Name Puns: Miscellaneous
Planets
Planet Vegeta
Same as Vegeta
Source Spelling:: 魚/sakana
Name Spelling: ベジタブル星/bejita-sei
Planet Kanassa
Derived from sakana, Japanese for “fish”.
Source Spelling:: 魚/sakana
Name Spelling: カナッサ星/Kanassa-sei
Planet Meat
From “meat”.
Source Spelling: ミート/miito
Name Spelling: ミート星/Miito-sei
Planet Konats
A pun on “coconut”
Source Spelling:: ココナッツ/kokonattsu
Name Spelling: コナッツ星/Konattsu-sei
Planet Makyo
Written with魔/ma, the kanji for “demon” or “magic”, 凶/kyou, meaning evil or disaster, and 星/sei, planet or star. The place is supposed to be Garlic Jr and co.’s home planet, so it’s supposed to be a planet and not a star, but it’s called “Makyo Star” in the dub.
Name Spelling: 魔凶星/Makyou-sei
Planet Metamor
Derived from metamorphose, meaning a transformation.
Source Spelling: メタモルフォーゼ/metamorufooze
Name Spelling: メタモル星/Metamoru-sei
Planet Litt
A pun on “little”. The home planet of the race which the small fighting suits that Gohan and Kuririn wear were made for. Vegeta fights some of these guys in the Garlic Jr. arc. The planet is called “Lilliput” in the Viz manga.
Source Spelling: リトル/ritoru
Name Spelling: リット星人/Ritto-sei
Planet Imegga [GTPF]
A pun on gametsui, “greedy”, in keeping with the planet’s money theme.
Source Spelling: がめつい/gametsui
Name Spelling: 惑星イメッガ/Wakusei-Imegga
FUNimation Name: Imecka
Planet Monmath [GTPF]
From “mammoth”
Source Spelling: マンモス /manmosu
Name Spelling: 惑星モンマース/Wakusei-Monmaasu
Planet Calvo [GTPF]
From “volcano”, the planet’s sole prominent landmark.
Source Spelling: ボルケーノ/borukeeno
Name Spelling: 惑星ケルボ/Wakusei-Kerubo
FUNimation Name: Planet Galbo
Planet Bihe [GTPF]
From hebi, “snake”, referring to the snake-like monster that inhabit (well, they really look more like worms, but whatever).
Source Spelling: ヘビ (蛇)/hebi
Name Spelling: 惑星ビーへ/Wakusei-Biihe
Planet Rudeze [GTPF]
This is the planet where Pan tries to run away, so its name comes from deru ze, “I’m leaving!”.
Source Spelling: 出るぜ/deru ze
Name Spelling: 惑星ルーデゼ/Wakusei-Ruudeze
Planet M2 [GTPF]
A contraction of “machine mutant”.
Name Spelling: 惑星M2/Wakusei-Emu Tsuu
Planet Pital [GTPF]
From “hospital”, since it’s a giant hospital.
Source Spelling: ホスピタル/hosupitaru
Name Spelling: 惑星ピタル/Wakusei-Pitaru
Planet Tsufuru: [GTPF]
Like the race itself, this comes from “fruit”.
Source Spelling: フルーツ/furuutsu
Name Spelling: ツフル星/Tsufuru-sei
FUNimation Name: Tuffle Planet
Places and Things (aka stuff I forgot earlier)
Papaya Island:
Named for the papaya fruit.
Jingle Village
It’s a snowy village, so perhaps “jingle” is a reference to Christmas (“jingle all the way” and all that).
Ginger Town
Named for ginger. Reused after Garlic Jr.'s henchmen, Ginger.
Nicky Town
Reused after Garlic Jr.'s henchmen, Nikki.
Dorian Airport
Possibly named for the durian fruit, same as Dodoria.
Wukong Hospital
Seemingly named for the monkey king Son Wukong, Goku’s namesake (see Goku’s entry for more details).
Basil Airport and Basil Town
Named for the basil herb.
Randosel Tower
Named after randoseru, “backpack”, the same as the minor town from the manga.
