History PunnyName / AnimeAndManga

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', the title and titular object are a pun on shinigami, which literally breaks down to "death god". The god part, "kami", can also mean hair or paper. The protagonists name is also a pun, a dual-language one. "Raito" as a name is more likely in Japanese than "Light" is in English, but it means the same in both languages and essentially pinpoints how the character sees himself. In addition, "Yagami" breaks into "night god", an analogous phrase for a death god. There's also Raye Penber, whose name is not, as far as I'm aware as pun in itself, but is in context (Light and Raye). Tsugumi Ohba's love of puns probably means there are more.

* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'':
** The titular character's name is derived from the term "noraneko", which means stray cat. The "dora" part, however, is an obvious pun on his TrademarkFavoriteFood, dorayaki.
** [[ChildProdigy Dekisugi]]'s name is a pun on the verb "dekisugiru", which means "overachieving".
* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', the title and titular object are a pun on shinigami, which literally breaks down to "death god". The god part, "kami", can also mean hair or paper. The protagonists name is also a pun, a dual-language one. "Raito" as a name is more likely in Japanese than "Light" is in English, but it means the same in both languages and essentially pinpoints how the character sees himself. In addition, "Yagami" breaks into "night god", an analogous phrase for a death god. There's also Raye Penber, whose name is not, as far as I'm aware as pun in itself, but is in context (Light and Raye). Tsugumi Ohba's love of puns probably means there are more.
* Sai Akuto in ''LightNovel/DemonKingDaimao''. His name can also be read as "saiakuto", which means "the worst person". Fitting for his eventual future as the Demon King.
* Several characters from the ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' and ''Manga/MagicKaito'' SharedUniverse. Others may have [[MeaningfulName meaningful names]] instead.

* Every single main character in "Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'', sometimes overlapping with IronicName - for example, Naddy's real name is Nadeshiko Yamato, or YamatoNadeshiko in the Japanese naming order, while Mimimi's name sounds like "me, me, me" and Momiji's name sounds like "momi-momi", the onomatopoeia for groping something, in the Japanese naming order.

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** ''Anime/HikaruNoGo'' is just as guilty of this.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' is a HurricaneOfPuns (however, most of these only occur in the dub.)

* ''Manga/SoulEater'': We have Maka, anagram of "kama", which means [[SinisterScythe scythe]], the resident {{Badass Bookworm}}s Ox Ford and Harvar D. [[ShockAndAwe Eclair]], and then there are Jacqueline "[[KillItWithFire Jackie O'Lantern]]" Dupre and Dr. [[CrazyAwesome Franken Stein]]...

** The majority of named characters from Bee's home village have names that are Japanese renderings of English letters, meaning that his name has a triple meaning: it's also the letter B (which as you can see kinda resembles an 8). And their [[CallingYourAttacks attacks]] also have punny names: the English names of ProfessionalWrestling moves, but written in kanji that approximate the English pronunciation of the wrestling moves only if uncommonly-used alternate readings are used. The more usual reading of the kanji produces Japanese phrases that ''also'' are fairly accurate descriptions of the attacks. As you can see, Japan ''loves'' this trope.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Zoro's most basic special attack, "Oni Giri", ("Demon Slash"), has a name similar to his favorite food, onigiri (rice balls).
** Almost all background characters get named something that can also be read as a phrase reflecting what their character does.

** "Akatsuki" means "dawn" in Japan, befitting their stated goal of becoming the new superpower of the world through the collection of the tailed beasts. However, if pronounced "aka tsuki", the meaning changes to "red moon". [[spoiler:The organization's true goal, as envisaged by Obito Uchiha, is to use the combined form of the tailed beasts, the Ten Tails, to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi and subject the entire world into an eternal illusion. During Infinite Tsukuyomi, the moon transforms into [[BadMoonRising a gigantic, red Rinne Sharingan]].]]

* ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'': Twenty-Fifth Bam's name translates to Twenty-Fifth Night, his birthday. Bam also means chestnut in Korean and the [[PhysicalGod Guardians]] like to point out how tasty he sounds.
* Every character in ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei''.

