Possible Character Name Changes in the NA Versions?

[Wayward Alchemist]

I hope they keep Marx, it sounds more regal than Max, but if his name is Max, I hope they have a desert level with crazed bandits so I can have him solo it. Also, if Kamui's name is westernized, I hope it is either Alex or Riley, even though I won't be using the default name. I can see the Hoshido names staying as-is, and the other Nohr sibs seem unlikely to change.

[Leif]

I hope they keep Marx, it sounds more regal than Max, but if his name is Max, I hope they have a desert level with crazed bandits so I can have him solo it. Also, if Kamui's name is westernized, I hope it is either Alex or Riley, even though I won't be using the default name. I can see the Hoshido names staying as-is, and the other Nohr sibs seem unlikely to change.

I thought it would be really neat for dialogue to change if you change the default name for Kamui.

If I wrote the story for this game, I would implement alterations to the dialogue between the Avatar and his Hoshido kin should his/her name be something other than Kamui.

I would have Ryoma say something along the lines of this should Kamui's name be different: "So... the Nohr named you _____? That might have been the name you grew up with, however, "Kamui" was the name the Hoshido gave you."

That way, there would be some level of thematic consistency in the game.

I doubt something like this would happen, but that's what I would have done with the story so that the avatar can have a name other than some kind of Japanese name.

[FrostyFireMage]

I hope Joker gets renamed to something like Solitaire or Decker

[Mr. Myrmidon]

I dont really care if they change the Nohr names slightly, I only hope that they don't alter the Hoshido names like they did with theChon'Sin

[squkyshoes]

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."

I lost it at Taquito.

And another possibility for Marx's name could be Marcos. Fits with the syllables, close to the original name, win-win.

I agree with the others on Joker's name change. Joker doesn't usually have a positive & ally-like-name connotation considering the whole Batman thing.

[MoonlitSonata]

Only name change I'm cheering for is Joker getting a new name. Someone above suggested Ace, and I'm kindof in love with that idea.

Both Hoshidan and Nohrian siblings' names all sound fine though. I can see them wanting to possibly give slight changes to them to match the mouth flaps for CGI cutscenes, though. (For example, I remember someone saying about the reason Liz got changed to Lissa had to do with when Chrom spoke her name, his mouth flaps wouldn't match if they kept her as Liz.) Then again, the only royal that I know of that would possibly have a problem with the mouth flaps would be Elise...

[Book of Ereshkigal]

So far, I can see Joker being changed, maybe Elfie.

Edited May 27, 2015 by L95

[nordopolica]

On the topic of transliterations, is Elise usually transliterated to Japanese as "E-ri-i-ze" (too lazy to copy the kana)? Elise is usually pronounced "el-lease", not "eh-lee-zay".

Yes, the name Elise (pronounced Eh-leece) in English is transliterated to Japanese as エリーゼ　(Eriize). Most often it's romanised as Elise but in cases like Tales of Xillia, sometimes Eriize is localised as Elize. Usually not anything like Elizay or Elisay.

[ClevelandSteve]

Ryouma might have the "u" dropped from his name (which I've seen some people do here already) to make it simpler to pronounce (it would be hilarious if the American translation removed the "u" only for the European translation to add it back in. Also if the Canadian version kept it somehow even though they get the same translation we Americans get), but other than that I don't think many changes will happen to the Hoshidan names unless the localization team goes full 4Kids.

As for Nohr names, Garon and Joker seem likely to change, but I don't know what to. Marx might become Maximus or something to prevent Fox News from running a story about how a wealthy corporation like Nintendo is trying to turn American children into communists for some reason.

Kamui may or may not change. On one hand, Kamui having a Japanese name makes since given his/her Hoshidan heritage. On the other hand, the localization team might want to change the main character's name to something more "relatable". Ultimately, the change will be pointless unless Kamui gets into the next Smash Bros. game (or is DLC for this one), because you can just name him/her whatever you want, including "Kamui" if you're upset about the default name getting changed.

There will also probably be at least a few random changes that seem kinda pointless. There always are a few of those. I don't know if these changes will be for characters who have already been revealed or not, though.