“Aru Village”
The pseudo-name of Oolong’s village, as seen in the anime. Essentially it’s the Japanese equivalent of saying “a village” or “some village”, so it’s not really a proper name.
Parsley Town
From parsley.
Pepper Town
From pepper. Man, towns have really direct names. Did they just use up all their creativity on the characters?
Mount Kiwi
Named for the kiwi fruit, just like Freeza’s good Kyui.
Mountain of the Five Elements
Named for the mountain under which the monkey king was imprisoned for 500 years in Journey to the West.
Mount Frypan
Named after a frying pan. Since it’s hot and all. The mountain is based off of Fire Mountain from Journey to the West.
Mount Frappe
From frappe, like the doctor.
Ryuga Valley
Means “Dragon Fang”. Where Goku first meets Shuu and Mai in the anime.
Urameshiya
A combination of urameshi, the wail of ghosts, and meshiya, “eating house”. Hence it’s a restaurant for ghosts and monsters.
Kinto-un
Paraphrasing Shinobi-03, this is taken straight from Sun Wukong’s cloud-riding technique in Journey to the West. The name is Jin Dou Yun in Chinese and means “summersault cloud”.
Nyoibo
Named after Sun Wukong’s cudgel in Journey to the West. Its name is Riyu Bang in Chinese, and means As-One-Wishes Rod.
Bashosen
Means “banana leaf fan”. It’s based off a similar fan in Journey to the West.
Ajissa Plants
Derived from ajisai, Japanese for hydrangea. They’re the unique trees of Planet Namek. Toriyama says in the SEG that he picked the name because snails like hydrangea plants. In Viz the trees are flat-out called “hydrangea”.
Source Spelling: アジサイ (紫陽花)/ajisai
Name Spelling: アジッサ/ajissa
Katchin Steel
Comes from kachin, the Japanese sound effect for metallic clanging or clanking noises.
Bruits Waves
Probably named after fruit, or maybe “brute”, in that the Oozaru transformation these waves enable is brutish.
Kiri
Probably an anagram of riki, “power”.
Zeni
Comes from 銭/zeni, an colloquial Japanese term for money,
Source Spelling: 銭/zeni
Name Spelling: ゼニー/zenii
PP Candy
Named for how one induces diarrhea in whoever eats them by going “piiiii-piiiii”.
Sasa-Nishiki
Murasaki’s sword. Sasanishiki is a breed of rice.
Saiyan and Tsufuru-jin Stuff
Saiyan
Their name comes from yasai, Japanese for “vegetable”.
Source Spelling: 野菜/yasai
Name Spelling: サイヤ人/Saiya-jin
FUNimation Name: Saiyan
Tsufuru-jin
The race the Saiyans wiped out in order to take full control of Planet Vegeta. In contrast to the Saiyans, who are named for vegetables, they are named after “fruits”.
Source Spelling: フルーツ/furuutsu
Name Spelling: ツフル人/Tsufuru-jin
FUNimation Name: Tuffle
Great Saiyaman
Basically just a typical Super Sentai-type name. The jin in “Saiya-jin” is essentially just swapped out for the English word “man”.
Great Saiyaman No.2
Probably a reference to the anime Yatterman, where Yatterman’s girlfriend dresses up as “Yatterman No.2”. In anime, manga, and whatnot, the English word “man” is often used in characters’ names, but its use isn’t limited to men, as seen in names like “Devilman Lady” and
SaibaiMan
Named from the Japanese word saibai, meaning ‘cultivation’, making them the “Cultivation Men”. For some reason or another, Funi leaves the second “i” off of “Saibai” for ther spellng of the name.
Source Spelling: 栽培/saibai
Name Spelling: 栽培マン/Saibaiman
Random Stuff
Magure
The wimpy kid who manages to beat Goku at the Tenkaichi Budoukai in GT by sheer, unbelievable luck. Hence, his name is a pun on Maguure is a pun on magure, meaning ‘fluke’.
