Top 5 Worst JRPG Character Names Of All Time...

Gothic Girl | June 15, 2008 | Top List | Misc

If you've ever played a Japanese RPG, you'd know that they have their fair share of characters with awful names. Names can be mistranslated, Americanized, or just plain stupid to begin with.
1up takes a look at the Top 5 Worst JRPG Character Names...

The Japanese have always had a skewed take on all things Western -- though, to be fair, America's seen its share of cultural bastardization.
Even so, it's hard to avoid a unique feeling of disappointment when you stop to think that, maybe, if they'd taken a minute to ask a few well-meaning non-Japanese jerks about the authenticity of their creative properties, Japanese videogame companies -- famous for their unabashed attempts at cosmopolitanism -- wouldn't suffer such a high rate of crippling embarrassment. This is where we come in.

5. Genis Sage (Tales of Symphonia)
A victim of a Japanese-to-English dictionary and a three-minute brainstorming process, Genis Sage is -- you guessed it -- summed up by the adjective-noun pairing that is his name. Though, to their credit, the Namco localization team realized the ridiculousness of "Genius Sage" and dropped the "u" from his name for the game's Stateside release, eliminating most of the aggressive stupidity. Genius' older sister received the most benevolent stay of execution from Namco's American branch when her name was changed from the baffling, beverage-policy-inspired "Refill" to the more fantasy-ish "Raine." It's easy to imagine Namco picking up, say, the Lord of the Rings license and naming the protagonist "Adventure Shortman."

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Comments

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1 thumbs!
kik36 | June 15, 2008

I've always wondered where the hell Cait Sith came from.....LMFAO "Lost in translation" I guess.....LMAO
1 thumbs!
Benedict | June 15, 2008

Genis Sage so reminds me of something. And Butz.... Thats just a LMAO name I'm NOT supprised.
1 thumbs!
Silver Mirror | June 15, 2008

I thought Cait Sith had something to do with Hindu culture or maybe Voodoo, don't know where I got that from though.
1 thumbs!
Agrias | June 15, 2008

ahahha...i though it was "caith=cat" and "sith=sit"...sit on the cat LOL

How lousy LOL
1 thumbs!
Gothic Girl | June 15, 2008

I don't think Squeenix's American localization team realized it was meant to be pronounced "Kett-She" because his name was still pronounced "Kayt-Sith" in Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus. XD
0 thumbs!
Storm | June 15, 2008

I happen to like Cait Sith! Not that I used him much in FFVII or anything, but still. :S
1 thumbs!
shadow993 | June 15, 2008

Agreed with Cait Sith. It doesn't help that you can barely see the cat.

Everyone I know thought it was the pink thing at first.
1 thumbs!
tallteen86 | June 15, 2008

Cait Sith = Kett Shee?

Way off of what you'd think....

*Laughs like a stupid little boy at the name "Butz"* Seriously? LMAO. Not only is it a bit funny to think of someone named that, but to have them as a character in a video game? Didn't play FFV, so was the person always the 'Butz' of the joke?
1 thumbs!
Shadow net583x s | June 15, 2008

I actually liked Genis, I felt proud of myself when I put Genis and Genius together.
-3 thumbs!
Final Blade | June 15, 2008

_{Disagree with the list, or the order rather. Caith Sith should really be number 1, cause in all honesty a fortune telling robot being controlled by a cat and a Shinra Employee, which sucks horrible at it should never be in a videogame period.

Also the fact that....} _{He dies the temple of the Ancients to get the black materia and comes back some how}
_{just makes it odd in the very least.}
1 thumbs!
Alieninvasion08 | June 16, 2008

I like Cait Sith's name
But his character was confusing as hell
0 thumbs!
Jesus | June 16, 2008

Kett She? Doesn't really sound like Cat Pee to me. I wouldn't have noticed it if it wasn't said. But Butz. Lol.
1 thumbs!
tallteen86 | June 17, 2008

I forgot to mention, but hey, people who write 'names' using Romanji (Japanese with Roman letters), or other similar situations (ex. using Latin, for example). I'm pretty sure the names would be considered ludicrous by a majority of the people who know the language >_>

I'm guilty of doing that stuff though.
0 thumbs!
Capn Droid | June 17, 2008

Kett Shee? You could've spelled it to match the pronounciation, at least. Even us English speaking people can't get that one right.
0 thumbs!
player300o | June 17, 2008

Yeah, well, don't knock the horrible translation. I mean, look at Zero Wing. They messed up most of the game. Which is worse: 1 name, or an entire game?