Name meanings in videogames

[Ruby Moon]

I always wonder, when I play a videogame, if the characters of the game have a certain name because of its meaning. Sometimes the creators picked a name because of it, sometimes it seems more like a random choice. But anyway, I'd be glad to know as many name meanings from videogames characters as I can, just to satisfy my curiosity. If you know the meaning of a name or if you want to share a theory regarding a name, please, post here!

[merylsilverburg]

The only one I have in mind (at the moment) is the main character from "Kingdom Hearts", the boy Sora. His name in Japanese means "sky" and I'm guessing that's because the sky is a very symbolic meaning when it comes to freedom and adventure. Like when people say "The sky's the limit" or something. :right:

[MakgSnake]

I may be totally off-topic here....but still just wanna discuss something related to "Names" when it comes to videogames. Hope you dont mind. :heh:

I think most of the time they pick a name with a very deep mysterious meaning behind it, so sometimes, they choose because so that anyone can remember it (Make is catchy and something which is nice to pronounce). And sometimes cute names always do the magic. I always look carefully in what the character's name is. They are very important to me. VERY VERY I should say. Although I do not look into the meaning, but the style and how its pronounced and how good it sounds on the character.

Any action hero in a video game named "JACK" is just dull now. We need something extra spice to it.

Names like "Sonic", "Shao Kahn", "Psycho Mantis" really attracts me. Well my fav names in a video game comes from "No surprise" Metal Gear series, they really do work on their names dont they, but as I will get back on topic......... their names are although AMAZING and totally different, they sound like coming from a porno movie though. ..

"Solid Snake" ?????.....
"Deep Throat" ?????..... I love that name, but woh hold on for a second buddy.

Still the coolest names I have ever heard.

Hope I didn't bore ya people to death.

[Frozen]

...they sound like coming from a porno movie though. ..

"Solid Snake" ?????.....
"Deep Throat" ?????..... I love that name, but woh hold on for a second buddy.

Oh my god, please don't let Makg say anymore :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

But to think about it, I agree XD

Well, I'm sure that many game developers work out or find out names that will have a solid meaning, as well as there's many others I'm sure they make out of pure mediocrity, lazyness, or just dullness.

Like, in MK, "Noob Saibot" What the hell is that? "Tobias Boon" spelled backwards. Geez, they really tried hard on that one. And even Sub Zero. don't get me wrong, I think that the name is just awsome as well as the characters is badass. But to think about it, it's not a name I think they would have a heard time to come out with.

But ppls, watch out for fighting games. You'll find all sorts of meanings on those names.

Oh, and a name that I have always thought is the HOTTTTT: Gabriel Logan. That guy is probably my second or third action hero after Snake (the other one is Dante)

Oh, and talking about Dante. DMC has taken these names from Alighieri's book "The Divine Comedy" where Dante (the writer himself) travels along Hell, Purgatory and finally Heaven with Virgil as his companion and guide. (Now, DMC players, where did you see "Virgil" or may I say, "Vergil"? )

It is nice when they do this sort of thing based on interesting backgrounds.

[Spank-A-Thon]

I know that in the Final Fantasy Series there are a lot of characters names that have deeper meanings. Some based on mythology, othere being simple word-play.

As for the type of name, I believe it depends on the type of game. For a fantasy/sci-fi based game it would be hard to suspend dis-belief if you're character was called something like 'Dave'...

Similarly would GTA be the same if rather than 'Tommy Vercetti' (which suits the games environment, even if it is a tad cliched), he was called something like 'Zyloth R'garde'... I believe it depends on the game-setting whether characters can have meaningful names.

Ad for the FF series, I'm pretty sure The_Artist could shed some light on the meanings...

- S

[MakgSnake]

Originally posted by Frozen
Like, in MK, "Noob Saibot" What the hell is that? "Tobias Boon" spelled backwards. Geez, they really tried hard on that one. And even Sub Zero. don't get me wrong, I think that the name is just awsome as well as the characters is badass. But to think about it, it's not a name I think they would have a heard time to come out with.
Wooh, I didn't really know about that Noob Saibot thing yo, thanks for letting me know. :D I love MK's characters names. That is where I heard "Raiden" for the first time, and pronounced "Ray Din" not "Raeee den".

But Frozen, I agree Sub Zero isn't really a name, but it sure is one of the most amazing ones I have heard as well. "Ermac" and "Cyrax" were pretty cool names. "Smoke" is a kinda name which I think would end up in Kojima's next project or something.

I love video games character's names. and love talking about it. :)

Hurray for Ruby for creating this thread. :D