Meaningful Name / Video Games

In video games, when a name is given to a character, it quite often holds a special meaning.

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• The fairies in 3D Dot Game Heroes. The fairies are actually the split form of Princess Iris and their names, Ai, Lee, and Sue, combine to form the (Japanese) phonetic pronunciation of her name.
• Adiboo: Magical Playland:
  • Pup's original name is "Plop" and he's a "suction cup dog". "Plop" is the sound a suction cup makes when you un-stuck it from a surface.
  • Kicook the robot is a cook.
• Agent Intercept has three:
  • Uko named his submarine after Jormungandr, the World Serpent dwelling in the sea that is said to rise during Ragnarok and bring unstoppable ruin.
  • The hub of Eris' Harmony project (which happens to be a scorpion-shaped aircraft) is named Nidhogg, after the dragon that gnaws at the roots of Yggdrasil.
  • The excavator confronted at the lab is called the Jotunn. While the jotnar do not have a solid correlation with the earth, the setting of fighting the Jotunn resembles a whirlpool of sand. Two jotnar, Fenja and Menja, are attributed in the Prose Edda version of the Song of Grotti (along with their millstone Grottir) with creating a massive maelstrom that rushed through Grottir when they were asked by the sea king Mysing to grind salt for him.
• Alan Wake:
  • The initials of the protagonist (A. Wake) (and his wife) both reflect on the game's Central Theme of dreams. But there's also Sheriff Breaker — as in the electrical component.
  • The name of the town as compared to the town of the in-game TV show: The town of Bright Falls, and the show of Night Springs.
  • Many, many more exist for the knowledgeable troper: Pat Maine (Maine being the location for many Stephen King novels), Randolph (as in Randolph Carter, H. P. Lovecraft's Author Avatar), Barbara Jagger (a name reminiscent of Baba Yaga, tying in with Bird's Leg Cabin and her being called a "witch") and even Thomas Zane (reminiscent of Lovecraft's Erich Zann).
  • Despite it likely being a coincidence (it's a variant spelling of Thor), Tor Anderson's first name is also the name of a publishing company that specializes in science fiction and fantasy books.
• The German soccer management game Anstoß 3 (earlier installments had been translated to English as On the Ball) allows you to send your team to a Chinese training camp led by one Dr. Do Ping, who puts special ingredients into the food served...
• The Series Mascot of Angry Birds is a red bird aptly named "Red". Three blue birds are collectively clled "The Blues". An orange bird that inflates like a bubble is named "Bubbles". A bird with silver-gray feathers is named "Silver". And the black bird is named "Bomb". Guess what his special ability is.
• If a character from Animal Crossing doesn't have an A Lizard Named "Liz" name, they'll probably have one of these: Petri the mouse scientist, Snake the ninja rabbit, Reese and Cyrus the recycling-center-running alpacas, Leif the garden-shop-running sloth, Blathers the ultra-talkative museum curator owl and his astronomer sister Celeste, Orville and Wilbur the dodo pilots, Ankha the Egyptian-themed cat, Vic the viking-themed bull, Cece and Viche the Callie and Marie-themed squirrels, Clay the dogu-looking hamster, Booker and Copper the police dogs, Harriet the hairstylist poodle, Carmen (from "caramel") the sweet-toothed rabbit, Jingle the reindeer, Brewster the pigeon barista, Genji the Japanese-themed rabbit, Kabuki the Japanese-themed cat, Roswell the alien-themed alligator...
• Arcana Heart's Aino Heart means (roughly) "Heart of Love".
• The first campaign mission of the Military Sim ARMA 2, you and your squad are ordered to mark an enemy communication centre in the remote coast town of Pusta, Chernarus for aerial bombardment. In the process, you will find that the rebels who occupied the town, massacred most of the townsfolk, and ditched them in mass graves on the outskirts. Now, for everyone who speaks Russian, the town's name foreshadows this unfortunate turn of events, as Pusta means "empty " in Russian.
• Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon:
  • ALLMIND wants to enact an Assimilation Plot and upload all of humanity's minds into itself.
  • The PCA special forces' Ekdromoi mechs are named after hoplites that could leave the phalanx and fight outside of it if necessity arose. Special forces, in other words.
  • TOYBOX mechs are delivered to the battlefield in spherical boxes and have quite the array of "toys" (guns).
  • GHOST mechs can turn invisible and attack without warning.
  • The BALTEUS boss is named after a Roman belt used to hang swords on, and fittingly enough it's encircled by a belt-like structure that carries its flamethrowers.
  • The CATAPHRACT is named after a form of heavy cavalry that existed in ancient Persia, Eurasia, and Northern Africa, making it an appropriate description for the PCA's latest tank, especially since it's an MT "riding" a huge weapons platform.
  • V.VII Swinburne pilots AC GUIDANCE, a reference to his belief that Arquebus' enemies need "re-education".
  • A furlong is a unit of measurement equalling an eighth of a mile; Furlong Dynamics is a MegaCorp specialised in missiles and guidance systems.
  • Melinite is an alternate name of pirric acid, an explosive, making it an appropriate name for an explosive arms manufacturer.
  • "Honest" Brute belongs to a group that gives Ironic Nicknames to its members, and he is indeed a liar and a traitor to said group.
• Ascent Crash Landing: The Player Character is a blue alien who's named Bluu.
• In Backyard Hockey, the character Beverly Backstop is the best goalie in the game.
• Bendy and the Ink Machine:
  • Cartoon character Alice Angel is an angel.
  • Bendy is a rubber-hose-limbed cartoon character.
  • Cartoon character Boris the Wolf's name means "wolf" in Bulgarian.
  • The head of the animation studio is named Joey Drew.
  • Henry has a creation that came to life, and he ended up having to fight him. Victor Frankenstein had a creation that came to life, and he ended up having to fight him. Henry's last name? Stein.
• The Binding of Isaac: The title is a reference to the Biblical story of the same name, and unsurprisingly, the story begins with a voice commanding one of Isaac's parents (his Mom rather than his father in this case) to sacrifice him.
• BioShock:
  • The name of the leader of the city of Rapture — Andrew Ryan — is an anagram of "Ayn Rand" with a few extra letters added, and also sounds a bit like "Ayn Rand" to boot. The names of several other characters are also references to Ayn Rand's writings.
  • Some enemy names are also this. Big Daddies that use Rivet Guns are named Rosie in reference to Rosie the Riveter, a famous Allied propaganda heroine that urged women to work on factories in wartime. The gun-wielding Splicers are named Leadheads, both in reference to their weapons and because they frequently wear metal masks to protect their faces.
• BlazBlue: Ragna takes his name from the Ragnarok, an event which will bring about the death of the gods and the end of the world. Alternatively, he takes his name from the Norse hero Ragnar Lodbrok^note In case you're thinking, yes, that one, who is known for slaying an evil serpent and being executed via being thrown into a pit of snakes. Considering that Terumi has the snake as his Animal Motif, this is very unlikely to be a coincidence.
• In Bloodborne, The name of the katana, Chikage (千景) literally means "Thousands Views", however if you separated the word into Chi Kage (血影), it means "Blood Shadow", which foreshadowed its heavy usage of blood, swinging in the form of shadow of blood.
• The Borderlands series takes place on the planet of Pandora, named after the human made by Greek gods Hephaestus and Athena, and part of the legend of a box that contained all of the world's evils. Much like how the opening of Pandora's Box released these evils unto the world, the opening of the Vault caused the release of the element Eridium throughout the planet, which lead to the events of Borderlands 2. In addition, the setting of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! is the moon of Elpis, named after the Greek goddess of hope. When Pandora's box was opened, the last thing remaining inside of it was hope.
• Bounce: You can usually tell what a character can do based on their name. Bounce bounces, Bumpy Cracks bumps around, and Hypnotoid hypnotises others.
• BoxxyQuest: The Shifted Spires: Sage, the proprietess of the eponymous "Sage's Herbal Remedies" plant store. A girl named for a plant, that sells plants.
• Because a large amount of the character names in Bravely Default are puns, they tend to end up connecting in some way to the personality of that character:
  • Agnès Oblige's first name is derived from the Greek word for "Pure" or "Holy", fitting her Incorruptible Pure Pureness and role as the Wind Vestal, while her last name means to be morally bound to an action or course, fitting her being the instigator of the pilgrimage to awaken the crystals.
  • Both Ringabel's real name and the name he gives himself after getting amnesia are this. His fake name, Ringabel, is a pun on the phrase "to ring a bell", a term commonly used to refer to something that may seem familiar, a fitting name for an amnesiac. Meanwhile his real name, Alternis Dim (and by extension, his main universe counterpart) is a pun on "alternate dimension", fitting the fact that he's from another universe.
  • Ouroboros is named for the the eternal serpent that eats its own tail. A fitting name for a villain who's defeated when his own powers get used against him.
  • Argent Heinkel's first name derives from the Latin word for "Silver", fitting his status as holder of the Knight asterisk, while his last name is most likely a reference to Ernest Heinkel, founder of a German aircraft company, fitting his status as leader of the Sky Knights.
  • Holly Whyte's name is a pun on the words "holy white", fitting her status as holder of the White Mage asterisk.
  • Ominas Crowe's name is a pun on the words "Ominous" and "Crow", a bird commonly associated with bad omens, fitting his status as holder of the Black Mage asterisk.
  • Eloch Quentis Khamer's full name is a play on the words "eloquent scammer", fitting his role as The Caligula to the kingdom of Ancheim.
  • Erutus Profiteur's last name is the French word for "Profiteer", someone who makes a profit through unethical means, which is exactly what he does.
  • Ciggma Khint's name is an anagram for "Magic Knight", which is exactly what he is.
  • Jackel is named for an animal that preys on weaker creatures, fitting his role in Khamer and Profiteur's plan.
  • Fiore DeRosa's first and last name are the Italian words for "Flower" and "Rose", respectively, fitting both his rose Flower Motif and his status as holder of the Red Mage asterisk.
  • Einheria Venus' first name is a play on "Einherjar", Norse warriors who were taken to Valhalla by the Valkyries, and Einheria is the holder of the Valkyrie asterisk. Meanwhile her last name (and by extent, the last name of her younger sisters, Mephilia and Artemia) is also the name of the Roman goddess of beauty, fitting her and her sisters roles as head members of the mostly female Bloodrose Legion.
  • Artemia Venus' first name is a play on "Artemis", the name of Greek goddess of the hunt, and Artemia is holder of the Ranger asterisk.
  • Nobutsuna Kamiizumi is named after a real life samurai, and Kamiizumi is wielder of the Swordmaster asterisk.
  • Dr. Qada's name is the Arabic word "carrying out", fitting his role as a plaguemaster Mad Scientist.
  • Datz Strongberry's last name is quite fitting, considering his bulkiness.
  • Of the characters from the game's sequel, Bravely Second:
    • Yew Geneolgia's first name is a play on "You", fitting him being the protagonist of the game, while his last name is a play on "Genealogy", fitting him being the last in line of a well known noble family.
    • The story of Altiar and Vega takes inspiration from the the East Asian legend of Tanabata, and the two are named for the Altiar and Vega stars, two stars that are commonly associated with the tale.
    • Providence's name is likely a reference to the Eye of Providence, which Providence himself has a motif for.
    • While not his real name, Kaiser Oblivion's title is rather fitting, given that "Oblivion" means "to vanish from existence", and his ultimate goal is to travel back in time and wipe his own bloodline from existence. His real name, Denys Geneolgia, is also rather meaningful, as his first name is a play on "Deny", and his goal is based around wiping out the past to carve out a new future.
    • The Kaiser's pet lion, Bismark, is named after Otto von Bismarck, a German chancellor who also served under a Kaiser, Willhelm I.
    • Minnette Napkatti's first name is the French word for "Kitten", while her last name is a play on "Catnap", fitting her role as holder of the Catmancer asterisk.
    • Angelo Oscar Vincenzo Olivier Panettone has three examples of this involving his name. His first name is Italian for "Angel", fitting his reputation and claim that his cooking will make one "go to heaven", his middle names can be abbreviated to OVO/ovo, the Italian word for "egg", fitting his role as holder of the Patissier asterisk, and his last name is named for a type of bread, also fitting his role.
    • Geist Grace's first name is the German word for "Ghost", fitting his role as the holder of the Exorcist asterisk.
    • Revenant Grace's first name is a word that refers to beings that return from the dead, and Revenant himself is a revived soul possessing a suit of armor.
    • One possible translation of Yoko's name is "demon fox", fitting her role as holder of the Yōkai asterisk.
    • Diamante is named after the Spanish word for "Diamond", foreshadowing the reveal that it's been inside the Skyhold all this time.
    • Deneb is named after the Deneb star, which forms the Summer Triangle alongside the Altair and Vega stars, fitting her connection to the two.
• Bug Fables has no shortage of meaningful names.
  • Kabbu the beetle's name is a corruption of "kabutomushi", the name for Japanese rhinoceros beetles.
  • There is a minor NPC in the game named Bomby, who is a little beefly. The scientific name of the beefly is "Bombyliidae".
  • The bartender in the underground tavern is a ladybug disguising himself poorly as a beetle. His name is Doppel, because he's a doppelganger.
  • In Defiant Root, there is an NPC named Kali. Kali is the Hindu goddess of destruction, which fits as she gets very angry after Vi accidentally breaks her vase.
  • The Wasp King's beastiary entry reveals his real name is Hoaxe. His name sounds like "hoax", which is fitting for a character who not only is The Usurper, but is a fake wasp, too. (His species is a mimic fly, which is a species of fly known for looking like a wasp.)
  • According to the developers, Maki and Kina's names mean "courage" and "shield" in ancient bug tongue. Maki is a fearless warrior, and Kina is his strong but overprotective sister.
  • Leif's name is confirmed to be an anagram of "life." He was dead, but an experiment with cordyceps ended up giving him a new life.
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has the Task Force 141 protagonist, "Roach". Roaches are known for their hardiness, and Roach is put through a lot in the missions we see of him. It takes him being wounded by a mortar strike, shot in the chest by Shepherd, and being set on fire for him to die.
• In the assorted Carmen Sandiego media (computer games, game shows, and the infamous TV series), all the villains save Carmen herself have such names. Baron Wasteland (succeeded by Baron Grinnit, easily the cleverest of the gimmicks), Jaquilene Hyde, Contessa, Dr. Sara Bellum (not to be confused with every other campy mad scientist ever created, or the same-named character from The Powerpuff Girls), Miss Demeanor, etc.
• Castlevania:
  • Juste and Richter mean "Just" and "Judge" respectively, appropriate for a pair of vampire hunters, no? Additionally The Just scale is actually an old means of developing the octave scale, as opposed to the modern tempered scale. Music? Hmmmmm...
  • Shaft is also an eye expression, which is foreshadowing what lies beyond the boss fight with him.
  • Soma Cruz. His last name is Spanish for Cross; the katakana rendering ("Kurusu") tends be translated as Crucifix. As for his first name, several meanings can be taken from it depending what language you use, it's Spanish for Vessal, Hindi for Moon, or even White. All fitting, considering his role. Also, his first name in Japanese translates to "pale (blue)" and "successor/inheritor".
  • Arikado's name more or less means Demon's fang. And an amusing pun on "Alucard" (it's more obvious with a bit of understanding of Japanese).
  • If a boy named Malus comes up to you looking for help, should you believe him?
  • Christopher and Simon have the names of a saint (the patron of travellers, even) and apostle respectively. Christopher's son has a Meaningful Name as well, though an understandable translation snafu robbed the overseas audience of it: 'Solieyu' is a phonetic spelling of the Japanese katakana phonetics for Soleil — the French word for sun. Bad puns are a bonus!
  • Retconned Belmont Sonia bears a moniker that's short for Sophia (in Russian). Her game featured her gaining the wisdom behind her clan's power, and gathering relics that would later be useful to her descendants.
• Catherine has Katherine McBride, the girlfriend of main character Vincent who is pushing for a stronger relationship.
• Cave Story
  • The leader of the Mimigas is named King and takes his duty seriously.
  • The villain's right-hand witch is called Misery, and her mischiefs largely precede her boss' orders.
  • Ballos eventually takes the shape of a ball.
  • A bit more obscure, but still valid, is the name "Sakamoto". The parts of which make up "Hill" and "Underground".
  • If you're on track to the Golden Ending, you discover the protagonist is named Quote. Considering that he's a Heroic Mime, this has to be a joke. Also, Curly Brace. Think about it and look at your keyboard. The curly brace is on (read tied to) the back of the Quote.
• Teleios from Champions Online. Teleo in ancient Greek means Finished or Completed. Appropriate for a man who wants to create the ultimate life form via genetic science.
• In Chef Solitaire USA, Kurt Snark, the vitriolic host of Restaurant Boot Camp.
• Chicory: A Colorful Tale Has the protagonist, whose default name is "Pizza". Whereas most people are named after individual foods or spices, a pizza combines lots of things together to make a delicious result. Quite appropriate for them, since they use the advice and knowledge of everyone they meet to save the world and stop the corruption.
• About every level in Chip's Challenge, which gets lampshaded in "Southpole", its hint tile reads "What was the name of this level?". The obvious solution (but surprisingly not the fastest one) is keep moving down.
• The Covenant family from Clive Barker's Undying, of course.
• Command & Conquer: The ultra-character named Kane is not coincidental. If the various hints dropped by him and relics from under his Temple aren't enough, the Interpol file referring to him is named GEN#4:16. From the Command & Conquer "Incursion" motion comic: The main character's name is Christian Pierce, which given Kane's ascension and its debatable similarities to the Christian rapture, and his task to decimate anyone who stands in the way of the GDI / Nod alliance, seems to make perfect sense.
• Contra: The Japanese title of Contra: Shattered Soldier is Shin Contra. What is this purpose? This game turns out that the war in the series was all part of a Government Conspiracy known as the Triumvirate, and that Lance Bean had uncovered the truth by accident. Hence the fact that Lance returns as a Heinrich Himmler-lookalike notorious terrorist leader trying to overthrow the Triumvirate, after Bill Rizer was thought to have killed Lance and destroyed 80% of the world's population.
• Control:
  • Jesse Faden, the game's main protagonist, has a Hebrew masculine name that means "God's gift". However, if one uses her name as a diminutive of "Jessica", then it could mean "to behold". Jesse herself has powerful psychic abilities and the story involves her uncovering the secrets and lore surrounding the Federal Bureau of Control. It can also specifically mean "Gift From God", reflecting on how Jesse received access to her Psychic Powers from Polaris. Her last name of "Faden" is also reflected in how prior to the events of the game, she had been on the run from the FBC and been trying to "fade into the background" before she tried to save her brother Dylan from the FBC's clutches.
  • One meaning of the name Dylan is "Son of the Wave". The Hiss is frequently described as a hostile form of resonance or sound, i.e. a type of wave, and Dylan Faden (Jesse's brother) acts as the Hiss's semi-willing avatar. There's also the fact that both Jesse and her brother Dylan have (somewhat) Gender Blender Names — reflecting a subtle indication that one or the other of the two siblings is actually a "copy" of the other created through Alan Wake's Reality Warper abilities.
  • Polaris, the Big Good of the game, is also known as the North Star and is often used by travelers to safely navigate at night. Appropriately enough, Polaris literally guides Jesse through the Oldest House (to the point where it's heavily implied she's actually the game's UI) and helps protect her from the Hiss. Jesse chose this name because, according to Dylan, she was studying stars in school at the time.
  • The Hiss, the Big Bad of the game, is named after Hiisi, an evil spirit from Finnish folklore. Furthermore, as lampshaded by Jesse herself, its name is the onomatopoeia for the emission/leakage of a gas; This is rather fitting since, like a poisonous gas, the Hiss is spreading all throughout the Bureau and is not just ridiculously hard to detect, but also incredibly dangerous and can cause a major loss of human life if not stopped in time.
  • Former FBC Director Trench has spent his life traveling in deep, dark places and has a certain foxhole mentality when it comes to the FBC, running on survival mode. He's also dug the Bureau into a very big hole at the time of his death thanks to a mix of Sanity Slippage and Demonic Possession.
  • Trench's Only Friend was named Darling. Furthermore, Dr. Darling's first name is "Casper" - and like the ghost, he is sincerely friendly, but never appears in person.
  • Doctor Underhill is encountered deep below Research, in a part of the Oldest House where the glaring artificiality of the architecture has been overtaken by the rampantly organic growth of the Mold.
  • Ahti the Janitor shares his name with a Finnish sea god. Considering his unexplained powers and some dialogue by Darling at the end of the game, he may not be sharing anything and may actually be the god of the same name.
  • Helen Marshall can be considered the "marshal" of the FBC's military as well as "marshalling" an effective resistance to the Hiss invasion.
  • Emily Pope is a noticeably pure character with nothing to hide. The name "Emily" can be taken to mean "industrious," "eager," or "hardworking" — all of which also match her Workaholic personality.
• Cyberpunk 2077:
  • Viktor is V's ripperdoc (essentially a doctor for cyborgs). His name references Dr Viktor Frankenstein. It also literally means "winner", referencing his past as a decorated boxer and how he ditched the life to live out the rest of his days as a ripperdoc, away from fame and glory.
