Name Puns: Manga
Goku and Family (The Son-Bardock Family)
Son Goku / Kakarot
1. The name of the monkey king from the Chinese fantasy novel Journey to the West, which DragonBall is based on to a certain extent. “Son Gokuu” is the Japanese reading of the character’s name, while the Chinese reading is “Sūn Wùkōng”. The 悟/go means roughly to understand or to percieve. More importantly, it's used to write the verb satoru (悟る), from which the name of the Buddhist concept of satori derives. 空 can mean sky, empty, or void. It's the kanji for sora, the Japanese word for sky, which you might be familiar with if you're a Kingdom Hearts fan. When it's read as kara, it means 'empty'. When you put these two characters together, you get the meaning of "Percieving the Void", "Aware of Vacuity", or various other translations. In the story of Journey to the West, the monkey king is given this name by a Buddhist sage who he studies under. For a family name, the sage gives him 孫/Son, meaning “grandchild”, because it’s written with the radical for “monkey”.
2. A play on “carrot”. Perhaps Toriyama picked this vegetable for Goku’s Saiyan name because its orange color matches his orange Turtle School uniform?
Toriyama Explanation:
- “This name was taken completely from that of the protagonist of Journey to the West. This was because I originally planned on him being an actual monkey.” [DBF]
- “Saiyan is, of course, a pun on vegetable. Although they’re a fighting race, I decided on the ambience of reversing ‘vegetable’ [yasai in Japanese]. Because of this, the Saiyans all have names that are puns off of vegetable names. ‘Kakarot’ comes from ‘carrot’.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: 孫悟空/Sūn Wùkōng (Chinese), Son Gokuu (Japanese), キャロット/kyarotto
Name Spelling: 孫悟空 /Son Gokuu, カカロット/Kakarotto
FUNimation Name: Goku/Kakarot
Son Goten
The joke behind Goten's name is that it replaces the character for 'sky' in Goku's name with the character for heaven (天). As Toriyama explains, the idea is that instead of merely perceiving the sky, Goten perceives the heavens.
Toriyama Explanation: “The characters have the meaning of ‘Understanding the Heavens’, which is on an even bigger scale than ‘Goku’ [‘Understanding the Sky’ and various other interpretations].” [DBF]
Name Spelling: 孫悟天 /Son Goten
FUNimation Name: Goten
Son Gohan
Comes from御飯 (ご飯)/gohan, which literally means rice, but can also mean a meal in general (飯/han=rice while 御/go is simply an honorific prefix). In Gohan’s name, the go is written with 悟, the kanji meaning “to understand” which is used in Goku and Goten’s name, rather than 御, the kanji used for the food.
Toriyama Explanation: “He inherited this name from Goku’s dead grandfather.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ご飯/gohan
Name Spelling: 孫悟飯/Son Gohan
FUNimation Name: Gohan
Pan
Pan is the Japanese word for bread, derived from the Portuguese “pão” (compare “pan” in Spanish and “pain” in French).
Toriyama Explanation: “Well, to put it simply, she’s the child of gohan, so how about bread?” [as noted above, gohan means ‘rice’ in Japanese. Here Toriyama uses the actual kanji for rice rather than the ones used to write Gohan’s name] [DBF]
Source Spelling:: パン/pan
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Pan
Chi-Chi
Taken from 乳/chichi is Japanese for “breast” or “milk”, fitting in with her father’s bovine theme.
Toriyama Explanation: “Since she’s the daughter of Gyuumao [the Ox Demon King], I chose chichi because it’s a cow-related name that was also girlish.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: 乳/chichi
Name Spelling: チチ/
FUNimation Name: Chi-Chi
Gyuumao
The name means “Ox Demon King”, and is the name of a demon from Journey to the West. The entire Mt. Frypan storyline from early in DB is adapted from the Fire Mountain episode in JttW, and Gyuumao was part of that.
FUNimation Name: Ox-King
Saiyans
Vegeta
Derived from “vegetables”. Because the Saiyans are all named for vegetables, its fitting that their planet and rulers would be named after the word “vegetable” itself.
Toriyama Explanation: “Since he’s the prince of the Saiyans, his name was taken directly from ‘vegetable’.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ベジタブル/bejitaburu
Name Spelling: ベジータ/Bejiita
FUNimation Name: Vegeta
Raditz
Toriyama Explanation: “From the vegetable ‘radish’.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ラディッシュ/radisshu
Name Spelling: ラディッツ/Radittsu
FUNimation Name: Raditz
Nappa
Named for 菜っ葉/nappa, which refers to leafy vegetables. There appears to be no intended connection to the Chinese Napa cabbage, which is called taihakusai in Japanese.
Toriyama Explanation: “This might just be my dialect, but leafy vegetables like spinach are called ‘nappa’ , so I took it directly from that.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: 菜っ葉/nappa
Name Spelling: ナッパ/Nappa
FUNimation Name: Nappa
Bardock
Named after burdock, particularly greater burdock (gobou, whose roots are used in meals in Japan. In the DB Forever name pun guide, Toriyama has trouble remembering if Bardock even appeared in the manga, but a note in parenthesis points out the pun.
Toriyama Explanation: “I don’t really remember this. Did he even appear in the original story [i.e. the manga]? If he was in the original story, then his name was definitely taken from a vegetable. (Bardock=greater burdock)” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: バーダック/Baadakku
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Bardock
Broli: [D10]
Another Saiyan, another vegetable. This one’s from “broccoli”, a legendary vegetable said to delight in destruction and slaughter. The United Nations estimates that trillions of people die every day from broccoli-related accidents.
Source Spelling:: ブロッコリー/burokkorii
Name Spelling: ブロリー/Burorii
FUNimation Name: Broly
Paragus: [D10]
From “asparagus”
Source Spelling:: アスパラガス/Asuparagasu
Name Spelling: パラガス/Paragasu
FUNimation Name: Paragus
Bulma’s Family
Bulma
Named after bloomers, a female garment which originally were like very baggy, full-length pants (sort of a cross between a dress and pants), but which in Japan came to refer to female gym shorts. They are named after 19th century women’s rights advocate Amelia Bloomer.
