Forum:Names

Hey, this is Dubtiger. I would like to know whether we're going with the western format of names (ex. Naruto Uzumaki), or with the traditional text (ex. Uzumaki Naruto). For some reason, some people cannot understand why family names came first in the traditional translations (both original anime and Viz media translations go by last, then first names).

Why does family names come first in Japanese culture? It's a form of respect. It's like "this is my family, you can NOT insult it."

Why do we go by first then last names in the North American anime? I have no idea, actually...

-Dubtigetr 6:28, 5 February 2007 (EST)

Because that it oringiated in Japan I would like to keep the last name first. If you don't mind. The reason that it comes first in Asian cultures is because your family is higher then you. It drives me nuts sometimes in English versions when they change it. I call it 'diluting'. -LoneWolf 5


 * The wiki is english which is something to consider. It might cause some readers to start to become confused on what a character's full name is if we use a format of name different than what they are used to reading. But we do have redirects remember. We could call it Naruto Uzumaki and have a redirect pointing to it from Uzumaki Naruto. I have a feeling the reason for the family name being last in English comes from the thought that the names differ more in the family so the individual name is used more than the Family so you aren't calling multiple people by the same name. Dantman (Talk) 03:58, 11 February 2007 (UTC


 * Dantman, I get EXTREMELY ANNOYED (I mean super-duper, you can't believe it annoyed) when people use the first-last name format for Naruto characters. I saw some that are mixed between first-last, and traditional last-first, which is why I asked. Even if it's something like Nara Shikamaru, you still call him Shikamaru. It's all the "honor stuff." -Dubtiger, 6:29pm EST


 * Naruto Uzumaki is proper english, うずまきナルト is japanese, Uzumaki Naruto is a literal translation of the japanese name without changing to English Conventions. They are all correct, and using the format Proper English (Japanese, Japanese Translation) or Naruto Uzumaki (うずまきナルト, Uzumaki Naruto) and then using the English form as the title, and creating a redirect from the japanese, japanese translations, and the nicknames to the article is a generaly accepted standard on wikipedia and most of the anime wiki on wikia. It seems that to fit in with the general standard this would be the best thing to adopt. Do remember that we are not a lone wiki, this wiki is becoming part of a larger group of wikia (The Wikia Anime Project) and because we are the English Narutopedia we will be linked to by the English Anime Wiki using English conventions. That means that the link as it will be used under the linking system which is being built for the anime wikia (Anime:Naruto:Naruto Uzumaki) will soon be directing to Naruto Uzumaki, so we're not selfishly considering only ourself, with a little more standards and quality Wikipedia will be putting us in their Extended Information section of the External links in their Naruto article. Dantman (Talk) 10:18, 14 February 2007 (UTC)


 * What if we take a poll of all of the users and see what tbey think?

-LoneWolf 5


 * That might half to wait till I get forums setup. And you half to consider false votes, and the fact that us 3 are just about the only editors here. And The Gaiapedia was more active than here and at times I could only get something like 6 or 9 votes on a poll. Which dosen't say much good about the level of accurate readings here. You do half to admit though, using that standard makes this wiki the odd one out.
 * Here we go, now I got the words right and found a better example. Choji Akimichi is a translated english name. 秋道チョウジ is his name in japanese. And Akimichi Chōji is the romanization of his japanese name. Because it's a romanization Akimichi Choji is incorrect because it removes the romanized signs in the name. Romanized names are not actualy english, romanization (taken from the latin alphabet) is basicly japanese written in a format which can be inputed easier into a computer. Because Akimichi Choji as english is false, and Akimichi Chōji as a romanization is japanese not english, which would lead to poor english writing by attempting to speak japanese and english at the same time the use of Akimichi Chōji and Akimichi Choji is not correct english.
 * English is a Western Language, which is why the english translations of names use the western order (given name, family name). Adversly, Japanese is a Eastern Language and Romanization is Japanese, which is why romanization uses the Eastern Order (family name, given name).
 * The reason you see the Eastern Order used in Fansubs and Fansites is because the job of a fangroup is not to translate but to make it so that the show/manga can be read by english speakers, Fansubs only translate half way, which is why you see japanese words such as Onee-chan, and Obasan used in subs. Fangroups also don't higher professional translators who translate things into proper english.
 * The last thing to note, is that the Narutopedia is not a fansite, it is an Encyclopedia, moreover, an English Encyclopedia and encyclopedias use properly translated text, not semi-translated text.
 * Concluding this, The diference in examples is that when you say Naruto Uzumaki you are using proper english. But saying Uzumaki Naruto you are actualy using a Japanese romanization. Unfortunately the reason it's hard to realize that you are not actualy speaking english is because unlike Akimichi Chōji, Uzumaki Naruto has no special signs which differ from the standard 26 English letters. Dantman (Talk) 01:59, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Ack, I was going to go to bed 3 hours ago, but I spent to much time on this and little things I was going to to. 02:04, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

A number of our large articles (most likely the ones which have had content moved from wikipedia so that it can be fitted into the wiki) actualy do use the Western form of names. Because the most efficient way of starting off our content is to first copy over what wikipedia has under the GFDL and then modify and expand it, we already have a number of pages which use the Western format (Only the smaller pages use the incorrect Eastern format), because using a format of names which is used no-where else in the encyclopedic world makes us the odd-wiki-out and incompatable in some ways with other wiki, and because of the reasons stated why the other form of name is incorrect english the standard for names will be the Western format of names. But in a character's article the translation template should be used to explain the multiple forms of the name, and redirects should also be made for the Japanese name, Romanization, Alphanumeric Romanization (romanization removing the symbols), and Western List form (Last Name, First Name) which point to the Proper English form of the name. The discussion can continue, but there still hasn't been a accurate enough counter to the statements of proper english, and the way encyclopedias work. Dantman (Talk) 16:57, 17 February 2007 (UTC)