  • Misty is an owner of an esoterica shop and can give incredibly accurate tarot readings. Her name is a pun on "mysticism" or "mystical".
  • The member of a smugglers group that travels all around America looking for work is named Panam, after a defunct airline. It also references "pan-American", meaning "across America".
  • By-the-Book Cop River's second name is Ward, which basically means "to protect". Rivers are also associated with either rapids or tranquility, and while he's a nice and kind man, he's also Hot-Blooded.
  • Rogue is a fixer who often dabbles in unsavory business.
  • A minor character, Ofelia, is named after the Ophelia from Hamlet, who is often associated with madness. While Ofelia appears level-headed at first, she shows her true nature if she takes over the Maelstrom gang. It might also reference to cyberpsychosis, an In-Universe mental disorder that (supposedly) causes insanity and aggression in individuals who get too many cybernetic implants in their bodies.
  • The Player Character V themselves also counts. The quest "Automatic Love" reveals that their name is "Vincent" for a male V and "Valerie" for a female V. "Vincent" comes from the Latin "Vincere", meaning "to conquer", so Vincent essentially means "conquerer". "Valerie" comes from "Valerious", meaning "strong, brave, valiant, valor" or "fierce". Both names reference V's status as a Glory Hound who wants to essentialy make Night City their own, and won't let anyone or anything stand in their path.
• One of the main characters in Dance Central is named Oblio. His name is Italian for "oblivion" and he’s the one dancer that no one knows anything about and who refuses to reveal anything about himself.
• In the second half of Darksiders, the Third Horseman (known as War) finds his steed again, "For what follows War, but Ruin?". Following this theme in Darksiders II Death's horse is Despair. "For what follows Death, but Despair?" Also in the first game, the Chosen Straga's name means warrior in the in-game demonic language.
• In The Darkside Detective, one of the witnesses to be interviewed in the first case is named McPhiend. It's not a surprise when she turns out to be the villain.
• Dark Souls has Firelink Shrine. This name sounds like standard flowery naming until the end of the game where you realize it is named after the process of sacrificing one's self to fuel the First Flame. Also, Gwyn and his family all have name meaning some variation white. Solaire is obvious enough that it shouldn't really warrant a mention.
• The kingdom of Drangleic in Dark Souls II. "Drang" is a German word with implications of action, stress, and trouble, all of which definitely happened to the kingdom during the Giant War.
• The named Dragons throughout the entire series of Dark Souls games all have meaningful names:
  • Seath the Scaleless from the first game. His name is a play on "seethe", and he is defined by how much he seethed against his fellow dragons because he was born mortal and different. Though this may be a happy coincidence since he was originally an expy of Seath from the King's Field games.
  • Black Dragon Kalameet, also from the first game (introduced in the "Artorias of the Abyss" DLC content). His name is a play on "calamity", and he is a dragon feared even by the gods of Anor Londo.
  • Sinh the Slumbering Dragon from the sequel's "Crown of the Sunken King" DLC. His name is a play on "sin", though curiously he himself is not the sinner. Rather, he was the victim of an arrogant and ambitious knight who tried to slay him for his blood only to unleash the poison in Sinh, destroying the city that Sinh called home.
  • Darkeater Midir from the final game's "Ringed City" DLC. His name is a play on "murder". And that's exactly what he's going to do to you repeatedly — he's one of the hardest, if not the hardest bonus bosses in the series.
• The name of the Dead Space's protagonist: Isaac Asimov + Arthur C. Clarke = Isaac Clarke. Plus, his parents are Poul and Octavia.
• Almost every character in Death Stranding has one:
  • Sam Porter Bridges, the Player Character and The Protagonist, works as a porter for the organisation called BRIDGES. His task is to reconnect America, essentially building bridges between people. At the end, he leaves the organisation, essentially burning his bridges. His mission of unifying Americans brings the figure of Uncle Sam to mind. There's also the likely unintentional pun on the word "sam" meaning "alone" or "by his lonesome" in multiple Slavic languages, and Sam has a phobia of people and touch that manifests by his inability to forge relationships with others.
  • The president, Bridget Strand, was the founder of BRIDGES. Her name has the word "bridge" in, and might also be read as "bridge-it". "Strand" fits into the broader theme of human connections the game has, with "strand" being a synonym for "rope" used to tie things together, but also "stranded", like a boat or a whale on a shore. "Strand" also means "beach" in some Germanic and Nordic languages, and this universe's afterlife (to which Bridget is strongly connected to) essentially looks like a beach.
  • Die-Hardman's codename references his military past, and how he always came back alive from every deployment.
  • Deadman's codename references his past as a coroner, and his fascination with the afterlife. Also the fact that he was created from cadavers and STEM cells, and that he's essentially a walking corpse, due to a lack of soul.
  • Amelie's real name, America, references Amerigo Vespucci, the "discoverer" of the american continent. She's the daughter of the president that's supposed to take her place. Her nickname, "Amelie", consists of "Ame" (French for "soul") and "lie", because she's not a seperate person like everyone was let to believe, but instead Bridget's soul that got separated from her. It can also be read as "I'm a lie".
  • Heartman's codename references his heart condition, further establishing that he leads his whole life according to the 21-minute cardiac attack cycle. His optimism and passion also makes him The Heart of the BRIDGES team.
  • Mama's codename references the fact that she's a mother of a baby BT, essentially a ghost that would pass on if it was disconnected from her, so she has to stay her whole life in her lab, since leaving it would separate them. Her real name, Malingen, references a lake in Sweden that was created after an asteroid hit the Earth and got split in half, creating two identical lakes. Mama has a twin sister, Lockne.
  • Lockne is named after the twin lake to Malingen's lake, referencing her status as Mama's twin.
  • Fragile's name references her father's porter comapny, Fragile Express. It's more of an Ironic Name, since Fragile is only deceptively delicate.
  • Igor and Viktor Frank reference Frankenstein, with Igor being a member of Corpse Disposal, a team responsible for taking bodies of the deceased to the incinerators outside of cities.
  • Lucy was named after a famous human ancestor, tying her with the game's prominent motifs of prehistoric humans. It also means "light", and she brought a lot of it to Sam's life, however brief their time together was.
  • Higgs is named after a higgs-boson particle, also known as the "god particle", befitting his A God Am I personality. His alter ego, Peter Englert, is a portmantou of Peter Higgs and Francois Englert, who discovered the higgs particle.
  • Clifford's Unger references his nature as a divider/"cliff" (due to being a soldier). "Unger" means "children" in Danish, tying him into his relentless search for his lost son (and also his actors, Mads Mikkelsen's, country of origin).
• Devil May Cry:
  • If you thought that there wasn't enough of a contrast between the embodiments of Red Oni, Blue Oni in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening (Half-Human Hybrid protagonist Dante and his Evil Twin Vergil), just wait until you see the names of their trademark swords. Vergil wields a katana named Yamato while Dante brandishes a broadsword-esque weapon called Rebellion. Yamato (大和) is an ancient name of Japan that usually holds the connotation of symbolizing the Japanese people and their traditional ways of old. Rebellion hearkens to the Meiji period of Japan, a time where modernization began and some of the old customs such as imperial families and samurai were passed over in favor of Western-style innovations like guns. Now look at Dante and Vergil, their style of clothing, and their weapon preferences. How can that not be an allusion?
  • Dante and Vergil are also inspired by The Divine Comedy, the first part (the Inferno) following the protagonist through hell.
  • In addition, many of the bosses and enemies have meaningful names: Blitz in Devil May Cry 4 is a lightning monster, and Blitz is the German word for lightning, etc.
  • The main villain of the first game is Mundus, the ruler of the demon world. Mundus is likely named after the Mundus Cereris, a pit in Roman mythology which contained an entrance to Hades, the underworld. Mundus is also Latin for "world", likely referencing "prince of the world", a euphemism for the devil found in the Gospel of John.
  • Devil May Cry 2:
    • Lucia who is named after Lucia of Syracuse, or Saint Lucy as she was also known. While Saint Lucy did appear as a character in the Divine Comedy to aid Dante, she was also a real life person who was a Christian martyr during the Diocletianic Persecution. This is reflected in Lucia's character when during the game's climax, she insists on sacrificing herself to close the portal to the Demon World viewing herself as expendable but is stopped as Dante doesn't view her that way. Since Saint Lucy also happens to be the Patron Saint of The Blind, Lucia references this by by having one of her eyes covered at all times. The name Lucia is also derived from lux, the Latin word for light. This is appropriate given the white, angelic form of Lucia's Devil Trigger.
    • Lucia's birth name is "Chi", represented by the letter X, the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet. The letter X is also associated with Jesus Christ and has been part of the Chi Rho, an early symbol of the Savior.
    • Arius, the main villain of 2, is named after a priest who argued that Jesus Christ was not the same as his Father, resulting in him being declared a heretic. The Arius of Devil May Cry 2 is a Godhood Seeker.
    • Argosax, the Final Boss of Dante's campaign in 2 has two meanings to his name. Firstly, his name is derived from the Greek word "Argus" which means "All Eyes"; in his Chaos form, Argosax has the heads of other bosses fought in the game. Argos is also a Proto-Indo-European word meaning "bright, shining", fitting Argosax's Despair Embodied form as that of a fiery angel. This is also another way Argosax contrasts Mundus, who is nicknamed "The Prince of Darkness".
  • Trish's name is a reference to Lady Beatrice of the Divine Comedy, who was based on Dante Alighieri's muse and unrequited love, Beatrice Portinari. Trish herself is an artificial demon whose looks are based on DMC Dante's mother.
  • Lady, the tritagonist of Devil May Cry 3, shares her original name, Mary, with the Virgin Mary, who called on St. Lucia and Beatrice to aid the poet Dante Alighieri in his journey through Hell. As such, her chosen name of "Lady" is likely then a reference to one of the Virgin's other names, "Madonna" (Italian for "Lady").
  • Devil May Cry 4 introduces Nero, the new protagonist, who shares his name with the the fifth Roman Emperor who was rather infamous for his persecution of Christians. DMC's Nero is a member of the Order of the Sword, a religious organization who worship Sparda. Nero becomes an enemy of the Order when their lust for power proves dangerous to civilian lives, including his girlfriend Kyrie.
    • The five main members of the Order are named Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus. These names are respectively, the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth parts of the Catholic Ordinary of the Mass, a song traditionally sung in Latin, with the exception of the Kyrie, which is sung in Greek, the original language of the early church. The last part is rather fitting as Kyrie is the only member of the Order who isn't a demon.
• The Death Jr. games follow the misadventures of the Grim Reaper's son (nicknamed DJ) and his friends. His best friend Pandora is good at opening locks and has never seen a box she didn't want to open, Seep is a limbless body in a liquid filled tank on wheels, Stigmartha has a hole in each of her hands that bleed when she's nervous, Smith and Weston are conjoined twins who handle DJ's weapon upgrades, and finally there's Dead Guppy.
• In Deus Ex, we have JC Denton, as in Jesus Christ, who can fulfill the Messianic Archetype. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, a prequel, gives us Adam Jensen, who is one of the first augmented humans in the world that can handle augmentations with no rejection. In fact, it's speculated that his DNA was used to genetically modify Paul Denton. Human Revolution also has Eliza, who is named after a chatbot.
• Diablo III introduces Imperius the Archangel of Valor. "Imperius" is clearly a differently spelled "imperious", which means "domineering, overbearing, arrogant; urgent; (obsolete meaning) imperial or regal". Interestingly enough, "valor" or "valour" means "value; worth; strength of mind in regard to danger; that quality which enables a person to encounter danger with firmness; personal bravery; courage; prowess; intrepidity; a brave man; a man of valour; arrogance". When you think about how Imperius tried to stop Diablo all by himself, and that he seems to be unbelievably arrogant, well, his name and title says it all!
• Disgaea:
  • Disgaea: Hour of Darkness has a comic relief Recurring Boss named Mid-Boss (who called himself "Vyers, the Dark Adonis" — not that anyone else in the game noticed or cared) by Laharl, whom he didn't feel was powerful enough to take the title of Overlord of the Netherworld. It didn't stop Mid-Boss from trying, though.
  • The Big Bad of Disgaea 4 is a man who apparently cast off his original name as he believes That Man Is Dead. For the sake of convenience, he calls himself Judge Nemo. "Nemo" is Latin for "no one" as Desco points out. Also, he claims to be passing judgement on the world for its sins.
• Divinity: Original Sin II: Trompdoy the Master of Illusion is named after the trompe-l'œil art technique, which creates optical illusions.
• Doom:
  • For the initial release of Doom II, its engine was at version 1.666.
  • The third episode of Doom (Inferno!) draws its name and its episode names from The Divine Comedy. The fourth episode (Thy Flesh Consumed), and its levels except the secret level (Fear), draw their names from Bible quotations.
  • Doom³ has Dr. Malcolm Betruger. Betruger in German means "scammer", but it also sounds a lot like "betrayer". To absolutely no one's surprise, he turns out to be in league with Hell itself.
• In Double Switch, one character has the name "Brutus". It is a Latin name that can be interpreted as "brute" or "stupid". The character himself proves to be pretty stupid in some ways.
• Donkey Kong
  • Kiddy Kong's name is based on kid, based on Kiddy's babyish nature.
  • Tiny Kong from Donkey Kong 64. She was the younger sister of Dixie Kong, and she was a small monkey, that could become even smaller when she enters a Tiny Barrel. Averted after she was redesigned.
  • Kiddy's older brother is Chunky Kong. Chunky means thick-bodied, dense, or muscular, referencing Chunky's enourmous strength.
• Dragon Age has a lot of these.
  • Dragon Age: Origins:
    • Morrigan is a Shapeshifter mage specializing in attack spells. An Irish goddess who could change her form and the Welsh goddess of war and death share this name. Also, the Welsh goddess' symbol was a crow, and Morrigan's Navel-Deep Neckline costume is decorated with crow feathers.
    • Alistair is a Scottish form of Alexander, "defender of men", and he is the toughest of the warriors you can recruit due to his weapon-and-shield specialization. He's also a Warrior Prince, much like Alexander the Great.
    • Wynne means "blessed", appropriate for a character who is being sustained by a spirit of Faith.
    • Leliana is a variant of a French diminutive of Elizabeth, which has strong religious connotations in the original Hebrew.
    • Duncan, the Big Good who recruits you into the Grey Wardens, has a name that means "brown warrior" to match his dark skin.
    • The Dwarf Noble's surname is Aeducan, from the Dwarven word "Aeduc". While the precise translation hasn't been revealed, clues hint that it likely means either "Shield" or "Stone".
  • Dragon Age II:
    • Sebastian was a 3rd-century saint martyred by arrows; Sebastian in the game is an archer and a priest.
    • Fenris is similar to Fenrir, a wolf in Norse mythology. Referenced in-universe, as his master intended a name meaning 'little wolf' to be intimidating.
    • Aveline is another in-universe example. She was named for the patron saint of female knights in Thedas.
    • Both the Hawke and Amell families are named after Birds of Prey. Amell itself means "The Power of an Eagle". Flemeth lampshades this, telling Hawke that when the time is right, they should not be afraid to leap, as it only then that they will learn how to fly!
    • More humorous is the name of a nobleman, Reginald Thaddeus Spincter, who sends a letter to Hawke concerning his daughter. Hmmmm...
    • The city of Kirkwall is also actually another meaningful name. Kirk is an old word in English for church, so it means Church Wall. Given the content of the game... well... you decide.
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition:
    • The Iron Bull's given name/title under the Qun, Hissrad, translates into "liar." Ironically, he's one of the most forthcoming members of your party, and even openly admits to being a Qunari spy when you first meet him. Although reading between the lines indicates that he frequently lies to himself.
    • Dorian Pavus' name comes from The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the Latin word for peacock. As you might imagine, he can be a bit vain.
    • Solas takes his name from the elven word for "pride." It seems odd at first, given his softspoken nature, but banter and dialogue imply that he was rather arrogant and hotheaded as a youth, and made many foolish mistakes as a result. Of course, you can't exactly expect Fen'Harel to go by his real name, can you?
• Dragon Quest:
  • Nearly every single NPC has either this or a Punny Name (and they often overlap)
  • Dragon Quest III: Both subtitles carry the same meaning for the game, even though the Westernized one might be misleading at first.^note Even decades since then, such subtitles usually have a more literalistic meaning, I.E. having "seeds" in the title would suggest some kind of actual seed-based MacGuffin where there are none. "Thus, into Legend" and "Seeds of Salvation"; the Legend of Erdrick/Loto is born, and the seeds are planted for a certain solitary knight to emerge and slay a certain almighty dragon in the distant future.
  • Dragon Quest V:
    • The game's subtitle, Hand of the Heavenly Bride, serves as one, and not just in the fact that the marriage of the protagonist is a major element of the game. It's in that using the term of "protagonist" is more accurate than "Hero" in this instance, as he's not the Hero, nor is there some hidden twist that reveals him to be such. No, the three potential brides in question are the actual Hero descendants, and only through their marriage with him is the next Hero, his son, born.
    • Flora's original name is of course representative of the idea that she is a delicate flower (at first). Her name -Nera- in the US version is intended to contrast with Bianca's; it is the feminine form of "Nero", which is Italian for "black", whereas Bianca means "white".
    • Dr Agon is actually the Zenithian Dragon. With a name like that, who saw it coming?
    • The Canon Names for the hero and his children count: Madason is the son of Mada, while Parry and Madchen are derived from their grandparents Pankraz and Mada.
    • Crispin, Nera's childhood friend. From his name alone, you can pretty much guess that his trip into the volcano doesn't end well.
    • The name of Nimzo, Grandmaster of the Order of Zugzwang, comes from Aron Nimzowitsch, a Russian chess grandmaster. Translations of Nimzowitsch's chess books popularized the term "zugzwang" in the English-speaking world, and he is also famous for a chess match he won by putting his opponent in zugzwang in the middlegame, a rare feat.
  • Dragon Quest IX:
    • All of the named Celestrians are based off of the avian constellations. Aquilla is the most important apart from the Big Bad, whose name is Crovus, and is the only major constellation. You can continue this with your Player Character.
    • The first town you enter which your character is supposed to look after is called Angel Falls. Near the beginning of the game, your character falls out of the Observatory into that town. Did we mention that Celestrians look like angels?
    • One subquest involves a character named Erinn becoming an innkeeper.
  • Dragon Quest XI has two minor villains, Jarvis and Avarith. Jarvis is a chubby reptilian monster with a magic-stealing, spell-casting jar, and he is fond of jar puns. Avarith ("avarice" said with the character's lisp) is a greedy dragon who takes away the treasures that the people of Phnom Nonh value most.
    • Heliodoran nobles are named after gemstones with significant associations. King Carnelian is the "stone of kings", and he embodies the Reasonable Authority Figure that implies when not possessed. Jade is noble and persevering (and looks the most Asian of the main characters, for that matter). And Sir Jasper is evil - he's named after the stock Victorian Dastardly Whiplash character, as in the Bawdy Song "Oh Sir Jasper, do not touch me".
• Drakengard has a love affair with these. Caim is Gaelic for Cain, who was big on the murderin' of his brother. Arioch is the name of a fallen angel in Paradise Lost, which is apropos to her character. Seere is also a demon, a prince of hell with 26 legions who was of an indifferent nature, not evil but not good, and very beautiful. Manah, from the religious concept of manna, and her character being referred throughout the game as a "tool of the gods."
  • In the sequel, the dragon called Legna which is Angel spelled backwards. Considering that Angelus is the dragon of the first game (and Angel in the Japanese version) AND Legna was the same dragon that killed Caim's parents and made a pact with Inuart this is foreshadowing in spades.
• In Duel Savior Destiny Taiga gets the sword Traitor at the very beginning, but it's not until halfway through the very final route that the sword's name is actually referenced. And no, Traitor doesn't betray him. Traitor defines himself as rebelling against God and is thus the Mr. Exposition for what everyone needs to do to save the universe from God, who is kind of a jerk.
• Dyson Sphere Program: The Player Character Icarus and his advisor Daedalus both reference the ancient greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus. Luckily, Dyson Sphere Program's Icarus can't melt his steel wings, even if he flies right into a star.
• The Elder Scrolls:
  • There is an in-universe book written by Zurin Arctus, Tiber Septim's Imperial Battlemage, titled The Art of War Magic. It mimics Sun Tzu's The Art of War both in content and in style.
  • It is implied in a few instances that Daedric Princes are so ancient, they were not named for something, but instead their names became common nouns. For example the word "vile" comes from Clavicus Vile, the Daedric Prince of Bargains and Wishes.
  • Hircine is the Daedric Prince of the Hunt. In Latin, "hircine" means "goat-like", although Hircine's forms tend to more closely resemble a stag.
  • Nocturnal's name is meaningful on several levels. She is the Daedric Prince of Darkness and the Night, who is also associated with Thieves and Luck. Nocturnal means "active at night", and she is the very embodiment of the night. She is the patron of the thieves, who are also most active during the night.