Toriyama Explanation: “Since she was a girl I didn’t want a cute name, but something that would be silly and that females would recognize. So I did this.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ブルマー/burumaa (also speltブルマ/buruma, ブルーマ/buruuma, or ブルーマー/buruumaa)
Name Spelling: ブルマ/Buruma
FUNimation Name: Bulma
Dr. Brief
Bulma’s family has an underwear theme to their names, and so her father is named for the briefs, tight-fitting male underwear.
Toriyama Explanation: “Because it’s underwear-related”
Source Spelling:: ブリーフ/Buriifu
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Dr. Briefs
Bulma’s mother
Bulma’s mother is actually never actually named during the series, but in the DB Forever name pun guide, Toriyama says that if he had bothered to name her, he would have used “Panchy”, a play on “panty”/”panties”.
Toriyama Explanation: “Now that you mention it, she didn’t have a name, did she? Supposing I did name her, I would have probably used ‘Panchy’. Not ‘Panty’.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: パンティー/pantii
Name Spelling: パンチー/Panchii
FUNimation Name: Mrs. Briefs
Trunks / Mirai Trunks
Toriyama Explanation: “He’s part of Bulma’s family, so his name was taken from underwear, as well as from sports wear.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: トランクス/Torankusu
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Trunks/Future Trunks
Bra
Toriyama Explanation: “From the others you can see that Bulma’s family have underwear-related names, so obviously hers is from brassiere.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ブラ/Bura
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Bulla
Friends & Allies
Kuririn
There are a few things going on with Kuririn’s name, though Toriyama doesn’t really explain any of it (see below). First, kuri-kuri bouzu means a clean-shaven head, which certainly fits him. Second, 栗/kuri is Japanese for “chestnut”, which besides tying back into his “smooth head” image, is carried over into the name of his daughter (and in the anime, his early girlfriend). One of the title pages also shows Kuririn riding an air bike with the栗/kuri kanji on the front. Finally, the “rin” on the end of his name may be a reference to the Shaolin monks (少林/Shourin in Japanese), a staple of martial arts films. “Shaolin” more or less translates to “little forest”, and the temple where Kuririn trained prior to become Kame-sennin’s pupil was called the Oorin Temple (多林寺/Oorin-ji), “big forest temple”, an obvious play on the name Shaolin. The Oorin uniform worn by Kuririn and his formal seniors at Oorin Temple are also clearly based on the Shaolin uniform.
Toriyama Explanation: “This is a name that I decided completely based on just the ambience from the character’s image. At that point, I didn’t think this was going to be a character that would continue to appear for a long time afterwards, so I used this half-baked naming.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: くりくり/kuri-kuri 栗/kuri, 少林/Shourin
Name Spelling: クリリン/Kuririn
FUNimation Name: Krillin
Yamcha
Comes from Yum Cha, a form of Chinese dining consisting of drinking tea while eating dim sum.
Toriyama Explanation: “This was also taken from a form of Chinese cuisine. Originally the name was just ‘Yum Cha’ itself, but that didn’t go over too well [here Toriyama spells ‘Yamcha’ in kanji with a katakana reading, like the Japanese word for Yum Cha, instead of just in katakana like it’s written in the series]. ” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: 飲茶/yamucha
Name Spelling: ヤムチャ/Yamucha
FUNimation Name: Yamcha
Muten Roushi (Kame-sennin)
武/mu stands for all things martial, while 天/ten means “heaven” and 老師/roushi means an old master or teacher. For the name “Kame-sennin”, 亀/kame means “turtle”, while 仙人/sennin is a type of sage or saint in Japanese folklore. To quote the Encyclopedia Mythica: “The immortal spirit of a saint living in the mountains in Japanese mythology. This saint, a hermit, who has acquired so much merit by his asceticism that he can perform miracles, such as speaking after death, flying on the back of a tortoise or on a cloud, or causing a gourd to give birth to a horse. Sennins may speak to mortals in dreams or appear in the shape of ordinary men. They are accompanied by their familiars: a toad, a horse, or a tortoise.” The Japanese sennins are derived from the Xian of Chinese Daoism.
Toriyama Explanation: “There really isn’t any great reason; ‘Kame-sennin’ just didn’t seem like all that amazing a name for whatever reason, so I thought up a name that sounded suitably renowned and powerful.” [DBF]
FUNimation Name: Master Roshi
Oolong
Named for Oolong tea.
Toriyama Explanation: “I thought of including Chinese tea, so for these two I used Oolong Tea and Pu’er Tea.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ウーロン茶 (烏龍茶)/Uuron-cha
Name Spelling: ウーロン/Uuron
FUNimation Name: Oolong
Puar
Like Oolong, he’s named for a tea: Pu-erh tea.
Toriyama Explanation: “I thought of including Chinese tea, so for these two I used Oolong Tea and Pu-erh Tea.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: プーアル茶 (普洱茶)/Puuaru-cha
Name Spelling: プーアル/Puuaru
FUNimation Name: Puar
Yajirobe
A 弥次郎兵衛/yajirobee is a type of Japanese balancing toy.
Toriyama Explanation: “Since I imagined him as a Japanese person, I just used a Japanese-like name.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: 弥次郎兵衛 (やじろべえ)/yajirobee
Name Spelling: ヤジロベー/Yajirobee
FUNimation Name: Yajirobe
Lunch
Most likely this comes from the English word “lunch”, the most important meal of the day (screw breakfast), considering the prominence of food puns throughout DB. However, there’s no official confirmation of this, and the same katakana can also be used for the English word “Launch” (hence the Funi spelling for this character).
Toriyama Explanation: “I can’t remember at all. It was probably just something or another.” [DBF]
(Probable) Source Spelling:: ランチ /Ranchi
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Launch
Marron
In keeping with her father’s chestnut theme, she is named after “marron’, French for chestnut.
Toriyama Explanation: “Because she’s Kuririn’s (栗/kuri) child, I just took her name straight from marron.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: マロン/maron
Name Spelling: マーロン/Maaron
FUNimation Name: Marron
Uub
Being the reincarnation of Buu (ブウ/Buu), his name is “Buu” written in reverse: Oob (ウーブ/Uubu). Goku even points this out in the series.
Toriyama Explanation: “It’s a name like if you took the original, Buu, and reversed it.”
