, such as Shot Weapon, Full Flat, etc... Granted 0080 was not a Tomino show, but they probably did the same for Killing, taking it from the English word. Tomino had a similarly named character named Rukuku Kill in Ideon. Char Aznable was based on the name of the musician Charles Aznavour, and certainly several names are simply Japanese names. Many other Tomino names appear to be just throwing random syllables against the wall to see what sticks; when you have such an absurd amount of characters I suppose you'd have to do something like that someday. In Gundam Wing many of the names were based on numbers.

[degwin_zabi]

I see.

[MythSearcher]

BTW, Japenese fans noticed a close relation of Japanese WWII fighter names and the main crew of White Base:
Amuro Ray Derived from A6M Type Zero, where Tomino swaped Aromu to Amuro and used the Japanese Rei(Zero) as his family name.
Kai Shiden is from Shiden Kai: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawanishi_N1K
Hayato is likely from the same named fighter, Ryu Hosei is likely from Ryusei.
Here is a list of Japanese fans looking up etymology of Gundam names, with or without sources:
http://ameblo.jp/yumo-p/entry-10000107971.html

[Kyuzo Aoi]

Could you translate some, MythSearcher?

[MythSearcher]

Could you translate some, MythSearcher?

Too much, too lazy.

[Henyo]

ah the names..one story i've read, actually he only one i can clrealy remember is Kira yamato's.
his name was derived from the Japanese pronunciation of Killer.(Fukuda must've been on to something back then.) on the subject of Amuro, i kind of recall an article saying that Tomino thought Amuro wasn't an actual word and was surprised when told that such a word did exist.

on a side note, any ideas whys Shinn is spelled with 2 Ns insted of just one?(and that he shares the same name as Ultraman Dyna'as human Host. )

[YokozunaBulldozer]

Could you translate some, MythSearcher?

Here are a few that caught my eye.
According to that link seems like:

Katz, Retz, and Kikka derive from katsuretsu(cutlet) and Kikkoman soy sauce.
Char Aznable derives from singer Charles Aznavour
Haman Karn derives from scientist Herman Kahn
Frau Bow derives from actress Clara Bow
Camille Bidan derives from artist Camille Claudel
Judau Ashita possibly derives from Judo competitor Yamashita Yasuhiro or Hey Jude the song
Johnny Ridden derives from Sex Pistols member Johnny Rotten
Hathaway Noah derives from actor Noah Hathaway
Shin Matsunaga derives from graphic designer Matsunaga Shin who is responsible for renewing the Bandai logo some time ago

[SaintEvolution]

Gundam is a rich franchise in that aspect(references).

[MythSearcher]

ah the names..one story i've read, actually he only one i can clrealy remember is Kira yamato's.
his name was derived from the Japanese pronunciation of Killer.(Fukuda must've been on to something back then.) on the subject of Amuro, i kind of recall an article saying that Tomino thought Amuro wasn't an actual word and was surprised when told that such a word did exist.

on a side note, any ideas whys Shinn is spelled with 2 Ns insted of just one?(and that he shares the same name as Ultraman Dyna'as human Host. )

Not sure if it's related or not, the Japanese input system uses nn for the input of the n sounded ン.

[Ryujin]

On a related note, how about characters whose appearance is based on some well-known personality?

Yazan Gable, for example, was based on Sting as Feyd Rautha-Harkonnen.

[degwin_zabi]

On a related note, how about characters whose appearance is based on some well-known personality?

Yazan Gable, for example, was based on Sting as Feyd Rautha-Harkonnen.

Well, Degwin could very well be Palpatine in his original description.

[Henyo]

Gundam is a rich franchise in that aspect(references).

it's also has the unfortunate names thing going on.
Quatro Bageena
Jamitov Hymem
and of course AGE's Natora Einus.

wasn't there a third character in Zeta who also has body part as a surname?
on that matter, are there other characters in other series with these kind of names?

Not sure if it's related or not, the Japanese input system uses nn for the input of the n sounded ン.

shaft head tilt. i work at a Japanese house contruction company and we type hiragana/kanjis in our work. i only need to type one n to get the ン character.(we most likely not on the same page. )

[degwin_zabi]

Gundam is a rich franchise in that aspect(references).

it's also has the unfortunate names thing going on.
Quatro Bageena
Jamitov Hymem
and of course AGE's Natora Einus.

wasn't there a third character in Zeta who also has body part as a surname?
on that matter, are there other characters in other series with these kind of names?

Not sure if it's related or not, the Japanese input system uses nn for the input of the n sounded ン.

shaft head tilt. i work at a Japanese house contruction company and we type hiragana/kanjis in our work. i only need to type one n to get the ン character.(we most likely not on the same page. )

Is Jamitov's last name pronounced Hymen like on the Gundam Wiki or Hymem like some others have done? I suppose in eras like the Universal Century, it will be common practice to make up new names.

[toysdream]

It's actually pronounced "hy-mahn" (rather than "hy-men"). So the current official spelling "Hymem" isn't a pronunciation match either, but it's at least less misleading.

Likewise, Quattro's last name is pronounced "ba-jee-na" not "ba-jai-na" - the B and V sounds are Interchangeable in kana, but the vowel sound is clearly different. I dunno if the Japan side were unaware their spelling looked like "vagina" or, more likely, they thought it was funny. (These are the same people who gave us "Full Frontal".)

As for typing "nn"' you only have to do this if there's a danger of confusion. For example, you don't need to do if you're typing "Gundam", but you need to type "n" twice if you're typing "Gunota" or it'll interpret it as ガノタ.

-- Mark

[MythSearcher]

about the nn thing, you only need to type n once in the middle of a word, but nn if it is at the end of one.
At least happens in Windows and Android.

Though I am pretty sure when I was using Win 2000 and XP, this does not happen, I only need to type n once even if it is at the end of the word. Only need to type it twice in situations like Mark described.

[Henyo]

It's actually pronounced "hy-mahn" (rather than "hy-men"). So the current official spelling "Hymem" isn't a pronunciation match either, but it's at least less misleading.

Likewise, Quattro's last name is pronounced "ba-jee-na" not "ba-jai-na" - the B and V sounds are Interchangeable in kana, but the vowel sound is clearly different. I dunno if the Japan side were unaware their spelling looked like "vagina" or, more likely, they thought it was funny. (These are the same people who gave us "Full Frontal".)

As for typing "nn"' you only have to do this if there's a danger of confusion. For example, you don't need to do if you're typing "Gundam", but you need to type "n" twice if you're typing "Gunota" or it'll interpret it as ガノタ.

-- Mark

ah, so that's it for the "nn" typing. most of the words i type are terms in house construction.(and the occasianal katakana using furniture items.)
hy-mahn huh? wouldn't this similar to german pronunciations? or other language? kinda like
Megaman Zero's Vile/ Weil.
has Quatro's last name been spelled as "Vagina" in older/later games? or is that one PS1 VS Gundam game the only one that did?

[degwin_zabi]

I actually think the name Roselucia was a bit forced. Then again, I haven't heard how it's pronounced yet.

[Henyo]

Sven Cal Bayang. gundam wiki states that Bayang means Shadow in Indonesian, Filipino and malaysian. gotta look that up. i have never heard Bayang being used instead of Anino for shadow in the tagalog language.

removing the N on his surname turns the meaning into "Nation" another formal world for Nation is "Bansa"