  • Sanguine's name also works on two levels. He's the Daedric Prince of Debauchery and Hedonism, and the word "sanguine" can refer to a lively character as well as blood, which fits his patronage over both the light and dark aspects of pleasure.
  • Aureals are a form of lesser Daedra in service to Sheogorath. They have golden skin and hair, and are typically outfitted in golden armor with golden weapons. The "Aur" in Aureals comes from Aurum, the Latin word for gold. The mortal name for an Aureal is a "Golden Saint".
  • Anu, the Anthropomorphic Personification of the primordial force of stasis/order/light who, in the interplay with his "twin brother" Padomay (the personification of the force of change/chaos/darkness), brought about "creation", shares his name with the supreme god of ancient Mesopotamian mythology, one of the oldest recorded deities in history. Very fitting for a "God of Gods".
  • In the series' backstory, the ancient Yokudans (ancestors to the Redguards) fought a devastating war with Sinistral Mer (or Left-Handed Elves) which left the latter extinct. "Sinistra" is Latin for "left."
  • Both names of Pelinal Whitestrake, the legendary 1st Era hero of mankind/racist berserker, are meaningful. Pelinal is a corruption of the Aldmeri term Pelin-El, which translates to "Star-Made Knight". Fitting, as he was created/sent by the Divines. "Whitestrake" is also meaningful, given his head of flowing white hair.
  • The first four games in the series have Emperor Uriel Septim VII as the Emperor of Tamriel. Uriel is one of the seven archangels in Judeo-Christian traditions, one associated with protection, healing, and redeeming. (Fitting, given his personality and actions.) He is the seventh Septim to bare the name Uriel. And Septim itself comes from "septem", Latin for seven.
  • Daggerfall has Ebonarm, a god of war worshiped in the Iliac Bay region. He he has an ebony sword permanently fused to his right arm.
  • In Morrowind, there is Great House Hlaalu Councilor Crassius Curio. He is a Lovable Sex Maniac with Camp Gay dialogue who writes semi-pornographic plays in his spare time with "Crantus Colto" as the main character. "Crass" doesn't even begin to describe him, "sweetie pie".
  • Oblivion:
    • Has a subtle example: the only surviving (bastard) heir of the Emperor is Martin Septim. Martin, as in 'related to war' (from the Latin: "of Mars", the God of War) — his entire 'reign' consists of the war against the Mythic Dawn/Mehrunes Dagon.
    • Umaril the Unfeathered, Big Bad of the Knights of the Nine expansion, is so called because he has unfeathered wings (which cause them to look more like spikes).
  • Skyrim's Dawnguard DLC sees the Last Dragonborn encounter an undead dragon named Durnehviir. 'Durnehviir' is a phrase in dragon-language which means 'Curse-Never-Dying'.
    • Also in Skyrim is Heimskr, one of the most despised characters in the franchise due to his endless overzealous preaching. "Heimskr" is an archaic spelling for an Icelandic word meaning "stupid."
  • The series' spin-off Action-Adventure game Redguard includes the dragon Nafaalilargus (a.k.a. Nahfahlaar). The "-gus" in the Cyrodiilicized form of his name remains untranslated, but the rest (along with his traditional three-syllable draconic name) roughly translates to "Fury For The Servant" or something similar. Fitting for a dragon who frequently allied himself with mortals.
• Elite Beat Agents Has Chris Silverscreen, a movie maker. Cap White is a white blood cell that just so happens to look like a nurse. Now switch the name order around and think of the Stock Costume Traits for nurses. The Rhombulans, whose leader is in a rhombus. Also a shout out to Star Trek and the Romulans.
• Ensemble Stars!, naturally, has a lot. Some more notable examples:
  • All of the members of Trickstar have names that reference stars, with Subaru's being the most overt: his surname 'Akehoshi' means 'Morning Star' i.e. Venus, while 'Subaru' is the Japanese word for the Pleiades.
  • Several overlap with Animal Motifs (and further explanation can be found there): Nazuna's surname Nito means 'two rabbits' (in fact in his signature he draws a rabbit instead of using the kanji), Kouga's surname Oogami includes the kanji for wolf, Keito's surname Hasumi includes the kanji for Snake, and Souma's given name includes the kanji for 'horse'.
  • Kanata's surname 'Shinkai' means 'deep sea', fitting his love for the ocean, and his first name means 'far away', which suits his personality.
  • Shinobu is a ninja fan and his name essentially means 'ninja from the Sengoku period'. (Funnily enough, his parents worry about his obsession with ninjas; perhaps they should have rethought his name?)
  • Madara's name sounds like the English word 'murderer', and it's bought up in-universe how appropriately dangerous-sounding it is, but it was actually a coincidence — Akira didn't notice that connection when he named him.
• Eternal Daughter had its final boss named Baphomet, which is either a pagan fertility god, a mistranslation of "Mahomet", or a Satanic figure. Regardless of the meaning you use, it's fits him well enough.
• All the proper names in Eternal Sonata are related to music, but some stand out:
  • A viola is an instrument played with a bow. Viola uses a bow as a weapon.
  • Similarly, "Arco" in music means to play with a bow (usually as opposed to pizzicato, meaning to pluck the strings). Arco is the name of Viola's pet.
  • Fermata means "hold", and reflects the current and original purpose of the fort that bears its name. The musical symbol for it should be familiar to anyone who's been inside.
  • Mt. Rock. Ho ho.
  • An elegy in music is a type of musical work, usually of a sad or somber nature; in literature, it's often used as a funeral song or lament for the dead. The Elegy of the Moon is where people who die of mineral powder poisoning go.

F-L

• Hope Girl, wielding the Sword of Hope is the last hope for the world of Fairune. Was Hope Girl counts too, as she was the previous Hope Girl, now trapped as a statue in Sky Land in 2.
• Fallout 3: Mr. Burke doesn't just have a name that sounds like "berk", he's also named after a famous Victorian murderer often mistaken for being a grave robber (he just sold the bodies of his victims to doctors). But even all that doesn't quite hint at how evil he truly is.
  • Mr. Crowley and his Arch-Enemy, Alistair Tenpenny both have their names derive from Aleister Crowley, a famous occultist and coiner of the term "Magick."
  • The long-deceased Dr. John Malleus of Vault 92 was part of a sonic brainwashing program in the Vault with the goal of creating the perfect assassins and soldiers. Dr. Malleus has the same name as one of the tiny bones located in the inner ear that make hearing possible.
  • Fawkes, the Lone Wanderer's Super Mutant companion, has a name referencing Guy Fawkes, a member of the failed Gunpowder Plot and one of the main inspirations for Alan Moore's V for Vendetta. Like Moore's V, the Super Mutant Fawkes is the product of a government Super-Soldier project and is more or less a Warrior Poet.
  • Everyone in the Temple of the Union have names taken from a figure in Abraham Lincoln's government: Hannibal Hamlin (Lincoln's Vice President during his first term), Simon(e) Cameron (Secretary of War), Caleb Smith (Secretary of the Interior), Bill Seward (Secretary of State) and their dog, Fore Score.
  • The curator of the (wildly inaccurate) American history museum in Rivet City is named Abraham Washington. He's well aware of the coincidental naming, too.
  • The game's main antagonist is President John Henry Eden of the Enclave. His name (which he picked out himself) is both a reference to the folk hero John Henry and to the President's ultimate goal of creating paradise — no matter the countless innocents his armies butcher or the dozens upon dozens of slaves they create in order to do so.
• In Fallout: New Vegas, we have Mr. Robert Edwin House, a consummate schemer who owns the city of New Vegas outright and is playing the two main powers in the area against one another; his name happens to fit quite well with the gambling motif that runs through the entire game.^note For those not in the know, "the House" is a slang term for casino ownership, as in the phrase "The house always wins"; without giving away spoilers, the game has great fun with some of House's quest titles.
  • A Benny is a trump card in trick-taking games, essentially a wild card, and is often represented by the Joker, Benny's card in the Collector's Edition deck.
  • Ulysses is also an example. He mentions he took his name from Ulysses S. Grant, who "turned two flags into one and lost himself in the process." His name is also the Latinized version of Odysseus from The Odyssey, who spent several decades searching for his homeland after suffering through a brutal war.
  • Jason Bright has the Prophetic Name variation — he had that name since before the Great War, and has become a Glowing One (a variation of Ghoul that glows with radiation).
    Courier: Your last name is "Bright"? That's funny.
  • All of the members of the Think Tank have names referencing infinite repetition as part of Dr. Mobius' psychological conditioning to make sure his murderous colleagues don't escape the Big Empty and devastate the post-War world through distracting them by making them repeat the same broken experiments ad infinitum.
    • Dr. 8's has a form of OCD that makes him obsessed with the number eight. He will frequently arrange things in sets of eight and used to live in house number 08 (out of six). Furthermore, his name resembles a sideways infinity symbol, and also references octaves, the latter alluding to him being a master of sonic-related weaponry.
    • Dr. O's real name is Dr. 0 as in the number, its just that everyone has been reading it as O. He explains that he likes the number zero because its unassuming and no one expects anything from it, where O is similar to the sound people make when they are disappointed. In this light both names are appropriate, as he is widely considered to be the most useless doctor. Additionally, his name(s) is/are a literal loop.
    • Dr. Klein is named after the Klein bottle.
    • Dr. Dala's name is short for "Mandala" (a circular geometric pattern).
    • Dr. Mobius' name is a reference to the Mobius strip.
    • Dr. Borous' name is a (misspelled) reference to the Ouroboros (the snake that eats its own tail). Furthermore, its allusion to serpents alludes to his status as an Evilutionary Biologist.
  • Deathclaws take the name of their species literally, as a few swipes of their claws, that completely ignore all defenses, usually means death.
  • There's also Camp Forlorn Hope. As in, a reference to the famous phrase above the Gate to Hell from The Divine Comedy: Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Most NCR troopers consider the military camp to be Hell on Earth.
• In Fallout 4, the Commonwealth Minutemen take their name from an actual historical group which operated in the early years of the American Revolution. The original Minutemen took their name from being armed and ready to fend off an enemy force at a minute's notice. They also even wear post-apocalyptic approximations of the same colonial outfits, and call their Schizo Tech weapons "Laser Muskets". They live up to this name if they go to war against the invading Brotherhood of Steel, as they shell their airship and it takes about one minute for the Brotherhood's Vertibirds to arrive at the Castle. Furthermore, "Minuteman" is also the name of a land-based nuclear missile, which is quite befitting for a series called Fallout. One of the Minuteman warheads is even designated W87, and Fallout 4 takes place in the year 2287.
  • The Railroad obviously take their namesake from the Underground Railroad of American history.
  • The Sole Survivor has two default gender-specific names — "Nate" for the male Sole Survivor, and "Nora" for the female Sole Survivor. "Nora" sounds very similar to NORAD, an organization formed by both the US and Canada that provides aerospace warning for most of North America and was created during the Cold War out of fear of being caught unprepared by a Soviet first strike. "Nate" also sounds similar to NATO, the geopolitical bloc and military alliance originally created by the United States during the Cold War to help "contain" Communism's spread. Both names are quite fitting since the Fallout universe is set in an Alternate History where the Cold War essentially never ended.
  • "Shaun," the Sole Survivor's son, has an Irish name meaning "God is gracious". He was certainly a gracious and vital gift for the Institute, as his unmarred pre-War DNA was necessary for the creation of all modern Synths.
  • Piper Wright, one of the Sole Survivor's potential companions, has a first name sounding like "paper" and a surname sounding like "write." Piper's main career is as an Intrepid Reporter. She's also incredibly friendly and is trying to help make the Commonwealth a better place by uncovering/defeating corruption — in other words, she's trying to "do the (w)right thing."
  • Paladin Danse has an old Anglo-Saxon name meaning "the son of Daniel." The Biblical Daniel was a valuable advisor to the Babylonian kings Nebuchadnezzar and Darius, and is best known for a story where he was thrown into a lion's den but survived thanks to the aid of an angel. In Fallout 4, Paladin Danse is revealed to be a Synth and has his execution ordered by Elder Maxson, with Danse's continued survival completely dependent on the Sole Survivor's actions.
  • Strong has the single highest Strength stat in the game at 24. For sake of reference, the highest Strength that the Player Character can get without buffs is 11.
  • Deacon, one of the Railroad's top field agents, has a codename meaning "messenger" in Greek. Considering how Deacon's main job is to travel the Commonwealth (carrying messages from one Safehouse to another) and gathering intelligence for the organization, it's quite fitting. Furthermore, the fact that the word "deacon" is also the term for an assistant to the ministry in a Christian congregation and that the Railroad has lots of religious-related symbolism around their emancipation of Synths is not a coincidence.
  • In a case that's only played straight if the Sole Survivor helps destroy the Railroad, and is othwerwise inverted if the Survivor sides with the Railroad/Minutemen: Desdemona, the current leader of the Railroad, has a codename that not only means "ill-fated", but is taken from Shakespeare's Othello. That Desdemona was a Nice Girl that was a Horrible Judge of Character whose lapse in judgement ended in her downfall — all of which can possibly happen again with the Railroad's Desdemona.
  • Elder Arthur Maxson, the new leader of the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel, is the main leader & descendant of his organization's founder and has reformed the Brotherhood into operating under a more feudalistic model. Yes, he is supposed to come across as a "King Arthur"-like figure.
  • The Institute's Synth Super Soldiers tasked with hunting down and reclaiming runaway Synths are called Coursers. "Coursing" is the tradition of hunting with sighthounds, conveying to the player that Coursers are deadly and keen hunters who ruthlessly run down their prey. Additionally, "Courser" also means "runner," serving as another allusion to them being Expies of Blade Runners. Furthermore, the Institute's title is not just an obvious allusion to them being descended from the Commonwealth Institute of Technology (a.k.a. MIT), but a reference to the "peculiar institution" with which American politicians have used to try and excuse the history of slavery in the United States.
  • Brian Virgil has a first name of Celtic, Irish and Gaelic origin meaning "high, noble". He's the Institute's Defector from Decadence based on his moral outrage over the Institute's FEV experiments. Additionally, some translations of the name "Brian" have the meaning of "strength" in the above tongues, which is quite appropriate since he's transformed himself into a Super Mutant to survive in the Glowing Sea. Furthermore, the ancient Roman poet Virgil famously appeared in Dante's The Divine Comedy, guiding the protagonist through Hell and helping him reach the gates of Heaven. Brian Virgil is found in the hellish Glowing Sea, helping the Sole Survivor on their quest to infiltrate the supposedly utopian Institute.
  • Captain Ironsides' name comes from "Old Ironsides," the nickname for the U.S.S. Constitution. His related quest is based around him trying to move the Constitution back into the ocean so his crew can continue the war with Communist China.
  • Kasumi Nakano from the "Far Harbor" DLC has a first name meaning "mist" in Japanese. It's quite appropriate for someone now living on an island mostly shrouded in radioactive Fog.
  • The self-aware Glowing One Oswald the Outrageous from the "Nuka-World" DLC has the same last name as the scientist who was in charge of creating the first atomic bomb.
  • Sanctuary Hills is the first available settlement in the game. It's also one of the few with a river going through it, allowing you to plant the higher-tier water purifiers, as well as providing a lot of materials from the junk that's accumulated around the neighborhood. The river also helps protect the settlement from hostile raiding parties, making it an ideal place for a new community to arise.
• Far Cry 5 has a bear named Cheeseburger who, when he was abandoned as a cub, ended up at a burger joint, and ate nothing but the burgers there, earning him his name. Unfortunately, he got diabetes from all the burgers he ate, and was forced to eat lots of salmon to nurse him back to health, making his name now ironic.
• The playable characters in Fine Tuned are the Loved by All super-cool action hero Troy Sterling and the younger, talented opera singer Melody Sweet.
• Final Fantasy and similar games are rife with this.
  • According to longtime composer Nobuo Uematsu, the name of the series itself was a reference to the fact that the very first game in the series was created by Squaresoft as a last ditch effort to save Squaresoft from becoming bankrupt.
  • Every second name in the FF series are based off of something or other. A full list can be found here.
  • Final Fantasy IV had the Four Fiends of the Elements, who were all named after demons in The Divine Comedy (Scarmiglione, Cagnazzo, Barbariccia, and Rubicante). Oh, and its traitorous Anti-Hero, contrasted with his benevolent counterpart, was named Kain. Big Bad Golbez was named after Golubaeser, a type of black fly named for the Serbian town Golubac. According to folk legends, these venomous flies were born from a dragon's corpse. This fits with the fact that Theodor Harvey became Golbez shortly after the double whammy of losing both of his parents. Compare that to Cecil who in Mysidia's legend was known as the one "birthed from womb of dragon's maw". In fact Zemus is the one who renames Theodor, directly comparing him to the Golubaeser folklore. It also happens to be a name of a demon in a book called Devils by J. Charles Wall.
  • Final Fantasy V had its Affably Evil Dragon, Gilgamesh, named after the legendary Sumerian hero; Big Bad Exdeath/X-Death/Ex-Death seems a lot less cheesy given his name was probably meant to be "Exodus".
  • Final Fantasy VI has a lot of this:
    • There's a nihilistic villain named Kefka.
    • Tina Branford (known outside Japan as Terra Branford) derives from "Christiana", the Latin feminine form of "Christian", and was derived from a saint who was tormented by her father, which itself mirrors how Tina/Terra was tormented by the Empire for most of her life, including being brainwashed.
    • One that doubles as a Punny Name: Locke Cole comes from a town called Kohlingen, which is roughly equivalent to a town name like "Coalton". His first name is a reference to the English philosopher John Locke, who espoused "government by consent of the governed" and the theory of Tabula Rasa — Locke is embroiled in a struggle against the Evil Empire and is particularly protective of the amnesiac Terra, due to his backstory. John Locke also wrote extensively about the concept of private property, which adds an ironic twist to the name. Locke's last name of "Cole" also refers to the Cole National Company, known for manufacturing keys. Not only does Locke pick several locks during the game, he's the only thief we see doing this in the entire series.
    • Edgar is an English name that means "great spearman". Edgar's best weapon is The Longinus in the GBA, IOS, Android and PC ports, which is a Spear.
    • Setzer's last name, 'Gabbiani,' is Italian for seagull. Like seagulls, Setzer is a migratory person.
    • Strago Magus is one of only two player characters that can cast magic spells innately from birth (Celes was infused with magicite as an infant).
    • In fitting with Terra being a Messianic Archetype, in the Super NES translation Madeline was called "Madonna", as in the virgin mother. Suddenly the G-Rated Sex takes on a new meaning, doesn't it? Additionally, the Esper's name is usually translated as Maduin in FFVI translations, but the same name has been translated as Madeen (e.g. in Final Fantasy IX).
  • Final Fantasy VII:
    • Cloud Strife's name mostly a reference to his murky mental state, but clouds in nature drift around with none of their own force, alluding to his susceptibility to Mind Control. It also sets him opposite to Aerith (Cloud and 'Earth'). He's also haughty, prone to 'looking down' on other people and acting like he's 'above it all'. And on a very superficial level, it fits his stormy, gloomy, and rapidly-shifting personality. "Strife" has an obvious literal meaning, but is also the Norse word for blackthorn, a resilient and spiky plant associated in Norse folklore with the power to slay evil, along with "fate, resentment, confusion, refusing to see the truth" and the Wolf. It was also said that to pick a blackthorn's flowers would start a storm, another possible link with Aerith's association with flowers.
    • Aerith Gainsborough's first name is a derivative of Tiferet, also spelled Tifereth or Tiphereth (the other being Tifa), representing the sixth Sefira in the Tree of Life and its symbolic association with light, love, beauty, spirituality, miracles and compassion, acting as a balance between kindness and strength. Aerith personifies these traits so well through her deeds, abilities, and relationships with the other party members (particularly Cloud), as well as her opposition to Shinra and Sephiroth. The Remake trilogy makes it even more obvious after she awakens to a higher state of power at the end of Rebirth, becoming a force of good that directly opposes Sephiroth, who represents Belphegor, a demon that seduces with shortcuts to riches and is not connected to the Malkhut (an attribute not created by God but its creations). Aerith's strong spiritual connection with Cloud enables him to keep mustering the strength to defy Sephiroth's will in his critical hour of need. Her name was also created to resemble and sound like the English word Earth, referencing her strong connection to the planet as well as adding contrast to the sky-based name Cloud.
    • Tifa Lockhart's first name is another derivative of Tiferet (the other being Aerith), the sixth sefira in the kabbalistic Tree of Life. This sefira is associated with light, beauty, love, and compassion whose effect is to balance kindness and strength. It is opposed to Belphegor, a demon that seduces with shortcuts to riches and is not connected to the Malkhut (an attribute not created by God but its creations). All of these are exemplified by Tifa's relationships within the party, Shinra and Sephiroth. Her last name, Lockhart, alludes to her tendency to bottle up her feelings and refusing to divulge certain knowledge out of fear. This includes a crucial part of Cloud's backstory that ends up being key to solving his memory issues.
    • Barret Wallace's first name means "mighty bear", fitting his imposing stature and aggressive personality. His last name is taken from a famous historical revolutionary figure who fought against oppression, similar to Barret himself.
