Where the heck do the dub names come from!?

[Koh]

Seriously, what I want to know is how they pull some of those English names out of the Japanese names. They don't match up at all, and some are cheesy.


(Japanese) - (English)
Satoshi (last name?) - Ash Ketchum <-- Seriously, wtf?
Shinji (last name?) - Paul <-- Not a SINGLE letter from the original name.
Hikari (last name?) - Dawn <-- Not all that bad, but just how?
Jun (last name?) - Barry <-- Same problem with Paul's name, and how the hell did they come up with that?

And it doesn't have to just be Pokemon either; a lot of dubs destroy names and other things when they bring them over here.

 

[halloweenghost]

ash should be the easiest of all and you cannot figure it out? Satoshi has three syllables ash does not..so they add ash-ketch-um to fit the lip flap when they dub Sa-to-shi. plus ketchum is a play on catch 'em but you probably knew that part.....I hope.

 

[Koh]

I know what his name was based on, but still, WHY? If the original wasn't lame enough to do that, then why would the dub?

 

[Atkroll]

They're trolling us.

But seriously. IMO they aren't that bad, and I'm pretty sure none of them are taken out of the blue.

What would you rather have as Satoshi's name in the dub?

 

[Spacialrend]

Ketchum was a corruption of the original Pokemon English slogan "Gotta Catch 'em all!"
and I think Ash might be related to Ho-oh, the Pheonix, where he is reborn form the ashes at the start of each region, implying his journey will never end, meaning he will not give up until his goal is achieved, even though at that point Ho-oh was not released as an actual Pokemon yet. I could be wrong entirely though~

Dawn might have just been a translation, as Dawn/Hikari both mean some form of light.

But of course, the episode titles are just (lame) puns or expression.

The rest I dunno.

 

[Orton155]

Ketchum was a corruption of the original Pokemon English slogan "Gotta Catch 'em all!"
and I think Ash might be related to Ho-oh, the Pheonix, where he is reborn form the ashes at the start of each region, implying his journey will never end, meaning he will not give up until his goal is achieved, even though at that point Ho-oh was not released as an actual Pokemon yet. I could be wrong entirely though~

Dawn might have just been a translation, as Dawn/Hikari both mean some form of light.

But of course, the episode titles are just (lame) puns or expression.

The rest I dunno.

Well to continue from this Shinji actually means second son in japanese so this would be really hard to dub to keep the same meaning. It is also hard to find a name that is easy for the tongue but sounds something like shinji so the dub just picked a boy's name which works.

Jun applies exactly the same way as it means obedient.

 

[An00bis]

You pretty much answered your own question.

Most of the English names aren't based on the Japanese names in any way, shape, or form. Some of them (like Misty and Brock) are based loosely around what type of Team the character has or what the character does (Tracey). I think Max's is the closest to a literal translation of names from the recurring cast. Dawn is pretty close, too, since Hikari literally means Light and Dawn includes the first rays of light we'd see on any given day.

I'm pretty sure Barry's name came from one of the in-Game options for Diamond and Pearl's translation so the anime followed suit. Same applies for May. As for why the Game Designers choose May and Barry in the first place I suppose the default options are designed to be " common " names in whatever language the games are translated into.

 

[randomspot555]

Yeah, Japanese isn't something you can directly translate from English and expect it to always work.

But I'm also guessing 95% of the time, the anime dubbers have most of their work done for them since use of in-game characters are just going to use names from there. It can get a bit messy when it comes to playable characters and rivals, where it might be the "default" name or a name programmed into it, but still one of the names the character is given.

 

[Lorde]

Shinji (last name?) - Paul <-- Not a SINGLE letter from the original name.

Shinji is similar the Japanese word shinju meaning "pearl". Paul sounds like pearl, so it makes sense. It's a "punny" name in both versions of the anime. You have to think outside of the box to get some of the names.

 

[Orton155]

Shinji is similar the Japanese word shinju meaning "pearl". Paul sounds like pearl, so it makes sense. It's a "punny" name in both versions of the anime. You have to think outside of the box to get some of the names.

I didn't know that, I don't really deal with japanese very often as im a strict dub watcher but it is interesting to learn that. Thank you

 

[Nacreous]

Dawn is Diamond,Paul is Pearl>.>

 

[Poke`Toasted]

Seriously, what I want to know is how they pull some of those English names out of the Japanese names. They don't match up at all, and some are cheesy.