Source Spelling: 紛れ/magure
Name Spelling: マグーレ/Maguure
Gerinovitch
A philosopher mentioned by one of Gohan’s high school teachers. Possibly named for geri, “diarrhea”. In Viz his name is therefore changed to some variant on “diarrhea”, though I can’t remember exactly what it is.
Source Spelling: 下痢/geri
Name Spelling: ゲリノビッチ/Gerinobicchi
Dr. Slump Characters
Norimaki Household
Norimaki Arale
Her family name is taken from norimaki, rice wrapped in seaweed. Meanwhile, “Arale” comes from arare, short for arare-mochi, square roasted pieces of mochi flavored with soy sauce or sugar. Norimaki arare, therefore, is arare-mochi wrapped in seaweed.
Source Spelling: 海苔巻き/norimaki + あられ/arare
Name Spelling: 則巻 アラレ/Norimaki Arare
Norimaki Senbei
Named after senbei, thin, flat, rice crackers; norimaki senbee refers to senbei wrapped in seaweed.
Source Spelling: 海苔巻き煎餅/norimaki-senbei
Name Spelling: 則巻千兵衛/Norimaki Senbee
Norimaki Midori
Senbei’s wife, and Arale’s formal teacher. “Midori” means “green”. Her maiden name is “Yamabuki”, taken from a golden yellow Japanese rose. In DB, Gohan describes the color of Goku’s martial arts uniform as the color of this rose.
Norimaki Turbo
Senbei and Midori’s son. Named because of Senbei’s car fixation . In the future, he gets a younger sister named “Nitro”.
Norimaki Gajira
Arale’s angelic companion, who eventually splits into two. Arale names him by combining the names of two famous giant monsters, “Gamera” and “Gojira” (Godzilla).
Soramame Family
Soramame Tarou
Arale’s friend, who wears shades. His family has a bean theme. “Soramame” (literally “sky bean”) is the Japanese name for the broad bean, while “Tarou” is a generic Japanese name for the firstborn son.
Soramame Peasuke
A pun on ピース/piisu, “peas”, and 助/suke, a common element in Japanese given names.
Soramame Kurikinton
Tarou and Peasuke’s rather Clint Eastwood-ish father. “Kurikinton” refers to mashed sweet potatoes sweetened with chestnuts. It’s a regional specialty of the city of Nakatsugawa, in Gifu Prefecture.
Source Spelling: 栗きんとん/kurikinton
Name Spelling: 空豆 クリキントン/Soramame Kurikinto
Soramame Mame
Tarou and Peasuke’s mother, who might not actually appear in DB, now that I think of it. Anyway, her name simply comes from mame, Japanese for “bean” or “pea”.
Tsun Family
Tsun Tsukutsun
Arale’s pseudo-Chinese friend. His name comes from tsutsuku, meaning to poke or prod.
Tsun Tsuntsunodanoteiyuugou
Tsukutsun’s mother. Her name comes from the Tsunoda bike company, who had a popular commercial called “Tsun-Tsun Tsunoda’s T.U. Model”, with “T.U.” being a reference to the first two letters in “Tunoda”, the original alphabet spelling of the company’s name from back when they were first founded.
Source Spelling: つんつんツノダのテーユー（T.U）号/tsun-tsun Tsunoda no Teeyuu gou
Name Spelling: 摘詰角田野廷遊豪 /Tsun Tsuntsunodanoteiyuugou
Others
Kimidori Akane
Arale’s friend. Her family has a color theme running through it. 木/ki means “tree” and 緑/midori means “green”, and is a homonym for黄緑/kimidori, “pea green”, while Akane is a pun on aka, “red”. Her older sister, who appears briefly in DB, is named “Aoi” (blue/green). Their mother is named “Murasaki” (purple), and their father is “Kon” (navy blue).
Obotcha Man
A pun combining obotchama with “man”. Obotchama is a variant on obotchan, a polite term for someone’s son, often used to refer to a son from a wealthy family. It has connotations of said son being sheltered or spoiled, and in this sense is used to refer to Gohan in the title of DBZ’s first episode. Obotcha Man is named this for his extremely prim and proper manner. The character was originally named “Caramel Man No.4”, since he was one of Dr. Mashirito’s series of robots created to beat Arale and/or take over the world (a clear parallel to Gero and his androids). After the character joined Arale and co.’s side, Toriyama asked readers to come up with a new name for him, and “Obotcha Man” was the result.
