What's in a name? The many meanings of videogame character names

[Nayrman]

http://kidicarus222.blogspot.com/2009/06/its-secret-to-everybody.html
an excellent and LONG post about various videogame character names. Some all of us know (such as Mario getting his name **supposedly** from former NoA landlord Mario Segali), while others I had no clue about (Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter meaning "dragon" and "fist" **ShoRYU/KEN**).

Also, lots of fun oddities and coincidences. For example, Mario may have gotten his name from the Japanese "Marui" meaning round (tubby little Mario), and Luigi from "Ruiji" meaning similar (Luigi was just a pallet swap of Mario at the time remember). Although that thought is doubtful, it's a funny coincidence.

I really liked this article, so I thought I'd share it with everyone here. I'm sure some other guys would find good use for this.

[HTA!]

Nice read.
Fire emblem has a lot of name stuff too, but that didn't get covered. :(

Ostia, the country Hector is from, is known for its military power and wealth.

The port of ancient Rome was called Ostia.

Not to mention weapon and unit names (fimbulvetr and Durendal) but eh, it was a fantastic read nonetheless.

[Macawmoses]

I never knew the Kirby one. That's neat.

[JrDude]

Donkey Kong one is wrong. It was obviously gotten from Viet Cong and their Guerrillas (some type of weapon, I just heard about it in English class). Though the miss-communication part is probably right, where it was supposed to be Monkey Kong instead of Donkey Kong.

[The Riddler]

Donkey Kong one is wrong. It was obviously gotten from Viet Cong and their Guerrillas (some type of weapon, I just heard about it in English class). Though the miss-communication part is probably right, where it was supposed to be Monkey Kong instead of Donkey Kong.

The intercourse  are you talking about? The article even has a source about it.
http://www.miyamotoshrine.com/theman/interviews/051601.shtml
"For Donkey Kong I wanted                 something to do with 'Kong' which kind of gives                 the idea of apes in Japanese and I came up with                 Donkey Kong because I heard that 'donkey' meant                 'stupid' so I went with Donkey Kong.                 Unfortunately when I said that name to Nintendo                 of America nobody liked it and said that it                 didn't mean 'Stupid Ape' and they all laughed at                 me! But we went ahead with that name anyway."