[nordopolica]

As long as there are no apostrophes or gratuitous European accents (I'm looking at you Virion, Gregor,) I'm happy. I hope they keep the Hoshidan names to maintain the cultural inspiration and as long as the Nohr names aren't changed to 4Kids degrees I'll survive. I still call some Awakening characters by their Japanese names so I guess it doesn't really matter that much. As long as they aren't terrible.

[Meltlilith]

While I agree Joker is probably in for a change, rather than being deck themed, I think his name might be meant to be ironic since his personality is "unsociable/hard to get along with"

I have absolutely no suggestions on how his name might be changed to convey that without being so blatant/narmy in the localization, but I thought it might be good to point out.

Honestly I like most of the names - well, mainly the siblings' - and hope they aren't changed, but I trust the localization team since Awakening's changes were pretty good. I agree Joker's will probably be changed, Elfie/Elphie too, maybe Gunt(h)er. I personally like Nyx because it's Greek and keeps with Nohr's whole Greek/Roman theme, but if they were to change it, I think she looks like a Lilith (which means 'of the night') or perhaps Nocturne (although that's a little awkward)

Except Marx. The only substitutes I will take in stride are Maximus and Mars.

[BurningCandy]

Because his name is マークス, not マクス.

Max would be transliterated as マックス.

The Marcus that already exists in Fire Emblem was マーカス.

You're right that the transliteration of Marx as it applies to Karl Marx is not exactly the same as the name of the Nohrian guy, but マークス doesn't seem to exactly correspond to any known names in real life, and out of the possibilities Marx is just the most likely (considering how Japanese transliterating conventions usually work)

I'd also be okay with Jack or Ace as a localized name for Joker, but only if the initial intent behind his name was literally just "let's just give him a random name that has to do with playing cards lulz". For all we know there might be some other reasoning behind the name that wouldn't be well conveyed by the other two. I agree that it's probably likely to be changed though.

Why would Felicia or Elise need to be changed? They're perfectly fine and don't necessarily sound too "boring" (like Brad and Kevin supposedly did in Tellius) for Western audiences.

Also Ares was already used as the localized name for a character in FE4.

Well, the localisations sometimes just randomly change stuff, right? I agree that 'Felicia' is not a boring name, but I think Elise just doesn't suit... Elise. It seems too... 'adulty' I guess? In fact if I was picking the names, I'd have given her something like 'Minnie' or 'Suzie.'

Since I haven't played FE4, I didn't know Ares was already used as a name. OOps.

Also, the whole playing cards thing with Joker, maids/butlers tend to have an affinity with them, since aristocrats often play cards with their maid/butler if they have nothing to do. Also, you see maids and butlers in casinos walking around and serving wine or whatever and being the clerk for games of poker. There's lots of reasons Joker could be named after playing cards.

Btw... I'd like Joker to be localised as 'Jack', since I think it suits his antisocialness more.

[Venterqua]

I hope Joker gets renamed to something like Solitaire or Decker

I really like Decker.

While I agree Joker is probably in for a change, rather than being deck themed, I think his name might be meant to be ironic since his personality is "unsociable/hard to get along with"

I have absolutely no suggestions on how his name might be changed to convey that without being so blatant/narmy in the localization, but I thought it might be good to point out.

Honestly I like most of the names - well, mainly the siblings' - and hope they aren't changed, but I trust the localization team since Awakening's changes were pretty good. I agree Joker's will probably be changed, Elfie/Elphie too, maybe Gunt(h)er. I personally like Nyx because it's Greek and keeps with Nohr's whole Greek/Roman theme, but if they were to change it, I think she looks like a Lilith (which means 'of the night') or perhaps Nocturne (although that's a little awkward)

Except Marx. The only substitutes I will take in stride are Maximus and Mars.

And you ruined Decker. Good point on Joker though. I do like Lilith if Nyx has to be changed. I'd say Selene but that theme's been done with Selena... Maybe just Elle if Elfie must change as well? And I'm with you on Marx, probably one of my favorite names so far. They better keep Harold as well, it's just so fitting XD

[NoNameAtAll]

As long as there are no apostrophes or gratuitous European accents (I'm looking at you Virion, Gregor,) I'm happy. I hope they keep the Hoshidan names to maintain the cultural inspiration and as long as the Nohr names aren't changed to 4Kids degrees I'll survive. I still call some Awakening characters by their Japanese names so I guess it doesn't really matter that much. As long as they aren't terrible.