* In ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashi_no_Ken Musashi no Ken]]'', Musashi's name would only be a MeaningfulName (he was named after the legendary swordsman UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi) if it weren't justified by its spelling and its supposed "real origin": ''mu'' is for June (the "sixth" month of the year), ''sa'' is for the 3rd day of the month, and ''shi'' is for 4 AM, his exact birthday and birth time.
* ''Manga/YuGiOh'' author Kazuki Takahashi literally named the two main characters, Yuugi and Jounouchi, [[ThePowerOFFriendship after the word for "friendship"]], ''yuujou''. This pun is [[LampshadeHanging pointed out]] by Jounouchi himself when he realizes that he wants to be [[BestFriend best friends]] with the ingenuous kid he bullied, as "a treasure visible and invisible at the same time" (Geddit? Friendship is invisible, but Yuugi and Jounouchi are visible). The pun also made [[https://www.db.yugioh-card.com/yugiohdb/card_search.action?ope=2&cid=5754&request_locale=ja a card]] in [[TabletopGame/YuGiOh the card game]].
** Almost every duelist in the series has a PunnyName akin to wrestlers, a trend that was maintained in the FourKidsEntertainment dub. These include Insector Haga / Weevil Underwood, Mai Kujaku / Mai Valentine, and Chronos de Medici / Vellian Crowler.

* The ''Anime/PrettyCure'' franchise mainly sticks to [[MeaningfulName single names with relevant meanings]], with a prominent exception. ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' gave us [[SchoolNewspaperNewshound Mika Masuko (Masuko Mika in Japanese family-name-first order)]], "but from now on, call me Masukomi-ka!" "Masukomi" (or Mass Communication) being the Japanese version of the English phrase "mass media". (For the record, nobody actually calls her that.)
** Note, though, that in Japanese his name is "Andersen".
** Though probably unintentional, "ande" is Swedish for spirit.
* ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'', with its PunBasedTitle, likes using puns. Maybe not for the character names, although there are some pretty weird elements to the ThemeNaming, but the weapons and attacks, which usually [[GratuitousEnglish make use of English]]... and actually work better in the Japanese. Come on, ''Lettastanets''?
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'':
** Every main character has the Japanese character for the planet she represents in her name. Even more obvious is the main character's name, Usagi Tsukino. "Tsuki" means "moon" and "Usagi" means "rabbit", so her name sounds exactly like the Rabbit in the Moon of Japanese folklore.
** Likewise, the others' names are puns on meaningful phrases that relate to their planets and/or powers: Rei Hino ("Spirit of Fire"), Minako Aino ("Beautiful Child of Love"), Ami Mizuno ("Friend of Water") and Makoto Kino ("Sincerity of Wood"). The outer Senshi have Haruka Tenou ("Distant Sky King"), Michiru Kaiou ("Rising Sea King") and Setsuna Meiou ("Momentary Dark King"). Then there's Mamoru Chiba ("Protection of Earth" -- he's Tuxedo Mask, the guy that's constantly saving Sailor Moon) and Hotaru Tomoe ("Firefly Sprouting from Earth" -- she represents death and fireflies are associated with death in Japan).
** While the kanji for each soldier's planet appears in that soldier's name, only Usagi, Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna use the same pronunciation. Take Sailor Mercury, for example. Her name is Mizuno Ami ("mizu" means water) while the Japanese name for Mercury is Suisei ("sui" also means water). Also, Minako/Sailor Venus seems to avert this trope, but her full name is ''Ai''no Minako, where "ai" means "love" in Japanese, and ''Venus'' just happen to be the goddess of ''love''.
* ''Sailor Moon'''s creator Creator/NaokoTakeuchi just seems to like this in general, since in her early manga ''Manga/TheCherryProject'' all of the characters have punny names, most noticeably the protagonist, whose name is Asuka Chieri.

* ''Anime/SpeedRacer'': The protagonist's given name is Go. In addition to the obvious pun, Go is Japanese for the number 5, hence the number on the car. A common anime naming scheme is to give a character a name that's the homophone of a number. That number then tends to crop up all over.
** ''Anime/HikaruNoGo'' is just as guilty of this.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Even though Kurosaki Ichigo's name means "protector", it sounds the same as the Japanese for "one five" (ichi = 1, go = 5). He is 15 years old and has a sign with the number 15 on his bedroom door. With different kanji, it means "strawberry", a semi-common girls' name, and can also be used to tease him about his hair color, which does get singled out in-universe.
* Yomi from ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh''. Her full name is Koyomi Mizuhara, which roughly means "read between the lines".
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' has quite a few.
** Ryoga's name is a pun on his fangs.
** Shampoo, Cologne, and Mousse are fairly obvious puns.
** Ukyo's name is a pun on being from Kansai. Ukyo: kyo (京) is the kanji for capital -- Tokyo (東京) and Kyoto (京都府) (the former capital). Ukyo (右京) breaks down into the kanji for "to the right of" and "capital (of a country)".

* ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamSEEDAstray'': The protagonist Lowe Gere is a a mechanic/mecha pilot.
* In the first episode of ''Anime/DirtyPairFlash'', it's stated that Yuri's home planet is called "Shack-G". It's named after the town of Shakujii, the real-life location of Studio Nue.
* ''Manga/LuckyStar'': Konata Izumi's name can also mean "this person" or "here". In the same vein, her mother Kanata's name means "that person" or "there". The latter meaning of Kanata's name is heavily used in merchandise related to her, as [[PosthumousCharacter she's literally "on the other side"]].
* ''Manga/SoulEater'': We have Maka, anagram of "kama", which means [[SinisterScythe scythe]], the resident {{Badass Bookworm}}s Ox Ford and Harvar D. [[ShockAndAwe Eclair]], and then there are Jacqueline "[[KillItWithFire Jackie O'Lantern]]" Dupre and Dr. [[CrazyAwesome Franken Stein]]...
** The Hungarian dubbing team translated the name of Death the Kid as "Kid, a halál fia", which literally means "Kid, son (or kid) of death", as he ''is'' the son of Shinigami-sama, but it is also an expression that means "a goner".
** Eruka and Mizune are anagrams of [[AnimalMotifs ''kaeru'' (frog) and ''nezumi'' (mouse)]].
* ''Manga/ShamanKing'': Lyserg Diethel, his fairy Morphin, Camel Munzer, Peyote, and Kanna Bismarck. Hiroyuki Takei was probably playing on the joke that most shamans and mediums could be... [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs On drugs]], or something. Nearly all of the patch in the English versions were puns on various metals or alloys.

* ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'': The three Zentraedi spies are named Warera, Loli, and Conda. Their names combine to form "Warera {{LoliCon|AndShotacon}} da", Japanese for "we are pedophiles". {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d when Loli steals a singing Minmei doll from a store and Shammy Miliome notices it and accuses him of being a pedophile ("lolicon") and Loli exclaims, "She knows my name!"
* ''Highschool! Kimengumi.'' Everyone! A few examples are:
** Undou Kai, an athlete; ''undoukai'' means "sports" or "sports day".
** Kireide Shou, a pretty boy; ''kirei deshou'' means "aren't I good-looking?".
** Kawa Yui, a cute girl; ''kawayui'' means "cute".

