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.


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