FUNimation Name: Uub
Crane School
Tao Pai Pai
The kanji mean “Peach White White”, and it’s intended as a pseudo-Chinese name. Accordingly, it’s written in kanji (桃白白) with a katakana furigana reading (タオパイパイ), indicating that the kanji have a Chinese reading rather than a Japanese one (similar to Shenlong’s name or the names of the dragonballs).
Toriyama Explanation: “I wanted to use a name that would be a complete reversal of his image, a cute Chinese name, so I used this. I don’t even know if this name works as an actual Chinese name.” [DBF]
Name Spelling: 桃白白 (タオパイパイ)/Taopaipai
FUNimation Name: Mercenary Tao
Tsuru-sennin
Means “crane sennin”; a sennin being a mythical holy sage (for more details, see Kame-sennin’s entry). Cranes and turtles are paired together in Japanese art, so it’s a fitting animal motif for the rival of Kame-sennin (the turtle sennin) to have.
Toriyama Explanation: “There’s no great reason. I thought ‘If not turtles, how about cranes’?” [DBF]
Name Spelling: 鶴仙人/Tsuru-sennin
FUNimation Name: Master Shen
Tenshinhan
Named for 天津飯/Tenshinhan (aka tenshindon), a quasi-Chinese dish actually invented in Japan, consisting of a crabmeat omelet over rice. It gets its name from the fact that it was originally made using high-quality rice (飯/han) from the Chinese city of Tianjin (天津; Tenshin is the Japanese reading of the city’s name). The character’s name is written in kanji (天津飯) with a katakana furigana reading (テンシンハン/Tenshinhan) to indicate that it has a foreign (ie Chinese) reading, although unlike Chaozu, “Tenshinhan” is actually also the normal Japanese reading for the kanji.
Toriyama Explanation: “Even though he’s a strong, cool guy, I used a well-known name from Chinese cuisine just to be silly. For me, I chose the basis for each name based mostly on silliness, which is why they usually end up being as stupid as this.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: 天津飯/tenshinhan
Name Spelling: 天津飯 (テンシンハン)/Tenshinhan
FUNimation Name: Tien Shinhan
Chaotzu
Taken from 餃子/jiǎozi (gyouza in Japanese), Chinese dumplings, aka pot stickers. “Chaozu” is a Japanese approximation of the Mandarin reading of the kanji. Like the other characters with Chinese (or pseudo-Chinese names), his name is written in kanji (餃子) with a katakana furigana reading (チャオズ/Chaozu) to indicate that it has a foreign reading.
Toriyama Explanation: “Of course, this was taken from the Chinese reading of gyoza” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: 餃子/gyouza; jiaozi
Name Spelling: 餃子（チャオズ）/Chaozu
FUNimation Name: Chaiotzu
Gods and co.
Shenlong
Written 神龍/Shenron, it means "Dragon God". "Shenlong" is a Chinese reading of the kanji. In Japanese normally they would be read as Shinryuu (like the Final Fantasy secret boss).
FUNimation Name: Shenron
Karin-sama
Named for かりん糖/karintou, a deep-fried Japanese snack. “Tower” in Japanese is 塔/tou, and so the Karin Tower is カリン塔/Karin-tou, a homonym for the candy. Karin himself is then simply named after his tower.
Toriyama Explanation: “This was taken from the Karin Tower (from the karintou snack); since he’s the tower’s owner he’s named Karin. ” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: かりんとう (かりん糖; 花林糖)/karintou
Name Spelling: カリン/Karin
カリン塔/Karin-Tou
FUNimation Name: Korin
Kami-sama (God)
Taken straight from 神/kami, Japanese for “god” or “spirit”. In this case, it refers specifically to the God of Earth (Chikyuu no Kami). It’s simply a title, not an actual character’s name, and over the course of the series both the child of Katattsu and Dende serve this role. However, since the child of Katattsu is too much of a twit to remember his own name, we’re left with little else to call him, so the term is much more closely associated with him (and of course, Dende doesn’t serve as god for nearly as long). He’s often referred to as神様/Kami-sama, sama being a Japanese honorific showing great respect, since generally people try to show respect to God. However, people who really hate him, like Piccolo or Garlic Jr., don’t do this.
FUNimation Name: Kami
Enma Daio
This is taken straight from the閻魔大王/Enma-Daiou, “Great King Enma”, the Japanese name for the Hindu and Buddhist deity Yama, judge of the dead. 大王/daiou means “great king”, while 閻魔/Enma is simply an attempt at picking kanji that phonetically approximate “Yama”; 閻/en means “mansion” and 魔/ma means “demon” or “magic”.
FUNimation Name: King Yemma
Kaio-sama
Kaio's name is made up of 界/kai, 'world', and 王/ou, 'king', making him “King of the Worlds”. The mark he wears on his clothes and prints on Goku’s uniform is a combination of界 and 王.
Toriyama Explanation: “Because he’s the king of the worlds [sekai no ou]. ” [DBF]
Name Source: 世界の王/sekai no ou
Name Spelling: 界王/Kaiou
FUNimation Name: King Kai
Kaioshin
As said above, “Kaio” means “King of the Worlds”. 神/shin means god, making Kaioshin essentially mean “God of the Kaios” or “God of the Kings of the Worlds”. As Piccolo says in the series, he’s effectively the god of the gods.
Name Spelling: 界王神/Kaioushin
FUNimation Name: Supreme Kai
Bubbles
Toriyama Explanation: “Michael Jackson’s pet chimpanzee was named Bubbles, so I used it to be silly.” [DBF]
FUNimation Name: Bubbles
Mister Popo
Toriyama Explanation: “I think I named him this simply because of the sound.” [DBF]
Name Spelling: ミスター・ポポ/Misutaa Popo
FUNimation Name: Mr. Popo
Kibito
Taken from tsukibito, Japanese for attendant, since he serves as Kaioshin’s attendant.
Toriyama Explanation: “Since he’s Shen’s attendant, I took his name from tsukibito ” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: 付き人/tsukibito
Name Spelling: キビト/Kibito
FUNimation Name: Kibito Kai
Mister Satan and co.