Suppa Man
A pun on suppai, meaning “sour”, and “Superman”, the name of a certain dickish superhero. Suppa Man’s secret identity is 暗悪健太/Kura’aku Kenta, a pun on Clark Kent. 暗/kura=dark, 悪/aku=evil, and 健太/Kenta is a common Japanese given name.
Nikochan
A green alien who resides in Penguin Village, generally against his will. His name is possibly a reference to the children’s TV program Romper Room, the Japanese version of which featured a “Niko-Chan Balloon”.
Gala & Pagos
Two Penguin Village policemen who appear in the anime. Their names combine to form “Galapagos”, a reference to the Galapagos Islands.
Source Spelling: ガラパゴス諸島/Garapagosu-Shotou
Name Spelling: ガラ, パゴス/Gara, Pagosu
Kurigashira Daigorou
Arale’s big-headed teacher. “Kuri-Gashira” means “chestnut-head”, a reference to his enormous, chestnut-shaped head, while “Daigorou” is a Japanese name meaning “big fifth son”.
Name Spelling: 栗頭 大五郎/Kurigashira Daigorou
Sarada Kinoko
The little girl on the tricycle. “Sarada” is a pun on “salad”, while “Kinoko” means “mushroom”. So in other words it’s a pun on the mushrooms you put in a salad. In keeping with this theme, she has a little sister named “Lettuce”.
Source Spelling: サラダ/sarada + キノコ（茸）/kinoko
Name Spelling: 皿田 きのこ/Sarada Kinoko
Techniques
This only includes technique names that involve some bit of wordplay or reference.
Kamehameha
A play on the name of Kamehameha the Great, the famous Hawaiian king who unified the islands of Hawaii. In Hawaiian, ka means a person, while meha-meha means “lonely”, so “Kamehameha” means “lonely person” or “the lonely one”. In his Daizenshuu 4 interview, Toriyama explains how his wife suggested this name when he was trying to come up with a name for Kame-sennin’s attack that would end in ha. In the Super Exciting Guide: Story Volume, he tells essentially the same story, but adds “Of course, this was taken from King Kamehameha of Hawaii”. This connection is not actually mentioned in the original series, but in the Viz manga when Puar first sees the attack he asks “Isn’t that the name of the king of Hawaii?”
In DB, the attack name is mostly in hiragana (rather than katakana like with the king’s name), while the final ha is written with the kanji for “wave”. Apart from this, no explanation is ever given in the series or guidebooks as to what, if any, in-universe meaning the name is supposed to have. It would make sense to assume that the kame in the name is supposed to mean “turtle”, since it’s the signature attack of the turtle hermit Kame-sennin, but since that part of the name is never written with the actual kanji for “turtle”, and is never said to actually mean “turtle”, this isn’t certain. The hame part is even more uncertain. Since the days of Planet Namek.com, English fansites have kicked around the explanation that this part means “destruction”, and that therefore the entire name translates to “Turtle Destruction Wave”, presumably on the idea that hame is short for 破滅/hametsu, meaning ruin or destruction. Now, this would be a somewhat unnatural way to shorten hametsu, since the ha part comes from the first kanji (破), and the metsu part from the second (滅). One could argue that such distortion is understandable since it’s needed to match the name of the Hawaiian king, but if Toriyama had this word in mind but had to alter it so, you’d think he would have been sure to explain at some point that this was what he was going for, especially since there’s a few other things that hame could potentially stand for. Ultimately, while it’s not exactly impossible that this meaning was intended, there’s no actual reason to think that it was. For more on the king, please click here on Kamehameha's history.
