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Why does Square always use unusual names for most of their RPG characters? We have...(I have omitted common or obviously explainable names)

FF4:
Kain-I sure wonder who would name their child Kain...are they looking for trouble? (well there's always the biblical allusion explanation)
Rydia-a very uncommon girl's name
Tellah-???
Yang-OK, he has a Chinese-sounding name, but why does he have a Dutch-sounding last name (Leiden)?
Palom&Porom-???
FuSoYa, KluYa-???
Golbez-??? (do great magic users always have strange names?)
Zemus/Zeromus-???

FF6:
Terra-uncommon girl's name
Locke-usually an English last name
Sabin-rare masculine form of uncommon girl's name Sabine
Cyan/Cayenne-???
Gau-??? (onomatopoeia?)
Celes-"celestial"?
Setzer-sounds like a gambler's name, but I don't recall ever even hearing about this name before
Strago-???
Relm-???
Umaro-???
Gogo-??? (the Adlai Stevenson theory is bound to get into this one)
Banon-???
Gestahl-???
Kefka-??? (why the German-sounding Gestahl and Kefka, or is it only a coincidence?)

CT:
Crono-most probably derived from the game's name
Marle-???
Lucca-that's the name of an Italian city, by the way
Ayla-???
Lavos-??? (from "lava"?)
Dalton-??? (he isn't named after 19th-century chemist John Dalton, is he?!)

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Everything FF, and how they link with their namesakes

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

what fun would it be if there were characters with like Bob, Steve, Eric, Britney, Elizabeth, Jack, John... etc? No fun, I tell you...

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"When I turn the page
The corner bends into the perfect dog ear
As if the words knew I'd need them again
But at the time, I didn't see it."

~"This Ain't a Surfin' Movie" - Minus the Bear

hmm, yeah, saying 'Clouds the lead character'is so much better than 'and the lead guys called dave'.


in short, its so no ones called anythign normal and dull.

but could Rydia have soem paralell with the capital of Saudi Arabia?

EDIT: Have to sink this one... from the link DP provided..

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

"Barret Wallace
Could be a reference to the 13th century Scottish rebel William Wallace a.k.a. Braveheart (yes, the one in the movie).
-After all, both are leaders of an uprising against a tyrant government. Also, both of them are fighting to avenge their dead wifes." William Wallace was a COMMANDER of the scottish army, not a rebel, as this implies the english must have been in charge. also, The English were not Tyrants, merely an Invading army.

This post has been edited by Del S on 14th November 2003 20:37

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

Quote (Del S @ 14th November 2003 15:29)

hmm, yeah, saying 'Clouds the lead character'is so much better than 'and the lead guys called dave'.


in short, its so no ones called anythign normal and dull.

but could Rydia have soem paralell with the capital of Saudi Arabia?

EDIT: Have to sink this one... from the link DP provided..

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

"Barret Wallace
Could be a reference to the 13th century Scottish rebel William Wallace a.k.a. Braveheart (yes, the one in the movie).
-After all, both are leaders of an uprising against a tyrant government. Also, both of them are fighting to avenge their dead wifes." William Wallace was a COMMANDER of the scottish army, not a rebel, as this implies the english must have been in charge. also, The English were not Tyrants, merely an Invading army.

Yeah whats the deal w/ that? Was Cloud's parents Hippys?

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The Brave Dont Fear the Grave! - FF7 Battle Arena

the creators of final fantasy like to stray from making the games setting "modern day"

also they get most of thier ideas from mythological, religious, and historic writings
and thats where they get there names

for instance for an essay i had to write i was looking in websters dictionary
and saw the word "sephiroth" in there, and there definition was a religous trial for some religion i cant remember

so basically square gets its names from everywhere

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"Have you ever seen a baby do that before?"

Quote (Sabin @ 14th November 2003 15:21)

what fun would it be if there were characters with like Bob, Steve, Eric, Britney, Elizabeth, Jack, John... etc? No fun, I tell you...

I agree, average names would suck, plus, the mythical/mystical/historical/*insert*-ical derivatives sound ten times cooler than the regular stuff.

"Joe, do you realize what you've done? Zach, the Evil Army Leader, has captured Jenny and left with Doug and Larry!! We're doomed!"

I'm actually making my own RPG that is similar in style to FF6 and CT, but based on people I personally know, so I use names such as Glenn, Meredith, Erin, Matt, Marc, Buster (a nickname), Worth (a middle name used as a nickname), Steph, etc.. I don't think it's that bad of an idea, but it sometimes sounds silly if you don't use names that would sound like last names (such as Kain, Golbez, Keff). In a semi-realistic setting, you would wonder why someone's named Golbez unless you consider that they might actually be named "Donald Golbez", for example.

Then there's always that person who wrote a super-condensed summary of FF3j naming his characters Bob, Steve, Ted, and Nihilisianis (not that you could fit that last name, but hey, it's typed, so what the heck?).

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

I believe Rydia is actually a corruption of the name Lydia (I have a cousin and had a grandmother named Lydia). As most of you know, R and L in the Japanese language are interchangeable.

Again, from the link provided:

Don Corneo
"Corneo" is Latin for "made of horn" or "horny" (sic!).

Hooray for immaturity.

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"N'GHAAA!
This is heavier than I thought! It'll take me 5 more minutes to drop it!" ~ Ultros

you can expect stuff like that to happen in most japanese made games, if you've ever seen japanese anime you'll know that it can be very perverted indeed

so don't let things like corneo's name meaning "horney" to them it's humerous
and in reality it is very funny once you think about it

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"Have you ever seen a baby do that before?"

That's not really about immaturity so much as an actual reference. Way back when, the bull (as well as similar animals) were symbols of virility.

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

Now Marle isn't an uncommon name, I know a couple. Celes reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Kramer wants to name his child isoceles, as in the triangle. Although I think Celes is pronounced 'cells' and not 'see-lees', so that is probably a bit of a stretch. Celestial makes more sense now that you mention it. I tend to pronounce Cecil as 'see-zell' instead of the correct 'ses-el' though, so go figure . Relm could be like 'realm' as in her paintings are so real they are a another realm of their own.

Robo and Frog have got to be the two most unoriginal names from square. Thank goodness interceptor wasn't named 'dog'

Quote

I'm actually making my own RPG that is similar in style to FF6 and CT, but based on people I personally know, so I use names such as Glenn, Meredith, Erin, Matt, Marc, Buster (a nickname), Worth (a middle name used as a nickname), Steph, etc.. I don't think it's that bad of an idea, but it sometimes sounds silly if you don't use names that would sound like last names (such as Kain, Golbez, Keff). -Glenn Magus Harvey

Although I agree that too common names sound corny in a fantasy RPG, these names are pretty cool. They're cool in a lot of RPG settings, especially this kind.

This post has been edited by Figaro on 21st December 2003 06:50

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Wow. 1,000 posts.

I miss you all now that I'm in boarding school! ;_;

I usually change them anyway. Blaze (or MacLeod if there're enough spaces) for the main guy, Joanna for the main girl (Both from my Highlander stories), and names like Mark(Highlander), Boggs(online friend), Cory (female, Blaze's adopted daughter), Maddox (Steelers QB), Dawson (Highlander TV show), Edge (WWE Superstar), Chrys (or Crystal, depnding on letter limits, Blaze's student), Duncan (Highlander TV), ect.

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My second daughter, if we have girls, will be named Rikku. I'm not kidding.