Mister Satan
His name is taken from “Satan”. To quote Asimov’s Guide to the Bible: “The Hebrew word satan means ‘adversary’; that is, one who opposes. It does not necessarily have to have a supernatural sense, and is occasionally used in the Bible to represent an ordinary human adversary. […] Sometime after the Babylonian captivity, however, the notion arose that there was a supernatural Adversary; a being whose official duty it was to work for man’s evil as God worked for man’s good.” And so gradually the term took on the meaning of demon king and whatnot it has today. As far as DB goes though, the name is just supposed to sound like a tough fighter’s name, and is just a stage name. As Toriyama has recently revealed in the Super Exciting Guides, Mister Satan’s real name is actually “Mark” (マーク/Maaku), a re-arrangement of悪魔/akuma, “devil”, in keeping with his satanic theme.
Toriyama Explanation:
[DBF]
“Since he’s a professional grappler, I used a name that would make him sound like one. Because this is his ring name, I think his actual name is probably something different.”
[SEG]
“’Mister Satan’ is a ring name, and his real name is different. Mister Satan’s real name is ‘Mark’. (this is a pun on akuma]) In the region where Satan lives, family names aren’t separated from given names, making his name only ‘Mark’. His daughter ‘Videl’ is not a ring name, but her real name. This is a pun on ‘devil’.”
(Mister Satan)
Source Spelling: サタン/Satan
Name Spelling: ミスター・サタン/Misutaa Satan
(Mark)
Source Spelling:: 悪魔/akuma
Name Spelling: マーク/Maaku
FUNimation Name: Mr. Satan (uncut releases), Hercule (edited releases)
Videl
Following her father’s demonic theme, her name is an anagram of “devil”.
Toriyama Explanation: “Since she’s Satan’s daughter, to go along with that I wanted to give her a demonic name taken from ‘devil’ , but since ‘devil’ wasn’t very girlish I used ‘Videl’.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: デビル/Debiru
Name Spelling: ビーデル/Biideru
FUNimation Name: Videl
Bee
Buu’s dog. This is a joke derived from Japanese alphabetical order, which goes a-i-u-e-o for each starting sound (so a-i-u-e-o, followed by ka-ki-ku-ke-ko, sa-shi-su-se-so, etc). For each starting sound, “e” follows “u”, and so if you go over a row from ブウ/Buu you get ベエ/Bee. This name should be pronounced like the English word “bay” rather than like “bee” the insect, and so Viz spells it “Bay”. However, in this case the joke is entirely on how the name is spelt and the pronunciation is of secondary importance, so I think it should be kept as “Bee”. You don’t really need to know anything about Japanese to see a connection between “Buu/Boo” and “Bee”.
Toriyama Explanation: “It’s the name you get when you shift the letters for ‘Buu’ over one row.” [DBF]
FUNimation Name: Bee
Piza
Named after pizza.
Source Spelling:: ピザ/piza
Name Spelling: ピーザ/Piiza
FUNimation Name: Miss Pizza
Piroshiki
Named after pirozhki, Russian fried buns stuffed with things like meat or rice.
Source Spelling: ピロシキ/piroshiki
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Piroshiki
Karoni
Named after macaroni.
Source Spelling:: マカロニ/makaroni
Name Spelling: カロニー/Karonii
FUNimation Name: Caroni
All Things Namekian
Polunga
In-universe, this is supposed to mean “god of dreams” in the Namekian language. Out-universe…well, see below.
Toriyama Explanation: “I don’t remember this one either, but it was probably just a completely random name.” [DBF]
Name Spelling: ポルンガ/Porunga
FUNimation Name: Porunga
Piccolo
Named after the piccolo, a small kind of flute (“piccolo” is Italian for “small”). In-universe, “piccolo” is supposed to mean “another world” in the Namekian language.
Toriyama Explanation: “I decided that to be silly I’d use a cute name for a scary guy. From that, Piccolo’s henchmen became a series of musical instruments.” [DBF]
Source Spelling: ピッコロ/Pikkoro
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Piccolo
Tambourine
Named for the tambourine, a percussion instrument.
Toriyama Explanation: “These [Piccolo’s henchmen] are all musical instruments.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: タンバリン/tanbarin
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Tambourine
Piano
Named for the piano. The instrument’s name actually comes from pianoforte, meaning soft and loud, since it can produce both kinds of notes (piano itself means soft). Maybe Piano was named this because he’s so weak compared to the other henchmen?
Toriyama Explanation: “These [Piccolo’s henchmen] are all musical instruments.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ピアノ/piano
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Piano
Cymbal
A percussion instrument.
Toriyama Explanation: “These [Piccolo’s henchmen] are all musical instruments.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: シンバル/shinbaru
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Cymbal
Drum
Another instrument. Drums are big and fat, kind of like him.
Toriyama Explanation: “These [Piccolo’s henchmen] are all musical instruments.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ドラム/doramu
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Drum
Planet Namek and Namekians
A play on the word namekuji, slug. 星/sei is Japanese for planet or star, and so a person from Planet Namek is called a Namekku-seijin.
Toriyama Explanation: “Since ‘Namekian’ itself is taken from namekuji because of the antennas they have on their heads, they all get their names from slugs and the similar snails.” [DBF]
Source Spelling: ナメクジ (蛞蝓)/namekuji
Name Spelling: ナメック星人/Namekku-seijin
FUNimation Name: Namekian
Muuri
From the second half of katatsumuri, one of the Japanese words for snail.
Toriyama Explanation: “Since ‘Namekian’ itself is taken from namekuji [slug] because of the antennas they have on their heads, they all get their names from slugs and the similar snails. “Muuri” is from katatsumuri” [DBF]
Source Spelling: カタツムリ（蝸牛）/katatsumuri
[u]Name Spelling: ムーリ/Muuri
FUNimation Name: Moori
Katattsu
Kami/Piccolo’s parent. Named for the first half of katatsumuri, one of the Japanese words for snail.
Source Spelling:: カタツムリ（蝸牛）/katatsumuri
Name Spelling: カタッツ/Katattsu
FUNimation Name: Katas
Kargo
Toriyama Explanation: “Obviously, this comes from the snail cuisine escargot.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: エスカルゴ/esukarugo
Name Spelling: カルゴ/Karugo
FUNimation Name: Cargo
Dende
A play on denden-mushi, one of the Japanese words for snail.