* Osana Najimi in ''Manga/DoujinWork'', which sounds like ''osananajimi'', or {{childhood friend|Romance}}.
* Sai Akuto in ''LightNovel/DemonKingDaimao''. His name can also be read as "saiakuto", which means "the worst person". Fitting for his eventual future as the Demon King.
* ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'': Hayate is "Rushing Winds", his parents named him such to help him run from debt collectors. Nagi, the other main character, means 'calm' in contrast to Hayate. The series name also becomes the name of Hayate's special attack, which is a burst of wind (which he is careful not to employ around those wearing skirts).
* Robby and Ninjoy from the ''VideoGame/PapaLouieArcade'' series of video games are some of the more obvious examples. Others include sisters Nevada and Utah, Delivery Boy Roy, Julep, and others.
** The last one can also count as a ParentalBonus, since a mint julep is a type of alcoholic beverage consisting of primarily bourbon, water, crushed or shaved ice, and mint.
* In ''Franchise/DragonBall'', a ''ton'' of the characters' names have puns or odd naming schemes.
** Son Goku got his Earth name from [[MonkeyKingLite Sun Wukong]], the monkey king in the Chinese classic ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''. His first son's name is taken from his adoptive grandfather's name, which is a pun on Goku (Wukong) and the word ''go-han'' "cooked rice; meal".
** In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', there were three villains named [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Bibidi, Babidi, and Buu]]. Bibidi is only briefly mentioned as part of the backstory, making the pun slightly less obvious. Slightly.
** All the Saiyan names are based on some kind of vegetable (Kakarot/Carrot, Vegeta/Vegetable, Nappa/Nappa Valley Lettuce, Broly/Broccoli, etc.)
** And the Ginyu Force's names are all based on dairy products. The literal translation of their name in the Japanese version is "Special Corps. Milk." They only work in Japanese though. Their English names equate to Japanese words or slightly modified English anagrams for Cheese (Jeice,) Milk (Ginyu,) Butter (Burter,) Cream (Recoome,) and Yogurt (Guldo)
** Most characters are named after food, food-related items, and other various mundane items. For example: Oolong (oolong tea), Yamcha (a kind of dim sum), Chaozu (a kind of dumpling or potsticker) and so on. Also, there's the Brief family who are all named after underwear: Trunks (another name for boxers), Bulma (Japanese version of 'bloomer'), however, neither Bulma's mother and father ever get first names and are only known as Mr. and Mrs. Brief, all of Frieza's family (Frieza=freezer, Coola=cooler, etc.) and, of course, Dr. Gero (gear), who's a mad scientist who builds robots and also happens to become one by the time the Z era of the animes happen.
** Piccolo Jr. being the son of King Piccolo is a holdover name from his old gang. King Piccolo's minions Piano, Tambourine, Cymbal, and Drum, and Piccolo himself, are all named for instruments.
** Namek born Namekians have names taken from mollusks. Nali/Snail. Cargo/Escargo. Dende/den den-mushi and Moori/Katatsumuri (both Japanese for snail) and Lord Slug from the films.
** Androids 17 and 18's real names (Revealed ''much'' later in supplementary material), Lapis and Lazuli, are a reference to the lapis lazuli stone.
** Mr. Satan's name is obvious. His daughter Videl is an anagram of 'devil.' Again in later supplementary material Hercule Satan is meant to be a stage name. His real name is Mark, which is an rough anagram of the Japanese 'akuma', also meaning devil. It also gives him the distinction of one of the few characters to have a [[TeamNormal real name.]]
** The Gods of Destruction and their attendants are mostly named after alcoholic drinks starting with Beerus and Whis (beer and whiskey). We also have Champa and Vados (champagne and calvados) as well as Belmod and Marcarita (vermouth and margarita).
* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', the title and titular object are a pun on shinigami, which literally breaks down to "death god". The god part, "kami", can also mean hair or paper. The protagonists name is also a pun, a dual-language one. "Raito" as a name is more likely in Japanese than "Light" is in English, but it means the same in both languages and essentially pinpoints how the character sees himself. In addition, "Yagami" breaks into "night god", an analogous phrase for a death god. There's also Raye Penber, whose name is not, as far as I'm aware as pun in itself, but is in context (Light and Raye). Tsugumi Ohba's love of puns probably means there are more.
* Kamatari of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' wields a large scythe and is known as "the Great Scythe (O-kama) of the Ten Swords". ''Okama'' is slang for a homosexual transvestite, which he is.
* Several characters in the 60s dub of ''Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion''.
** Pauly Cracker (a parrot).
** Bucky (a gazelle).
** Ali (an alligator).
* In ''Anime/MyHime'', Natsuki's name, is the hiragana for "summer princess". Natsuki was born on August 15, and is a Hime (based off the Japanese word for "princess"), which her parents were aware of all along. Natsuki's mother nicknames her "princess" at times, but she doesn't learn the meaning until she actually becomes a Hime.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Zoro's most basic special attack, "Oni Giri", ("Demon Slash"), has a name similar to his favorite food, onigiri (rice balls).
** Almost all background characters get named something that can also be read as a phrase reflecting what their character does.
* Some characters with funny hero aliases from ''WebComic/OnePunchMan''. Other may have [[MeaningfulName names]] that solely describe them, and a few with [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment redundant names]].
** Child Emperor (童帝 ''Dōtei'') may derive from the word for "male virginity" (童貞 ''dōtei'').
** Iairon (イアイアン ''Iaian''), a blend of "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaid%C5%8D iaidō]]" and "iron".
** Okamaitachi (オカマイタチ) comes from "[[DragQueen okama]]" and "[[RazorWind kamaitachi]]".
** Bushidrill (ブシドリル ''Bushidoriru'') from "[[{{Samurai}} bushidō]]" and "drill".
** Puripuri Prisoner (ぷりぷりプリズナー ''Puripuri Purizunā'') from the words "[[https://jisho.org/search/%E3%81%B7%E3%82%8A%E3%81%B7%E3%82%8A puripuri]]" and "prisoner".
** Golden Ball (黄金ボール ''Ōgon Bōru''), from convoluted literal translations from the Japanese word for "balls" (金玉 ''kintama'') into English and back into Japanese.
** Ground Dragon (グランドドラゴン ''Guraundo Doragon''), a literal translation from the Japanese word for "mole" which spells "ground dragon" (土竜 ''mogura'').

