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| In the [[#External Links|essay section of his personal website]], [[Hideaki Anno]] revealed most of the details regarding how the characters were named. A translation of the relevant entries follows, with some notes added inside square brackets as well as after a translated entry.<ref>Many of these notes were present in massangeana's original translation (see below). Some additional notes originated from information courtesy of MDWigs.</ref>
| | #REDIRECT:[[Character Name Origins]] |
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| ('''Wiki Edit''': Due to confusion from readers, <font color=purple>Anno's text and notes in square brackets are now purple</font> and <font color=green>Reichu's commentary is green</font>. Since this is an old article lifted from the commentary, '''please''' leave the text intact.)
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| '''Original Translation''': massangeana<br/>
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| '''Edits''': [[User:Reichu|Reichu]]<ref>massangeana executed a rough translation of the journal entries that were to the newsgroup Japan.Anime.Evangelion in December of 2000. Reichu made some attempt at refinement and the addition of bits left out by massangeana.</ref>
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| =2000/11/02 (Entry 1)=
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| ==Shinji Ikari (碇シンジ)==
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| <font color=purple>''Ikari'' ["anchor"] is a component of a ship. It's also borrowed from the name of a friend from my college years. [[Shinji Ikari|Shinji]] is also borrowed from a long-time friend [[Shinji Higuchi]]. Incidentally, since both his wife and daughter's names have been used for anime protagonists, I wanted to do the same for the husband and make them an anime family -- but, that said, my reasoning wasn't too logical. Sorry, Shin-chan.</font><font color=green>
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| *Shinji Higuchi's given name is written 真嗣. Perhaps if Anno had not opted to write the NGE characters' given names in katakana, Shinji's would have been written like this, as well.
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| *Higuchi was asked about this in a 2008 interview. [http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/080502/article.asp?parentID=91651]: ''Q: "Last question: Shinji in Evangelion is supposedly named after you. Is there a story to this?" Higuchi: "That was director Anno's idea of an annoying joke. So much bad stuff happens to Shinji, and that was a way for Anno and everyone to say 'Stupid Shinji.'" [In English] "Why Shinji? Why me??"''</font>
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| ==Rei Ayanami (綾波レイ)==
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| <font color=purple>Ayanami is from a warship of the former Japanese navy. [[Rei Ayanami|Rei]] is just a pun of 零 [''rei'', "zero"], but actually named after Rei Hino of ''Sailor Moon''. At the time, this was a bait to invite Iku-chan to the staff, but he ran away. Too bad.</font><font color=green>
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| *"Iku-chan" refers to Kunihiko Ikuhara, who directed the anime adaptation of Naoko Takeuchi's manga ''Sailor Moon''.
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| *Rei's name is a pun on the Japanese “Zero” fighters. You think it's any accident that Rei pilots Eva-00 (零号機, ''Zerogouki'')?</font>
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| ==Soryu Asuka Langley (惣流・アスカ・ラングレー)==
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| <font color=purple>Soryu is from a warship of the former Japan navy; Langley is from the US navy warship. [[Asuka Langley Soryu|Asuka]] is borrowed from Shinji Wada's manga heroine [Chou-Shoujo Asuka].</font><font color=green>
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| * The warship Soryu utilizes the kanji 蒼龍 rather than 惣流.
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| * The name of Wada's heroine is written 明日香.
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| * The name of the warship Soryu is written 蒼龍.</font>
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| ==Misato Katsuragi (葛城ミサト)==
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| <font color=purple>Katsuragi is from a warship of the former Japanese navy. [[Misato Katsuragi|Misato]] is borrowed from a heroine of Minako Narita's manga [Misato Izumi of ''Aitsu''].</font><font color=green>
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| * The given name of Narita's heroine is written みさと.</font>
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| ==Ritsuko Akagi (赤木リツコ)==
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| <font color=purple>Akagi is from a warship of the former Japanese navy. [[Ritsuko Akagi|Ritsuko]] is borrowed from a friend of mine in middle school.</font>
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| <font color=green>
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| * "In junior high school, Anno had a friend - nowadays, he says, you would call her a girlfriend - named Ritsuko, who had a major impact on his life and introduced him to sci-fi and shojo manga." - [http://forum.evageeks.org/post/425333/NGE-Ep24-Script-First-and-Second-Drafts/#425333 Second JUNE Interview]
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| ==Ryoji Kaji (加持リョウジ)==
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| <font color=purple>[[Ryoji Kaji|Kaji]] ["rudder"] is a component of a ship. Ryoji is also from a hero in Minako Narita's manga [Ryoji Sawada of ''Aitsu''].</font><font color=green>
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| * The given name of Narita's hero is written 涼司.
