Children

"Children" is a term used to refer to the 14 year old pilots of the Evangelions. The term is used even for a single pilot, hence Shinji Ikari is the "Third Children". The original Japanse dub of the series intentionally used "children" plural, and it is not a translation error. However, the official English dub by ADV films changed this to "Child" (i.e. "Third Child"), as they felt it sounded unnatural in English.

The Children are:

• Rei Ayanami - First Children
• Asuka Langley Soryu - Second Children
• Shinji Ikari - Third Children
• Toji Suzuhara - Fourth Children
• Kaworu Nagisa - Fifth Children

The numbering system is based on the order in which the Eva pilots were selected. Asuka enjoys taunting Shinji by referring to him as the "Third Children", pointing out that she is the "Second Children", as if being selected before Shinji somehow quantifiably makes her superior to him.