* ''Anime/GundamBuildFighters'' gives us Meijin Kawaguchi III. Not exactly punny at first mention, but then his Gunpla have "Amazing" on their names. Now, note that "Amazing" when said with a Japanese accent sounds very similar to "Meijin". Lampshaded for laughs in one of the "tweets" regarding him before his match with the Renato bros.:
-->'''Random "tweet":''' Is the Kämpfer Amazing because he's a [[IncrediblyLamePun Meijin?]]
* ''Anime/GundamBuildFightersTry'': The "Try" in Gundam Build Fighters Try sounds identical the prefix "Tri", referencing the new [[PowerTrio three-man team battles]] that become the focus of this season.
* Yuki Uchiki from ''Manga/GourmetGirlGraffiti'' is the local ShrinkingViolet. In Japanese, her surname is homophonous to the word for "shy".
* ''Manga/FairyTail'':
** Natsu '''Dragneel''', the Dragon Slayer. {{Justified|Trope}} since Natsu was reared by a dragon anyway, so his name probably would be along those lines.
** Erza '''Scarlet''', the girl with bright red hair. Erza [[spoiler:didn't originally have a last name. [[ShipTease Jellal picked Scarlet for her]] because he figured it would be easy to remember that her last name was her hair color]].
** Nichiya, the Edolas version of Ichiya (whose name means "One Night") means "Two Night".
** Hilariously, anime-only character Dan Straight.

* ''Manga/Oddman11'''s resident is a [[WolfMan furry dog girl]] that goes by the name of Inuta Wan, which is kind of like being called Doggy Woof.
* ''Manga/OmujoOmutsuJoshi'' has a pun in every name, all of them linked to the series premise of characters in diapers or [[PottyFailure having accidents]].
** When shown in Japanese order of surname first the male lead's name, "Oone Shouta", becomes a play on "onesho", the Japanese term for bedwetting.
** Ichigo's last name, Otohime, translates to "Sound Princess". This is also a brand name for a device installed in Japanese toilets to make flushing noises and disguise what's actually going on. Such a device can be seen in the first page of chapter fourteen.
** "Morei" is a play on the Japanese word for "leak"
** Muni's pun is more roundabout. The "ni" in her name is written with the kanji for "two". In Japanese, the English word "two" is pronounced "tsu". This potentially turns Muni's name to "mutsu", as in "omutsu", or "diaper". Combine this with the fact that the "Nuno" in "Nunota" means "cloth" and Muni's full name means "cloth diaper", which is her stated preference.
** The name of the characters' high school, Hanatsumi, means "flower picking". "Flower picking" can be a rough equivalent of the English expression "powdering your nose", which itself is a euphemism for going to the bathroom.
* ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'' has a young boy named Shouta that is lusted after by an older woman, making her a "[[LoliconAndShotacon shoutacon]]".
* ''Manga/{{Nanbaka}}'': Most of the characters are named after numbers. Partially justified as it's a prison story and many of the characters are inmates with serial numbers.
* Makoto Sain in ''Manga/{{Fullmapla}}'' communicates strictly by [[TalkingWithSigns holding up numbered signs]].
* ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': An in-universe example, as the bizarre octopus-like teacher never gives a name when he's introduced to his class. The students quickly come up with "Koro-sensei", a pun on "korosenai" meaning "unkillable". He adopts that name for the rest of the series.
* ''Manga/SetonAcademyJoinThePack'': While many of the characters' names are just plays on their species, such as Kurumi ''Neko''mai the cat or Ranka ''Okami'' the wolf, Yukari the koala's name is actually a play on the Japanese pronunciation of "eucalyptus".

* In ''Anime/MaiHime'', Natsuki's name, is the hiragana for "summer princess". Natsuki was born on August 15, and is a Hime (based off the Japanese word for "princess"), which her parents were aware of all along. Natsuki's mother nicknames her "princess" at times, but she doesn't learn the meaning until she actually becomes a Hime.

