Having a unique name can be a approving or a curse depending on what the name is. Names follow people their unabridged lives and can affect how others view them. Some parents play it safe and proper name their children something classic like Ashley or Tyler, and this isn't exclusive to the West. Japanese parents also try to give their children names that are unique, but which still fit within societal expectations. However, this rule does non use to anime, where characters are often given names that are puns or based on what abilities they take, such as the casts of My Hero Academia and Sailor Moon.

Japanese names are unremarkably fabricated upward of kanji, which is one of three writing systems used to make upwards the language. Kanji tin can be combined to create more complex words and names. In Europe, family names were ordinarily based on occupations or whose son was whose -- Johnson, Wilson, Weaver, etc. Japanese names were usually based on where a person lived or what clan they belonged to. Many Japanese family names come up from nature and places establish in Japan, such as Yamanaka (the middle of the mountain) or Kawaguchi (the river's mouth).

Anime and manga permit this idea to be taken to an extreme, merely realistically, many names found in anime wouldn't be used in everyday life. Sailor Moon's Tsukino Usagi is an example of this. Her name is a pun on the fable that there'south a rabbit that lives on the moon making mochi, with 月 tsuki being "moon", 野 no meaning "field, civilian" and うさぎ pregnant "rabbit." Put together, the name could be translated as "moon noncombatant rabbit." The pun comes from the sound the full name makes when said all0together. No の is a possessive particle in Japanese, so the name sounds like Tsuki-no-Usagi -- "the rabbit of the moon."

While there are certainly people with the name Usagi, it'south non something that ane would commonly name their child. Some other case of a proper name that sounds legitimate only is actually not realistic is Kurashita Tsukimi from Princess Jellyfish. Tsukimi 月海 is made upwardly of the kanji for moon and ocean but is considered a "kirakira name." Kirakira names are those that are non simply unusual but use pronunciations of kanji that most people would non use or don't use at all. They're the Japanese equivalent of giving special spellings of common names in the West, such every bit spelling Caitlyn as Keightlynn. Kirakira is an onomatopoeia pregnant "glittering" or "shining." Numerous anime names autumn into this category, equally they tin can be considered weird or uncommon.

Tsukimi Kurashita from Princess Jellyfish

Some of the most infamous kirakira names involve Pokemon. One child was named Pikachu 光宙, with the kanji for low-cal and infinite being used. Some other was named Mewtwo, written as 弥有ニ. Some names accept even been legally banned later on parents tried naming their children using them, one of which was Akuma, which roughly translates as "devil." Legislation against these names has increased over the years.

While it's safe to assume that names similar Vegeta and Luffy aren't common or everyday Japanese names, some series set up in more realistic settings make information technology difficult to determine if a grapheme'due south name is a usual Japanese proper noun or one that the creator fabricated up. For the most part, the majority of names found in anime and manga are non used equally bodily names, although there are some exceptions. There will always be parents who attempt to name their children something special to make them stand out, no matter where in the earth they are.