Toriyama Explanation: “From denden-mushi” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: デンデンムシ (蝸牛)/denden-mushi
Name Spelling: デンデ/Dende
FUNimation Name: Dende
Tsunno
From tsuno, Japanese for “antenna”. In Viz he’s named “Caracol”, Spanish for snail.
Toriyama Explanation: “From a snail’s antenna” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: 角/tsuno
Name Spelling: ツーノ/Tsuuno
FUNimation Name: Elder Tsuno
Nail
Toriyama Explanation: “From the English name for snail.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: スネイル/suneiru
Name Spelling: ネイル/Neiru
FUNimation Name: Nail
Maima Region
Where Freeza’s ship lands on Namek. Comes from 舞舞/maimai, one of several Japanese words for snail. This place is called the Shell Region in Viz.
Pilaf and co.
Pilaf
Named for rice pilaf. His (self-appointed) title, 大王/daiou, means “great king’ and is used for such people as Alexander the Great and King Kamehameha I. Clearly he has an overrated opinion of himself.
Toriyama’s Ceaselessly Helpful Explanation: “It seems that I wanted to give them a food theme.” [DBF]
Name Spelling: ピラフ/Pirafu
FUNimation Name: Emperor Pilaf
Shuu (Soba), Mai
Named for shumai, Chinese dumplings served with dim sum. Shuu’s alternate name, Soba, comes from thin Japanese buckwheat noodles.
Toriyama Explanation: “Shuu and Mai make “shumai”. Soba was probably just a name that I thoughtlessly gave him when I thought I hadn’t already given him a name. Knowing that from beginning now, it looks pretty bad.” [DBF]
(Shuu and Mai)
Source Spelling:: 焼売（しゅうまい）/shuumai
Name Spelling: シュウ/Shuu and マイ/Mai
(Soba)
Source Spelling:: 蕎麦 (そば)/soba
Name Spelling: ソバ/Soba
FUNimation Name: Shu, Mai
Red Ribbon Army
All its members are named for colors, generally taken from the English words for them. I don’t think there’s any real meaning behind “red ribbon” itself, other than the alliteration.
Toriyama Explanation: “The military personnel of the Red Ribbon Army all have the names of colors, so it’s the same for this group. I more or less picked the color of each character’s image.” [DBF]
Commander Red
The army is named after him. Or perhaps he’s named for the army? He has red hair in the anime, while in the manga he has white hair and a red eye-patch.
Source Spelling: レッド/reddo
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Commander Red
Adjunct Black
Presumably named for his dark skin.
Source Spelling: ブラック/burakku
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Staff Officer Black
Colonel Silver
Source Spelling: シルバー/shirubaa
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Colonel Silver
General White
The color white matches the snow setting of the Muscle Tower arc.
Source Spelling: ホワイト/howaito
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: General White
Sergeant Metallic
Named after the word for “metallic”, since he’s a robot made from metal and all.
Source Spelling: メタリック/Metarikku
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Major Metallitron
Sergeant Master Murasaki
Named for murasaki, Japanese for “purple”. He’s distinguished from the rest of the RR Army members by being named for a Japanese word for a color, rather than an English one.
Source Spelling: 紫/murasaki
Name Spelling: ムラサキ/Murasaki
FUNimation Name: Ninja Murasaki
Murasaki’s Brothers
Unnamed in the series, but in the Adventure Special and Daizenshuu 7 they’re given as Kon (Navy Blue), Cha (Brown), Aka (Red), Ao (Blue/Green). They follow Murasaki in being named for the Japanese words for colors, rather than English ones like the rest of the army.
Source Spelling: 紺, 茶, 赤, 青/kon, cha, aka, ao
Name Spelling: コン、チャ、アカ、アオ/Kon, Cha, Aka, Ao
General Blue
His name matches the water theme of his arc.
Source Spelling: ブルー/buruu
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: General Blue
Dock
The fat member of Blue’s corps, who leads the attack on Kame House. He’s only named in the anime. Apparently he’s named after “dock”, in keeping with the water setting of the Blue arc.
Source Spelling: ドック/dokku
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Captain Dark
Yellow
Kind of matches the color of his tiger fur.
Source Spelling: イエロー/Ieroo
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Captain Yellow
Violet
Matches her hair color.
Source Spelling: バイオレット/baioretto
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Colonel Violet
Copper
Source Spelling: カッパー/kappaa
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: General Copper
Brown
Source Spelling: ブラウン/buraun
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Buyon
Cyborgs/Articifal Humans
Hatchan (Jinzoningen #8)
A play on hachi/”eight” and chan, a Japanese honorific that’s sort of a cutesy term of endearment.
Source Spelling: 八/hachi + ちゃん/chan
Name Spelling: ハッチャン/Hacchan
FUNimation Name: Android 8
Cell
Named for the fact that he’s made up of the cells of the Earth’s greatest fighters, and he absorbs people, merging with that at a cellular level, and all that jazz.
Toriyama Explanation: “Since this character absorbed many humans and transformed, his name has the meaning of ‘cell’ in English.” [DBF]
Source Spelling: セル (CELL)/Seru
Name Spelling: same
FUNimation Name: Cell
Jinzoningen #17 and #18
A pun on lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone with an intense color.
Toriyama Explanation: “No. 17 is Lapis, No. 18 is Lazuli!” [DBFC]
Source Spelling: 瑠璃/Ruri
Name Spelling: ラピス/Rapis + ラピスラズリ/Rapisurazuri
FUNimation Name: Android 17 and Android 18
Freeza and co.
Freeza
I’m going to quote two Toriyama explanations this time, since I think one kind of clarifies the other, and they help explain the underlying logic for name puns in general: as a way of making Toriyama’s job easier.
Toriyama Explanation:
[DBF]
“I took his name from ‘freezer’, since that went along with vegetables (Saiyans) and milk (Ginyu). Actually, it would have been more correct to use refrigerator, but that wouldn’t have gotten the joke across so I used freezer.”
[SEG]
“It’s a real pain to decide on the names for lots of characters. If you unify the names into a series, it makes it easy to think them up. For instance, there’s Freeza, who directed the Saiyans and the other evil aliens. Strictly speaking, a ‘freezer’ is a reitouko, but I named him with the image of a refrigerator [reizouko] in mind. So, the names would be unified as food items that one puts inside [a refrigerator]. The Saiyans are vegetables, the Ginyu Special-Squad are dairy products, that kind of thing.
