Shinki Name Origins and Discussion (Updated 11/11/10)

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Shinki Name Origins and Discussion (Updated 11/11/10)

Post by Xerain » Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:21 am

I've always tried to research eh names of various shinki with varying degrees of success. I figure with such interesting names as most shinki has there has to be meaning behind them. So this is a thread of that. I'll start by posting ones I remember off hand, then see if I can't remember any of the other ones I figured out in the past.


MaoChao and Howling
Of Chinese origin. I don't know much about Chinese, so I don't know much more other than Howling is a pun and can also be read as HaoLin, which pairs nicely with MaoChao.

Schmitterling
German for Butterfly. Pretty simple.

Vespelio
I think it's a corruption relating to Vespertilio, a genus of bats.

Ach
Ach's full name is Ach III es. It's a roman numeral 3, but it really does look like "Achilles." At first I thought it was a neat coincidence, until I realized BR gives the name of her trike as Patroklos. Patroklos was Achilles' pupil and arguably male lover. So I guess Ach really likes her trike, huh?

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Re: Shinki Name Origins and Discussion

Post by Caterwaul » Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:19 am

Hmm. We had a discussion on this on the TFW2005 BS thread. Let's see what we can discover. Feel free to make your suggestions and I'll add em to the list. Note, a lot of this should be considered conjecture rather then fact.

EDIT: Updated the list, finally. Reorganised via alphabetic order.

Ach
Short for Achilles, Greek hero from myth.

Ach Stradale
Stradale=Italian adjective for 'Road' or 'Traffic'

Alastore
Alastor (Avenger) = Greek spirit that punished those guilty of familial bloodshed. Possible related to the Erinyes.
Possibly a pun on the name 'Alistair Crowley'

Altine
???

Altine Rossa
Rossa=Italian for 'Red'

Altrene
???

Altrene Viola
Viola=Italian for 'Purple' or 'Violet'

Arnval + Arnval Mk.2
Aanval - Dutch for Assault/Attack
Alva - Swedish female name
Arn - Old German for Eagle
Possibly a portmanteau of Angel+Valkyrie

Arnval Mk.2 Tempesta
Tempesta=Italian for 'Tempest'

Arnval Tranche 2
tranche=French for 'Slice', Arnval Slice #2

Artille
Possible a derivation of Artillery?

Asuka
Flying Bird in Japanese

Baby Razz
???

Benio (紅緒)
紅 - Kanji for red
緒 - Kanji for thread/cord
A reference to her overall color scheme. Her gear all has some variant of red mentioned.

Bright Feather
A running joke by the artist involves naming characters using a random word and Feather.

Espadia
Espada - Spanish for Sword

Eukrante
Eukrante was one of the Nereids in Greek myth

Fort Bragg
Important US Army base in the USA

Fubuki
Depending on the Kanji:
楓芙姫 , Maple Hibiscis Princess
風舞姫, Air Dancing Princess
芙稀, Hibiscus that is Rare
吹葵, Blowing Hollyhock
吹雪, Snowstorm

Gabrine
???

Graffias
Graffias is a set of stars in the constellation 'Scorpius'

Grapprap
A portmanteau of Grapple + Lap? (Lap/Lapping is a contruction and machining term)

Harmony Grace
A name that sounds Nun-like? Harmony also matches her musical based gear

Howling
Howling - English for the noise a dog makes

Ianeira
Ianeira, like Eukrante, was also a Nereid

Juvisy
Juvisy-sur-Orge is a commune in France
Juvia=The Brazilian name for the Brazil nut tree.

Kyknos
κύκνος (kyknos) = Greek for Swan
The constellation Cygnus, the Swan, is derived from the Greek word for Swan

Kohiro
Japanese for 'Late Morning Snack' or 'Child of Noon'

Lancemento
Lancement - French word for a throw or a launch

Maochao
māo - Chinese for cat
chāo - Chinese for graceful, or claw

Maryceles
The Mary Celeste is an infamous ship found abandoned of all crew. A popular (if not accurate) theory says they were eaten by seamonsters.

Merienda
Spanish for 'Late afternoon snack'

Mizuki
Depending on the Kanji:
水木 - Dogwood
水月 - Moon's reflection on water

Murmeltier
Murmeltier - German for Marmot (Note her ears)

Nagi
Japanese for 'Windless/Calm'

Oorbellen
oorbel=Dutch for 'Earring'

Partio
Partio - Finnish for Patrol or Scouting

Pomock
помочь (Pomoc) - Russian for 'To aid'

Proxima
Proxima Centauri = Nearest star to the sun.

Raptias
Raptor = Bird of prey.

Renge (蓮華)
蓮華 = Japanese for 'Lotus flower'

Schmetterling
Schmetterling - German for Butterfly

Sharatang (紗羅檀)
紗 - Gauze, Yarn, Thread
羅 - Net, Gauze
檀 - Hardwood, Sandalwood
El Sharatan = Star in Aries, "The two signs" in Arabic

Strarf & Strarf Mk.2
страх (strahx) - Russian for fear

Strarf bis
bis = Latin (and several other descendant languages) for twice or encore

Strarf Mk.2 Laviena
лавина (lavina) = Russian for 'Avalanche'

Tigris
Tigris - Latin for Tiger

Tsugaru
Tsugaru is a reference to the character Tsugaru from the Beatmania series, also by Konami

Valona
ворона (Varona) - Russian for crow

Vespelio
Vesper/hesperos - Latin/Greek for the Morning Star. Also the root for a major group of bats.