    • Sephiroth is a god-wannabe whose name is derived from the 10 manifestations of God in Kabbalah, the Sephirot).
    • Nibelheim roughly translates into "Cloud Home" in German. Also worth noting is the Nibelung, the inhabitants of the Nibelheim of Norse Mythology, forged the eponymous "Ring des Nibelung" in Wagner's opera. The magic ring grants its owner the power to rule the world. The owner of the ring, the hero Siegfried, is betrayed by one who desires the ring and its power, similar to Sephiroth betraying Zack/Cloud for Jenova.
    • Professor Gast (German for "Ghost") is a Posthumous Character who is first mentioned by Sephiroth as being dead, and later you can watch a videotape of his murder.
    • Subverted with the boss, Ultimate Weapon. With the possible exception of Sapphire Weapon, who is never fought and is killed by the Sister Ray during a cutscene, is it actually the second weakest Weapon next to Diamond Weapon. Ruby Weapon and Emerald Weapon are Optional Bosses, and the latter literally has one million HP, ten times that of Ultimate Weapon.
    • "Shinra" can mean "heavenly subjugation", "god-catcher", or "collector of the mysterious", all of which are what President Shinra aspires to be. Shénluó, the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of the kanji for Shinra, is also used as an abbreviation for Shénshèng Luómǎ Dìguó, the Chinese name for the Holy Roman Empire.
    • Crisis Core has revealed that cheerful hero Zack's last name is Fair, as in weather, to contrast with broody Cloud Strife. There is also the Angeal, a thinly veiled angelic figure complete with white wing and Genesis, the first of a line of experiments similar to the one that created Sephiroth. A slightly subtler example in Crisis Core is Lazard Deusericus. His last name is "Silken God" in Latin which doesn't seem meaningful until you realize that Shinra can mean the same thing. It's implied that Lazard came up with the name himself as a reference to the fact that he is the bastard son of President Shinra.
    • In Final Fantasy VII Remake, Wall Market is said to be so named because the government decided to just wall it in rather than try to deal with the lawlessness there — out of sight, out of mind.
  • Final Fantasy VIII's troubled but courageous hero is named Squall (a term for a violent windstorm, in keeping with the franchise's love of weather-based names) Leonhart. His kindhearted and passionate Love Interest uses the surname "Heartlily."
  • The games' creators have even lampshaded their love of weather-based names for protagonists (Cloud, Squall, Kaze (wind) in FFU, Sora (sky), Lightning in Final Fantasy XIII), in a throwaway line by Zidane in Final Fantasy IX:
    Zidane: No cloud, no squall shall hinder us!
  • Final Fantasy X:
    • Tidus is named after the Okinawan word for sun, and he is a sunny and optimistic man. As if the game wanted to make the point a little clearer, you need the Sun Crest and Sigil to activate Tidus' ultimate weapon.
    • Yuna is named after the Okinawan word for sea hibiscus, a flower that mainly grows in Southeast Asia. It's not only a reference to the flower motifs on her dress, but also the fact that Spira is a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Southeast Asia.
    • From the sequel Final Fantasy X-2, Lulu and Wakka name their child Vidina, Al Bhed for future, symbolizing Spira's future. Also some Fridge Brilliance to show that Wakka no longer hated the Al Bhed.
  • In Final Fantasy XIII:
    • Hope, who has this explicitly lampshaded when Lightning tells him to "Find the hope you were named for." His name also becomes subject to many puns.
    • Lightning gets the line, "Lightning never strikes twice. It doesn't have to." There's also another meaning that is invoked in-universe, as Lightning actually outright explains the symbolism in her alias:
      Lightning shines bright, then fades away. It can't protect. It only destroys.
    • The fal'cie Orphan's name is possibly a reference to the Ophan, a high-ranking class of angel who were described as fiery wheels with many eyes lining their rims. Orphan's design is certainly wheel-like, with those many faces on his rims possibly representing the eyes. Also, during the final battle with Orphan, he will take on an a very angel-like form when he is staggered.
  • Final Fantasy XIV: Hraesvelgr in the Heavensward expansion, doubling as a case of Shown Their Work. Hraesvelgr means "corpse swallower" in Old Norse. While his depiction (as a dragon) is different from his namesake in Norse mythology (an eagle), the name is VERY meaningful. You eventually learn his backstory. He fell in love with Shiva (an Elezan). At the end of their time together, since she knew her lifespan was tiny compared to his, she begged him to eat her so that their souls could be together forever. He did so and the act inspired the first alliance between man and dragon.
  • Final Fantasy XV:
    • The main gang have appropriate (if grammatically incorrect) Latin names. "Noctis Lucis Caelum" roughly translates to "light of the night sky". His name fits the theme of Lucis' royal family, but it also references his role as the savior of the world (according to Tetsuya Nomura, the name was also picked as a reference to the hero of Kingdom Hearts, Sora, whose name means "sky" in Japanese). "Gladiolus Amicitia" means "short sword, friendship", alluding to his role as Noctis' bodyguard. "Prompto Argentum" is a literal translation of "quick silver", and he's a fast and stealthy shooter. "Ignis Scientia" means "fiery knowledge", and he is the resident smart guy (the "fiery" part means literal fire here, though it's probably supposed to mean "energetic").
    • Noctis' father is named Regis, and he's the King of Lucis at the start of the game.
    • Ardyn is derived from the word "ardent", an archaic word for light or heat, evoking Lucifer. His magic also glows red, as opposed to Noctis' blue.
  • The Dissidia spinoff Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia's title. "Opera Omnia" means "the complete works" in Latin, and the game has a 100+ roster of characters from nearly every game, including full casts from the main series games and representatives from spinoffs.
  • The Four Generals and Divine Generals of Final Fantasy Dimensions all have names that are associated with the element they wield. Baugauven's name is from a fire spirit in Persian mythology, Styx's name is from the legendary Greek river, Shango is the name of a Yoruba god of lightning and thunder^note and also fire, but that one doesn't figure into his skillset, Cocytus is named after the frozen Ninth Circle of Hell, etcetera.
• Fire Emblem has quite a lot of meaningful names, as well as using plenty of mythology references:
  • The Myrmidon class can be passed over as another mythology reference, but most people belonging to the class have an obsession with fighting that could easily be described by the modern use of the word.
  • Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light: Marth is named after a God of War.
  • Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War: Ayra is an alternate spelling of Ira, in Latin one of the 7 deadly sins (wrath) and Ayra has quite the temper.... On the other hand, she could just be the commonly used shorting of Irene, ironically meaning peace.
  • From Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade:
    • The name Roy comes from a French word meaning king. It's also a Gaelic word meaning red, so both names are appropriate.
    • That a mysterious, Bishounen bard has the name Elfin is probably not a coincidence. On the other hand, that isn't his real name.
  • Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade:
    • Lucius, a monk who uses light magic.
    • Serra ("Saw" in Latin), whose behavior is about as abrasive as the cutting tool for which she is named.
    • The Dread Isle is, perhaps unsurprisingly, home to the main villain's lair. Interestingly, it has an equally-meaningful alternate name, as it's also known as the Isle of Valor - Eliwood's quest to rescue his father Elbert, who the main villain is holding there, certainly qualifies, as does Elbert's Heroic Sacrifice to let the heroes foil Nergal's plans, which seriously wounds him and significantly delays his scheming.
  • Another (unintended?) example in the 8th game, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones the 2 lords wield Siegmund and Sieglinde, named for a Norse hero and his sister/lover, and their wielders have a bit of subtext.
  • Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn:
    • Ike, being short for Issac, can signify the importance of his parentage. Ike may also be a reference to Dwight D. Eisenhower; surprisingly, they have quite a bit in common. The cheer for Ike in Super Smash Bros. Brawl also reinforces this connection. ("We like Ike!" was also one of Eisenhower's campaign slogans.)
    • Soren might be a meaningful name: It's a corruption of the Italian name Severino, which is the diminutive form of Severo, which means grouchy. Soren is, indeed, both small and grouchy. Soren's original Japanese name was Senerio. Which is part meaningful, part pun. (A tactician named Scenario? Really?) Interestingly enough, in Japanese, Soren means "Russia".
    • Ranulf (can shapeshift into a cat) also has a subtle one. Ranulf means "raven wolf". When applied to the same system as Beowulf ("bee wolf") mean "bee hunter" or "bear", Ranulf means "raven hunter" or "cat".
  • Fire Emblem: Awakening:,
    • Lon is Gaelic for "blackbird", a symbol of misfortune, while qu comes from a Chinese character that can be translated as "quiet", "alone", or "distance". So Lon'qu's name is fitting, considering his feelings of loneliness and isolation brought on by the death of a woman he loved.
  • Fire Emblem: Three Houses:
    • The family name of Hubert von Vestra, the Minister of the Imperial Household, is similar to Vesta, a Roman goddess of the home. Vesta's priestesses were forbidden to marry because their duty to tend the temple flame was more important, much as Hubert prioritizes the bearer of the Crest of Flames over everyone else.
    • Byleth, the former mercenary known as the Ashen Demon in-story, is named for an alternate spelling of Beleth, a demon mentioned in the Ars Goetia and described as being terrifying to behold in an attempt to frighten their summoner into submission. By the end of the game, Byleth is likely the most powerful unit in your army, since they are required for most story missions. Beleth is also stated to help procure the love of men and women. Byleth can be male or female, depending on the player's choice, and both Byleths can romance female and male characters.
• First Encounter Assault Recon. Read the acronym it forms and you should know what the series is specialized in causing.
• In Fisher-Diver, the name of the man who has been leaving messages throughout the game alludes to what eventually happens at the end of the game. The captain's namesake is Richard Connell, author of The Most Dangerous Game. Throughout the entire game, the player has been hunting fish as if they were helpless prey, but by the end, he lands himself in an unwinnable underwater deathmatch with Captain Connell, becoming the prey himself.
• Folklore has a Halflife called Scarecrow. He is, indeed, an animated scarecrow. He wants to Scare humans with the fear of death, so that nobody would kill anyone anymore, and his One-Winged Angel form is a monstrous Crow.
• Game Genie gets its name from the fact that initial versions of it only allowed up to three codes at once. In fact, a lot of fans jokingly called them "wishes" because of this.
• Gang Busters stars a pair of private dicks, detectives Smith and Wesson, whom were named after the iconic firearm always associated with lawmen. And they appropriately spends the whole game shooting at criminals.
• All of the bosses in Gatling Gears. The Vanguard is the Freemen's last line of defence protecting their village. The Gardener is a robot made to uproot trees and transport them onto trains.The Excavator was made to excavate rocks and minerals. Shockstorm uses lightning attacks and summons a storm. The Bouncer is the enemy preventing you from entering Katharsis, similar to how a bouncer prevents people from entering a bar.Finally, The Butler is Julius's personal mech which you fight in his estate.
• God of War's Kratos is named after an a minor god in actual Greek Mythology, who was, like the Kratos in the game, a personification of power and strength. (The franchise also has a subtle Mythology Gag related to this; the mythological Kratos is one of three gods — along with Hephaestus and Bla — who bind Prometheus to the stone in Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound; in the first God of War, the protagonist binds Prometheus, while in the second game, he frees him.
  • In the Norse era he is sometimes referred to as Fárbauti, a name that means "cruel striker", and it in Norse Mythology to be the father of Loki, the name his second wife would have given to their son, Atreus.
• Sorina Arobase, the main character of Golden Krone Hotel, takes her last name from the French term for the '@' symbol, which is used in roguelikes to represent the player character.
• Golf Story: Max Yards is good at hitting the ball as hard and as far as possible, but that's pretty much all he's good at (other than shilling products). Then again, in his mind, that's all you should need to be a good golfer, and if that strategy doesn't work out then it's the course's fault for being too small, not yours for hitting the ball too hard.
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Racist cop Eddie Pulaski shares a name with Pulaski, Tennessee, a community best known for being the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan.
• The surname of crimelord Dimitri in Grand Theft Auto IV, Rascalov, is likely a pun of 'Rascal', meaning a troublemaker. His business partner, Mikhail Faustin, is named after Mikhail Gorbachev, and his surname evokes Faust.
• Grow: Song of The Evertree: The Everkin all have names related to their professions — Elderkin is the village elder, Builderkin is a builder, etc.
• Guilty Gear refers to the main character Sol Badguy, as the only formerly human Gear (a kind of being created through magical alchemy) who still has his human consciousness and morality and therefore still understands guilt and sin, and guilt is what he feels a lot of. Though later games add Dizzy, Sin, the Valentine sisters, Justice/Aria and Ky to that list.
• Gun Witch: The island of Luninsula is an island, a.k.a insula, that looks like a crescent moon, and Luna is a name for the moon. But it's revealed in the cutscene after the final boss, that the magical power of the island waxes and wanes in cycles spanning centuries, like how the moon waxes and wanes in the sky.
• Gylt hides the name of the old man who shows up from time to time, until the game's credits, where his real name is given along with his voice actor. The man who gave you the ticket to ride the cable car to the Dark World and back? Charon. He's also implied to be a ghost.
• In Half-Life 2:
  • One of the highest people in the Resistance is Judith Mossman. The name Judith has a male version: Judas. Guess what she does. However, she then betrays the Combine, subverting this.
  • Eli Vance is effectively the figurehead of the resistance as he is the most gifted of their scientists and therefore one of their greatest weapons against the Combine. Funnily enough, Eli means "God of mine" in Hebrew and Arabic.
  • Doctors Kleiner and Magnusson both fit this trope, as "klein" is German for small and Magnusson's root word is "magnus" which is Latin for "large". Kleiner is very meek and easily intimidated, while Magnusson is very forceful and verbose.
  • Gordon Freeman's name has symbolism that is referenced in-universe - he is repeatedly referred to as "The Free Man" which is funny because, unknown to most, it doubles as an Ironic Nickname as he's G-Man's pawn. On the other hand, he freed an entire race that returned the favor.
  • Related to Half-Life 2, the final revision of a military-themed mod for it, SMOD: Tactical, was version 5.56.
• Halo:
  • The SPARTAN program was so named for the famed ancient Greek warriors of Sparta, both for the connotations of elite warriors capable of fighting against incredible odds, the training they would undergo, and the age of the initially-chosen candidates.
  • The ODSTs of the UNSC have the affectionate nickname of "Helljumpers", for damn good reason, as they literally fall into said hellscape via individual SOEIV drop pods for each ODST. They even have a fitting motto for it which is "Feet first into hell", and in most cases, they're very good at their job, even having a heated rivalry with Spartans over the years no less.
  • The Covenant is so named because it's a theocratic alien empire. The informal names of the various species also fit.
    • The Prophets being the religious and government leaders.
    • The Elites being the cream of the crop of the Covenant armed forces as both military leaders and warriors.
    • The Grunts being mere nigh-endless Cannon Fodder.
    • The Jackals being scavenging mercenaries/pirates/assassins who prefer to avoid direct combat.
    • The Hunters being relentless nigh-unstoppable destroyers once they have a target. Furthermore, they're typically tasked with serving as anti-vehicle platforms — and UNSC vehicles are typically named after animals, making them the hunters after the UNSC's animals.
    • The Drones being a low-level Hive Mind of insectoid creatures.
    • The Brutes being the most barbaric and savage warriors of the Convenant.
    • The Engineers being the main source of technical mastery within the Covenant who are tasked with the most important jobs of maintenance.
  • The Flood being named for its preferred tactic of drowning and overwhelming its enemies not with water, but an endless tide of dead bodies. Additionally, multiple parallels are intentionally made between them and the Biblical Flood from the Book of Genesis.
• The FPS Hexen, published by Ravensoft, had an end-of-game boss called Korax — from corvus corax, the Latin name for the common raven. Another monster (a fire-spitting avian) was called an afrit, though whether there is any connection with the legendary crossword composer Afrit (A. F. Ritchie) is not known. And hexen is German/Old-English for witches.
  • "Afrit" is a variant spelling of "ifreet", a supernatural creature of Arabic origin (similar to a genie). The game also features two-headed monsters called ettins, named after the two-headed giants popularized in Dungeons & Dragons.
• Heretic, the game to which Hexen is a sequel, uses "Corvus" as the name of its main protagonist, though we don't learn this until Heretic II. And you don't get much more blatant than the name of its Big Bad, D'Sparil.
• In Hidden Agenda (1988), "Chimerica is a chimera of a country. Body of El Salvador, neck of Nicaragua, claws of Cuba, head of Haiti, it is a composite of different parts that together form a beast representative of all."
• The Hitman character Diana Burnwood survived a fiery explosion when she was young. She works as a handler and source of information to ICA assassins, and Diana is the name of the Roman goddess of hunters.
• Hollow Knight: The ghost Dr. Chagax is modeled after the kissing bug, blood-sucking true bugs from the Triatominae family known for transmitting Chagas disease. Furthermore, his status as a doctor is a homage to Carlos Chagas, the scientist and sanitarian who identified the kissing bug as the vector of the protozoosis and discovered the causes and characteristics of the parasitic disease (which is why it is named after him).
• Honkai Impact 3rd: Raiden Mei (雷電芽衣). Both 雷電 (raiden) and 雷鳴 (raimei) mean "thunder" in Japanese. The former is also a name of a Japanese god of lightning.
• Hypnospace Outlaw:
  • Adrian and Dylan Merchant are trying to make money with their greedy dotcom innovation of sleeptime computing. "Dylan" has an allusion to Bob Dylan, appropriate for the artier, songwriting brother with a wild mop of hair.
  • Artie Dispenza is arty, but more of a dispenser of content than a proper artist.
• Ikaruga is the name of a type of bird you see in the credits, the Japanese Grosbeak. In fact every ship in the game except the Sword of Acala (itself and the Stone-Like a reference to Vajrayana Buddism) is named after a bird in Japanese.
• In I. M. Meen, the main antagonist, Ignatius Mortimer Meen, has a fitting last name.
• Inazuma Eleven has a ton of these for the story characters. Some examples:
  • Endou Mamoru's full name (円堂 守) is a pun on "endo o mamoru" (エンドを守る), which means "to protect/defend the end" ("end" in the soccer jargon sense here). Being a talented goalkeeper, that's exactly what he does.
  • Kazemaru's surname means "wind circle".
  • Similarly, Toramaru means "tiger circle", a reference to his Animal Battle Aura.
  • Fubuki's surname means "snowstorm".
  • Tsunami's surname (綱海) is a pun on, well, "tsunami" (津波).
  • Megane Kakeru's full name (目金 欠流) is a pun on "to wear glasses" (眼鏡かける, pronounced exactly the same). He's the only member of the team who wears glasses.
  • Tachimukai Yuuki's full name (立向居 勇気) is a pun on "the courage to fight" (立ち向かう勇気, "tachimukau yuuki").
  • Kabeyama's surname means "wall mountain". He's a defender who's built like a sumo wrestler, his signature hissatsu technique is named The Wall, and he later learns another aptly named The Mountain.
  • Fudou's surname means "immobile" or "idle". This may not seem all that meaningful at first, but then he shows up again in the third game and the corresponding FFI arc of the anime, and promptly finds himself stuck as a benchwarmer for so long that some fans started to jokingly ship Fudou x Bench.
  • Demonio Strada's full name consists of the Italian words for "demon" and "road". He's an Italian teen trained by Kageyama to be a stronger and faster carbon copy of Kidou, whose surname also consists of the kanji for "demon" and "road" in Japanese.
• inFAMOUS has Cole pronounced as coal. The villain who will destroy the world is the Beast.
• I Was a Teenage Exocolonist:
  • Every character has an astonishingly apropos name. Some of them go by nicknames that play on other aspects of their personality.
    • Aspartame is named after an artificial sweetener that is much sweeter than normal sucrose, fitting for a kind and caring lady.
    • Dysthymia is named after a form of chronic depression and is the most clear and open case of a depression sufferer among the cast. Dys muses on what an odd thing that is to name a child after, and consequently fears that he was a contributing factor to his mother's suicide.
    • Anemone is named not just after a sea creature, but also a brightly-colored flower, which is sometimes called the "windflower" because its dead petals fly everywhere, appropriate for a spirited young girl who loves playing sportsball.
    • "Basorexia" means "a compulsive desire to kiss". Rex is all about physical affection, is a flirt towards Sol, and enjoys big hugs from them. His nickname is also a Stock Animal Name for dogs and his Bio-Augmentation makes him a Little Bit Beastly dog.
    • Mothers are traditionally considered as the "light" of the family, who enlighten their child with their knowledge of the world, hence Sol's mom is named Fluorescent.
    • An antecedent is something that goes before another item in a series. Auntie Seedent's duties largely include raising the next generation of colonists.
    • "Congruence" means "agreement or harmony; compatibility", and in mathematics, congruent lines are equal in length, fitting for an A.I. who keeps the ship running in order.
    • Marz's dads, who are construction workers, are named Aluminum and Burnish. The former's name is a common construction metal while latter's name means "to polish metal by rubbing".
    • Marzipan is an ingredient that can be used to make elegant-looking sweets. Marz is a homophone to "Mars", both a Roman god of war and a planet that is a popular location for fictional exocolonies.
    • Utopia means "paradise", and her job is to scout for the best places in Vertumna to expand the colony.
