Possible Character Name Changes in the NA Versions?

[Respite&Nepenthe]

They should just 4Kids it. "Cammy must choose between long-lost brother Ryan and adoptive brother Max. Along the way, Cammy is joined by close allies Hannah, Tyler, Cassandra, Sally, Taquito, and many others as they fight against the evil King Gary."

Wow. This is beautiful. On a more serious note, I hope they change Kamui...but...that's just personal preference. Don't like that name. I like Marx and Leon.

Edited May 12, 2015 by Respite&Nepenthe

[goodperson707]

^^ i agree this is beautiful, but if this happens i will probably throw the game at the wall a few times (in the case though). Though quite frankly I don't see this happening, fire emblem has at (well at least recently) been a frequent user of meaningful names.

[Duke]

They should just 4Kids it. "Cammy must choose between long-lost brother Ryan and adoptive brother Max. Along the way, Cammy is joined by close allies Hannah, Tyler, Cassandra, Sally, Taquito, and many others as they fight against the evil King Gary."

Lol, I legit died.

[Rasputin]

I thought Nohr was supposed to be this very evil country. Would only be fitting to have one of the characters with the name of a very evil person, Marx. But then again, I don't think Nintendo of America approves of little children being exposed to communism. "Oh, I really like this Marx character, I want to look up pictures of him on the internet! Oops, I accidentally ordered the Communist Manifesto!"

I think Kamui will be changed, because they're the character the player is supposed to identify with. The western audience can't have that, obviously.

To be honest, I kinda have the feeling they'll change the Hoshido people's names to something more stereotypical Asian. Maybe more Chinese than Japanese? Either that, or they'll do the Lon'qu shenanigans.

[Kyea]

There definitely will be some. There always is the one token name change.

In awakening there were some that I liked better and some that I didn't like as much, but that's how it always is with translations.

Seriously, though, who in NOA looked at Panne and said "You know what, I think her name, which means 'soft fur' makes too much sense. Let's change it to a word that means 'bread.'"

Yeah, Panne is a type of velvet, so they did change her name, but they left the meaning the same. Which seems to be the case for Cordelia as well. It's always kind of a rough switch to start off, when a character's name is very different, but I get used to it eventually and usually forget the original name. I don't really mind them changing names around, and I do believe it's bound to happen, they've done a good job so far.

[goodperson707]

I thought Nohr was supposed to be this very evil country. Would only be fitting to have one of the characters with the name of a very evil person, Marx. But then again, I don't think Nintendo of America approves of little children being exposed to communism. "Oh, I really like this Marx character, I want to look up pictures of him on the internet! Oops, I accidentally ordered the Communist Manifesto!"

I think Kamui will be changed, because they're the character the player is supposed to identify with. The western audience can't have that, obviously.

To be honest, I kinda have the feeling they'll change the Hoshido people's names to something more stereotypical Asian. Maybe more Chinese than Japanese? Either that, or they'll do the Lon'qu shenanigans.

Are you being ironic or sarcastic or did you just call Karl Marx a very evil person?

[Book Bro]

Are you being ironic or sarcastic or did you just call Karl Marx a very evil person?

It's really interesting to me, not being from the US, seeing how controversial the possibility of him being called Marx in localization is for some Americans.

[Bovinian]

To be honest, I kinda have the feeling they'll change the Hoshido people's names to something more stereotypical Asian. Maybe more Chinese than Japanese? Either that, or they'll do the Lon'qu shenanigans.

What about Japanese isn't stereotypically Asian? While in general 'Chinese' might be the first thing that comes to the average American's mind when they think Asian, that isn't really the case with games made in Japan. Lon'qu/Say'ri/Yen'fay were made with some other language in mind (I'd say Chinese but the katakana versions of their names are iffy), but the Hoshidans' names and the overall Hoshido aesthetic are clearly based on Japan.

On another note, can people think of many other American names that are commonly used for both genders? The only ones coming to my head so far are nicknames that could go either way, like Sam...

Edited May 12, 2015 by Bovinian

[goodperson707]

It's really interesting to me, not being from the US, seeing how controversial the possibility of him being called Marx in localization is for some Americans.

yeah me too i find it quite strange, especially since some younger people might not even know who stalin is yet alone marx Im not american (eh) but my grade 9 sister didn't even know who stalin was. i think our board teaches it in grade 10 but by then you should be able to understand the difference or have the teacher mention the difference between communism the ideology and communism as used by soviet Russia,ect

Edited May 12, 2015 by goodperson707

[dragonlordsd]

Yeah, Marx was demonized a lot in the 50s, mostly because communists used his ideas.

But just like Charles Darwin never actually supported the Theory of Evolution (the idea that men evolved from monkeys), just the theory that animals develop new traits through natural selection, people often incorrectly associate Marx with the Soveit Union.

[Tamanoir]

It's really interesting to me, not being from the US, seeing how controversial the possibility of him being called Marx in localization is for some Americans.