Toriyama Explanation: “My wife was the one who named the Kamehameha. I was fretting, saying ‘Kame-sennin's special attack should be something-or-another ha, something-or-another ha...’ and she said ‘Wouldn't Kamehameha be alright?’ That was good, silly, and fitted Kame-sennin's mood perfectly.” [D4]
Source Spelling: カメハメハ/Kamehameha
Name Spelling: かめはめ波/Kamehameha
FUNimation Name: Kamehameha
Janken
A pun on janken, Japanese for the game “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. The joke is that the ken part is written with the kanji for “fist” (拳), which is often used in martial arts technique names and in this context essentially means “attack” or “technique”. Hence Viz translating the name as “Fist of the Rock Paper Scissors” rather than simply “Rock Paper Scissors”.
Source Spelling: じゃんけん/Janken
Name Spelling: ジャン拳/Janken
Dodon-pa
“Dodonpa” is a genre of Japanese music combining Dodoitsu song and Rumba dance, hence the name. “Don” is also a Japanese sound effect for loud, crashing sounds, and also used simply for emphasis (in which capacity it is frequently employed in One Piece), and “do-don” is a variant of this. The pa in the attack’s name is written with the kanji for “wave” (the same kanji used to write the final ha in “Kamehameha”), so going with the sound effect meaning, the name could loosely be translated as “Ka-Bang Wave”. Incidentally, a monster named “Dodonpa” appears in Dr. Slump.
Source Spelling: ドドンパ/Dodonpa
Name Spelling: どどん波/Dodon-pa
Genki-Dama
元 気/ genki refers to a state where one is filled with life, and so is equivalent to health or vitality, while dama is a rendaku reading of玉/tama, meaning a ball or jewel. So essentially, it’s the Vitality Ball. The name may also be a play on電気釜/denki-gama, meaning an electric rice cooker.
Source Spelling: 元気/genki + 玉/tama; and/or 電気釜/denki-gama
Name Spelling: 元気玉/Genki-Dama
FUNimation Name: Spirit Bomb
Suiken
Means “Drunken Fist”, and is the Japanese reading of Zui Quan, a Chinese martial arts style where one moves as if drunk. The fighting style was popularized by the Jacky Chan movie Drunken Master (the original Chinese title was simply “Zui Quan”). In his Daizenshuu 2 interview, Toriyama notes that this movie was one of his main inspirations to begin DragonBall: “I had just ended Dr. Slump, and for the time being I was thinking about what I should do for my next serialized work. I had many meetings with my editor at the time, Torishima-san. As it happened, at that time I loved Jacky Chan's movies and had seen Drunken Master dozens of times. Since I liked that sort of thing, Torishima-san advised me to try and make a kung-fu shounen manga, so I drew a one-shot called Dragon Boy. That got an incredibly positive response from the readers, so I decided to go that route for my next serialized work.”
Kyoken
One of the attacks Goku uses against Jacky Chun. The kanji for this attack are狂拳/Kyou-ken, with kyou meaning crazy or mad, and ken literally meaning fist, but also meaning any sort of attack or technique. So essentially it’s the “Crazy Attack”. However, the name is also a homonym for 狂犬/Kyouken, “mad dog”, and so the attack really consists of Goku acting like one. In the manga, Jacky Chun yells at Goku for mixing up his kanji like this. This sequence was left out of the anime, perhaps because such writing-based humor didn’t translate well into the spoken word.
Bankoku-Bikkuri-Sho
Jacky Chun’s electricity technique. It’s most likely a pun on the Bankoku Bikkuri Show (万国びっくりショー ; “International Surprise Show”), a variety program broadcast on Fuji TV beginning in 1967. For the attack name, the ban part is written with an alternate version of the regular kanji for it, while bikkuri is written out in kanji in a way it wouldn’t usually be (it’s pretty much always written in hiragana), and shou is written out with the kanji for the palm of the hand, so the attack name would basically translate to “International Surprise Palm” (which makes a sort of sense, in as much as Jacky shoots the attack from the palm of his hands).
Source Spelling: 万国びっくりショー /Bankoku Bikkuri Shou
Name Spelling: 萬国驚天掌/Bankoku Bikkuri Shou
Aku-Mite Beam
Akkuman’s signature attack. Probably comes from combining akuma, “devil”, with “dynamite”.