Source Spelling:: フリーザー/furiizaa
Name Spelling: フリーザ/Furiiza
FUNimation Name: Frieza
King Cold
A play on the English word “cold”, in keeping with his sons’ icy names. The character's name, however, is not spelled exactly like "cold" is in Japanese (see below). Like Pilaf, his Japanese title is 大王/daiou, meaning “great king’, and used for such people as Alexander the Great and King Kamehameha I.
Toriyama Explanation: “From the image of a refrigerator, I came up with ‘cold’.” [DBF]
Source Spelling: コールド/Koorudo
Name Spelling: /Korudo
FUNimation Name: King Cold
Kywi
Toriyama Explanation: “I don’t have a single memory of this, but I’d think that it’s probably from the kiwi fruit. It’s the same reasoning behind Zarbon and Dodoria below: using fruit rather than vegetables, since the character isn’t a Saiyan.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: キウイ/kiui
Name Spelling: キュイ/Kyui
FUNimation Name: Cui
Zarbon:
Taken from zabon, the Japanese name for pomelo, a citrus fruit whose green color matches Zarbon’s skin.
Toriyama Explanation: “This is taken straight from zabon. That big thing that’s like an orange.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ザボン/zabon
Name Spelling: ザーボン /Zaabon
FUNimation Name: Zarbon
Dodoria:
Named after the durian fruit, which are as spiky as he is.
Toriyama Explanation: “It’s a pun on durian .” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ドリアン/dorian
Name Spelling: ドドリア/Dodoria
FUNimation Name: Dodoria
Apule
Toriyama Explanation: “From ‘apple’.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: アップル/appuru
Name Spelling: /アプールApuuru
FUNimation Name: Appule
Ginyu Special-Squad
Each member of the squad is named for a dairy product. The Special-Squad itself (特戦隊/toku-sentai in Japanese) is named after the Super Sentai series, a genre of Japanese children's television programs that feature teams of costumed superheroes battling monsters. These shows are produced by Toei, owner of Toei Animation, the animation studio responsible for Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT. Footage from Japanese sentai shows were edited, dubbed, and combined with new footage of American actors to create Power Rangers. Sentai shows typically feature teams of five costumed heroes, each one a different color, who fight using elaborate poses that originated in Kabuki theater. The connection to the Ginyu Special-Squad should be obvious. In his Daizenshuu 2 interview, Toriyama admits this connection, saying his inspiration was his son’s love of sentai shows. The Great Saiyaman also shows a strong sentai influence.
Ginyu
From milk, specifically cow’s milk.
Toriyama Explanation: “This is of course from gyuunyuu. I thought it’d be good to think of the names from things that you put in refrigerators, so I was able to complete the names for the Freeza-related characters without much difficulty.”
Source Spelling:: 牛乳/gyuunyuu
Name Spelling: ギニュー/Ginyuu
FUNimation Name: Captain Ginyu
Ghurd
Toriyama Explanation: “I thought that I’d name all of Ginyu’s underlings after dairy products, and Gurd is taken from yogurt.”
Source Spelling:: ヨーグルト/yooguruto
Name Spelling: グルド/Gurudo
FUNimation Name: Guldo
Jhees
Toriyama Explanation: “This is a pun on cheese.”
Source Spelling:: チーズ/chiizu
Name Spelling: ジース/Jiisu
FUNimation Name: Jeice
Burta
Toriyama Explanation: “Butter of course.”
Source Spelling:: バター/bataa
Name Spelling: バータ/Baata
FUNimation Name: Burter
Recoom
Toriyama Explanation: “It’s cream.”
Source Spelling:: クリーム/kuriimu
Name Spelling: リクーム/Rikuumu
FUNimation Name: Recoome
Babidi and co.
Dabra
Toriyama Explanation: “This was taken from the famous magic word ‘abracadabra’.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: アブラカダブラ/aburakadabura
Name Spelling: ダーブラ/Daabura
FUNimation Name: Dabura
Bibidi:
Bibidi, his son Babidi, and his creation Majin Buu are all named for the magic phrase “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”, which originated in one of the songs from the Disney animated version of Cinderella. The phrase has since become commonly used as a generic magical phrase. Toriyama doesn’t specifically mention the Disney connection in DB Forever, but he’s admitted many times to being a fan of Disney movies (noting in his Daizenshuu 6 that 101 Dalmatians had a huge influence on him).
Toriyama Explanation: “This is the first part of the magic word below. [bibbity-boppity-boo]”
Source Spelling:: ビビデバビデブー/bibide-babide-buu
Name Spelling: ビビディ/Bibidi
FUNimation Name: Bibidi
Babidi
Toriyama Explanation: “This is taken from the famous magical word ‘Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ビビデバビデブー /bibide-babide-buu
Name Spelling: バビディ/Babidi
FUNimation Name: Babidi
Majin Buu
As mentioned, “Buu” comes from “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”. A 魔人/majin (literally a magical or demonic person), is a general term for beings from mythology or fiction who possess strong magical powers and other abilities that far surpass that of ordinary people. The term is often used in Japanese to refer to the jinn (genie) of Arabian folklore, or the Hindu asura, while the “genie of the lamp” from the story of Aladdin is commonly called the “majin of the lamp” in Japanese.
Toriyama Explanation: “It’s the last part of the above magic word [Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo].” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ビビデバビデブー/bibide-babide-buu
Name Spelling: ブウ/Buu
FUNimation Name: Majin Buu
Yakon
He probably gets his name from tekumaku-mayakon, a magical chant that originates from the late 1960s anime Himitsu no Akko-chan (most of the following is from the show’s Japanese Wikipedia entry ). In the show, Akko-chan uses this phrase to transform through the power of a magic compact mirror given to her by a mirror spirit. All she has to do is say “Tekumaku-mayakon, become a _____”, and fill in what it is she wants to become. “Tekumaku-mayakon” is actually an abbreviation of “Technical Magic My Compact”. In order to turn back to normal, she must say “Rami-pasu rami-pasu ru ru ru” (rami-pasu being ‘Super Mirror’ in reverse).