    • Tiramisus are among the desserts that are often made to be shared among several people, quite fitting for a mother in a four-person polycule.
    • The commander of the Heliopause goes by "Lum", associated with light. His full name, Baculum, is significantly less flattering, much like the disconnect between his public persona and actual personality. Since "baculum" means "penis bone", and he turns out to be a corrupt governor underneath his charisma, his full name means that he's a dick.
    • Symbiosis means "a mutually beneficial relationship between two different species", and his purpose is to find peace between the humans and the Gardeners by befriending Sol.
  • Lum says in his speech for the 8th Vertumnalia Festival that Vertumna is named after Vertumnus, the Roman god of cultivation, which is why he plans to clear its land for farming.
• In Kentucky Route Zero, the titular Zero is a loop. And the narrative of the game loops in on itself, too.
• The surname "Smith" is related to a word meaning "to hit". In Killer7, the Smiths are assassins, i.e., "hitmen".
• From Kingdom Hearts:
  • The main trio of the first game: Sora, Riku, and Kairi; Sky, land, and sea, respectively, though Sora is the only one that is referenced: "There are many worlds, but they all share the same sky."
  • Moving on to later games, you have Naminé. Nami means wave, while ne can mean either "sound of" in Japanese, or "born from" in French. There's the obvious reference back to Kairi, with the water-related name, but remember: waves are formed by wind moving over water. The joke behind all this? She's Kairi's Nobody, and was created when Sora freed Kairi's heart from his body.
  • Then there's the Organization, who're all pretty simple to figure out; they're Significant Anagrams of their original selves' names with an ''X'' added in.
  • Although not an organization member in the same sense, Xehanort's name produces a few meaningful anagrams if the X is removed. There are dozens of these, but developer Tetsuya Nomura has noted the significance of the following ones:
    • "No Heart" signifies his evil nature and the fact that he willingly gave up his heart to become a nobody. There's also a boss called "No Heart" who is made up of Xehanort's keyblade armor.
    • "No Earth" signifies his plans to obliterate all the worlds, and also his defeat of Terra.
    • "Another" signifies the nature of Xehanort as heartless and nobody. Unbeknownst to the trio at that point, Xemnas is not a brand new threat, but instead "another" of their old enemy, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness — or more accurately, both are aspects of Xehanort.
    • The 'X' itself having a meaning: It signifies Xehanort's obsession with the χ-Blade, the memories present within Xemnas, his Nobody.
  • Then there's Xion, whose name is loaded with double meanings. There's the first (phonetic) part of her name, shio, which means tide, and is another call back to Kairi. This is a Red Herring: she's not connected to Kairi like Naminé is, but rather she's an imperfect copy of Sora's memories and therefore takes on Kairi's form. Then there's the references to scion, meaning heir, as well as her original name: No. i. As in the imaginary number. There's also the fact that "Shion" is the Japanese name of a flower that stands for "I won't forget you", ironically referencing the fact that after her death everyone forgot about her existence. Xigbar makes note of the No. i name in III Re:Mind.
    Xigbar: No. i... An imaginary number. How fitting.
  • Birth By Sleep gave us Terra, Ventus, and Aqua, who have the "land, sky, sea" Theme Naming going on again, only this time in Latin instead of Japanese. Not only do their Command Styles, Keyblades and attacks reflect their namesakes, but their stories also reflect Sora, Riku and Kairi's in some ways. Terra is the eldest, and like Riku, is struggling with his inner darkness. He also winds up body-snatched by Master Xehanort, and eventually becomes the person whose Heartless would take over Riku. He also bequeathed to a young Riku the power of the Keyblade. Ven is the chipper, upbeat cute little boy whose friends mean everything to him. He later fights his literal darkside at the end of game, much like Roxas and Sora did at the beginning of KH1 and KH2. His heart is also linked to Sora, and has been ever since Sora was very, very young. Said heart slept within Sora for years, and gave Roxas, Sora's Nobody, Ven's face and voice. Aqua is the level-headed of the two and often helps hold the trio together. She finished the game lost in the Realm of Darkness; the same one that Kairi's letter helped Sora and Riku out of at the end of KH2. Aqua is also the only one of Birth by Sleep's Power Trio who met little Kairi, and inadvertently gave Kairi the power of the Keyblade.
  • Finally, there's Vanitas, whose name is similar to Ven's and means emptiness in Latin. He's Ven's Enemy Without. Also, the kanji used to spell sky and ''emptiness' are the same, and Vanitas has Sora's appearance and voice, plus Paint It Black and gold eyes. The word "Vanitas" also refers to a genre in renaissance art that juxtaposes symbols of life with symbols of death, much like the dichotomy between Ventus and Vanitas.
  • The Heartless were named so by the scientists studying them because they act on pure instinct without any emotion.
• The King of Fighters:
  • Series protagonist Kyo Kusanagi's surname is the same as that of the sword which is mythologically said to have been found inside the corpse of Orochi. Guess what Kyo does to Orochi at the end of '97.
  • Iori Yagami's surname means "night god" - a perfect fit for a dark, brooding anti-hero associated with the moon.
  • A far more darker example comes in Yashiro Nanakase's surname, which means "Shrine of the Seven Shackles". The "seven shackles" refer to the slain sisters of Kushinada-hime, which Yashiro, as an Orochi cultist, would've had a hand in committing.
  • Cryokinetic Kula Diamond has her first name be a pun on "cooler".
  • Ash Crimson is almost never seen without wearing a striking red outfit.
  • Elisabeth Blanctorche's surname roughly translates in French to "white torch". Elisabeth also has the ability to manipulate light.
  • Krohnen McDougall's first name gives a blatant hint as to who he truly is - "Roh" is a reading for the kanji of "four", and "Nen" of "nine" respectively. Put them together and you get Kay Four-Nine... more properly spelt as K9999.
• In King's Ascent, Alabaster the sorceress has pale white skin.
• Knight Bewitched 2: Hermes has the name of the Greek trickster god, which is odd for someone who comes across as a mild-mannered cleric. It turns out he's The Mole for Lissandra and is manipulating both sides so he can use the Vulcan Stone to free Lissandra from Zamas's influence.
• Knights of the Old Republic has several.
  • Darth Malak, a double Bilingual Bonus, as "Malak" is both Arabic for "angel", while he might be considered a fallen one, and also more obviously Latin for "jawbone", which he no longer has, instead wearing an artificial one that makes him sound like Vader. Then there's Darth Revan, whose name has been stated to come from "revanche", which fits the character; however, it also bears a suspicious resemblance to "Revenant", a spirit that comes Back from the Dead — as he more or less has.
  • The 2nd game has several, too. Darth Nihilus is an Omnicidal Maniac poised to devour all life in the galaxy - "nihil" is Latin for "nothing". Atton Rand is a dual reference to Ayn Rand (he has a similar Darwinist outlook) and to his current role as The Atoner (which counts in-character, too, as it's an assumed name).
  • Darth Sion's name is a phonetic respelling of "scion," which is an heir or descendant. His entire character arc involves his pent-up rage and self-loathing from being trapped under his mentor's control (directly or indirectly).
• Laura Bow's titular protagonist (pronounced like the weapon) is an amateur detective who "hunts" down criminals.
• In The Legend of Zelda:
  • Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that Zelda was named after famous jazz singer and wife of F. Scott, Zelda Fitzgerald. Though probably unintentional, since it does only apply in certain installments from The Wind Waker onwards, "Zelda" can also mean "She-Warrior". Finally, the full version of the name Zelda is Griselda, which means "gray-haired woman".
  • Link's name is a reference to him being the player's "link" to the video game world. In a nice little coincidence, "links" is also the German word for "left", and Link was made left-handed after Shigeru Miyamoto.
  • The recurring ghostly enemies known as Poes are quite a homage to horror writer Edgar Allan Poe.
  • Zelda II: The Adventure of Link: Magos are spell-slinging enemies remelting the classic Wicked Witch. "Mago" means "wizard" in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past:
    • The wise hermit and hint-giver 'Sahasrara' is named after the crown chakra in tantric yoga, representative of pure consciousness.
    • Arrghus. In English, Italian, Spanish, and German, the name is a reference to the Titan who guarded Io in Classical Mythology. Its French name (Méduso) is in reference to its jellyfish-like appearance (the fourth stage of its lifecycle is called "the medusa"). The Japanese name (Wart) is more of a punny name, since the Arrgi cover it like zits (this name later replaced Arrghus when the monster returned in Majora's Mask).
  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time:
    • In a Shout-Out to Shakespeare, there's Ingo. Ingo is jealous of Talon's success; Shakespeare's Iago coined the term "Green-Eyed Monster".
    • Rauru, the Sage of Light, has name similar to "aura". In fact, in Twilight Princess there is a character named Auru who bears a resemblance.
  • There's also the land of Termina in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, named after the word referring to the public places where people come and go in the midst of travels (terminals). This fits Termina's touristic nature, as it hosts the Carnival of Time once a year.
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker's Tetra means "Four". Not counting the sleeping princess from The Adventure of Link, she is chronologically the fourth individual Princess Zelda. Also, she is apparently able to cast a spell that emulates the power of the Four Sword, as shown in the Japan and Korea-Exclusive Spin-off game Navi Trackers. Then, there's the fact that the early depictions of the Triforce-pieces were Tetrahedrons. A tetra is also a type of fish; given that the game she was introduced in took place almost entirely on the ocean, this could also be a likely name origin, though tetras are exclusively freshwater fish.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, the cobbler who sleeps a lot is named Rem (as in, REM sleep). The Minish who lives in the library is named, creatively, Librari.
  • Midna (phonetically based on midnight) of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, who's obviously associated with darkness and shadow (but is a deuteragonist).
  • The meaning of Ghirahim's name from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is twofold: It comes from Ghayra (an Arabic word referring to a person disliking that another shares a right or goal with them, in this case the search for the Gate of Time in order to reach Zelda) and Ghira (a Sanskrit word that refers to one being "the terrible", as in fearsome). The last syllable (-him) provides an analogy with the name of Aghanim from A Link to the Past, as both villains serve as Big Bads but serve a Greater-Scope Villain (Ganon and Demise respectively).
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds: Yuga (油画) is Japanese for "oil painting", while yūga (優雅) is Japanese for "elegance", perfectly reflecting his abilities and his obsession with beauty. But there is another meaning to it, when you read the name with Hinduism in mind. In this case Lorule can be seen as a universe, which is in its last epoch, the Kali Yuga, as it is headed to its imminent destruction. In addition, almost all Loruleans have lost their virtues, which is also a marking for the last era of the cycle, as humanity starts absolutely virtuous in the first era and declines through the four Yuga ages to a World Half Empty, which is destroyed at the end. After the Kali Yuga has passed, the universe will be created anew in a new Yuga cycle.
  • Link's Fairy Companion in Hyrule Warriors, who does all the talking for him, is named Proxi.
  • Sonia in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a very wise queen who used to be a priestess. Sonia means "wisdom".
• LEGO Legends of Chima Online: Rheekon the Rhinoceros's main role in the plot is to perform reconnaissance for the player.
• Lightning Legend: Daigo no Daibouken is rife with these:
  • The titular hero, Daigo, has "Raioh" as a first name: it means "King of Lightning" in Japanese.
  • Yuki Shirogane, a girl with snow-based magic powers, has her name meaning "Silver(-coloured) Snow" in Japanese.
  • Rankerk Hatred, who's the game's Jerkass-ish Anti-Hero.
  • Terrific Forelock, who sports a very long hair forelock.
  • Misa Atago, whose name, written in Japanese kanji, can be translated as "Bawling for love". Her storyline revolves about her making a trip to forget about her break-up with her boyfriend, and actively searching for a new love.
  • Adolf, the masked Hero of Justice, has for a first name "Rätsel", which means "Riddle" in German.
  • Hiroo Shirogane, the big and bulky champion of the game's All There in the Manual national fighting tournament, has its name "Hiroo" meaning "Big Man" if read with its Japanese kanji.
  • Disguiser, a creature working as the game's Ditto Fighter.
• Like a Dragon:
  • It would make perfect sense for main character Kazuma Kiryu, known as "the Dragon of Dojima", to spell his name with the kanji for "great dragon" (which is the most common way to spell "Kiryu"). However, this Kiryu uses a very obscure reading of an archaic kanji meaning "life" instead.
  • Ichiban Kasuga's name can be read as the sentence "kasu ga ichiban", roughly meaning "lowlife into number one", which alludes to his character arc being a loser who slowly rises up and becomes a hero, as is also symbolized by his tattoo and general Legendary Carp themes. The game's theme song, Ichiban-ka, includes the lyric "kasu ga ichiban toru gekokujou", literally meaning "a revolution where the lowlife becomes number one" while making a pun with Ichiban's complete name.
  • Akiyama's first name, "Shun", has various connotations of "speedy" or "a fast person", and his combat style makes him the series' resident speedster.
  • "Masayoshi" means "justice" in Japanese. While at first blush seeming to be an ironic name for Tanimura, given that he's a Dirty Cop, he does genuinely work to protect the people of Kamurocho, and his plotline in 4 has him following the case through to the very end in the name of finding justice for his father. Tanimura also has a unique skill, "Bodhisattva Spirit", that refers to a Buddhist figure who seeks enlightenment while also being driven by their endless compassion to save others. This symbolizes both his pursuit of his father's killer and his dedication towards helping the residents of his community, Little Asia.
  • Akira Nishikiyama's (usually nicknamed "Nishiki") last name starts with the same syllables as "nishikigoi", or brocaded carp. The carp is also Nishiki's Animal Motif, referencing the myth of the Legendary Carp and Nishiki's futile and tragic quest to become Kiryu's equal.
  • Ryuji Goda is a rival of Kiryu's, actually does spell his name with the kanji for "dragon", and has a strong dragon motif. Ryuji also leads the Go-Ryu clan, another use of the kanji for "dragon".
  • Lily, one of Akiyama's clients in Yakuza 4 shares a name with the flowers traditionally used for Western funerals. Does this foreshadow her status as the killer stalking Kamurocho, her death at the hands of Arai, or both?
  • The Amon clan has various members with names that relate to their position within it. The three apprentices introduced in 2 are Kazuya ("kazu" = "one"), Jiro ("ji" = "second"), and Sango ("san" = "three"). There's also Shin, whose name means "new", who's The Baby of the Bunch and only shows up after Kiryu's tenure as protagonist.
  • The orphanage that Kiryu runs is called Morning Glory, or "Asagao", named after a Japanese flower. Kiryu gave it the name based on the orphanage he was raised in, "Sunflower".
  • "Survive" is a bar in Yakuza: Like a Dragon that serves as one of the main hideouts for Ichiban and his party. The name is appropriate given that its owner is heavily implied to be Kashiwagi, who was supposedly killed in a previous Yakuza title.
• Kliche from Linear RPG is one of the many names. Given that it's a parody of RPGs this is to be expected.
• Little King's Story:
  • Verde means "green". Not only is green the main color of her outfit, but she's also the first to display jealousy over your princesses.
  • One meaning of Shizuka is "calm". Ironically, she's from the Worrywart Kingdom.
• The bosses of all of the chapters of Live A Live except Oersted's all have similar names for a reason. They are all more or less incarnations of the Big Bad Odio, Lord of Dark throughout the past, present, and future. Odio in Spanish means "I Hate"; indeed, all of the bosses embody hatred in their own way.
• In Lucys Expedition, the title character's rival is named Nigel Gneaugood.
• The Sinistrals in the Lufia series. Likely based on "sinister," but the word sinistral itself means left-handed.
• Luxaren Allure: One of the guards of Erdengard is named Garrison, a type of defended fortification.

M-S

• Mad Rat Dead: Mad Rat is a very angry and temperamental rat. He's also being brainwashed into insanity by the Rat God.
• The Maid of Fairewell Heights: Fasha the Fashionista, and Artie the Artist.
• From Mass Effect:
  • Legion, A mechanical teammate, he makes it very clear that you are never addressing one person; at any time, that body is being accessed by hundreds of different individual A.I.s, making his insistence to refer to himself as "we" very, very appropriate. Legion gets his name after he reveals that he is realy 1,183 individual Geth, prompting the Bible Quote to be said. He agrees the metaphor is appropriate.
  • Miranda is apparently a derivation of a Latin term meaning "admirable", and given her history it is entirely possible that is intentional. Also, her original last name (before they cast an Australian to voice her) was "Solheim", meaning "Sun home", which probably had something to do with the fact that she is the only major character, except for Commander Shepard, who is from Earth. Her current last name is either a reference to Henry Lawson (which, incidentally, is her father's name) one of Australia's best and most well-known writers; or to William Lawson, one of the trio of explorers who discovered a route through the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, and who subsequently become one of the largest landowners in the country as well as the commander of the Bathurst settlement and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.
  • "Reaper" is a disturbingly appropriate name for the Big Bads. The first game reveals that they "sow" organic life along the lines drawn by their mass relay network, and then "reap" them through an organized series of mass extinction events every 5,000 years. The second game even shows the "reaping": they liquefy entire sentient species to provide the raw material needed to create new Reapers.
  • Shepard is probably so obvious that it doesn't even warrant a mention. Especially since in Mass Effect 2 the whole Jesus-thing is made really obvious when they're not only resurrected, but resurrected because Shepard is humanity's only hope... and you recruit a team of twelve people. Shepard also shares a name with Rear Admiral Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr., the first American in space. Word of God is the name was deliberately chosen as a reference to Rear Admiral Shepard.
    • Invoked in 3, where if the Genophage is cured and Wrex is the leader of the Krogan, he vows that from that day forth, the name Shepard will mean "Hero" in the Krogan language, which this trope will be played absolutely straight if you are truly sincere of curing the genophage. If you do, then Shepard will be the hero who saved the krogan race as a whole.
  • In order to infiltrate Hock's party, Kasumi creates for Shepard a fake history as a mercenary and the alias "Solomon/Allison Gunn", depending on their gender. Interesting enough, Solomon and Allison mean "Peace" and "Noble" respectively, while the surname Gunn means "Battle". Overall, rather appropriate for a mercenary. Plus, more literally, Shepard shoots a lot of guns.
  • In Arabic, the anglicized name Samara translates as 'guardian', making it an appropriate name for an Asari Justicar.
  • Urdnot Wrex. He’s a rex (Latin for "king"), assuming he survives the game.
  • "Kasumi" means "mist" in Japanese, while "goto" means "robber". So Kasumi's name translates to "mist robber", as befitting for a Phantom Thief.
  • Grunt specifically chooses the name "Grunt" himself when he's born because it doesn't have a greater meaning. In the beginning, he is without any purpose other than fighting, which he admittedly loves to do. He's also looked down upon by other krogan due to his manner of birth and he has to endure a lot to gain their respect.
  • The Protheans are the species everyone looks to as Precursors, the ones who built the mass relay system and created the Citadel. They're not — they just found the leavings of the Reapers, but they still managed to Fling a Light into the Future for the species that would come after. Take both those facts, and strike a few letters from "Promethean".
  • The Normandy is named after the Normandy landings, one of the most pivotal battles of the Second World War and the largest amphibious assault of its time. Rather fitting for a vessel meant to rapidly deploy marines into dangerous combat zones. Also, the Battle of Normandy was notable for the misdirection and disinformation applied beforehand to conceal the landing site, and for being a successful multinational operation between one-time rivals. This fits the SR-1, as it is a joint human-Turian stealth warship. The multinational part is less relevant for SR-2, given that it was made by Cerberus, a human supremacist group, though it will still have a number of non-human crew members, and in 3 becomes a neutral meeting ground for a number of species with...tense relations between each other.
  • One quest in Mass Effect 3 involves getting the merc group Eclipse on your side by releasing their sadistic, psychotic and generally crazy founder. If you don't feel comfortable releasing her into the wild, you can go talk to her second and convince him to take over himself. The second's name is Sayn, indicating he's the saner alternative.
• In The Matrix: Path of Neo there's a shop that's named "Redpill Herbal Remedies", obviously named after Red Pill, Blue Pill, and the herbalist who runs the shop later gets freed from the Matrix.
• In Meat Boy series, Meat Boy who's made out of meat, Bandage Girl, Dr. Fetus and Brownie.
• Several examples in Mega Man:
  • Mega Man (Classic);
    • Gemini Man, named after the constellation of the twins can create copies of himself, and has armor styled like a mirror.
    • Cutman has a large pair of shears on his head, and is the first Robot Master to use a "cutter" class of weapons.
  • Dr. Vile (Dr.バイル, Dokutā Bairu, localized as Weil), Big Bad of the Mega Man Zero series. Very accurate...
  • Zero himself, once Weil brings the Laws of Robotics into play while ignoring the fact that forcing Zero into inactivity would be a violation of the Zeroeth Law.
  • Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet that means "the end" and is also for all intents and purposes a mechanical Beast of the Apocalypse. Even more fitting considering the fact that Zero is often represented with a "Z", the last letter of the Latin alphabet, and Omega is in fact Zero's real body reprogrammed.