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| * The ship part is written 舵, as opposed to 加持.</font>
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| =2000/11/13 (Entry 4)=
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| ==Gendo Ikari (碇ゲンドウ)==
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| <font color=purple>Ikari is the same as with Shinji. [[Gendo Ikari|Gendo]] is borrowed from another anime project before ''Eva'' that was aborted. I didn't notice Gendo and Shinji is the same combination as in Ken Ishikawa's manga until one of my friends pointed it out. [I think he means Shin'ichi Kuruma and Genzo Kuruma of ''Majuu Sensen''.] His former name Rokubungi [六文儀, "sextant"] is also a component of a ship. Just FYI, Rei Asuka of ''Raideen'' is also a coincidence. I didn't do this knowingly, as, until ''Super Robot Wars'' was made, I had completely forgotten that ''Raideen'' existed. Sad, I know.</font>
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| ==Kozo Fuyutsuki (冬月コウゾウ)==
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| <font color=purple>[[Kozo Fuyutsuki|Fuyutsuki]] is from a warship of the former Japan navy. Kozo just has a nice ring to it.</font>
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| ==Yui Ikari (碇ユイ)==
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| <font color=purple>Ikari is the same as before. [[Yui Ikari|Yui]] sounds similar to Rei, and it's also a little pun on ''yui'' [唯, "only one"].</font><font color=green>
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| * Interestingly, at one point in the production, the prototype for the character Rei had dark hair, green eyes, and was named [http://evageeks.org/FGP/Image:Sadamoto_yui-ichijo.jpg Yui Ichijo]. “Ichijo” is believed to have come from Hikaru Ichijo of [[Tributes to Other Shows in Neon Genesis Evangelion#The Super Dimension Fortress Macross|Macross]], an anime which Anno had worked on.</font>
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| ==Keel Lorenz (キール・ローレンツ)==
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| <font color=purple>[[Keel Lorenz|Keel]] is also a component of a ship. Lorenz is named after a zoologist or something, but I can't remember clearly. Am I just getting old? Oh, well.</font><font color=green>
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| * Anno remembered correctly: Konrad Lorenz was a famous German zoologist (1908-1989), whom you can learn more about [http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/scientist/konrad_lorenz.html here]. Interestingly, Anno used the name “Konrad Lorenz” unchanged in a [[Neon Genesis Evangelion Proposal|prelimary NGE scenario]].</font>
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| ==Naoko Akagi (赤木ナオコ)==
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| <font color=purple>Akagi is the same as with Ritsuko. [[Naoko Akagi|Naoko]] is from a friend of mine when I was in elementary school.</font>
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| ==Soryu Kyoko Zeppelin (惣流・キョウコ・ツェッペリン)==
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| <font color=purple>Soryu is from the same Japanese warship as Asuka. [[Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu|Kyoko]] is also from a character in Shinji Wada's manga. Zeppelin is from a warship of the German navy that was envisioned but never made. </font>
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| ==Pen² (ペンペン)==
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| <font color=purple>Super straightforward naming, but I thought the repetition sounded cute. His name has officially become the 2nd power of [[Pen Pen|Pen]] [Pen²]. I was reluctant at first, but we thought we needed a mascot character, so we had an animal appear in the show. As it happened, the show is set in Hakone, which one associates with hot springs, which in turn are associated with monkeys. But that is no fun, so we decided to make it a penguin, the animal least suited to a hot spring. I'm positive that Sadamoto came up with the idea of a "hot spring penguin".</font><font color=green>
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| * “Pen” comes from “penguin”.</font>
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| =2000/11/17 (Entry 6)=
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| ==Makoto Hyuga (日向マコト)==
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| <font color=purple>[[Makoto Hyuga|Hyuga]] is from a warship of the former Japanese navy. But what was Makoto? I don't remember. Maybe because I liked Ryou[taro] Shiba's ''Shinsen-gumi''? Sorry, I'm not sure about this one either.</font>
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| ==Shigeru Aoba (青葉シゲル)==
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| <font color=purple>[[Shigeru Aoba|Aoba]] is from a warship of the former Japanese navy. Shigeru is a spoof of the movie title ''Aoba Shigereru'' directed by Kihachi Okamoto.</font><font color=green>
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| * Okamoto's movie is written 茂れる, so if Shigeru's name were written in kanji, it would probably be 茂. </font>
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| ==Maya Ibuki (伊吹マヤ)==
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| <font color=purple>Both Ibuki and [[Maya Ibuki|Maya]] are borrowed from warships of the former Japanese navy because they sounded good. Ibuki is also a commanding officer in ''Kaette kita Ultraman'' whom I like, but that's a very minor reason. I chose Maya (摩哉) because I love Takao-class heavy cruisers best after Yamato-class battleships.</font><font color=green>
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| *Incidentally, Anno himself played Ultraman in ''Kaette kita Ultraman''.</font>
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| ==Toji Suzuhara (鈴原トウジ)==
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| <font color=purple>Borrowed unchanged from a Ryu Murakami novel I read on my friend's recommendation.</font><font color=green>
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| * The novel by Murakami is ''Ai to Gensou no Fascism'', within which [[Toji Suzuhara]] is a main character.
