akatsukidiagnosis:

Naruto Names

Why do people have such a hard time naming their Naruto OCs? Like Kishi literally just picks something that “sounds good as a name.” He doesn’t even use real Japanese names. He just picks random nouns and names his characters after them.

•  “Kiba” means “fang”. Whoa good job. 
• “Kurenai” means “lipstick”. She wears lipstick. Congrats. 
• “Temari” is a Japanese hand-ball game. 
• “Ino” literally means “boar”. Why would you name your little girl that? 
• “Kisame” means “shark demon”. Wow, Kisame’s parents were horrible people.
• “Sasori” means “scorpion”. That was clever of him. 
• “Orochimaru” literally means “snake child”. I wonder how much time he spent coming up with that one…
• “Shikamaru” is “deer child”.
• “Itachi” means “weasel”. What a great idea to name your son that.
• “Madara” can mean “spots/speckles” My dad always makes fun of this one because it reminds him of “Madera”, which means “wood” in Spanish. I don’t know why he thinks that’s so funny. Another meaning for Madara is a certain kind of codfish.

Ok, these are literally just nouns that are used in everyday Japanese. It’s like if you named your kid “Hashi” or something. Hashi means “bridge” and “chopsticks”. Talk about confusing. 

“Man, I love hashi.”

“You talking about your son, or a bridge or what?”

Kishi deliberately uses common nouns, all you have to do is go on a Japanese dictionary and type in something that has to do with your OC, and you can find something. 

For example, I picked “Hisame”, which sounds awesome. It means “hail; chilly rain”. Or how about “Oroshi”, meaning “Wind blowing down from mountains”? It takes like two seconds- you don’t have to waste time picking a legit name for your character. Actually, it’s more true to the show if you don’t. There are some characters with traditional Japanese names, such as Sasuke, but not many.

All of these don’t necessarily mean what I have written here, however, if you said the names out loud, they could be interpreted as these translations. Some other Naruto Name meanings for you guys:

• Kurotsuchi: Black soil/black terracotta
• Darui: Sluggish/dull/listless <- OMG
• Kakashi: Scarecrow
• Iruka: Dolphin
• Naruto: The swirly cake in the ramen
• Uzumaki: Whirlpool
• Tsunade: Mooring rope
• Minato: Harbor/port
• Uchiha: Japanese fan
• Akatsuki: ”Dawn” if written as 暁, or ironically can mean “red moon” if written as 赤月
• Suigetsu: Water and moon
• Tenten: Moving from place to place/ here and there/ rolling about
• Shino: Japanese bamboo
• Hinata: Sunny place, in the sun
• Hanabi: Fireworks
• Konahamaru: Foliage/ leaves of trees + child
• Sakura: Japanese cherry blossom
• Neji: Screw/ key/spring of a clock or watch
• Yamato: Japanese province
• Hebi: Snake
• Taka: Hawk
• Yamanaka: In the mountains
• Hidan: Bandit gang, being shot/bombed (I know for a fact that his name uses different kanji, but the pronunciation is the same and that’s what counts)
• Hoshigaki: Dried persimmons
• Anko: Red bean paste
• Kabuto: Helmet

P.S. “maru” at the end of a name simply means “circle” and is a suffix for boys. But don’t just tack this on to your oc name. There are rules, and if you don’t know Japanese, it’s best to stay away from just randomly smashing words together.