Source Spelling: 悪魔/akuma + ダイナマイト/dainamaito
Name Spelling: アクマイト光線/Akumaito-Kousen
Gyarick Cannon
Probably a pun on “garlic”.
Source Spelling: ガーリック/gaarikku
Name Spelling: ギャリック砲 /Gyarikku-Hou
Dragonballs and Evil Dragons
Like Shenlong himself, the individual dragonballs are named in Chinese, not Japanese. Their names correspond to the number of stars in them, so that each name ends in “star ball”, 星球, xin qiu in Chinese, approximated shin chuu in Japanese (as opposed to seikyuu, which is how the kanji would normally be read in Japanese). The 4-star ball, for instance, is 四星球/Si Xing Qiu(approximated as スーシンチュウ/Suu Shin Chuu in Japanese).
1-Star Ball: 一星球（イーシンチュウ/Ii Shin Chuu）: Yi Xing Qiu
2-Star Ball: 二星球（アルシンチュウ/Aru Shin Chuu）: Er Xing Qiu
3-Star Ball: 三星球（サンシンチュウ/San Shin Chuu）: San Xing Qiu
4-Star Ball: 四星球（スーシンチュウ/Suu Shin Chuu）: Si Xing Qiu
5-Star Ball: 五星球（ウーシンチュウ/Uu Shin Chuu）: Wu Xing Qiu
6-Star Ball: 六星球（リュウシンチュウ/Ryuu Shin Chuu）: Liu Xing Qiu
7-Star Ball: 七星球（チーシンチュウ/Chii Shin Chuu）: Qi Xing Qiu
In GT, for whatever reason the name of the 2-star ball was changed to “Liang Xin Qiu”, which isn’t exactly correct, meaning “pair” rather than “two”. This also applies to the name of the corresponding evil dragon.
Speaking of evil dragons, this group of GT villains is named pretty much the same as their equivalent dragonballs, only with “ball” replaced by “dragon” (long in Chinese, approximated ron in Japanese, rather than the usual Japanese word for dragon, ryuu). So their names mean “1-Star Dragon”, “2-Star Dragon”, like so:
1-Star Dragon: 一星龍（イーシンロン/Ii Shin Ron）: Yi Xing Long
2-Star Dragon: 二星龍（リャンシンロン/Ryan Shin Ron ）: Liang Xing Long
3-Star Dragon: 三星龍（サンシンロン/San Shin Ron）: San Xing Long
4-Star Dragon: 四星龍（スーシンロン/Suu Shin Ron）: Si Xing Long
5-Star Dragon: 五星龍（ウーシンロン/Uu Shin Ron）: Wu Xing Long
6-Star Dragon: 六星龍（リュウシンロン/Ryuu Shin Ron）: Liu Xing Long
7-Star Dragon: 七星龍（チーシンロン/Chii Shin Ron ）: Qi Xing Long
Fused Characters
Gotenks
Goten + Trunks
Source Spelling: 孫悟天/Son Goten +トランクス/Torankusu
Name Spelling: ゴテンクス/Gotenkusu
FUNimation Name: Gotenks
Vegetto
Vegeta + Kakarotto
Source Spelling: ベジータ/Bejiita + カカロット/Kakarotto
Name Spelling: ベジット/Bejitto
FUNimation Name: Vegito
Gogeta
Goku + Vegeta
Source Spelling: 孫悟空/Son Gokuu + ベジータ/Bejiita
Name Spelling: ゴジータ/Gojiita
FUNimation Name: Gogeta
Yamhan
The fusion of Yamcha and Tenshinhan who appears in the video games.
Source Spelling: ヤムチャ/Yamucha + 天津飯/Tenshinhan
Name Spelling: ヤム飯/Yamuhan
FUNimation Name: Tiencha
Piririn
The fusion of Piccolo and Kuririn, drawn by Toriyama for a special Weekly Jump “make your own fusion” contest.
Source Spelling: ピッコロ/Pikkoro + クリリン/Kuririn
Name Spelling: ピリリン/Piririn
FUNimation Name: Prillin