Groucho and his brothers caused many deaths by laughs...

[goodperson707]

Groucho and his brothers caused many deaths by laughs...

this post man, that was quite well played.

On a related note, i wonder if they will put a character named lennon in the game.

Death to the Commie Mutant Traitors

[Jedi]

They should just 4Kids it. "Cammy must choose between long-lost brother Ryan and adoptive brother Max. Along the way, Cammy is joined by close allies Hannah, Tyler, Cassandra, Sally, Taquito, and many others as they fight against the evil King Gary."

One chapter needs to be Saving Private Ryan.

[Integrity]

On another note, can people think of many other American names that are commonly used for both genders? The only ones coming to my head so far are nicknames that could go either way, like Sam...

alex can float as a name either way, even though it's nominally just a nickname; same for chris and sam, though sam is more of a nickname than the other two.

awakening already did morgan and robin, two great ones.

charlie and jessy are both legit names that can go both ways. jamie, too, also taylor...

there's tooooooons

EDIT: any of these besides maybe sam would not be out of place on a FE character's name plate; the nicknames aren't too nick-namey

Edited May 12, 2015 by Integrity

[Anacybele]

^I've never met/heard of a female named Charlie. o_O

The rest of those though, yeah, I've seen go on both genders.

[Bovinian]

alex can float as a name either way, even though it's nominally just a nickname; same for chris and sam, though sam is more of a nickname than the other two.

awakening already did morgan and robin, two great ones.

charlie and jessy are both legit names that can go both ways. jamie, too, also taylor...

there's tooooooons

EDIT: any of these besides maybe sam would not be out of place on a FE character's name plate; the nicknames aren't too nick-namey

Good point about Taylor, that's a good one I hadn't thought of. Jamie is alright as well. Jesse/Jessie is usually spelled differently depending on gender as far as I'm aware.

Edited May 12, 2015 by Bovinian

[Tamanoir]

Good point about Taylor, that's a good one I hadn't thought of. Jamie is alright as well. Jesse/Jessie is usually spelled differently depending on gender as far as I'm aware.

Doesn't Terry counts too ?

[Sånıc Bÿm]

Kamui should be renamed to Gackt.

[ShadowKnight394]

The thing I've seen most people forget is the cut scenes. If a character is mentioned in a cut scene, their name has to have as many syllables as the Japanese name unless NoA decides to rework the cutscenes. That is why Lissa is called Lissa and not Liz- it would be awkward for Chrom to say "Liz" while his mouth was moving to say "Rizu."

[falcoknights]

Good point about Taylor, that's a good one I hadn't thought of. Jamie is alright as well. Jesse/Jessie is usually spelled differently depending on gender as far as I'm aware.

although decidedly on more females than males, i have seen a few males named "ashley" before.

[Bovinian]

The thing I've seen most people forget is the cut scenes. If a character is mentioned in a cut scene, their name has to have as many syllables as the Japanese name unless NoA decides to rework the cutscenes. That is why Lissa is called Lissa and not Liz- it would be awkward for Chrom to say "Liz" while his mouth was moving to say "Rizu."

And you're forgetting that Chrom, whose name is said aloud more often than Lissa's in the cutscenes, is three syllables in Japanese (kuromu) but was kept as a one-syllable English name nonetheless.

Also, the Japanese 'zu' sound is spoken with hardly any lip movement so it really wouldn't look that strange.

Edited May 12, 2015 by Bovinian

[The Geek]

^I've never met/heard of a female named Charlie. o_O

The rest of those though, yeah, I've seen go on both genders.

I knew a girl in highschool named Charlie.

As for other names, they could also use Ashley.

But I think since Kamui is supposed to be Hoshidan they'll keep at the very least a Japanese-sounding name.

[Dark Holy Elf]

I think Kamui should stay the same to reflect his not!Japanese origin. Giving him a western name would defeat the purpose of his character. Kamui is a real name, Reflet isn't and sounds awkward as a name so it's appropriate that it was changed.

Is Kamui a real name? I've never heard it used as a name before, and Googling just turned up various fictional characters/spirits. I know roughly what the word translates as from Japanese, and can certainly see how that might be an appropriate name for the character... but that meaning will be lost on most non-Japanese speakers. So yeah, I'm betting it gets changed.

[PikaSamus]

^I've never met/heard of a female named Charlie. o_O

The rest of those though, yeah, I've seen go on both genders.

http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Luck_Charlie

Only female Charlie that I've heard of, though.

[NekoKnight]

Is Kamui a real name? I've never heard it used as a name before, and Googling just turned up various fictional characters/spirits. I know roughly what the word translates as from Japanese, and can certainly see how that might be an appropriate name for the character... but that meaning will be lost on most non-Japanese speakers. So yeah, I'm betting it gets changed.

It's rarely used as a name but it exists. It derived from an Ainu (people native to Japan's northern most islands and ethnically different to Japanese people) word that refers to various deities. They are similar to the 'Kami' of Japanese mythology.