Source Spelling:: テクマクマヤコン/Tekumakumayakon
Name Spelling: ヤコン/Yakon
FUNimation Name: Yakon
Pui-Pui
In keeping with the “magic” theme of Babidi and co., he probably gets his name from Chichin-puipui, a Japanese good luck charm that mothers, nurses, and the like use when children hurt themselves. I suppose it’s similar to saying “Let me kiss it to make it stop hurting.” It’s also used as a magic chant in ninja shows and Arabian Nights-themed shows aimed at children. It has also been used as the name for several children's shows. Apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger made a commercial in Japan where he sang this chant to the tune of Leningrad (don’t ask me…).
Source Spelling:: ちちんぷいぷい/chichin-puipui
Name Spelling: プイプイ/Puipui
FUNimation Name: Pui Pui
21st Tenkaichi Budoukai
Namu:
This comes from the Buddhist phrase 南無阿弥陀仏/namu-amida-butsu (originally namo'mitābhāya. in Sanskrit), an invocation of Amitābha, the “Buddha of Infinite Light”. The phrase is used as a chant during meditation. In the series, Namu himself says this chant when performing the Tenku-Pekeji-Ken on Goku (in Viz this is rendered “In the name of the Buddha!”). Incidentally, according to the guidebooks Namu has two younger brothers named Ami and Dabu, whose names are also clearly derived from this.
Toriyama Explanation: “I don’t remember at all, but wouldn’t his name probably just be derived from ‘Namu-amida-butsu’?” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: 南無阿弥陀仏/Namu-amida-butsu
Name Spelling: ナム/Namu
FUNimation Name: Nam
Bacterian
Toriyama Explanation: “A took his name from bacteria, because of his dirty image. However, now that I think about it, if there were no bacteria we wouldn’t be able to live. Sorry bacteria.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: バクテリア/bakuteria
Name Spelling: バクテリアン/Bakuterian
FUNimation Name: Bacterian
Ran-Fan
Toriyama Explanation: “When I was working in an advertising company, female underwear was called ‘Ran-Fan’. This comes from an abbreviation of ‘Lingerie and Foundation’. The character has that sort of image.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ランジェリー・ファンデーション/Ranjerii Fandeeshon
Name Spelling: ランファン /Ran-Fan
FUNimation Name: Ranfan
Giran
He’s described in the manga and by Toriyama in the DB Forever pun guide as a 怪獣/kaijuu, meaning “monster”, but often used specifically for giant “suitmation” movie monsters like Godzilla and Rodan, so he’s named to sound like one. Compare “Giran” to “Angiras” or “Rodan.
Toriyama Explanation: “It simply feels like a typical monster [kaijuu] name. ” [DBF]
Name Spelling: ギラン/Giran
FUNimation Name: Giran
Jackie Chun
Toriyama Explanation: “Of course, this comes from slightly distorting the name of my beloved Jackie Chan.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ジャッキー・チェン/Jakkii Chen
Name Spelling: ジャッキー・チュン /Jakkii Chun
FUNimation Name: Jackie Chun
22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai
King Chapa
Toriyama Explanation: “In Indian cuisine there’s a dish called chapatti, and he looked Indian, so I took his name from there.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: チャパティ/chapati
Name Spelling: チャパ/Chapa
Panputto
Toriyama Explanation: “Um…I can’t even remember the character. It’s a Tai-esque name though, so I guess he was that sort of character.” [DBF]
Name Spelling: パンプット/Panputto
23rd Tenkaichi Budoukai
Shen
Taken from the Japanese approximation of the Chinese reading of 神, 'god', which is the same place the shen in Shenlong comes from. The normal Japanese readings of the kanji are kami for the kun reading (like in Kami’s name) and shin for the on reading (like in Kaioshin). The name itself is written in katakana, not kanji, perhaps to further disguise his true identity.
Toriyama Explanation: “From the Chinese reading of神/kami.”
Source Spelling:: 神/shin or kami, shen in Chinese
Name Spelling: シェン/Shen
FUNimation Name: Hero
Ma Junior
Ma means “demon” while “junior” means, well, junior. Here ma is written in katakana rather than kanji. In other words, it’s written to signify simply the sound “ma”, rather than to convey the specific meaning of “demon”. There’s no real equivalent to this sort of thing in English, but it’s sorta like phonetically spelling things either to obscure their meaning, or just to look cool (light as “lite”, “Froot Loops” instead of “Fruit Loops”…well, I guess that’s done because they don’t contain any actual fruit per say). Anyway, with this spelling he’s not exactly blatantly calling himself a demon. “Junior” is written in katakana as well, and not as “Jr.”, which is actually used in Japanese, like when writing Garlic Jr.’s name (ガーリックJr.).
Source Spelling: 魔Jr./ma jyunia
Name Spelling: マジュニア/Ma Jyunia
FUNimation Name: (see Piccolo)
25th Tenkaichi Budoukai
Idasa
An anagram of dasai, meaning lame or out of fashion.
Toriyama Explanation: “Personally, I can’t think of his hairstyle as being at all cool, so I made his name a pun on dasai ” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ダサイ/dasai
Name Spelling: イダーサ /Idaasa
Ikose:
An anagram of sekoi, meaning petty or small-minded
Toriyama Explanation: “This is a pun on sekoi” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: セコイ/sekoi
Name Spelling: イコーセ/Ikoose
Pyontatto
This is one of the kids from the Youth Division. He makes his opponent cry.
Toriyama Explanation: “I don’t think this name is supposed to sound like much of anything. I can’t remember.” [DBF]
Webley
Pyontatto’s opponent, who bursts into tears. Probably named for Webley & Scott guns.
Toriyama Explanation: “I don’t really remember, but I think this was probably taken from England’s cool-looking Webley revolvers.” [DBF]
Kira
Toriyama Explanation: “I think that I took this from ‘killer’, like an assassin. ” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: キラー/kiraa
Name Spelling: キーラ /Kiira
Jewel
Toriyama Explanation: “He’s a snobby character, so I took his name from jewels.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: ジュエル/jyueru
Name Spelling: ジュエール /Jyueeru
Mighty Mask
Toriyama Explanation: “The characters are completely different, but there used to be this cartoon (probably American) called Mighty Mouse, which as the name suggests was about a powerful mouse; I just took the ambience of the name from there.” [DBF]
28th Tenkaichi Budoukai
Mou Kekko:
Written with the kanji for “ferocious”, “blood”, and “tiger”, seemingly a suitable name for this giant, mean-looking guy. However, it’s actually a play on mou kekkou, a Japanese phrase that effectively means something like "I'm fine", or “that’s enough”. Like if a waiter offers you more bread or something and you don’t need any more, that sort of thing.
