I'm sure we've all wondered at least once why does Bulma's name make so much fun to Goku... or what the hell do the other names mean and why are some of them so damn familiar. Well, I said it before: NEVER FEAR, SAMEOTOKO'S HERE!!!... Here's a list with most of the Dragon Ball name meanings. I'm still working on the names I missed here..
Let's start from the beggining:
The
Saiyajin:
"-Jin" is somewhat of a japanese gentilic. Yansai means
vegetable in japanese. Scramble up yansai a little, add a pinch
of -jin, and Voilá!, u got the Saiyajin, the "Vegetable
People". Note that the fact that they're called the Saiyajin
doesn't necesarily mean the come from the planet or country
Saiya. It only applies to her race. I'm mexican, and not
necesarily form the planet Mexico...
Vegeta: Vegeta(ble)... after all, he's the prince of the
Vegetable People, isn't he.
Kakkarott
(Goku's Saiyajin name): Carrot
Son Goku: From a chinese name I can't remember right now: King
of the Monkeys
Nappa: From the spanish
"Nabo", Turnip.
Radditz: Radish
Bardack: ??? Still gotta figure this one out.
Celipa: Paceli, japanese
photetization of Parsely.
Broli: Bro(co)li.
Toma: Toma(to).
Paragas: (As)saragus
Bulma's
Family:
Bulma: Bloomers.
Dr. Briefs,
Trunks, Bra: Do u really need that
meaning for those???
Pilaf
and his henchmen:
Pilaf: A dish of fried rice
Shu and Mai: Put'em together to get Shumai, a chinese
dumpling-like finger food
Goku's
Friends and family:
Chichi: In latinamerica, Chichis
means boobs... wich is why Chichi is called Milk in Mexico...
Gohan: Rice or meal
Yamcha: Dim sum, a chinese dish. It's called Yamcha in some
regions.
Oolong and
Poolau: Two
kinds of Chinese Tea
Tenshinhan: Ten sien han... Tensien rice
Chaozu: If u read the kanji
differently, Gyouza, pot stickers
Yajirobe: yajirobee, a japanese balancing toy common in most
houses
Krilin: Kulilin, a japanese
adjective that reffeers to a round an shiny bald head, although
it can also mean chesnut.
Marron: French for chesnut
Karim: Karin(to)... something crunchy.
Lunch: Self explanatory
The
Red Ribbon Army:
They're all colors (DUH!!!):
Silver, White, Metallic, Murasaki (Purple), Blue, Yellow, Taopaipai (well, he wasn't exactly in the army--he was hired--but his name means peach-white-white), Brown, Violet (funny... Blue said to Bulma something like, "We don't need [or was it want?] women in the Red Ribbon Army"...), Copper (appears only by name in the manga), Black, and Red.
The
Nemeck-seijin:
Nammekku: nameku(ji)... slug
Katattsu: katatsu(muri)... snail
Dende: dende(nmushi)... another word for snail
Cargo: (Es)cargo(ts)
Nail: (S)nail
Freeza,
Family and Henchmen
Freeza: Freezer (DUH!!!)
Cold: U gotta be kidding me.
Coola: Cooler.
Zaarbon and
Dodoria: They're supposed to
be exotic fruits, but I'm still not sure.
The
Ginyu Tokusentai:
Ginyu: gyunyu...
milk
Rikum: kurim,
japanese phonetizarion for cream.
Gurudo: guruto...
[yo]guruto... yogurt
Baata:
battar... butter
Jiisu: chiisu...
cheese
Uranai-Baba
and Friends
Uranai-baba: fortune teller (self-explanatory if you know
Japanese)
Miira-kun: mummy (also
self-explanatory if you know Japanese)
Dracula-man: DUH!!!
Suke-san: "invisible" man (there is no direct
translation, but transparent, in Japanese slang, is
"suke-suke".)
Akkuman: Akuman... akuma(n)... demon
Piccolo
and Demons (cool
band name)
Cymbal
Piano
Tambarin = tambourine
Drum
Piccolo: A
tiny italian flute. Although, in the Nameck language, Piccolo
means "from another planet". Thus Piccolo Daimaoh means
"The Evil King that came from Another Planet".
From
the Tenka-ichi Budoukai:
Bacterian: Take a wild guess
Nam: nam(uamidabutsu): Buddist prayer
Giran: ???
Ranfan: ???
Panpunt: ???
Other
Characters.
Cell: I'm not even gonna tell u.
Mr. Satan: I won't tell u either.
Videl: devil (of course Satan's daughter would be
the DEVIL)
Shapner and
Iresa, Videl's schoolmates: sharpener
and eraser
To Ninjinka
(The boss of the Usagi gang):
rabbit morph-to-carrot (remember that this guy can turn you into
a carrot by touching you.)
Buyon (the
monster in the 5th floor of White's building): blubber (Japanese slang for
"blubbery" is "buyo-buyo")
The magicians
Bibidi and Babidi and their creation Buu: say the three names in a row, and you get
"Bibidy Babbidy Boo", Disney's Cinderella Song
AND LAST
BUT NOT LEAST:
Shen Long, the
Eternal Dragon:
In Chinese, Shen Long means Sacred Dragon.
