Cloud's Name

Princess Bubblegum said:
I think, the Japanese call Cloud "Kuraudo" in pronunciation rather than say the actual Japanese word for Cloud witch is "kumo" because they're really trying to say the Italian boy name; Claudio.
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It is very very popular in Japan to use English words, that is why you will see Katakana (japanese text for writing foreign words) everywhere you go in Tokyo etc. It is probably for that reason that they said Kuraudo instead of Kumo. Claudio just doesn't sit right with me when thinking of Cloud though. Maybe for a character like...Hope, Palom or Vaan but Cloud? Nah, by thats just me.

Graye said:
Sora came from sky apparently.
Lightning is well... lightning.

I think he is literally supposed to be called Cloud because he's always depressed about something which reflects dark rain clouds etc.
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Yeah, Sora is japanese for sky. Also, I agree with Cloud meaning his depressed personality and also maybe
his 'clouded' memories when he thinks he was actually 1st class SOLDIER?

So yeah, I think for the 'coolness' factor of it they say Kuraudo instead of Kumo similar to how they say Kamera instead of the word (not sure what it is) for photograph machine (japanese teacher told me they had a word)
 
Addleboy said:
Kumo isn't the pronunciation of the English word, cloud, it's the Japanese word for cloud. "Kuraudo" is the Japanese pronunciation of the English word, cloud. There's a difference.
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Yeah, exactly. But why would the Japanese try pronouncing the English word rather than the Japanese? Ahh, screw it.:pacman:

Channy said:
Well lovely, I'm going to have to disagree on you with the whole Italian thing they got going on. Each character's name has a meaning.

-snip because too long-

I still love you though bby. <3
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Jerk :mokken: Just kiddin' :ryan:

Thanks for all the meanings and what not, but their names are still Italian though, that's all I was pointin' out.

It is very very popular in Japan to use English words, that is why you will see Katakana (japanese text for writing foreign words) everywhere you go in Tokyo etc. It is probably for that reason that they said Kuraudo instead of Kumo. Claudio just doesn't sit right with me when thinking of Cloud though. Maybe for a character like...Hope, Palom or Vaan but Cloud? Nah, by thats just me.
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Whoa, bro. I don't like it either. I was just seeing some kind of possibility with it all.
 
Princess Bubblegum said:
Yeah, exactly. But why would the Japanese try pronouncing the English word rather than the Japanese? Ahh, screw it.:pacman:
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Why is there so much English gibberish on Japanese products when they could just use coherent Japanese? Because, like Beyer said, they like English words. Also, if you look at the names of all the other FFVII characters, none of them have Japanese names (except maybe people from Wutai), so why would Cloud have one?
 
Addleboy said:
Why is there so much English gibberish on Japanese products when they could just use coherent Japanese? Because, like Beyer said, they like English words. Also, if you look at the names of all the other FFVII characters, none of them have Japanese names (except maybe people from Wutai), so why would Cloud have one?
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Cloud's not exactly a normal name, man. :mokken:
 
It goes with the scheme/obsession that Final Fantasy VII seemed to have with Italian names and stories, I also noticed the heavily implied comparison between The Divine Comedy and FFVII.

I agree with this theory, I always got an Italian vibe from Cloud anyway:ryan:
 
This is an interesting idea. I can't say I agree with it though, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're wrong. It is very possible that there can be dual interpretations of Cloud's name - therefore no one is strictly right or wrong. This dual interpretation could have been deliberate - who knows.

I'll stick to the weather and terrestrial argument though - Cloud, Squall, Lightning, Sora, Tidus, Yuna, others. Nomura did say he had a part to play in the naming of these characters, with perhaps character personalities reflecting that of the name itself as well. As others have said, "Cloud" itself represents Cloud as being 'rainy-cloud' like. I'm quite fond of that idea myself. It seems like the more likely theory.

And the Japanese pronunciation thing....yeah, Addle's right. The Japanese are really keen on mixing some English words with Japanese. They could have also easily called "Lightning" something like "Raigeki", but they've tried to use the English word instead (as "Raitoningu") to cater for the Japanese audience.
 
I took Japanese for one year, and I'm going to the next level this year when school starts up, so, yes to Kurado. In Japanese they take foreign names, sayy...Savannah, and they change it to their way of speaking. There are no V's in Japanese, so her name would be Sa-Ba-Na.