I hope they keep the accents. Because, you know, different countries.

Plus Gregor isn't the only offended. Have ve forgotten about vun voman Athena?

[Book of Ereshkigal]

About the whole Marx and America's: "COMMUNISM ASDRBTGNEFWDALMKNEFRHNFJWKL"

The kirby games have a character named Marx :B

[ClevelandSteve]

About the whole Marx and America's: "COMMUNISM ASDRBTGNEFWDALMKNEFRHNFJWKL"

The kirby games have a character named Marx :B

Yes, but the Marx from the Kirby series is the main villain of his game. This Marx is either an ally (if you're on the Nohr side) or at least an antagonist the player is supposed to sympathize with (if you're on the Hoshido side).

Also, now I'm wondering if Hinata's name will be changed due to looking incredibly feminine to Western audiences (even though it's a unisex name in Japan).

[CorruptDruid]

Kamui, I feel should be renamed if only because it screams Obito from Naruto. It would be especially jarring from a western perspective where the mythological connotations would be lost and instead make the player think of Naruto, likewise for Hinata. Actually, if anything Hinata just might get changed to something else, it's way too associated with Naruto.

Marx actually is fine if it stays, but something like Maximillian would also be a good localization contender. And as for lobster man, just Ryoma would be fine as a localized name yet reflecting Hoshidan cultural customs.

[NekoKnight]

I can see Elfie getting renamed to Elsa. I like the Joker > Jack suggestion, as well as Nyx to Lilith if they MUST change it.

I dont really care if they change the Nohr names slightly, I only hope that they don't alter the Hoshido names like they did with theChon'Sin

Sak'ura

Tak'umi

Hin'oka

Ryoh'ma

Hoshi'doh M'om

[llee1000]

They will have to change Leon to Ben or else.

I am fine any other way.

[Anacybele]

Also, the whole playing cards thing with Joker, maids/butlers tend to have an affinity with them, since aristocrats often play cards with their maid/butler if they have nothing to do. Also, you see maids and butlers in casinos walking around and serving wine or whatever and being the clerk for games of poker. There's lots of reasons Joker could be named after playing cards.

Btw... I'd like Joker to be localised as 'Jack', since I think it suits his antisocialness more.

Jack would still fit the playing card theme too... It IS a good fit. And there's a movie, I don't remember the name of it, where the main character is a guy named Jack. He was born a premie, but aged so fast that he had to start shaving at ten. He was made fun of, and became anti-social. I also remember his classmates wanting to make friends with him later, but he still wouldn't come out of his shell. I have vague memories of the movie, it's been awhile.

Now that I think about it though, I think the title was Jack.

Joker really should be changed to SOMETHING, anyway. It's too Batman-esque to me. >.> I mean, I like Batman, but I don't really like the Joker.

Edited May 28, 2015 by Anacybele

[The Geek]

Joker really should be changed to SOMETHING, anyway. It's too Batman-esque to me. >.> I mean, I like Batman, but I don't really like the Joker.

I said it before, I'll say it again: Alfred.

[NekoKnight]

I said it before, I'll say it again: Alfred.

I could see someone in Nohr jokingly call him that and him reacting with disdain.

[Honey Bunny]

Yes, but the Marx from the Kirby series is the main villain of his game. This Marx is either an ally (if you're on the Nohr side) or at least an antagonist the player is supposed to sympathize with (if you're on the Hoshido side).

Also, now I'm wondering if Hinata's name will be changed due to looking incredibly feminine to Western audiences (even though it's a unisex name in Japan).

Meh. The people that FOX might get riled are the people who already think 'Vidjagames be the work of Satan'. I don't really see the point in worrying about it. Anyone who is slightly informed about the game will know otherwise. Best to translate the game as best they can, and ignore FOX.

I can totally get behind the Joker>Jack translation.

Edited May 29, 2015 by Honey Bunny

[PikaSamus]

Maakusu could be read as Merx.

MERX CONFIRMED

[The Geek]

I see it as either going with Marx (how many kids know who Karl Marx is anyways?) or interpreting it as Max and renaming him Maximilian Pegasus or Maximus. Kind of like how they changed Liz to Lissa and Donny to Donnel.

Edited May 29, 2015 by The Geek