Villagers' Names in Non-English Languages

[QueenCobra]

I think it's interesting to see the villagers' names in different languages. For example, Fuchsia's Japanese name is Jessica, while Shari's name is the same in both English and Japanese. In Korean, Tom Nook's name is Neogul. I don't know much Korean, so I'm not sure what that means. Genji's name is "Sumo" in Spanish translations, fitting his traditional Japanese look. What you guys think? Whose name has the most interesting translation?

 

[Introspective Onlooker]

I spend a lot of time playing Animal Crossing in Japanese, and a lot of the Japanese ones (at least for the villagers) seem to have a bit more thought put into them. I mean, take Bunnie for instance. Why the hell didn't NoA just translate her name to "Rilian" when that's pretty much what her JP name refers to? Japanese doesn't have a distinction between L and R so her name would've been super easy to translate (Just change the "R" to an "L"). Wolfgang also has Lobo's name in JP, and it can be confusing if you have two of them in your town as I do. I don't want to harp too much on the English localization on the games; it makes sense that not everything was going to translate well, but many of these characters' names are written in Katakana, so a lot of the name changes just seemed unnecessary.

I do think they did a good job with the Special characters, even if I don't agree with changing the sex of certain characters (i.e. Blanca (Suspicious Cat) and Saharah (Roland)) for the sake of a stupid punny name or whatever. Tom Nook is a great way to refer to his species while still having somewhat of a normal-sounding name. The Able Sisters JP: Asami (Sable), Kotono (Label), and Kinuyo (Mabel) were, I find, too plain, so I found the play on the word "able" to be a good naming device. Porter and Joan were just "Station Staff" and "Old Lady", respectively — the English localization actually gave them names.

 

[Xara]

i’ve always found it kinda interesting whenever a villager’s non-english name is another villager’s english name. gigi’s name in spanish is cleo and gloria in french, ankha’s name in italian is also cleo, astrid’s name in italian is stella, baabara’s name in italian is bea, etc. i know the respective villagers (cleo, gloria, stella, bea) have different names in those languages, but still... kinda cool.

i also think agnes’ name in french (pansy) is adorable. :’)

 

[QueenCobra]

i’ve always found it kinda interesting whenever a villager’s non-english name is another villager’s english name. gigi’s name in spanish is cleo and gloria in french, ankha’s name in italian is also cleo, astrid’s name in italian is stella, baabara’s name in italian is bea, etc. i know the respective villagers (cleo, gloria, stella, bea) have different names in those languages, but still... kinda cool.

i also think agnes’ name in french (pansy) is adorable. :’)

I always found that detail interesting too, how the names get shifted to different villagers in some translations.
I also like how in Japanese, Papi’s name is Okapi— after the animal he’s based on.

 

[S.J.]

I've spent entirely too much time looking at the koala names before (the translations are from the Wiki page, so I can't verify the validity)!

Sydney is the same in both Japanese and English.
Canberra is the same also.
Alice is actually Melbourne in Japanese
Melba (derived from Melbourne) is actually Adelaide in Japanese

Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide are all state/territory capital cities of Australia (and Canberra is the capital city of the country).

Ozzie's name in Japanese is Dongori (which apparently means acorn), and I wonder if there is a reference there, or if it's just a cute name?

Yuka's name in Japanese is Yukari, which apparently means eucalyptus, a koala's primary food source.

Anyway, I think all the koala names are pretty cute lol.

The name I've looked at recently is Pavé. Pavé is a cute name, but I couldn't see a reference between him and the French word pavé. The translations (copied from the Wiki) are: (ベルリーナ, Berurīna?, Berlina). The Japanese name is close, but not the same, as the word ballerina in Japanese. I still wonder about Pavé.

 

[nageki]

in japanese whitney's name is bianca and bianca's name is koyuki (light snow)...it gets confusing lol

some of my other faves are:
dom - chachamaru
raymond - jack
del - yamato (after the battleship)
raddle - kakkun (coughing sound effect)
pekoe - jasmine (after the tea)
coco - yayoi
lolly - ramune
luna - yumemi (having a dream)
jack - pumpking

 

[QueenCobra]

As much as I adore Tangy's English name, I like how her Japanese name is Hyakupa-- from "hyaku pasento", like 100% juice.

In French, Daisy Mae is just called "Porcelette"-- a piglet.

Apparently Flick is "Rex" in Japanese-- which fits him, I think.

In Spanish, Isabelle is named Canela-- or cinnamon!

And according to Nookipedia, C.J. is named Justin in Japanese-- as a reference to Justin Bieber? (since he's a beaver?? Hilarious.)

 

[QueenCobra]

Purrl’s Japanese name is Tama, which is a common name for pet cats in Japan. It means “ball”, apparently referring to how they curl up in a ball when they sleep…how adorable!

 

[Introspective Onlooker]

Purrl’s Japanese name is Tama, which is a common name for pet cats in Japan. It means “ball”, apparently referring to how they curl up in a ball when they sleep…how adorable!

Purrl's name is one of those few instances where the English name pun actually works. Her name being the sound cats make when feeling pleasure, while still rhyming with "curl", somewhat alluding to her original JP name. Very clever, and adorable, indeed.

 

[QueenCobra]

In Japanese, Chrissy and Francine’s names are Christine and Francois— pretty close to their English ones.

And I gotta love the pun with Rio’s name…in Japan, she’s Dejaneiro!

 

[jvgsjeff]

I didn't think I shared a name with a villager, until I learned that Tybalt's name in French is Jeff. I had him on my island for a while, and I think knowing his French name contributed to me liking him more than I would have otherwise. I even had him call me "other Jeff" for a while.

 

[QueenCobra]

In the Japanese version, Saharah is a guy named Roland? And Gracie is a guy? Interesting.

 

[Introspective Onlooker]

In the Japanese version, Saharah is a guy named Roland? And Gracie is a guy? Interesting.

They also had males voices from what I can recall. In JP, "Grace" is something of an オカマ (Okama) character. オカマ is quite a controversial term in Japanese culture and can refer to many things, but I think Western versions dodged a bullet by turning Grace into "Gracie".

Saharah's name in Animal Forest supposedly has two possible names: Roland or Laurent. I prefer the former because of how it's written in Katakana (ローラン). Why the sex change, though, I have no idea. It seems the localization team just decided to make this character female because "long eyelashezz = fem1nine lolzzz!1!1!", despite long eyelashes being a trait shared by camels of both sexes. Don't even get me started on Blanca...

 

[QueenCobra]

They also had males voices from what I can recall. In JP, "Grace" is something of an オカマ (Okama) character. オカマ is quite a controversial term in Japanese culture and can refer to many things, but I think Western versions dodged a bullet by turning Grace into "Gracie".

Saharah's name in Animal Forest supposedly has two possible names: Roland or Laurent. I prefer the former because of how it's written in Katakana (ローラン). Why the sex change, though, I have no idea. It seems the localization team just decided to make this character female because "long eyelashezz = fem1nine lolzzz!1!1!", despite long eyelashes being a trait shared by camels of both sexes. Don't even get me started on Blanca...

I know about the Grace situation, since it’s one of Animal Crossing’s biggest controversies. It kind of reminds me of how Birdo (from Mario) was a guy in the Japanese version. (However, more recent sources indicate that Birdo is transgender.)

I agree about Saharah…most camels have long eyelashes, and for some reason, I found it more fitting that she was originally a guy.