Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the Dressrosa arc, as well as multiple speculations concerning the naming culture in the series.

Gol D. Roger, Silvers Rayleigh, Monkey D. Dragon, Dracule Mihawk, Trafalgar Law, Roronoa Zoro, Donquixote Doflamingo, Vegapunk, Crocodile, Borsalino…

We all agree: One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda is good at coming up with cool names. Given his inspirations, it’s a bonus for the more knowledgeable fans to be able to connect these references to aspects of the characters, enhancing one’s experience with the series without alienating the audience in general. His unique style of naming characters is subtle enough that it is practically unnoticed by many a fan, while still maintaining some sense of familiarity among his readers.



Etymology

From the audience’s perspective, there appears to be a trend towards historical figures and locations, mythological or literary characters, as well as the flora and the fauna in Oda’s naming conventions. Of course, Oda simply does not limit himself to these categories when creating names. There are characters named after alcoholic beverages, card games, desserts, and Japanese puns or phrases (much to the chagrin of the translators). Characters in a certain group can have a specific theme to their names, such as Eneru’s priests (Buddhist concepts) and Doflamingo’s executives (Spanish words for card suits).

Considering that many characters are named after pirates and navigators, Oda takes advantage of the references in his characters’ names by leaving in historical parallels for the reader’s enjoyment. In addition to the historical references, he also names characters after animals, allowing the audience to connect attributes associated with the animals to the characters themselves. Theme naming is most prominent among the Warlords. Boa Hancock is a sensual seductress with a serpentine theme, referencing how snakes are typically portrayed in various cultures. On the other hand, Dracule Mihawk is a sharp-eyed swordsman, while Don Quixote Doflamingo is almost never seen without his large pink feathery coat. Oda takes it a step further with the names of most Fish-Folks and Minks by giving them names related to their species. Though, due to certain references involving puns in Japanese, they are mostly lost in translation for the English audience.

Many characters in the series are also named after flowers, particularly the women in Amazon Lily. In addition to the flowers, some female characters are also named after birds, such as Tashigi (Japanese for the common snipe), Robin, and Kiwi. The floral and animal-themed naming can be attributed to names in real life. Many female names are derived from flowers, such as Daisy, Violet, and Marigold. Moreover, it’s normal to see Japanese given names containing the names of animals, such as Ryū / Tatsu (竜 “dragon”), Tora (虎 “tiger”), and Tsuru (鶴 “crane”). In the case of English names, there are certain ones that can refer to animals, such as Tiger, Drake, and Leo. Due to their origin in other languages, some names can have obscured animal references, such as Garcia (bear) or Marshall (horse-servant). Whether the characters are aware of the theme naming is unknown. On the other hand, the animal theme is so ubiquitous that the characters may not be bothered to point it out, much like how one doesn’t usually point out people having surnames derived from various occupational titles (e.g. Smith, Miller, Thatcher, Potter).

With the introduction of Wano Kingdom, characters with historical Japanese names begin to make their appearances. Momonosuke even went on assigning random name elements to members of the Straw Hats. The males are shown to have suffixes that have their origins from the ancient era, with most considered to be quaint in modern day Japan. Some of the ending elements were originally derived from titles of official positions and departments, such as deputy governor (～助 –suke), guards (～衛門 –emon), ministry of finance (～蔵 -zō), and bureau of horses (馬 -ma). There are also names that indicate the birth order in the family, such as the –juro (十郎 “tenth son”) in Kanjuro. Other suffixes used in male names include -maru (丸), -hē (兵衛), -kichi (吉). As for women, they were sometimes referred with the honorary prefix o- (お～) or the suffix -ko (～子) added to their names, depending on what class they belonged to in that period.

Aside from the names they were given, characters may sometimes have a nickname or an epithet, as seen in Luffy for the former and the Navy admirals for the latter. The epithet is usually a reference or a clue that indicates the character’s strength, abilities, role, or personality. Generational titles have also been shown to exist, as shown by Vander Decken IX, Riku Dold III, Outlook III (Sabo’s father), and Elizabello II.

Order

The characters in One Piece have names that are linguistically diverse, ranging from names found in world history books, to words from various languages. However, one unique feature of the series is how the family name generally precedes the given name, despite being in a setting based mostly on the Western world. In English-speaking countries and most of Europe, the surname typically follows the given name. Though in some cases, such as for documentation purposes, the surname is written before the given name with a comma placed in between. On the other hand, the name order of the characters in the series follows the convention used in East Asian nations and Hungary.

In real life, rendering the names into English can be very confusing, given that Hungarian and Japanese names have the order of their names switched for the convenience of the Westerners. Take Eiichiro Oda (尾田栄一郎) as an example. Eiichiro (栄一郎) is his given name while Oda (尾田) is his family name. However, the names of figures prior to Meiji Restoration are an exception to this order-switching rule, such as the case of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In the case of Chinese and Korean names, the order is generally left as is, as seen with Sun Yat-sen, Yao Ming, and Ban Ki-moon. Exceptions are those who choose to reverse the order or adopt Western names, such as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

On the other side of the spectrum, some characters don’t have any known surnames, bringing in many a speculation of their relationship with other characters. In real life, some cultures lack actual surnames, such as Burmese and Javanese names. An example is Aung San Suu Kyi, where the entirety of the name is her personal name. Even the names of various ancient Greek philosophers and mathematicians are only known with one name, such as Socrates, Pythagoras, and Archimedes. In some places, the patronym or clan name takes the place of the surname, such as in Mongolian names.