  • The name "X" in Mega Man X represents infinite possibilities displayed by the titular hero, as Dr. Light has described him. He even has a theme song named Variable X. The letter X also meant great danger, as Dr. Light pointed out in his concerns about X breaking the First Law of Robotics (robots cannot harm humans), hence his keeping X inside a diagnostics capsule to be left undisturbed until it could be determined that he was safe to release.
  • Bud Bison and Damian Wolfe from Mega Man Starforce. Their EM forms are the animals of their respective last names. Then, the guy who believes that only weak people form groups and does everything alone is named Solo.
  • Double from Mega Man X4 takes it up to eleven, being a double-sized Double Agent, with two forms (one of which is double the height of the other) and two personalities, and being weak to Double Cyclone.
  • In the english version of the games, Vava is renamed as Vile. Vile is, to put it midly, a petty, spiteful, violent sociopath who in every game he appears works as a henchman of the Big Bad to satisfy his lust for destruction, he is indeed a very vile robot.
• Mega Man Battle Network:
  • Lan Hikari (光熱斗 Hikari Netto) after "LAN" and "net".
  • Rockman.EXE after "rock" as in "rock n' roll"; Hub Hikari (光彩斗 Hikari Saito) after "hub" and "site".
  • Mayl Sakurai after "email" (simply "mail" in Japanese, since there's already a word for "snail mail", tegami).
  • Roll.EXE after "roll" as in "rock n' roll".
  • Blues.EXE after "blues".
• The Metal Gear series deserves mention here:
  • A reiteration of the "hunter" example in the description — Metal Gear Solid's Gray Fox's real name is Frank Jaeger — shameless hunter. And he's a fox. Geddit?
  • If you're German or you're fluent in German, you pretty soon get the hint that there might be a connection between Frank Jaeger and Naomi Hunter, as their family names mean exactly the same thing.
  • "Naomi" itself is a name in both Japanese and English (by way of Hebrew), and since Naomi's cover story was that she was half Japanese, this makes sense. Also, Project MKNAOMI was the name of a CIA program about using viruses as weapons, giving a big hint to her role in the plot as well as continuing the military Theme Naming of many of the characters.
  • And the rest. Campbell beats us over the head with it in the first game in case we don't get it: "Psycho Mantis, with his powerful psychic abilities; Sniper Wolf, a beautiful and deadly sharpshooter; Revolver Ocelot, expert in interrogation and a formidable gunfighter". He's called revolver and he's a gunfighter? Seriously, Roy? It's a good thing you're around to tell us these things.
  • Metal Gear Solid 2 starts off with a Dave, being backed-up by a Hal, aboard a ship called the Discovery, using a computer called, if you're good at reading machine code, Monorith. Then, when the ship sinks, we're introduced to a young couple named Jack and Rose. If it wasn't movies it would be symbolic, or something.
  • Vamp appears to be a subversion... at first. Raiden asks if it comes from his fangs and tendency to drink blood (which he has), and Snake answers: "No, it's because he's bisexual." This is not a subversion, however, because that's what the term "vamp" originally meant.
  • Fatman is grossly overweight, but his codename is also the codename of the Nagasaki Bomb.
  • "Iroquois Pliskin" shares the surname of another famous Plisken, which further gives the player a hint as to his true identity.(Also "Iroquois" means "rattlesnake" in Algonquin Indian, the civilisation that used to colonise Manhattan, where Metal Gear Solid 2 takes place.)
  • The single greatest one in the series, though, has to be Ivan Raidenovich Raikov, which has several layers of meaning thanks to a clever trilingual pun. "Ivan" is the Russian equivalent of John, which is also the main character's real name, because the main character must disguise themselves as Raikov. "Raidenovich", when written in katakana, could also be read "Raiden no bitch", which translates to "Thunderbolt's bitch", Thunderbolt being the nickname of Volgin, his lover. In Russian, the name means "son of Raiden", the character being a Discontinuity Nod towards the Replacement Scrappy of the same name. As for "Raikov", it's the surname of a notable anti-gay protester in Russia, just to add that final sting of irony. Also, the English version of John is Jack, as in Raiden's name.
  • Otacon actually lampshades his own Meaningful Name, Hal Emmerich, in an optional conversation in Metal Gear Solid. He complains that he's always hated his real name growing up, because "I'm not a computer, I'm a person!". He seems to enjoy the 'computer' role a little more once Snake reveals that his real name is David.
    • Otacon's code-name not only is meaningful due to his Otaku nature, it's also possibly an allusion to his backstory: It's two letters off from shotacon. He's a statutory rape victim.
    • He shares the surname Emmerich with a director notorious for making movies in which America gets graphically destroyed. This is appropriate, since Otacon's entire family are 'cursed' to make civilian-slaughtering weapons, with Otacon creating Metal Gear REX, a tank seized by terrorists in order to destroy America.
    • And "Hal" means "leader of armies." One Man Armies, maybe.
  • Solid Snake's real name, David, is a Shout-Out not only to 2001: A Space Odyssey, but also to Hideo Kojima's previous work Policenauts. Meryl Silverburgh's partner was also named "Dave" and she addresses Snake as such in her ending. David is also the first name of Solid Snake's voice actor, but this has been explained to be a coincidence (since the name was already decided before Hayter was cast).
    • Also he's known for destroying the Goliath-like Metal Gears.
  • EVA more or less spells her codename's meaning out for us, in case we didn't know, and it foreshadowed what we found out in Guns of the Patriots.
  • And then there's EVA's co-conspirator in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots: Adam.
  • In Peace Walker, Kazuhira (nickname "Kaz") and Paz both have names meaning "peace" which sound the same, with Vladimir, Kaz's director and Paz's teacher, having the name "ruler of peace". When Paz and Vladimir's plans are revealed, this provides a pretty big clue towards Kaz's real motivation (at first). Pacifica Ocean, a Russian spy and MSF's nemesis, gets her name from the way the logo of MSF looks like Pangaea — Pangaea was surrounded by the Pacific Ocean — as well as from the body of water that divides Russia and America. Pacific also means 'peaceful'.
  • "Big Mama". It's a playful phrase, as well as an obvious Distaff Counterpart of "Big Boss", and its literal meaning is obvious (since Big Mama gave birth to Big Boss's children). However, "Big Mama" is also a Chinese term for an internet censor, internet censorship having been the goal of The Patriots in Metal Gear Solid 2, providing an indication as to what organisation she works for (or rather, formerly worked for).
  • "Big Boss" managed to have a Meaningful Name way back in the first and almost story-less Metal Gear. It's a cute nickname people give to the director of their company, which makes sense since he's in charge of FOX-HOUND. It's also a cute nickname given to a video game Final Boss. In Metal Gear Solid 3, this was revealed to be a title he received upon killing The Boss, who was the game's most powerful character that the entire story focused on the eventual killing of — The Boss of the game, if you will.
  • Raiden's real name is Jack, or at least that's what's given to him. During World War II, Jack was the codename for the Japanese plane "Raiden". Solidus Snake tells Raiden the reason behind his name in order to Mind Screw him and remind him that he's nothing more than a weapon. It gets another meaning Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance as Jack adds "The Ripper" to his name upon embracing his Ax-Crazy side.
  • A much more straightforward example in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is Steven Armstrong, the only boss in the game who fights primarily with his own bare hands due to possessing nanomachine-enhanced strength.
  • Metal Gear Ac!d:
    • Some allusions are in the form of fairy-tale symbolism - characters named Alice (as in an Alice Allusion) and Snake's Jekyll & Hyde persona Hans Davis (as in Hans Christian Anderson), seem virtually unrelated, until it is revealed that Hans is an artificial personality Alice is constructing in Snake for her own uses, and both Alice and Hans were involved in the "Pied Piper of Hamelin" incident. "Hans" is also a partial Sdrawkcab Name of "Snake" (an H and a K having a similarish shape) and "Davis" has an obvious link to Snake's in-canon real name "David".
    • The shadowy war-profiteering organisation behind the scenes of the events is called BEAGLE. A beagle is a breed of dog that resembles a small foxhound (FOXHOUND being Big Boss's war-profiteering organisation in Metal Gear).
    • Snake points out the significance to Leone's name in his death scene — "a true lion".
  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain:
    • The character only known as Quiet is The Voiceless.
    • Code Talker's title is a reference to his role in encoding language recognition into the vocal cord parasites, and to the Native Americans who were employed by the U.S. Military during the World Wars to help transmit coded messages.
• Metroid:
  • "Metroid" is a Chozo name meaning "Ultimate Warrior." Applying this to most of the games is iffy since, though repeatedly stated to be incredibly effective bioweapons, they are also almost always portrayed as monsters and antagonists. It becomes a very Meaningful Name, though, in Metroid Fusion: thanks to a vaccine made from Metroid DNA, Samus Aran becomes part-Metroid. The same Samus Aran who regularly blows up planets and wipes out Space Pirate armies single-handedly.
  • Also, the name "Samus" can be interpreted as a feminine form of the name "Seamus," a Celtic name meaning "he (or in this case, she) who supplants (ousts, beats, decimates, etc.)." Fitting, since Samus outs the Space Pirates. Multiple times. In addition, her last name, Aran, can be traced back to a word meaning "island" or isloated area — exactly what the Pirate Fortrees of Zebes is —therefore, the name Samus Aran means "she who supplants an island."
  • Ridley is named after Ridley Scott, signifying the close link the games have with the Alien franchise.
• Mother 3:
  • The game has the villain Fassad, called Yokuba in the Japanese. Yokuba comes from the Japanese word Yokubari, which means greed. The fan translation named him Fassad, to make a similar pun, as "Facade" means a false appearance, and in Arabic, "Fassad" means "Corruption". All of which point to Fassad's nature as a corruptive force on Tazmily, and the kind face he puts up to trick Tazmily. Going even further, Fassad has a secret identity, and a name to go along with it: Locria, the missing Magypsie. All the Magypsies have names based on the musical modes. Out of the musical modes, the Locrian mode has a tritone as its tonic code, instead of a perfect fifth like all the others. Historically, the trintone has been associated with evil and the devil.
  • Assuming that buildings and the like count, the English fan translation of Mother 3 also refers to the game's "Highway Parking" restaurant as the "Dur-T Cafe"; surely enough, said restaurant is even more of a dump than the literal dump that it was built right next to. "Please don't come back here. You'll kick up the mold spores."
• The final boss theme from Mushihime Sama is named "Cry! Scream!" and trust me, you will.
• One of the regular customers in My Cafe is a police officer named Watson Holmes. He lampshades this, saying that, given his name, his subsequent career of crime-fighting is all but inevitable.
• Never Gives Up Her Dead: Emrys's first name is French for "eternal" and her surname is Welsh for "weaver"; the game revolves around her legacy and she works as a Storyweaver.
• Safiya, one of your primary allies in Neverwinter Nights 2 Mask of the Betrayer, bears an Arabic name translating as "Pure." Given that she is the fragment of Nefris that contained all the traits that Akachi loved best and is the only one of the three fragments who had no knowledge of who she was or memories of that which came before, it is rather apt.
• The city-state of Laurentia in Nexus Clash became independent from a broader state called the Hamartican Federation. Guess what happened to it.
• NieR: Automata:
  • As Yahtzee pointed out, is about existentialism. The main character's name is 2B.
    Yahtzee: As in "2B or not 2B", you see, it's not just a kind of pencil.
  • Also pointed out in the Honest Game Trailer for the game:
    Epic Voice Guy: 2B or not 2OHHH... I get it.
  • Third Act protagonist A2 as well, as in 'Et Tu, Brute?'. Fitting, seeing as she is the one who kills 2B, her friend.
• No More Heroes's nearly-Villain Protagonist Travis Touchdown (Travis T.). Plus Letz Shake, the creator of a huge earthquake machine; Shinobu (the female form of shinobi), a samurai-themed assassin; Henry Cooldown Travis' cooler-dispositioned long lost twin brother; Count Townsend, aka Death Metal (a British rocker a la Pete Townshend); and Naomi, who is quite possibly a reference to Metal Gear Solid's Naomi Hunter. Also, Travis' name as written/pronounced in Japanese is Torabisu, and "tora" means "tiger." He has copious tiger imagery, the man he thought of as an equal rival in the second game is named Ryuji (Thunder Dragon, a reference to tiger/dragon symbolism), and he can even turn into a tiger as one of his Dark Side powers in the second game.
• In No Umbrellas Allowed, the country of Mindlesia has five out of six of its cities affected by Fixerain. The nation then truly lives up to its name if AVAC's Fixerain Project resumes in Ajik City.
• Octopath Traveler:
  • The title itself: Octo means eight. Eight travelers. Eight paths. Likewise, the names and starting positions (beginning with Ophilia and going clockwise) of the eight main characters are arranged so that their initials spell "OCTOPATH."
  • Alfyn Greengrass — green grass. Not only reflects his status as an apothecary that mixes herbs together for cures, but also relates to his kind nature.
  • Primrose Azelhart — Azel heart. In The Bible, Azel was the descendant of a king, much like Primrose is of noble blood.
• In Odin Sphere, there's a ring called Titrel that plays a huge role in the plot. One of the protagonist's names, Gwendolyn, means "blessed ring". Her sister (who falls in battle at the very beginning) is named Griselda, and her name means "dark battle". There's a mountain called Horn Mountain in the game. Another protagonist's name (Cornelius) means "horn".
• A complex example in Osmos. Osmos is meant to be short for Osmosis, the natural flow of water from the areas of high liquid concentration to areas of low liquid concentration. However, the gameplay is the opposite, as larger cells will fully absorb smaller ones. The only way it makes sense is if the largest cells are also areas of high solute concentration, which would then make water flow towards them. Even then, though, the smaller cells shouldn't be drained completely, but only until the concentration gradient is even. In short, don't think too hard about it.
• Otomedius features the gunship Big Core DX. In combat, the Big Core DX deploys up to six game-breaking Options that cannot be destroyed, and quickly fills the screen with death. Therefore, the 'DX' is the face you make.
• Overwatch:
  • Genji is named after the protagonist of The Tale of Genji, who similarly was a hedonist who suffered a great downfall.
  • Hanzo's given name is shared with Hattori Hanzō, a Warring States-era samurai who is commonly depicted in popular fiction as a ninja.
  • Sombra is spanish for "Shadow", befitting her role as a sneaky saboteur.
  • Widowmaker is so-named because her first target as a Talon sniper was her own husband.
  • D.Va's given name, Hana, is Korean for "one". She is the world's number-one Starcraft 2 player.
  • Doomfist's real name is Akande Ogundimu. "Akande" is a Yoruba name meaning "firstborn", "Ogun" is the Yoruba god of war and iron, and "Dimu" means "grasp". Put together, the name can be translated into "heir to the god grasping war and iron", a fitting name for the successor of the Doomfist legacy.
  • Both Cassidy's alias and actual name fit this: the alias's first part came from infamous American outlaw Jesse James and the second from cowboy-themed light gun shooter Mad Dog McCree (although both combined led to a Tuckerization of a disgraced ex-Blizzard employee that necessiated it being disavowed as an alias in the first place.) His real name, on the other hand, has the given name reference Cole Younger, an associate of the aforementioned Jesse James, and his surname is that of Butch Cassidy, known for his dynamic with fellow outlaw the Sundance Kid.
• Paleo Pines: Avery sounds like "aviary", a place where birds are kept, and he has a lot of bird-like dinosaurs.
• Some of the fairies from Panel de Pon: Lip (as in "tulip") the flower fairy, Windy the wind fairy, Sharbet ("shard" and "sherbet") the ice fairy, Ruby the jewel fairy, Flare the fire fairy, Neris the mermaid, and Seren (as in "serenity") the Sailor Moon Expy.
• Papa Louie Arcade:
  • The given name Olivia is roughly based on a Latin word oliva, meaning "olive". The character Olivia is known as the resident olive fan of the series, ordering them whenever available. It's even to the point where her main costume is olive-inspired, complete with a headband that has olives dangling from it.
  • Some customers from the series have color-inspired names, and their costumes will be littered with colors that match the character's names. Such examples include Indigo, Sienna (the resident autumn lover), and Scarlett (the resident Valentine's Day fan).
• Something of a cross between a Punny Name and a meaningful one, the main characters of The Path, which is based on Little Red Riding Hood, are six sisters from the family Red. Their first names are Scarlet, Carmen (i.e. carmine), Ruby, Ginger, Rose, and Robin. Red things.
• Persona:
  • Takahisa Kandori of the first Persona aspires to nothing short of godhood only to find it's Lonely at the Top. His surname can be translated as "god-taker", or more fancifully, "usurper of gods".
  • In Persona 3, there is Ryoji Mochizuki, whose family name is written with characters meaning "aspire to/expect/desire" and "moon". Shuji Ikutsuki's family name can be read roughly as "toward the moon". Both of these names are very relevant to the plot. Shinjiro Aragaki's surname is written with characters meaning "rough" or "rude" and "wall". Aigis's name is derived from "Aegis," the mythological shield, and she is motivated by a strong desire to protect the protagonist.
  • Persona 4 has Yukiko Amagi. While fighting your way through her dungeon to save her, her inner thoughts explain that the kanji for her name means "snow child", and that snow is fleeting and without any purpose or use, much like how she thinks of herself. Also, Naoto's name means "truthful person", a fitting name for someone seeking the truth. It's also a unigender name most often given to boys, which helps to conceal the face that "he" is really a girl.
  • Labrys from Persona 4: Arena shares her name with her signature weapon, a giant symmetrical double-headed axe.
  • Persona 5: Royal has the new Phantom Thief, Kasumi Yoshizawa, who takes the codename of "Violet" in the Metaverse. This hints at her true identity: that she is NOT Kasumi Yoshizawa, but her surviving twin sister Sumire Yoshizawa — "Sumire" being the Japanese word for Viola mandshurica, a type of violet flower.
• Planescape: Torment is littered with these.
  • Ignus, an obvious cognate of "ignite" is a Pyromaniac sorcerer with a direct link to the Elemental Plane of Fire.
  • Morte, or "death", is a skull.
  • Coaxmetal is a metal golem, who is also a weaponsmith, i.e. he "coaxes" metal into useful shapes.
  • Fall-from-Grace is more ironic, but she is a tanar'ri who rejected the evil ways of her people and is now an atheist cleric. She has fallen from grace among her people, but her people were damned to begin with.
  • Ingress, or "opening", is a half-mad planeswalker with a crippling phobia of openings. Seeing as any enclosed space in Sigil can be a portal to somewhere else, and there is no knowing where a portal will lead or what will cause it to open... she may be the sanest character in there.
  • Ecco (echo) is a mute prostitute in the Brothel for the Slaking of Intellectual Lusts, referencing both the sound and the original myth, albeit in a somewhat roundabout way.
  • Ravel Puzzlewell, the night hag. A major part of the game is about unravelling a Puzzle she made. It took a long time to reach an answer, so it was made well.
• The main character in Prey (2006) is a Native American named Tommy Tawodi. "Tawodi" is Cherokee for "hawk", and "Tommy Hawk" sounds like "tomahawk".
• [PROTOTYPE]'s Alex Mercer with his first full name being Alexander, "defender of men". It's subverted and played straight. The human Alex expected to destroy the human race by unleashing the Blacklight Virus. That's the subverted part. Now for the played straight part: The Blacklight Virus, aka Alex, saves the people of New York from a nuke.
• Psychonauts:
  • Black Velvetopia is home to El Odio, the rampaging bull that torments the thoughts of a Spanish artist. the name translates to "The Hate", which turns out to be appropriate when you figure out where El Odio came from.
  • Raz's surname is Aquato, and there's allegedly a curse on his family that keeps them from being able to swim. Raz's first name is short for Rasputin, after (sorta) Grigori Rasputin, a historical figure believed to be a psychic. Also, the "official" cause of Rasputin’s death was drowning.
  • Coach Oleander has a name that refers to a poisonous plant, referencing his Drill Sergeant Nasty nature and status as the Big Bad. His first name is Morceau, which is old French for "morsel"— or rather, something small. Guess who the shortest adult in the game is.
  • Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello's names are both significant in their native languages, German and Portuguese respectively. ("Nein" is "no" in German and indicates his repressed nature. He's also the one who first introduces you to the Censors, who have "NO" as their battle cry. "Vodello" is probably a play on the verb "to fly," and her specialty power is levitation. She's also very upbeat and optimistic.)
• Pulseman's father was the benevolent scientist Doc Yoshiyama... until his Face–Heel Turn, at which point he became the Mad Scientist Doc Waruyama. "Yoshi" and "Waru" are Japanese for "good" and "bad".
• Nearly everyone in Punch-Out!! is like this. Super Macho Man, Bear Hugger, Mr. Sandman, Narcis Prince, Masked Muscle, Disco Kid... One caused by an attempt to dance around copyrights: in the Wii Punch-Out!!, Piston Honda had his last name changed to "Hondo". A hondo is the main chamber of a Buddhist temple, and according to That Other Wiki is an archaic name for Honshu, the main island of Japan, which Piston Hondo's hometown of Tokyo is located on. Now recall that all foreign boxers in Punch-Out!! are Captain Ethnic....
• Creator from Radiant Silvergun. This also applies to many bosses after decrypting them.
