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Portmanteau Series Nickname

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Many anime, manga, and especially light novel series have fairly lengthy titles. Frequently, they wind up picking up a portmanteau series nickname, with a syllable or two of each word in the series name. Sometimes, the producers explicitly encourage this, and refer to the series using the nickname in the Post-Episode Trailer.

Portmanteau words are the Japanese equivalent of acronyms. The Japanese language is syllabic — instead of single letters, Japanese is built from entire syllables; consonants (except "n") don't occur by themselves. So where a Western term would produce an acronym, the Japanese equivalent produces a pronounceable word. The Japanese use portmanteau terms in much the same way that English speakers use acronyms. Which is to say, frequently. More so recently thanks to the need to create short hashtags on Twitter, some of which have been officially endorsed by the author or publisher.

Probably the most famous is Pocket Monsters becoming Pokémon. The longer name is official for both the games and the show in Japan, but couldn't be used in America because an early-90s toyline/comic/cartoon had secured the trademark on the name "Monster in My Pocket". This is actually slightly common; some of these are so ubiquitous that they get used as the official English titles.

See also: Officially Shortened Title.

Alphabetical order by official Japanese title, please.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 

    Card Games 
  • Battle Spirits -> BatoSupi
  • Magic: The Gathering -> MajiGyaza note 
    • Duel Mastersnote  -> DueMa
  • Monster Collection -> MonCollenote 
  • Pokémon Card Game -> PokéCardnote 
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game: Duel Monsters -> DueMon

    Comic Books 

    Films — Animation 

    Films — Live Action 

    Literature 

    Live-Action TV 

    Pro Wrestling 

    Theatre 

    Video Games 

    Video Game Platforms 
  • Dreamcast -> "DriCas"note , "DreCas", "DoriKyasu" or just "Dori"note .
  • Family Computer (Nintendo Entertainment System) -> Famicom note 
  • Game Boy -> "GeBo"
    • Game Boy Color -> "GeBoKa"
    • Game Boy Advance -> "GeBoAdo"
  • Nintendo GameCube -> "GeCu"
  • Game Gear -> "GeGi"
  • Mega Drive (Genesis) -> "MegaDora" or just "MeDo"
  • Neo Geo -> "NeGe" (pronounced like "Neji")
    • The NeoGeo Pocket, and NeoGeo Pocket Color are both also known as "NeoPoke" for short.
  • Nintendo 64 -> "RokuYon" (from the Japanese pronunciation of 64)note 
  • PlayStation -> "PureSute"note 
  • Sega Saturn -> "SegaSata" or just "Sata"note 
  • Super Famicom (Super NES) -> "SuFami"note 
  • WonderSwan -> "WonSwa"

    Visual Novels 

    Web Animation 

    Western Animation 
  • DuckTales (1987) -> "DakkuTe"note 
  • My Little Pony -> "MaRiPo"
  • Strawberry Shortcake -> SutoShonote 

    Other 
  • Drinks chain Beverages & More! now calls themselves BevMo! (Yes, with the exclamation point in both versions.)
  • Coleco, of Colecovision fame, stands for Connecticut Leather Company.
  • American shipping company Federal Express rebranded to FedEx, a popular nickname, and used both till 2000. [1]
  • National Biscuit Company -> Nabisco, they changed their name so long ago, most people don't even know of the full name.
  • The British bank National Westminster Bank rebranded to NatWest in the mid 90s.
    • As did now-defunct American bank Washington Mutual ("WaMu").
  • Service Games was originally founded as an American company, but after it opened its Japanese offices in the early 1950's, they would eventually be referred to as Sega.
  • Japan Capsule Computer Co. was only in the business of making video game arcade cabinets, which they thoughtfully named "Capsule Computers." Now that they're in the business of making games themselves, we have since known them as Capcom. This was then inverted with their first would-be mascot, Captain Commando.
  • Although Bandai Namco is generally known in the West as "Bamco" (which was used by the Japanese company at one point), the company in Japanese materials is often referred to as "BanNam"note .
    • "Namco" itself is one, standing for either "Nakamura Manufacturing Company" or "Nakamura Manufacturing Company" (it's unclear which).
  • Jagex's name originally stood for "Java Gaming Experts", though they have redefined it as "Just About the Game Experience".
  • Bluesman Keb' Mo', originally Kevin Moore (not that one).
  • Jennifer Lopez -> JLo.
  • Jennifer Lawrence -> J.Law (also spelled "J-Law")
  • Amy Schumer -> A.Schu
  • The Color Computer was known to many of its users as the CoCo.
  • National Geographic -> NatGeo
  • Hassenfeld Brothers -> Hasbro
  • (T. E. S)tockwell + Jack (Co)hen -> Tesco stores, world's second biggest supermarket
  • Japan Leisure Company -> Jaleconote 
  • American Football (in Japan) -> AmeFuto
  • American comic books (Superman, Spider-Man, etc.; also in Japan) -> These are sometimes called AmeComi in Japan, whereas the word "manga" in Japanese refers to all comics regardless of origin.
  • Japanese convenience store chain Family Mart -> FamiMa, which was the name they used for its short lived attempt at expanding to North America
  • 7-Eleven in Japan -> "SeEle" (Some even call it "VenVen")
  • Circle K in Japan -> "CirK" (pronounced like "Sir Kay")
  • McDonald's in Japan -> "MakuDo"
  • Burger King in Japan -> "BurKin"
  • The video game magazine Famitsu takes its name from Famicom Tsūshin (or the "Famicom Journal"), its original name back when it mainly covered the aforementioned Famicom console.
  • Kentucky Fried Chicken in Japan -> "KenChiki"
  • Personal Computers (i.e., PCs) -> "PersoCom" (has nothing to do with the other kind)
  • Tokyo Daigaku (Tokyo University) -> "ToDai"
  • Remote control devices are typically referred to as "remocon" in Japan.note 
  • Smartphone -> "SumaHo"
  • Southern California is often called "SoCal" for short.
    • Similarly, Northern California is sometimes called "NorCal"
  • Arcades in Japan are also known as "game centers" or "GeCen" for short.
  • The late Olympic track star Florence Griffith-Joyner -> "FloJo"
  • Dungeons & Dragons -> DunDra
  • Electromechanical arcade games are sometimes called "EleMecha" in Japan.
  • One of AKB48's songs, Heavy Rotation is sometimes called "HebiRote" for short.
  • Square Enix -> SukuEni, along with "Squeenix".
  • Koei Tecmo Games -> KoTec
  • Spike Chunsoft -> SpiChun
  • TV Tokyo -> TeleTo
  • Nippon TV -> NitTele
  • TV Asahi -> TeleAsa
  • The Japanese airline Zen Nippon Kuuyu (All Nippon Airways) -> ZenNikKuu
  • Subverted with Tokyo Movie Shinsha (AKA: TMS Entertainment). The official shortened name for the company is "To-Mu-Su", which instead of being short for the Japanese name, is simply the three English letters T, M, and S being pronounced in Japanese.
  • Slot machines in Japan -> "Pachislot", or "Pachisuro"note 
  • Credit card company American Express -> AmExnote 
  • Japanese satellite TV provider Sky PerfecTV! -> SukaPa!
  • Union Oil Company of California (original owners of the Union 76note  chain of gas stations) -> Unocal (used as a trade name, which also makes this an Officially Shortened Title)

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