(Japanese) - (English)
Satoshi (last name?) - Ash Ketchum <-- Seriously, wtf?
Shinji (last name?) - Paul <-- Not a SINGLE letter from the original name.
Hikari (last name?) - Dawn <-- Not all that bad, but just how?
Jun (last name?) - Barry <-- Same problem with Paul's name, and how the hell did they come up with that?

And it doesn't have to just be Pokemon either; a lot of dubs destroy names and other things when they bring them over here.

Ketchum was a corruption of the original Pokemon English slogan "Gotta Catch 'em all!"
and I think Ash might be related to Ho-oh, the Pheonix, where he is reborn form the ashes at the start of each region, implying his journey will never end, meaning he will not give up until his goal is achieved, even though at that point Ho-oh was not released as an actual Pokemon yet. I could be wrong entirely though~

Well I can finish explaining Ash Ketchum. For Ketchum, that was right.

During localization for North American audiences, the character's name was changed in the anime to "Ash Ketchum", the first name taken from one of the possible default names players could select for the player character in Pokémon Red and Blue, and the surname tying into 4Kids' former tagline for the series, "Gotta catch 'em all!"

 

[ChaosMage]

As for why the Game Designers choose May and Barry in the first place I suppose the default options are designed to be " common " names in whatever language the games are translated into.

"Haruka" means "spring". May is a month in Spring.

Barry... well, it certainly fits! It's just a comical name

 

[Nightlingbolt]

I guess they just wanted Barry to rhyme with Gary, as epic fail as it is.

 

[~Platinum~]

Satoshi (last name?) - Ash Ketchum <-- Seriously, wtf?

The pronounciation of Ketchum sounds relatively similar to the words "Catch 'em" and in the original series Ash originally wanted to "Catch 'em all". And in the Lugia/Moltres/Zapdos/Articuno movie, that prophecy said that "The world will turn to Ash" meaning the world will turn to Ash for help in a cleverly disguised way.

Hikari (last name?) - Dawn <-- Not all that bad, but just how?
Jun (last name?) - Barry <-- Same problem with Paul's name, and how the hell did they come up with that?

Dawn and Barry are the default names for the female character and the rival in DPPt.

 

[Lorde]

The pronounciation of Ketchum sounds relatively similar to the words "Catch 'em" and in the original series Ash originally wanted to "Catch 'em all". And in the Lugia/Moltres/Zapdos/Articuno movie, that prophecy said that "The world will turn to Ash" meaning the world will turn to Ash for help in a cleverly disguised way.

That was only in the dub though. The original Japanese version makes no such allusions to Ash :x

Dawn and Barry are the default names for the female character and the rival in DPPt.

That's true, but I think he was asking more about the origin of their names in general, and not just where the anime version got them from. Barry rhyming with Gary isn't something I had even noticed but now that I've heard it, it does sort of make sense to me in an odd sort of way

 

[Yuppirox]

Well, for Ash's name, I really like this explanation:

From Bulbapedia:

Several of the variety of ash trees, from which his name could be derived, are related to Kanto in some way: not only are there trees known as the "red ash", "green ash", and "blue ash", for the first three games, but also the "indigo ash", for the Indigo Plateau.

Don't trust wikis blah blah blah... I still like it though.

 

[Emperor Empoleon]

Well for Dawn..

Dawn = The days first light

Hikari = Light

 

[yoshi1001]

Kasumi is literally (or very close to) the Japanese word for mist, hence Misty. Ash and Gary, as I recall, we decided by an online poll at Nintendo.com in 1998.

 

[TicoPokemonMaster]

Well according to Veronica Taylor Ash was original going to be called Casey. So take your pick.

like an00bis said many of the character were named for their team types.
Brock = rock
Misty = mist = water
Lt.Surge= electricity
Erika = ????
Sabrina = Sabrina the teenaged witch= physic
Koga = sound like a ninja style name
Blaine = Bla =blaze = fire
Giovanni = gio = earth
Jessie and James = Jesse James
Butch and cassidy = Butch cassidy = outlaw
Bugsy= bug
Chuck = chuck norris = fighting
Pryce = ice
Clair= sounds like a dragon style name
Flannery = fire
Brawly = fighting
Winnona = wind = flying
Gardenia = Garden = grass
Crasher Wake= pro restler = Wake =water
Volkner = Volt = thunder
Flint = fire

get the point