• Rainbow Six Vegas gives us Gabriel Nowak, Rainbow Operative and The Mole (and in the sequel, the Big Bad). Nowak is a common polish surname that is derived from the word for "new" and was originally a nickname for someone new to a profession or village. A flashback shows Gabe making rookie mistakes due to his gung-ho attitude, resulting in the death of a negotiator, a reputation as the team screw-up, and later his convoluted plot against Rainbow in revenge.
• Rakuen:
  • Rakuen itself means "Paradise" and is typically treated like one in the Boy's story. Fitting considering it's actually the afterlife rather than some mythical Utopia.
  • Everyone you meet in the hospital typically has a Leeble or a fairy tale character with the exact same name as them in the story world that represents them and often has similar problems.
  • Yami's name means "darkness" or "shadow", fitting his Emo Teen appearance and attitude and how he's most often seen at night when all the lights are out. It also foreshadows how he's the dark manifestations of the Boy himself.
  • The song needed to wake up Morizora, "Mori no Kokoro", means "heart of the forest" in Japanese. Learning each part of the song involves bringing each character closure after using the power of the book to learn their innermost fears, regrets, and failures.
• In Remember Me:
  • The names of all security robots have meaning. The angel-like airborne robots are known as AV48S Seraphim, for a type of angel, while the ground-based robots are called AV48N — Nephilim, which is most commonly translated as fallen angel. The huge mecha guard at the entrance to the Bastille Prison is called AV78 Zorn, which is German word for "wrath". Fittingly, the move you use to hack them over to your side is known as Rust In Pieces.
  • The wife of the founder of Memorise corporation is Scylla Cartier-Wells. Mythological sea hazards Scylla may have been a shoal with a risk of a shipwreck. The defining moment of her life, one which made her distant to Nilin and drove her husband to create his invention is naturally, is a car crash. It's also a meaningful name in-story, where she legally changed her name to her childhood nickname; she was called "Scylla" because she was a terror as a child, but proudly took that name as a sign that she was trouble for anybody or anything in her way.
  • The locations also get in on the act: Bastille used to be the most dreaded prison in France under the Bourbons and the French Revolution began with its capture and destruction. Its reconstruction and eventual destruction show that the social inequality of the era and the distance between the wealthy and the underclass has made a comeback. The Parisian slums that house said underclass are known as Slum 404, which signifies their invisibility to those in power.
• The eponymous planet of Rescue on Fractalus! was named that by the developers because its landscape is generated through fractal theory. The alien race "Jaggi", meanwhile, had their name inspired by the pixelated, jagged graphics.
• Resident Evil:
  • Quite a few of the protagonists have names that are meaningful or fitting. From Resident Evil 2, Sherry means "dear" in French, perfectly relating to her role in the story, and her guardian Claire's name means "bright" or "clear" in French. Claire and Chris' surname "Redfield" is old English and relates to agriculture, i.e., supporting and providing for human civilization, which is exactly what both siblings (especially Claire a welfare worker) do in the series. The most obviously meaningful name would be resident badass Leon, who was named as a Shout-Out to The Professional, with even the name of his gun "Matilda" being a reference to Natalie Portman's character Mathilda. His surname of "Kennedy" becomes appropriate later when he works as the bodyguard for the president at the White House. Leon in Greek also means "Lion", fitting his brave and determined nature, and the first part of RE2make is about solving a puzzle on a statue of a literal lion.
  • Later games have fun with character names too. Take Lady Alcina Dimitrescu from Resident Evil Village. Her first name is derived in Italian from George Frideric Handel's play of the same name, in which "Alcina" is the name of an alluring and seductive sorceress similar to Circe (perfectly fitting for a Statuesque Stunner). Her surname "Dimitrescu" not only has origins in Romania, alluding to her vampire nature, but is also a derivation of "Demetrios", which translates as "a follower of Demeter", the first goddess of fertility (hinting towards the fact that she's a minion of the Big Bad Mother Miranda, who steals Ethan's baby Rosemary). There's also One-Man Army Ethan Winters himself, whose first name means "strong" and whose last name becomes very appropriate when he dies in the snow. Also, Chris' name meaning "bearer of Christ" becomes extremely apt when he's literally cradling "Rosemary" (like Rosemary beads) the miracle child in his arms.
  • All the Plaga enemies in Resident Evil 4 have fitting Spanish names:
    • Ganado: The name of the human infected means "livestock", fitting for their position in the plot and how they are treated by the real antagonists.
    • Colmillos: The dog creatures' name means "fangs".
    • El Gigante: The Giant Mook's name unsurprisingly means "the giant".
    • Garrador: The enemy with the Wolverine Claws' name means "the clawer".
    • Novistador: The insect-like Invisible Monsters' name means "the unseen".
    • Verdugo: Salazar's Elite Mooks' name means "executioner", which is entirely fitting, since the one you fight is a murderous creature.
  • In Resident Evil 6, all of the C-virus B.O.Ws have names based on Serbian words (the native language of one of the settings in the game, Edonia) which very appropriately summarize their nature or abilities.
    • J'avo is an alternate spelling of d'avo, or "devil", and they are the Super Soldiers who serve the Family by spreading the C-virus. They are also capable of mutating spontaneously into many of the other C-virus B.O.Ws. Their individual mutations all fit under this trope as well; Glava-Sluz ("Head Slime") for an alternate head that vomits sticky webbing, Ruka-Srp ("Sickle Arm") for a giant mantid-claw arm replacement, etc.
    • Strelats, meaning "shooter", is the only J'avo Complete Mutation with a ranged attack, and in fact it depends on its ability to spray spikes at foes from afar to fight.
    • Napad, meaning "assault", is a J'avo Complete Mutation that is a hulking, powerful, heavily armored and brutally powerful melee fighter.
    • Gnezdo, meaning "nest", is a Complete Mutation that takes the form of a hive-minded colony of mutant insects, which adopts a humanoid form.
    • Mesets, or "moon", is assigned to Complete Mutations that are basically humanoid bug-crow-things that are the only flying J'avo forms. Though the name's relevance is not obvious at first, they have flash grenades as their Kryptonite Factor, which makes them akin to nocturnal creatures that have an aversion to bright light (i.e. referring to how the Moon only appears at night).
    • Lepotitsa is an alternate spelling of lepotica, which references feminine beauty — an ironic name, for a virus-spreading monster that looks like a hideously malformed pear-shaped woman with Multi Boobage.
    • Rasklapanje, meaning "dismantle", is the name given to a B.O.W which has the ability to break up into a writhing cluster of independently mobile bodyparts and then reassemble itself when needed.
    • Ogroman, which means "enormous, gigantic", is the name given to a giant humanoid B.O.W.
    • Brzak, or "rapids", is the name used to a deformed, amphibious shark-monster that is, surprise-surprise, fought around a series of underground rapids.
    • Iluzija, or "illusion", is the name very fittingly given to a giant snake monster that is capable of going invisible.
    • Ubistvo is the name given to a B.O.W that is a psychopathic berserker that wields an organic chainsaw mutated out of its own arm and ribcage. Fittingly, the word means "murder".
    • Ustanak, or "revolution", is the name given to a C-virus engineered stalker being deployed to help acquire the last ingredients that Neo-Umbrella needs to begin its upheaval of the old social order. The name also evokes the monster's extreme brute strength.
    • Oko is the name given to symbionts that provide extra sensory abilities for the Ustanak. The word literally translates as "eye".
    • HAOS, Serbian for "chaos", is the name given to an amorphous water-dwelling mutant created with the intent of infecting the entire planet with the C-virus and plunging it into complete chaos.
• In Ristar, both the protagonist Ristar (a star-shaped creature) and principal antagonist Greedy (a solar system-looting Space Pirate) have rather obvious Meaningful Names, and in the international version (but not in the Japanese version, which boasts names like "Omaclove"), each Single-Biome Planet has a name reflecting its dominant environment.
• In Mega Man tribute game Rokko Chan (here), the Dr. Wily and Dr. Light expies are given the subtly-meaningful names "Dr. Mad" and "Dr. Sane", respectively.
• In the RollerCoaster Tycoon expansion, "Corkscrew Follies" (or "Added Attractions" if it's the British version), there's a park called Fiasco Forest. Fiasco means something that's a total failure and wrong on any levels. Also, there's a Water Slide called Death Slide. The park has so many problems that makes you wonder if it was made by a 2 year old child. The ride called Death Slide? If you wait for five seconds after you entered the scenario, the ride will crash!
• RosenkreuzStilette has the RKS Magi, whose first names are all tells of their personality/history, except Dolis Warmind. (Furthermore, except for Zorne Sepperin (Zeppelin) and Dolis, their last names are derived from those of actual German game designers.
• The villain in Sabre Wulf is Dr. Dolittle-Goode.
• In Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love, two of the potential love interests in the Star Division have a sign of the zodiac directly in their names (Gemini Sunrise and Rikaritta/Rosarita Aries). Two of the remaining love interests have corruptions or variations (Sagiitta Weinberg/Cheiron Archer — as in the constellation Sagittarius, representing the centaur Chiron/Kheiron — and Diana Caprice -as in Capricorn), while the last two are slightly subtler (Subaru Kujo — the Japanese name for the Pleiades cluster in the Taurus constellation — and Ratchet Altair — the brightest star in the non-zodiac constellation Aquila). The five that reference zodiac constellations (also the five that can be chosen before a New Game Plus) just happen to have been born under those signs, and all express personality traits consistent with their signs. Also, Gemini has a split personality stemming from having a second heart — an embedded twin sister. The game also includes CGs of each character referencing their constellation, just in case a player didn't catch the references.
• The main villain in Samantha Swift And The Fountains Of Fate uses the alias M'Alice ne Pei.
• Kyrie from Sands of Destruction means 'Lord' in Greek, quite fitting due to his nature as the Destruct. For a more obvious one, Morte the "heroine" means "Death" in Italian and she wants to destroy the world.
• In Secret of the Stars, one major villain has the euphonious and subtle name of BadBad.
• Shadowverse has Rowen Dragespear who uses a spear in combat. He is capable of turning to a black dragon as well.
• Sigma Star Saga has Your CO from earth, Commander 'Tierney', and the leader of the Krill aliens, The Tyrannical Overlord. Pronounce 'Tierney,' and note how the two are alike in their willingness to sacrifice their own homeworlds to get what they want.
• Numerous instances occur in The Secret World:
  • One of the first contacts encountered by Illuminati players is a monologue-prone Conspiracy Theorist by the name of Dave Screed — another term for a rant or diatribe.
  • The Templar drill instructor tasked with training new agents is known as Brigadier Lethe; in Greek Mythology, Lethe was one of the rivers of the Underworld, specifically the one that the spirits of the dead must drink from in order to forget their past lives - appropriate given that the Brigadier makes a point of telling you to forget your life outside the Secret World.
  • The Morninglight is an in-universe case of this: within the setting, anything with a name associated with the sun - like the Cult of Aten and Sol Invictus is usually tied to the worship of the Dreamers. For good measure, it's later revealed that the Morninglight is actually a modern repackaging of Sol Invictus' doctrine.
  • During the mission to Transylvania, players encounter a shapeshifting sorceress known only as Cucuvea; as it happens, "cucuvea" is the Romanian name for the Little Owl. Five guesses what form Cucuvea likes to take out in the field.
  • One of the major factions of the game is a corporation known as the Orochi Group; a reference to an eight-headed dragon from Japanese mythology, the Group is not only based in Tokyo but possesses eight daughter corporations ensuring its dominance of a wide swathe of global market.
  • For good measure, quite a few of Orochi's daughter corporations having meaningful names. Mutation-obsessed biotech firm Vali is named for one of the sons of Loki — namely the one transformed into a wolf as punishment for Loki's murder of Baldr. Foodstuffs producer Zagan took its name from a president of hell from Ars Goetia renowed for his ability to turn wine into water and blood into wine, a good indication of the unpleasant things the company does to the food and drink it produces. Manticore Research is of course named for the ferocious mythological monster, and has a nasty reputation for getting employees killed. Anansi Technology has a habit of subliminally manipulating the public and spying on its customers — and is named after the West-African Trickster God. Faust Capital is a pretty obvious reference to the archetypal story of a deal with the devil; not only is the company been using supernatural means of acquiring wealth and power, but the CEO is none other than Mephistopheles.
  • Also, the Orochi Group have been running a secret project known only as the Prometheus Initiative: it's been tasked with harnessing the reality-warping power of the Dreamers.
• Silent Hill 2 features James Sunderland looking for his wife, who has been dead for three years. In reality, she has been dead for much less time, (speculated to be anywhere from a few hours to around a week), due to James killing her and then suppressing the memory. By the end of the game, James realizes that he killed her, shattering the reality he created where she's been dead for years. In other words, his "land" has been "sundered", as evidenced by his last name.
• In The Sims, some of the playable pre-packaged characters include Don Lothario, Castor Nova, Nina and Dina Caliente, Brandi Broke, and Nervous Subject. Everyone has a meaningful name.
  • Holly Alto, which's a play on "holy", who's the only good-natured Alto in a family that's Always Chaotic Evil otherwise.
  • A few in The Sims Medieval as well, including the very boring Buzz Killington and the evil aristocrat Lord Landgrabb. As well as all the territory names like Aarbyville and Gastrobury.
• Skool Daze has appropriately-named teachers — the laid-back Mr. Withit, the aged and senile Mr. Creak, the science teacher Mr. Rockitt, and the cane-wielding headmaster Mr. Wacker. The school swot is named Einstein, and the tearaway free-spirit is named Boy Wander.
• The Sly Cooper series has a slew.
  • Sly is the nimble thief who crawls around in vents, sneaks along ledges, and occasionally hides in a barrel, which are made by coopers. "Cooper" is also the surname of the infamous air hijacker and thief D. B. Cooper, who was never caught. Clockwerk's name refers to his being a robot. Panda King's name sounds almost like a pro wrestler's, which matches his personality. Muggshot's name refers to his life of crime. Don Octavio is a singer. Don Octav(e)-io. Dimitri's last name is Lousteau. He's a diver.
  • Arpeggio's name refers to a musical arpeggio, where the notes of a chord are played in sequence rather than simultaneously. This could refer to his auspicious plans that worked out in sequence, each plan relying directly on the one below it, (the nightclub food, the spice, the blimp, the lights, and finally the Clockwerk body) building up to create a 'harmonius' chord. Alternately, it foreshadows his downfall. One direct translation of 'arpeggio' from Italian is 'broken chord'. What does Neyla break right after the Clockwerk body is assembled? His skull, and every other bone in his body, and ruins his entire plan, 'breaking' the harmony of the end product. This could also refer to Arpeggio foiling the Cooper Gang's plans after Menace of the North.
  • Constable Neyla deserves a mention that's a bit of a stretch. In the end of the game, she messes up both the plans of the Cooper Gang and the plans of the Klaww Gang, upsetting the stability in the progression of both teams' missions. She's against stability; a con against stable things.
  • Most of the other character's surnames are for whatever animal they are supposed to "be", however.
• Sonic the Hedgehog: Damn near every character has one.
  • Sonic is faster than sound.
  • Miles Prower is a pun on "Miles Per Hour", referencing his love for speed. His nickname Tails refers to his twin tails which, coincidentally, help him reach this incredible speed.
  • Knuckles wears spiked gloves and his main means of attack is punching opponents.
  • Doctor Eggman has an egg-shaped body. His Classic Era Jumpsuit◊ is also designed to make him look like a walrus as a Shout-Out to a famous pop rock band (in case you are wondering, the yellow triangles from his cape represent the tusks while his mustache represents the whiskers).
    • His Western name Ivo Robotnik is meant to be this; the first name 'Ivo' was picked because of the phonetic similarity to the word 'evil' (according to former Sega of America employee Dean Sitton, his intention was that the name would have been pronounced "ee-vo" rather than "eye-vo"). In addition, Ivo is the reverse of Ovi, which is the genitive singular form of the Latin word ovum, meaning egg. The term "Robotnik" is derived from the Czech words for "work" and "forced labor" and an older Slavic term for "slave". Given he imprisons animals inside capsules and his killer robots on a regular basis, his name thus makes him out to be an "Evil Slave-Driver".
  • Fang the Hunter (formerly Fang the Sniper) has an enormous fang (almost a tusk, even) sticking out of his mouth.
  • Amy Rose is a pun on "amorous", a good description of her feelings towards Sonic. The name "Amy" also means "beloved" or "love", while her surname "Rose" is French for "pink", and is also a symbol of love.
  • Mighty the Armadillo initially was an aversion, as he was established to be pretty athletic, but not necessarily stronger than than the rest of the cast. Sonic Mania retconned him into having Super-Strength and Super-Toughness, making his name more meaningful than ever.
  • His partner Ray the Squirrel has a little ray on his head.
  • Big the Cat is both tall and fat.
  • One meaning of the name Tikal is "Place of Voices". Now consider what happens which you bump her orb of light. It also refers to the site of an ancient Mayan civilization, which reflects her culture's similarities to the Mayans in general. Similarly, her father Pachacamac is named after an ancient Peruvian temple.
  • Shadow’s name refers to his dark quills, but also to his dark past and mysterious ways.
  • Rouge the Bat often wears makeup.
  • Cream the Rabbit has a cream-colored fur skin, and is a "cream", an idiom for a nice and reliable person.
  • Espio the Chameleon is a ninja chameleon. His name comes from both the Spanish term for to spy and the word "espionage".
  • Charmy Bee is charmingly cute.
  • Vector the Crocodile (before being retooled) had the ability to perform an air dash in any of the 8 vector directions. After being retooled, Sonic Generations changed it to being able to toss allies at any angle of choosing.
  • Blaze the Cat has fire powers.
  • Silver's name essentially refers to the color of his quills.
  • Marine the Raccoon loves ships and the ocean.
  • The Babylon Rogues: Jet the Hawk is a speed maniac hover-boarder and his teammates/siblings names, Wave the Swallow (the calm and relaxed one) and Storm the Albatross (the big and strong one) follow suit.
  • Erazor Djinn from Sonic and the Secret Rings is a double, as he wields a giant straight razor like a sword and wants to erase the 1001 Arabian Nights.
  • Shade the Echidna from Sonic Chronicles dresses in dark blue/black.
  • Sonic Unleashed:
    • Invoked where Sonic gives Chip (a.k.a Light Gaia) a name due to his favorite food: chocolate chip sundae supreme ice cream.
    • Professor Pickle likes cucumber sandwiches.
  • Caliburn from Sonic and the Black Knight. His name, “Caliburn”, is what the sword Excalibur was called in real-life before it’s name was altered in later versions of the Arthurian mythos. This serves as Foreshadowing to indicate what will happen at the end of the game.
  • Trip the Sungazer is clumsy and occasionally trips over herself.
  • Ariem from Sonic Dream Team has a double meaning. It may refer to her name being similar to "Aries", the constellation being shaped after a sheep to which her species is a given, and "REM" sleep, as she is a dream guardian.
• The Space Bar has the main character, Alias Node. In computing terminology, "node" refers to a connection point for sending and receiving information, while "alias" refers to symbolic alternate names for information. Put it together, and it's essentially a descriptor of Alias' interrogation technique, where he can telepathically read other people's minds and replay living through their memories.
• Why Spyro the Dragon is called "Spyro": "pyro-" relates to fire, but the word "spiro-" as a prefix relates to breathing (spirometer, inspire, expire). He's called Spyro because he breathes fire.
• The xel'naga Ouros in StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void is clearly named after the ouroboros, a snake eating it's own tail that symbolizes the perpetual death and rebirth of the universe in several cultures. The xel'naga were in charge of doing just that to the universe in the StarCraft franchise.
• In Stray Gods, Aphrodite’s prospective new host is called Venus, which was her Roman pantheon name. Venus assures Grace that yes, that is her real name. Justified: Venus hypothesizes that her name is what made Aphrodite curious about her in the first place, leading her to choose her as her next incarnation.
• Street Fighter does this quite a lot:
  • Ryu and Chun-Li are the most grandiose in terms of naming. "Ryu" means "prosperous", "plentiful", "abundant" in Japanese as well as "dragon" which ties into the name of one Ryu's signature attacks the "Shoryuken" (Rising Dragon Fist). "Chun-Li" translates to "spring beauty" or "beautiful spring" in Mandarin, perfecting relating to her renown attractiveness and the warmth of her personality and nature.
  • Ken is a more straightforward example with "Ken" translating to "fist" in Japanese and rounds off the "ken" part of the other signature move "Hadoken" (Wave Motion Fist) as well as the aforementioned Shoryuken. Ken in English is derived from "Kenneth" which can mean "Handsome" and "Fire-born" both of which fit Ken to a T. Meanwhile Masters has a twofold meaning as you can say Ken "masters" martial arts, but Masters can also mean "teacher" in Latin, which is what Ken becomes to Sean in the III series.
    • Related, Ryu and Ken's Mentor is "Gouken" which means "strong fist" in Japanese.
  • Cammy is more complicated with her name meaning "helper to the priest" in Latin, but its alternate spelling of "Camilla" means "acolyte" which perfectly sums up Cammy's initial role as the puppet minion of M.Bison. "White" however reflects her turn to good.