Cloud would've also been changed to Ku-Ra-Do.

I think you're right in saying they were naming him after a different name, but if it was Claudio, it would be Ku-Ra-Dee-Oh and not Ku-Ra-Do.

So in the end, Cloud isn't mistranslated from Japanese. If they were trying to say "Claudio" you would've known. Maybe they just thought Cloud was a neat name.
 
AhngelicDemon said:
I took Japanese for one year, and I'm going to the next level this year when school starts up, so, yes to Kurado. In Japanese they take foreign names, sayy...Savannah, and they change it to their way of speaking. There are no V's in Japanese, so her name would be Sa-Ba-Na.

Cloud would've also been changed to Ku-Ra-Do.

I think you're right in saying they were naming him after a different name, but if it was Claudio, it would be Ku-Ra-Dee-Oh and not Ku-Ra-Do.

So in the end, Cloud isn't mistranslated from Japanese. If they were trying to say "Claudio" you would've known. Maybe they just thought Cloud was a neat name.
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Ooh, thanks for the input! That's actually very helpful, too! ;))
 
Princess Bubblegum said:
Jerk :mokken: Just kiddin' :ryan:

Thanks for all the meanings and what not, but their names are still Italian though, that's all I was pointin' out.

Whoa, bro. I don't like it either. I was just seeing some kind of possibility with it all.
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Well no doubt there's a bit of an Itanlian theme, but also I was just showing you each character has roots. But for ffs if his name was meant to be Claudio, I don't think I'd play the game. I don't want a main character who has a 70's porn star name. :mokken:
 
Claudio is my father's name. Nice.
But Kuraudo is simply what happens when a Japanese tries to pronounce the English word "Cloud", not Kumo. Kuraudo and kumo sounding alike is coincidental here.
 
I agree with Graye. I read FF wiki always and it is their tradition to name their protagonists with names that has something to do with nature. That does not necessarily mean that they have to use the real word/meaning to call their protagonist. For example, in Death Note, Yagami Light is called as Raito when we know that "light" is actually hikari in Japanese. Hence, Lightning (protagonist in FF13) is also called as Raitoningu. Noctis is actually Latin meaning "of the night" but instead of being called as "yoru" (the real Japanese word for that meaning), he is called as Nokutisu.

This is called transliteration, the mapping from one system of writing into another, word by word, or ideally letter by letter. Transliteration attempts to use a one-to-one correspondence and be exact, so that an informed reader should be able to reconstruct the original spelling of unknown transliterated words. Most systems of transliteration map the letters of the source script to letters PRONOUNCED similarly in the goal script, for some specific pair of source and goal language. In practice, there are also some mixed transliteration/transcription systems that transliterate a part of the original script and transcribe the rest. Also, transliteration should not be confused with translation, which involves converting a message expressed in one language into a message with the same meaning in another language. Transliteration performs a mapping from one alphabet into another. In a broader sense, the word transliteration may be used to include both transliteration in the narrow sense and transcription. Anglicizing is a transcription method. Romanization encompasses several transliteration and transcription methods.

Regardless, I believe that foremost the names of most protagonists in FF are taken to mean something from nature, be it from a Latin word or French (as in the case of Lightning's real name, Eclair Farron, which means lightning and thunder respectively; Farron is a Gaelic language). Below are only some of the names I know taken from nature:-

Cloud (English) - cloud
Zack Fair (English) - fair weather
Aeris (Latin word aer) - of air
Squall (English) - storm
Rinoa (French) - light (romaji transcription of 'Lenore' which was translit.to Japanese)
Yuna (Okinawan) - moon
Tidus (Okinawan) - sun
Lightning (English) - lightning (obviously :p )
Noctis (Latin) - of the night
 
Cloud Strife= War in the Heavens
Just a kickass name

Squall Lionheart= Storm of Courage
Nice name, not as good as Cloud's though

Zidane Tribal= Beautiful Native of Tribe
Complicated// Zi-dane Tribal: Beauty-native Tribe
because Zidane comes from a different planet in the game

Garland= The crown of a King.
In FF1, Garland was the finest swordsman/knight. A king's crown if you will.

Princess Garnet til' Alexandros (or garnet alexandros)= Love and Protector of Man
because shes a princess...



 
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