Vitulus
Vitulus - Latin for Calf

Waffebunny
Waffe - German for Weapon
Bunny - Another word for rabbit

Waffedolphin
Waffe - German for weapon. See Waffebunny

Werkstra
werkster - Dutch for Maid/Housekeeper

Xiphos
ξίφος (ksífos) - Greek for Sword

Yda
Idaten - Japanese god of law and monasteries
Yda/Ida is the Hindu goddess of the hearth, fire, and blessings.

Yda Stradale
Stradale=Italian adjective for 'Road' or 'Traffic'

Zelnogrard
Zelnogrard - Russian City, compare to her 'sister' Fort Bragg from the same fictional company.

Zielbellen
Zilveren=Dutch for 'Made of Silver'

Zyrdarya
Dahlia - Type of flower
жир (žir) - Serbian for Acorn
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Re: Shinki Name Origins and Discussion

Post by v2gundam » Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:38 am

I think I remember some of the answer we came up with. Correct me if I'm wrong though:

Arnval -
according to Arnval in Battle Rondo, Arnval means "Ambush" in Italian. I don't trust that, since it's a phrase in japanese I only manage to pick up pieces of the words. On the other hand, I notice the word "Arnval" seems to be something mathematical to it.

Maochao -
could be the Chinese for "cat"(貓, MAO) and "claw"(爪, CHOW)

Waffebunny -
Waffe is German for "weapon", ie "Weapon Bunny"

Xiphos -
according to wikipedia: "The xiphos (Greek: ξίφος) is a double-edged, single-hand sword used by the ancient Greeks"

Eukrante -
someone need to expand it more, but I remember we found Eukrante to be the name of one of the mythical children of gods, associated with the sea.

Waffedolphin - Waffe is German for "weapon", ie "Weapon Dolphin"

Asuka (飛鳥) -
No idea if it's correct at all, but the kanji 飛鳥, if viewed as Chinese, is "fly"(飛) and "Bird"(鳥), which seems to match her flying theme pretty well.

Zelnogrard -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelenograd Zelenograd, a city in Russia, possibly the origin of Zelnograd's name.
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Re: Shinki Name Origins and Discussion

Post by pyroko » Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:38 am

Eukrante is based off of Eucrante, one of the Nereids from Greek mythology.

Tsugaru is just the name of the Goli character from Beatmania IIDX that the shinki was based on.

Fort Bragg is a military base in North Carolina, though i kind of doubt that has anything to do with anything.

strangely enough, Murmeltier is German for marmot, which is basically a big ground squirrel.

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Re: Shinki Name Origins and Discussion

Post by Xehn » Wed Apr 22, 2009 1:49 pm

Espadia -> Espada -> Spanish for sword.

Tsugaru IS that previous character, btw. Same design and everything.

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Re: Shinki Name Origins and Discussion

Post by Canthros » Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:05 pm

pyroko wrote:Fort Bragg is a military base in North Carolina, though i kind of doubt that has anything to do with anything.
Fort Bragg, NC, is home to something like half of the USMC. Fort Bragg's character design is (very, very) loosely reminiscent of US military uniforms and hardware, though some of that's only available if you've bought her body in DS/BR. I think her rifle is even designated an M16, which it is (again, loosely) reminiscent of.
pyroko wrote:strangely enough, Murmeltier is German for marmot, which is basically a big ground squirrel.
Hat ears! (Ohrhelm?)

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Re: Shinki Name Origins and Discussion

Post by Ninth » Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:22 pm

I have no way of confirming it, but I thought Benio's name, the pronunciation at least, was a reference to this old-school manga/anime:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haikara-san_ga_Tōru
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Re: Shinki Name Origins and Discussion

Post by Deviant Anomaly » Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:54 am

A great resource for name interpretation is http://www.behindthename.com/

Yda (variant spelling of Ida) - Name of a mountain on the island of Crete where, according to Greek myth, the god Zeus was born.

Asuka - From Japanese 明日 (asu) "tomorrow" and 香 (ka) "smell, perfume".

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Re: Shinki Name Origins and Discussion

Post by Xehn » Mon Apr 27, 2009 10:18 am

I think that theory on Yda would be more applicable if her gear was all Greek, too; instead, it's all Indian (I think...).

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Re: Shinki Name Origins and Discussion

Post by Caterwaul » Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:35 pm

Ida/Yda is the Hindu goddess of the hearth, fire, and blessings. Considering that a lot of her equipment has an Indian base (Aero Chakram, Aero Vajra), and she's from Omestra's Eastern branch, I tend to gravitate to the idea it's based on her, rather then the mountain. Of course, it could be both too :)
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