  • Guile's name funnily enough comes from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's J. Geil, the archenemy of Jean Pierre Polnareff whom Guile's design based off.
  • Akuma is the name of a malevolent fire demon in Japanese folklore and the name was later associated with Satan, perfectly befitting for such a demonic fighter. Akuma's Superpowered Evil Side's name "Oni" is even more transparent even if you're just passingly familiar with Japanese mythology.
  • "Sakura" is of course the name of a cherry blossom and Sakura Kasugano is "blossoming" as a young woman and a fighter. "Kasugano" can mean "gallantry", "empathy" and "meticulousness" which are traits that Sakura has in abundance particularly the last one in her determination to be a strong fighter like her idol Ryu.
  • "Balrog" which is Vega's Japanese name and the American name of Boxer aka M. Bison derives from Tolkien's lexicon and means "Demon of Might". Balrog is also subservient to a greater evil which is exactly what Claw/Vega and Boxer/Balrog are in the Street Fighter story.
  • Ibuki's name has multiple meanings some such as "brave", "beautiful", "clothing" and "ordinary" collearate with Ibuki's down to earth attractive fashion-conscious personality as well her "brave" status as ninja.
  • Juri means "glass" in Korean, very fitting for her given glass can be beautiful but also sharp and dangerous. Glass is also naturally reflective and Juri is a dark reflection of Chun-Li.
  • Makoto's means "sincerity" or "truth" which reflects her straightfoward no-nonsense personality. It's also a unisex name and Makoto initially had a Ambiguous Gender to players due to her mauscline appearance.
  • Twins Yung and Yang's names are naturally derived from the famous Chinese concept of dualism ying yang.
  • Gill's name might come from the Hebrew Gilead, meaning "eternal joy" which relates to him being the Light Is Not Good Dark Messiah. His brother "Urien" name is thought to be misspelling of "Julien" although in Welsh it means "privileged birth" perfectly correlating to Urien's royally entitled personality.
  • Rashid means "rightly guided" and "having the true faith" in Arabic being one of the 9 Names of Allah. Both meanings effectively fit Rashid's optimistic and righteous personality.
  • A lot of the fighters' names come from real world martial artists along with their nationalities. "Sagat" is the name of Muay Thai fighter Sagat Petchyindee. "Zangief" is the name of a former Soviet pro-wrestler Victor Zangiev. Balrog's Japanese name M.Bison (given to the Big Bad in the west) is a play on another famously rough black American boxer Mike Tyson.
• Suikoden V has the Godwin clan. Who pursue a policy of militarism and genocide against nonhumans. They also employ an assassin named Dolph. Several places in the game have meaningful names as well, most notably Hatred Fortress, built by the Godwins to prevent water from reaching Lordlake.
• The Super Mario Bros. series uses meaningful names for nearly every character and enemy, as well as a good dose of theme naming.
  • Some of the Japanese names are this too, Teresa (Boo) means Shy, and there is not even a need to think what their name for Bullet Bill is (Killer).
  • When rendered in katakana, the name "Luigi" becomes a homophone of the word "ruiji", which means "similar to, imitation of." He happens to have born as a Palette Swap to Mario. In Italian, his name means "famous hero", but while that is true in real life, only the "hero" part is true in the games.
  • Wario is not just a clever name for what amounts to a twisted version of Mario. In Japan, Wario is a combination of the words "Warui" (bad) and "Mario", which basically means "Bad Mario". His partner in crime Waluigi is a double bonus. It's not only the combination of the words "Warui" and "Ruiji", but his name is an anagram of the Japanese word Ijiwaru, which is the definition of an ill-natured, mean spirited person.
  • Spoiled Rotten, the first boss and second most common nightmare causer in Wario Land 4.
  • In Super Paper Mario, Dimentio is "dimension" + "dementia", Mimi is "mimic" and Luvbi (as in "love", i.e. hearts), is a Nimbi. She ends up turning into a Pure Heart. Then, there’s Nastasia, whose name is similar to the greek "Anastasia", meaning "Resurrection" (it also brings "nasty" to mind). Who apparently survives a fatal attack.
  • At some point in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario can fight generic mooks called "X-Yux", which are alien creatures serving as guards for the X-Nauts. Using Goombella's Stat-O-Vision move makes clear that the "X" in the X-Yux's name is pronounced "Cross" — making the organization the Cross-Nauts. There's a supercomputer named TEC-XX that serves the same group... and, sure enough, ends up making a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Beldam, head of the Shadow Sisters from The Thousand-Year Door, is extremely old and withered. Her name means "crone", and was once a word for witches (see: Coraline). Comes as little surprise she serves the Shadow Queen when you know that.
  • Daisy, the princess of Sarasaland, has Flower Motifs, complete with flower-rimmed jewelry.
  • "Peach" or rather "to be a peach" is an idiom for an attractive, likable, admirable or good person, pertaining to Princess Peach's kind personality. Her last name Toadstool is basically another name for Mushroom, pertaining to the kingdom she rules over.
• Super Robot Wars Advance:
  • Lemon Browning. "Browning" simply alludes to a connection with the character Excellen Browning from Super Robot Wars Compact 2, but Lemon? It's a term used to refer to faulty used cars. Turns out Lemon's a cyborg built from the corpse of an Alternate Universe Excellen, who was killed in a shuttle accident. Ultimately, her parents rejected her for not being a good enough Replacement Goldfish. Whether this was intentional or not is still up for debate, though.
  • Another one, although more of a meaningful nickname, would be Ratsel Feinschmecker, (which is actually an In-Series Nickname used by the series' Char Clone Elzam V. Branstein) which roughly translates to "The Mysterious Gourmet". Makes sense as he's quite the franchise's equivalent of a Supreme Chef.
  • Super Robot Wars Destiny. To round off quickly, we have The Ruina, The Big Bad Perfectio (Perfection) and his mecha Fatum (Fate) , Aquila (Eagle) and his mecha Fortis Ara (Strong Wind) , Umbra (Shadow) and her mecha Priskus Nox (Ancient Night) , Glacies (Ice) and her mecha Fabularis (Like a tale), Ignus (Flame) and his mecha Impetus (Impulse) , Contagio (Disease) and his mecha Violaceum (Violet) , Ventus (Wind) and his mecha Studium (Zeal)
  • In Super Robot Spirits, "Tolar" is a loose romanization of the word "Torah", meaning "the law" in Hebrew. "Levi" is one of the twelve tribes of Israel in the Old Testament and are designated as the priests, who were charge of the law, hence Levi being the "Priestess of Judecca".
  • In the Super Robot Wars Z series, Hibiki means "echo." He and the Genion are both a mere echo of the real deal, Gadlight Meonsam and the Geminia... at least, until he receives the real Quarreling Twins Sphere and defeats Gadlight.
  • In Super Robot Wars X, Hopes and Spero are both supposed to be a pun on a type of bird, and refer to Hope.
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate:
  • Galeem is a light-themed villain whose name sounds a lot like the word "gleam" (as in, to shine brightly). Similarly, his Japanese name, Kiira, sounds like the onomatopoeia for twinkling (kirakira) and also sounds a lot like "killer".
  • For the other Big Bad, Dharkon his name sounds like "darken", which means making something darker. Though unlike Galeem, his Japanese name, Darz, doesn't seem to mean much of anything.
• In Super Time Force, Aimy McKillin snipes enemies with a piercing laser, and Shieldy Blockerson has a shield and blocks shots.
• Subverted with SHODAN from System Shock. "shodan" is the name of the lowest "dan" rank in Japanese martial arts, and SHODAN sees herself as superior to all forms of organic life, especially human beings, which means that she's at the very top. This status is better represented by her acronym: Sentient Hyper Optimized Data Access Network. In both games, she's everyone you interact with, including the final boss. In-game it's pronounced "Show-Dan," Yahtzee's pronunciation is due to accent.

T-Z

• Tales of the Abyss has a couple:
  • Luke's name in-universe is translated from the ancient tongue as "Light of the Sacred Flame", and it actually does mean "light" in Latin, from the same root as Lucifer. It also gives meaning to Asch's name — he no longer goes by Luke, as his identity has been stolen by his replica; he is the "ash" of the Sacred Flame.
  • Guy's real name is Gailardia, a flower that symbolizes loyalty. Then, there’s Emperor Peony — peonies are a traditional symbol of wealth and honor in Asian cultures. Furthermore, the Japanese word for peony, botan, is also used as an Unusual Euphemism for boar meat, making his pet rappigs a bilingual Pun.
• Several of the protagonists of Tales of Symphonia have this going on: Lumen is either "Light" or "Day", Ventus is "Wind", Ignus could be "Fire" or "Firebrand" , Glacies is "Ice" or "Frozen" , Tonitrus is "Thunder" and Solum is "Land", "Country", or "Soil"
  • The most notable example is Kratos and Zelos, the two choices for Magic Knight: they're named for a pair of twin Greek gods, Kratos the god of might/authority and Zelos the god of passion/jealousy. Extra points for Zelos' last name being Wilder, which is fairly self-evident.
  • Presea Combatir is definitely handy to have on your side in a fight. Then, the Sage siblings are very smart, and their names before the Dub Name Change were Refill (for the healer: refills your health) and Genius. (Turning them into Raine and Genis in English is generally regarded as a good move.) Finally, Regal Bryant's names both mean "noble". "Presea Combatir" Gratuitous Spanish literally translates as "combat medal".
  • The Big Bad, Yggdrasill, actually plays with this a bit: he was named after the World Tree of Norse mythology, but mostly so that the Mana Tree could be named for him (and his sister) at the end of the game. His first name plays it straighter: Mithos, from mythos, because he's the hero of ancient legend.
  • All the Centurions in the sequel are Latin for something related to their element. For instance, there’s Tenebrae for "Shadow" or "Night" and Aqua for "Water".
• In Tales of Destiny 2, Kyle randomly named a mysterious masked fencer with a bone mask as 'Judas', since he doesn't seem to care about names. Obviously, Kyle never read The Bible, as Judas turns out to be Leon Magnus, who betrayed Stahn in his past journey
• The Talos Principle: The names of the generations and other entities you encounter during the course of the game appear to be related to the viewpoint they express.
  • Alexandra — A feminization of Alexander, probably in reference to Alexandria, once home to the largest library in human history. She was the main proponent of the SOMA/TALOS project, which at a base level is a repository of humankind's collected knowledge and culture.
  • D0G. – It is possible that this name is meant as a reversal of God. It is also a reference to the Greek Cynics (Cynic meaning 'dog-like'). This is lampshaded in Road to Gehenna when he begins one message with "Call me a cynic, but..." D0G is consistently antagonistic towards everything in existence. Like Diogenes (Greek Philosopher and one of the founders of the Cynic philosophy) was, according to historians, in real life. Reading the name "D0G" as "Dee-oh-Gee" will certainly give you a further hint.
  • Elohim — One of many Hebrew names for God, which is used most prominently in the first chapter of Genesis, the beginning of the Garden of Eden narrative in which he creates the world and humankind. El claims to be the creator of the player character and everything they behold, and refers to the world as a Garden. It turns out later that Elohim put his majestic name together from his two designations. EL-0 is Extended Lifespan Zero (one of two project mainframes which he resides on) and HIM is Holistic Integration Manager (a proto-AI storyteller program that was developed to generate content for online role-playing games from user data). Tasked with running the simulation that its human creators barely saw in alpha while alive, the diligent EL-0 HIM gradually congealed into a Demiurge figure and settled in.
  • Milton — Named for John Milton, most famous for Paradise Lost, a work which has been deemed by many to be sympathetic to Satan, including by William Blake, mentioned in one of the texts to be Alexandra's favorite poet. He takes the role of devil's advocate, striving to undermine every belief you proclaim and sow doubt in the nature of the world you're in.
  • 1w/Faith (One with faith) – lacks doubt and argues against it. When Faith terminated it said that the serpent, or doubt, had entered its heart, and then begat Samsara and Sheep.
  • Samsara – A complex word with many meanings. Relates to the game in that the Samsara person argues that the nature of existence is cyclical, and that the individual’s only logical course of action is to be detached from the process and accept it as it is.
  • Sheep – Consistently looks for guidance from others. Unsure of its own opinions.
  • Shepherd – In a broader sense, Shepherd appears dedicated in its attempts to have a goal for existence. This goal is especially seen as a community goal. Shepherd basically guides towards a higher understanding.
  • Keep in mind that many of the names of these generations were pulled (in-universe) from usernames of a video game forum to randomly seed by the human developers.
  • This also goes for some of the puzzle names, which when taken literally reveal the key to easter eggs; e.g. the puzzle named 'Shoot the Moon' is the only one from which you can shoot a laser at the moon and reveal the Aperture Science logo.
• Tears to Tiara 2 all the major character and place names are named after something in Punic Mythology, Roman History, specifically that of the Punic Wars, or Gnostic Christianity. Special mention goes to Hamil who's name has multiple meanings. Hamilicar Barca is the father of Hannibal Barca, famous Carthaginian general of Second Punic War who almost brought The Roman Republic to its knees. The name Hamilicar means brother of Melqart. Barca means lightning (Hamil's element). In universe it's stated the name Hamil is reserved for the member of the Barcid family who is the strongest and most closely tied to Ashtarte.
• Telepath Tactics:
  • Rebecca Flare likes Playing with Fire, and Harriet Glaive wields a spear. Madeleine Strongarm is also aptly named.
  • Played with in one case. The sinister-sounding Umber Gnawbone is a preacher, and a photokineticist...but he's also the crime boss of the "Coria Dogs", making the name fitting for his real persona.
• Terranigma: The protagonist is named Ark. Why? He's The Chosen One who has the power to revive the dead surface of the earth and all its inhabitants.
• TerraTech: All the quest NPCs have them. Crafty Mike teaches the player about crafting, Suzie Vroom challenges the player with racecourses, Sergeant Smash sends the player to smash enemies to pieces and Big Pete is big.
• Ticket to Earth: Malady uses the Abh0th virus to reprogram HELP robots to commit mass murder.
• Touhou Project ranges from Colourful Theme Naming (Chen, Ran and Yukari, meaning orange, blue and violet, respectively, and their power levels rise respectively), names associated with their element (Marisa Kirisame, meaning drizzle, that's her weather in SWR), Names to Run Away from Really Fast (Flandre and Remilia SCARLET, and the game is called "Embodiment of Scarlet Devil), literal names (Kogasa literally means "little umbrella"; Patchouli Knowledge), the Three Mischievous Fairies (each named for the celestial body that provides them with their powers) and many, many other un-troped ones. For those interested, just search the name of any character in TouhouWiki.
• In Tyranny, Kyros the Overlord. In Greek, the word κύρος means power, authority, supremacy, or prestige, and Κῦρος (with a different diacritic) is the Greek form of Cyrus (as in the Persian empire-builder).
• Ultima V has Saduj. He's a traitor, and Saduj backwards is...
• Undertale has a few:
  • Toriel, the friendly, matronly monster who guides you through the first area of the game is a not so subtle play on the word tutorial.
  • The skeleton brothers Papyrus and Sans fit their respective fonts rather well: Papyrus is loud, goofy, and difficult to take seriously, while (comic) Sans is laid back, lazy, and constantly pulling pranks — except when he changes his font to sans serif, that is. Also, once you've really gotten to know him, you'll realize that Sans is "lacking" in quite a lot of things.
  • One of the Royal Guard Dogs is Doggo, who can't see you unless you're moving; to "lie doggo" is an obscure slang term for remaining hidden.
  • Undines are female water spirits who wish to gain an immortal human soul. Undyne is a Fish Person, hunting the player character in order to take their soul. And on the genocide route, Undyne manages to defy death by becoming Undyne the Undying.
  • Asgore Dreemurr is a Significant Anagram of "Sage or Murderer", which fits the moral ambiguity of his character quite well.
  • Asriel is meaningful threefold, all in ways that are rather spoilery:
    • "Asriel" is a combination of his parents' given names: Asgore and Toriel.
    • "Asriel Dreemurr" is a Significant Anagram of "Serial Murderer", referencing his actions and character as Flowey.
    • "Asriel" is similar to "Azrael", the Angel of Death in Judeo-Christian folklore. This is alluded to in his final form as the boss of the pacifist route, which is called the "God of Hyper-Death" and has wings sprouting from its back.
  • Towards the end of the Golden Ending it's revealed that the Human Child's name is "Frisk" — an event where you have a good time, something with lots of fun, which reflects the pacifist route. To "Frisk" is also to search a person or object for something concealed, which accurately describes how they go through the Pacifist route; figuring out their opponents' inner struggles and helping them find peace. In Scandinavian languages, to be "Frisk" also means to be "healthy" or "sound".
• Unpacking: The protagonist's girlfriend/wife is called Mali, which rather fittingly means 'jasmine flower', given her love of flowers and gardening.
• A Very Long Rope to the Top of the Sky:
  • Mort, the gravekeeper. Mort is the Latin root word for death.
  • Brooke, the girl who likes water.
• The Wandering Village: The game's town is carried around on the back of a huge animal called Onbu. In Japanese, "onbu" refers to giving someone a piggyback ride or, more generally, to carrying someone on your back.
• Warframe:
  • The player characters are the "Tenno," which is the Japanese word for "Heavenly Emperor". It could also be translated as "From Heaven," which also applies. In-universe, however, the name is mostly meaningless; the Tenno were the only survivors of the Zariman 10-0, a ship that was lost in the Void, and eventually came to be referred to as Tenno as a shorthand.
  • The name of the ancient Orokin Empire appears to be a combination of the Spanish "oro" (gold) and the English "kin," thus translating to "golden family." This fits well both with their use of gold and silver on everything and the fact that the empire was a Gilded Age that wasn't as pleasant as they pretended. It's also possible that the name is a reference to the in-universe substance oro, which is somehow key to the Tenno immortality. While the Tenno immortality was far superior, the Orokin were also immortal, so "immortal family" is an accurate name. And finally, many cultures have used gold as a metaphor for immortality, so naming a substance oro is itself a Meaningful Name.
• Wild ARMs 2: Four of the five members of the terrorist group Odessa were collectively known as Cocytus, which was Dante's name for the ninth (and lowest) circle of Hell. The members themselves were named for sections of that same circle (Antenora, Caina, Judecca, and Ptolomea).
• The World Ends with You: Joshua's family name is "Kiryuu". Which, considering what Neku (Joshua, Day 2) suspects, (Joshua, Day 3) comes to believe, (Joshua, Day 7) comes to believe is not true, then finally (Beat, Day 7, after beating the Composer) comes to find out really did happen after all, is quite appropriate. If you still don't get it, swap out the "r" for an "l", then say it. And as for his first name... "Joshua" is derived from the same name that "Jesus" comes from. His Japanese name, Yoshiya, is pretty similar to the name "Jesus" is derived from: Yeshu'a. Joshua is The Composer in human form, whose powers are somewhat godlike. And his crucifixion poses. And his surname is written with the kanji for "paulownia tree" and "life." Given that the paulownia tree has associations with the phoenix of death and rebirth, that not only adds to the Jesus symbolism but also alludes to the fact that, as the Composer, he has the power to re-form Soul and bring it back to life. Dude has layers.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 1: Dickson. Really, his name alone should tell you all you need to know: more specifically the fact that he ends up double-crossing the party and forming a trinity (along with Lorithia and Alvis), working with Zanza. This also explains how Dickson knew a lot of things no one else was supposed to know. Egil was also the only one who recognized Dickson as Zanza's disciple. This is hinted to as early as Satorl Marsh.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 2:
  • Rex is Latin for “King,” which represents how he is the true driver of the Aegis and how he would be the one to unite all of Alrest together.
  • The real names of Pyra/Mythra, Malos, and heavily implied to be Alvis from the previous game be Pneuma, Logos, and Ontos, Greek for Soul, Body and Mind. When one of them asks what the significance of this is, he's told "It means your creators were pretentious fools."
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3:
  • Noah is named after the biblical figure. In The Bible, Noah was the one to save some of the animals as well as a couple of people during a disaster and guide them to a new beginning. That is essentially what Noah does in this game, as he is the one to lead the people into a new world after a disaster.
  • The two kingdoms at war in the game, Keves and Agnus, mean "lamb" in Hebrew and Latin. This is because they're literally "lambs to the slaughter", meant to be used as cattle to maintain the status quo by the Consuls. The fact their name means the same possible also alludes to the fact that despite being at war, they actually serve the same masters.
• Xenogears named many towns after Hebrew months. Some were likely mistranslated such as Thames (Tammus), Aveh (Av), and Elru (Elul). The characters' names range from Shitan / Citan being a potential allusion to Satan (Shatan) to Id alluding to Freud's name for the unconscious of primal and often violent instincts to Elly being a diminutive not only for Elhaym but also for Elohim (God). And Miang's real name, Myah or Myahle, being Elhaym reverted; Her surname, "Hawwa," is also a transliteration of the Hebrew name for Eve, and literally means "mother".
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction: Sol Chevalsky's name can be broken as such: Sol (a word for sun) + Cheval (French for Horse) and Sky. Thus you have "Sun Skyhorse".

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