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| * The given name of Murakami's character is written 冬二.</font>
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| ==Kensuke Aida (相田ケンスケ)==
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| <font color=purple>Also from Murakami's novel. By the way, I was just interested in a character “Zero” in this novel, rather than the story about revolution and dictatorship itself.</font><font color=green>
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| * The given name of Murakami's character is written 剣介.</font>
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| ==Hikari Horaki (洞木ヒカリ)==
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| <font color=purple>Horaki also comes from Murakami's novel. Hikari, her older sister Nozomi, and her younger sister Kodama are borrowed from [http://evageeks.org/FGP/Image:Shinkansen_trains_sign.jpg Tokaido Shinkansen] express train names.</font><font color=green>
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| * The name of the train is written ひかり.</font>
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| ==Kaworu Nagisa (渚カヲル)==
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| <font color=purple>This character was named by the screenplay writer Akio Satsukawa. [[Kaworu Nagisa|Nagisa]] [shore] is a word related to the sea. Also the kanji nagisa 渚 consists of katakana SHI シ and kanji SHA 者, therefore he's SHISHA シ者 [messenger 使者]. He said it also comes from the movie director Nagisa Oshima. But what is Kaworu? Sorry, I will ask him next time.</font><font color=green>
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| * Here is some interesting stuff written by [http://eva.onegeek.org/pipermail/oldeva/1998-March/011357.html Patrick Yip] on the name “Kaworu”:<br>I was flipping through the old Japanese classics Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji) the other day. It's been quite some time since I looked at the final part of this monumental work, and I found that the name of the hero in this part of the story is “Kaworu”!! I did some more research on this name. These are the facts about “Kaworu” that I [found] out:<br>- The reason why “Kaworu” is written with a “wo” character ヲ is probably influenced by classics work like Genji Monogatari. In the Heian ages and medieval period, “wo” and “o” were quite separate [sounds]. At that time “Kaworu” was indeed written with “wo” character. The two characters merged in their pronunciation in the Edo period and thus created the confusion as to why “Kaworu” should have a “wo” character. It is possible that some Japanese may not even know this, and it has become common practice to write “Kaoru”. This creates more confusion.<br>- “Kaworu” is a serious but also romantic hero in the last third of the Tale of Genji. And literally the kanji for “Kaworu” means fragrance (of incense wood). Indeed in Tale of Genji, Kaworu was born with a very special bodily feature: His body bore a sweet fragrance smell. So the name “Kaworu” is commonly related to the idea of intelligent, handsome and romantic hero.<br>- And one more striking thing. “Kaworu” can be a girl's name as well!! This adds to the ambiguity of sex implicated by this name. Put it into the context that Kaworu is an epitome of shoujo-anime bishounen (handsome boy) with ambiguous sexuality. Now it seems to me that Gainax actually put some thought in choosing his name.<br>Interestingly, “Rei” is a unisex name, as well.</font>
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| ==Miscellaneous==
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| <font color=purple>[[Minor Characters|Tokita]] (時田), Manda (万田), and Yasugi (八杉) of [[Episode 07]] also come from Murakami's novel. Nozoku Takahashi (高橋覗) of episode #11 comes from the name of a production manager and my friend. It's a staff in-joke. [ The names of characters in episode #15, etc., also follow a hidden convention. Guessing the rule might be fun if you have the time.</font><font color=green>
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| * The production manager in question is Takahashi Nozomu of Studio Ghibli. Actually, Ghibli did animation work for this episode.</font>
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| ==Notes==
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| {{reflist}}
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| ==External Links==
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| * [http://www.gainax.co.jp/hills/anno/ Anno's official page]<br>
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| * [http://www.gainax.co.jp/hills/anno/essay1.html Essay page]
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| [[Category:Resources]]
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| [[Category:Resources of Characters]]
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| [[Category:Translations]]
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