Reflecting real life, name order remains a common source of confusion for fans, despite the fact that the main characters have their names already known to be established in the Eastern convention. Surely, many of us mistakenly assumed Edward and Boa are the given names of Whitebeard and the Pirate Empress, respectively. Thus, it isn’t surprising that fans jumped the gun assuming that Sanji’s full name is Sanji Vinsmoke, instead of the other way around. But much like how we respect Ace’s choice in having his mother’s surname for his full name, it’s best not to connect Sanji’s name to his family name, given that he presumably wants to dissociate himself with his family, like Sabo.

The confusion with the order is quite understandable, given that many of the given names are derived from surnames of real-life pirates and the Western fandom generally assumes Western convention for Western names. Adding to the confusion is how certain names are seemingly written with Western convention, such as the Funk brothers. Fortunately, both the English publisher and dubs preserve the name order intended by Oda, even if the name is a traditional Japanese one. Whether it was intentional or initially an oversight, the fandom should be grateful for it. We will never have to deal with the silly convention of reversing the order of surname and first name to accommodate Westerners, avoiding altogether the awkwardness that is Luffy D. Monkey and Zoro Roronoa.

Lineage

From the perspective of the audience, the family name usually has either one of two purposes. One is to give emphasis to the lineage, such as the members of the D clan, Nico Robin and her mother, and various royal families. The second purpose is to provide real-life historical references, such as members of the Eleven Supernovas and most of Blackbeard’s crew members.

Much like real life, the people and the government in the series put a great deal of emphasis towards the lineage of an individual. The Celestial Dragons were descended from the royal families who banded together to defeat the Ancient Kingdom. Garp tried to raise Ace and Luffy as strong marines to make up for them having the blood of criminals flowing through them, while Kyros spread a rumor in an attempt to cover up his daughter’s heritage. The children of pirates are often looked down upon, such as the case of Franky and Ace. The name order is a testament to how the culture in the series places lineage over the individuals themselves.

As for the transferring of surnames, it is uncertain whether the wife would take the husband’s surname as her own or even vice versa, as the only known couples with both their full names revealed are Ace’s parents and Vivi’s parents. Due to the status of her husband, Rouge is more of an exception, given that changing her surname to that of her husband would jeopardize her and her child’s life. On the other hand, Titi is a part of the royal family and would likely be subjected to a set of different rules. In addition, it’s uncertain whether she took her husband’s surname or Cobra adopted her surname.

While a child would usually take his father’s surname by default, it seems that a child can still opt for which surname to take from one’s parents. In certain cases, a matriarchal society like Amazon Lily would be more likely to pass down the mother’s family name. Despite the multitude of characters in the series, a double-surname derived from both parents seems quite unheard of so far. It may have been an allusion to Japanese laws requiring a married couple to take only one surname for themselves. Given that Japan is a patriarchal society, a woman is usually the one to adopt her husband’s surname, though the husband may opt to take his wife’s surname if her family has a more prestigious status.

Aliases

Despite the multitudes of Western names in the series, middle names seem to be a foreign concept. So far, the only ones with known middle names are the members of the D Clan, carrying the mysterious initial in their names. The concept of middle names varies from culture to culture, where it can refer to a second given name, a patronymic name, or a mother’s maiden name. On the other hand, some cultures traditionally don’t have middle names, such as those in East Asia. In addition to the order of the names in the series, Oda may have also incorporated the lack of middle names in his own culture as part of the culture in the series.

As seen with the Monkey family, the mysterious initial is presumably passed down to blood relatives from generation to generation. Whether there is a requirement that both parents should be members of the clan for the child to inherit it, or just one parent would suffice, is still unknown. In ancient Japan, large prominent clans (氏 uji) could be divided into multiple branches, which could then be subdivided into more cadet branches. In order to differentiate themselves, these offshoot branches would take on a sort-of second surname known as the myōji or na-azana (名字), which they would use in the place of their original clan name (本姓 honsei). With that in mind, surnames such as Monkey, Gol, and Portgas could be the names of branches descended from the Clan of D.

Aside from the names mentioned above, the series also features the concept of a secret name or imina (忌み名), otherwise translated as true name or taboo name. So far, the only one to have a secret name is Law. As mentioned in this article, the secret name is the actual name of a person that is only known to and used by relatives and close acquaintances, though it was previously a name used to refer to someone who has already passed away. In East Asian culture, it is considered to be disrespectful to refer to a person by their actual given name if they are not closely acquainted, hence it is considered to be taboo. It is similar to how people shouldn’t be referred to by their given names or nicknames in the world of business, unless said person allows it. Instead of their true name, a person from such an era would usually be referred by another name, such as an alias (tsūshō 通称 or kemyō 仮名), a courtesy name (字), or the name of one’s position. Given that he’s referred to as such in his childhood, the name Law may have been an alias, a childhood name (yōmyō/yōmei 幼名), or a school name.

Confusing as it may seem, Oda’s application of Eastern convention on Western names serves as one of the unique features in the series. With that in mind, the order of names can also serve as an indication to the perception of lineage in the story. Moreover, the use of meaningful words and historical names as character names enhances the readers’ experience through the references and connections they contain. Taken altogether, these names become a memorable experience in a way that contributes substance to the plot.

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