Toriyama Explanation: “The characters on their own seemed strong, but of course this is a worthless pun on the phrase mou kekko.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: もう結構/mou kekkou
Name Spelling: 猛血虎/Mou Kekko
Captain Chicken
Toriyama Explanation: “I imagined him as a chicken-version of Captain America.” [DBF]
Name Spelling: キャプテン・チキン/
Otoko-Suki
A play on 男好き/otoko-zuki, “boy-crazy”.
Source Spelling: 男好き/otoko-zuki
Name Spelling: オトコスキー/otoko-sukii
Knock
Probably a pun on “knock out”, which is exactly what happens to him.
Source Spelling: ノックアウト/nokku-auto
Name Spelling: ノック/Nokku
Uranai Baba and co.
Uranai Baba
占い/Uranai means fortune-telling or divination, while baba is a fairly rude term for an older woman, kind of like “hag” or “crone”. Therefore, she’s the Fortune-telling Crone. ババ
FUNimation Name: Fortuneteller Baba
Dracula Man
Because he’s Dracula, man.
Suke-san [usually called the Invisible Man in English versions]
透ける/sukeru means “transparent”, or “see-through”, while san is a Japanese honorific more or less equivalent to “mister”. So basically he’s “Mr. See-Through”. The name may further be a reference to the Mitokoumon character Sasaki Sukesaburou (佐々木助三郎), called “Suke-san”（助さん） for short. Mitokoumon was a fictionalized version of the travels of Tokugawa Mitsukuni (aka Mito Mitsukuni), which has been adapted into several TV dramas. To quote this forum, the story is about how ‘former Vice Shogun Mito Mitsukuni travelled incognito around Japan with his retainers ‘Suke-san’ and ‘Kaku-san’ righting injustice”.
Toriyama Explanation: “It’s embarrassing to explain, but since he’s see-through [suketeiru] he’s Suke-san.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: 透ける/sukeru + さん/san
Name Spelling: スケさん/Suke-san
Mummy-kun
Named after miira, Japanese for “mummy”, which is derived from the Portuguese mirra, meaning “myrrh” (myrrh being used as an embalming ointment to make mummies). Kun is a Japanese honorific generally used for males which one is on familiar terms with. I guess the joke is that it’s a rather cutesy thing to call a centuries-old mummy.
Source Spelling: ミイラ (木乃伊）/miira
Name Spelling: ミイラくん/Miira-kun
Akkuman:
This come from slightly altering 悪魔/akuma, “devil”, then combining it with “man”. Kinda like naming a demon-based superhero “Deman” or something.
Toriyama Explanation: “Since he’s demonic I named him Akkuman, but I carelessly forgot and made a manga that was also named “AkkuMan” [generally spelt “Ackman” in alphabet]. I guess it’s a pretty simple idea” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: 悪魔/akuma + マン/man
Name Spelling: アックマン/Akkuman
Misc
Mutaito
武/mu refers to the martial arts (it’s the same kanji used to write the bu in budoukai), while 泰斗/taito is an abbreviation of 泰山北斗/taizanhokuto, meaning a great authority; the phrase comes from the New Book of Tang. Therefore, “Mutaito” essentially translate to “a great authority of the martial arts”.
Toriyama Explanation: “Sorry, but I don’t remember” [DBF]
Shapner
A play on “pencil sharpener”.
Source Spelling: シャープナー/shaapunaa
Name Spelling: シャプナー/Shapunaa
FUNimation Name: Sharpner
Erasa
A player on “eraser”
Source Spelling: イレイサー/ireisaa
Name Spelling: イレーザ/ireeza
FUNimation Name: Erasa
Randosel Town
In keeping with the school theme for some of the character/place names during Gohan’s stint as a high school student, this comes directly from ランドセル/randoseru, “backpack” or “satchel”, which derives from the German raenzel. Accordingly, in Viz the place is called “Backpack Town”.
Source Spelling: ランドセル/randoseru
Name Spelling: same
Sno
Toriyama Explanation: “She’s a girl from a cold village, so her name comes from ‘snow’.”
Source Spelling:: スノー/sunoo
Name Spelling: スノ/Suno
Bora
Toriyama Explanation: “I don’t think there’s any particular meaning.”
Name Spelling: ボラ/Bora
FUNimation Name: Bora
Upa
Toriyama Explanation: “If I’m not mistaken, I think it was that my assistant Matsuyama had I dog named this at his parents’ house, and I said ‘Ah, that’s a good name!’”
Name Spelling: ウパ /Upa
FUNimation Name: Upa
Grandma Paozu
The old lady who gives Bulma and Goku the 6-star ball in exchange for beating Oolong. For whatever reason her name was left out of the Viz translation. She’s named after baozi (read as Paozu in Japanese), Chinese steamed buns, similar to the Japanese manjuu, steamed buns with red bean paste filling. Mt. Paozu, Goku and family’s home in the anime, is named for the same thing.
Toriyama Explanation: “I think that’s the Chinese name for manjuu.”
Source Spelling:: 包子/baozi or paozu
Name Spelling: パオズ/Paozu
Hejj, Hogg, & Lee
The 3 girls Oolong kidnaps. Like Grandma Paozu, their names are left out in Viz.
Toriyama Explanation: “When I was trying to think of what to name these characters, my eyes fell on a Tamiya plastic tank model with the nickname “Hedgehog”. Sure enough, Lee is also the nickname of a tank.” [DBF]
Toninjinka
The boss of the Rabbit Gang. His name translates to “Rabbit who Turns People into Carrots”, the “Carrotizer Bunny”, in other words.
Toriyama Explanation: “Just like his name says. He’s a rabbit [to] that transforms [ka] people into carrots [ninjin].” [DBF]
Name Spelling: 兎人参化/Toninjinka
FUNimation Name: Boss Rabbi