** TheRival Kaito Kuroba (黒羽快斗 ''Kuroba '''Kaito'''''), also known as Kid the PhantomThief (怪盗キッド '' '''Kaitō''' Kiddo''). ''Kuroba'' means "'''black''' wings", even though Kid wears white. Another rival of Kuroba is the young [[PrivateDetective detective]] Saguru Hakuba (白馬探 ''Hakuba Saguru'') whose name contains ''hakuba'' ("'''white''' horse"), which alludes to a [[BlackAndWhiteMorality black vs white metaphor]]. Other characters from ''Magic Kaito'' also have words for colors in their names. Notable examples include Kaito's two love interests (one of whom has an unrequited love for him), Aoko (literally "'''blue''' girl") the innocent girl and Akako (literally "'''red''' girl") the mischievous [[WizardsAndWitches witch]], a pair of almost RedOniBlueOni.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Naruto Uzumaki himself. 'Uzumaki' means whirlpool, and 'Naruto' also means whirlpool -- he is named after the Naruto bridge in Japan, under which the tide continuously forms whirlpools. This links to his reoccurring spiral motif -- both on his clothes, and his Rasengan signature attack (a whirling ball of chakra). There's another pun in there -- a 'naruto' is a type of rice cake found in the main character's TrademarkFavoriteFood, ramen. This has been hinted at least once, as the onbu Naruto took care of in a filler liked these. And yet another one: [[spoiler:his mother came from the Hidden Whirlpool Village]]. Finally, 'naruto' (as in 'whirlpool') is written with the kanji 鳴門. The 'naru' part, 鳴, means 'to roar/to make noise', which is [[NoIndoorVoice pretty apt]] [[BrattyHalfPint for our hero]]. There's also the fact that 'naru' with different kanji can mean [[CharacterDevelopment 'become' or 'to bear fruit']].
** The host of the two and eight-tailed beast have punny names relate to the number of tails of their beast. The second tailed is named Yugito Nii, with Ni being Japanese for "two". The eight tails's name is actually bilingual as while the name is [[GratuitousEnglish a Japanese approximation of the word Killer Bee in English]], this is because the ''Japanese'' word for "bee" (hachi) is pronounced the same was as the word for "eight".

** The inspector '''Juu'''zou '''Megure''' (目暮十三 ''Megure Jūzō''), named for [[Series/{{Maigret}} Jules Maigret]] (ジュール・メグレ '' '''Jū'''ru '''Megure''''').

* In ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashi_no_Ken Musashi no Ken]]'', Musashi's name would only be a MeaningfulName (he was named after the legendary swordsman UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi) if it weren't justified by its spelling and its supposed "real origin": ''mu'' is for June (the "sixth" month of the year), ''sa'' is for the 3rd, and ''shi'' is for 4 AM, his exact birthday and birth time.

* In ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo'' (literally "First Step"), the titular character is named after the word for "one step", which also functions as a LiteralMetaphor. In the first chapter, titled and spelled in English "The First Step", Ippo takes his first step toward becoming a professional boxer. His dog is named Wanpo, after him, by replacing ''it-'' ("one") in ''ippo'' with ''wan'' which is both what the Japanese think the English word "one" sounds like and how they think dogs bark.

* In ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo'' (literally "First Step"), the titular character is named after the word for "one step", which also functions as a LiteralMetaphor. In the first chapter, titled and spelled in English "The First Step", Ippo takes his first step toward becoming a professional boxer. His dog is named Wanpo, after him, by replacing ''itsu'' ("one") in ''ippo'' with ''wan'' which is both what the Japanese think the English word "one" sounds like and how they think dogs bark.

** In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', there were three villains named [[Disney/{{Cinderella}} Bibidi, Babidi, and Buu]]. Bibidi is only briefly mentioned as part of the backstory, making the pun slightly less obvious. Slightly.

* Father Anderson of ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' was a Catholic priest. Shame he didn't have a middle name of Holyghost, mind.

* ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'': Twenty-fifth Baam's name translates to Twenty-fifth Night, his birthday. Baam also means chestnut in Korean and the [[PhysicalGod Guardians]] like to point out how tasty he sounds.

* ''Oddman 11'''s resident is a [[WolfMan furry dog girl]] that goes by the name of Inuta Wan, which is kind of like being called Doggy Woof.