In the Korean version Gatchaman, Ken's name is Gun[gÊŒn]. Its Japanese pronunciation is Ken. Gun means- health, integrity, upright person, straight, strong. Gun-Mool(thing) : building Gun-Gang(strong) : healthiness Gun-Sill(full) : sound (person/business/body) Gun-sul(build) : construction Gang(strong)-Gun : robust, virile, sturdy Gun is frequently used when naming a man. My grandfather's name is Lee(family name) Gun-Jung(middle/center). Mine? Mine is Eun(prosperous)-Gyung(capital city). When Chinese/Korean/Japanese parents choose Jian/Gun/Ken for their newborn son, it means that they wish the baby grown up as a reliable strong man who never ever kneel down before injustice always maintaining his sound body and soul. And also lead the people in the right path with his honesty and sincereness. And his family name Washio is... (In Korean version, he was named only Gun without his family name) Like above, I'll further post the Korean name of other members and the meanings of Japanese names as well. I like the Eagle to be called as Ken. Because "Mark" do not remind me anything of his character. Tee-hee... I think Tatsnoko staffs carefully chose each character's name. Can anyone explain me what the name "Mark" means for?

`Ken` is a straight Chinese sword. `Wa-shio` Is white eagle. (I think there is a person named that in the Kojiki...) Simple really.

Dear Tengu. regarding chinese sword Ken, I think we should investigate how "Ken" is converted to chinese letter first. But as long as I'd searched on the Korean web, 健 seems right. And it is perfectly convertible into both Korean and Japanese names. Japanese are very proud of their own traditions and Samurai culture. The Animation's title is "Kagaku Ninja Tai" If they named their hero after a chinese weapon, it makes my head tilted. (PS. Tai means a troop of armies rather than a team) Ken's father's name also gives me a clue. His name is Kentaro. ta- big/large/wide/ ro- a male Kentaro is pretty common name in Japan. They usually spell it as Chinese letter- 健太郎 Regarding Washio, washi means eagle and O means tail. Washio is existing family name in Japan. Washi is a noun. If O means white(an adjective), then it should be Owashi, because adjectives usually in front of the nouns. If we have the Chinses letters corresponding to Ken Washio, which were provided by Tatsnoko production, it must be the fastest way to figure out. But I've failed with it even on yahoo.co.jp Sigh... And the meaning of the name Gun is written in Korean's point of view. Maybe Chinese/Japanese parents do not put too much meanings for it. I just wrote down the associated images of Gun gives out. If a woman's name is Grace, I expect her appearance as quiet feminine and elegant, with calm and soft voice. The same with Gun.

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Chris, it's interesting Mark from Mars. It think it is quiet suitable name for the Gatchaman. It's glad that you have some references. Would you scan it? then I can find correct meanings of their names easily. As below, maybe I need each member's profile. I've found Joe's, but I don't sure it is made by Tatsnoko. I guess Asakura family were poor peasants in Japan. No one would want to have such family name, but Japanese lords gave out family names to his peasants without careful thoughts. As long as I know, except aristocrats normal Japanese didn't have their family names before the Meiji Restoration in 18th century. Improvised family names were given to people for administrative opportunism.

I'm a bit depressed with the Chinese letters corresponding to 浅 is not that good one. At first, I thought Asakura might be 朝倉- name of a noble Japanese family which were all slaughtered in 15th century by Oda Nobunaga. And it quietly corresponds to Joe's situation. I think there is a little possibility that lords gave name of Asakura to their peasants to insult the real Asakura family. 浅 and 朝 share the same pronunciation "Asa". 朝 means dynasty/dominate/morning/territory of a king 浅 even means (especially to Korean. I'm not sure with Japanese) - not preferred by the upper classes, a man of humble birth, indecent, belong to low classes, not valuable....etc. Korean parents will not use 浅 for their son's name.

I've emailed you a pair of pages, let me know if they give you what you need!

Btw, Joe comes from BC Island, which as far as I could tell was modelled on Sicily. Sicilians are historically poor people, farmers and whatnot. Sicily is where the Italian Mafia was born so that's likely why it was chosen. That would fit such a choice for name kanji. (My great-grandfather on my father's side immigrated to the US from Sicily.)

I had a different thought. Joe's family were in a position of power on BC Island (though they didn't necessarily get that power through "noble" means.) So, when Dr. Nambu rescued Joe from BC Island, he could have altered Joe's name just enough to make it harder on anyone who might be looking for him.

CW game me scanned images of character's profiles in Japanese. I'll post them later. It was really helpful. Ken's name was as I wrote above. CW, when I was watching the episode of BC.Island, I thought the same with you- Sicily came up in my mind. Narrator said it was also a resort island. If Joe's parents were pretty powerful person in there, I guess they were involved in illegal liquors, drugs, slot machines or prostitution etc...Maybe they did not want their son to grow up watching their back and that's why they tried to escape from Gallector. Woo...I need to confess that a scene flashed in my mind bad guy Joe is examining his prostitutes in the office deep inside of his club. Of course this is a fantasy, if it comes in reality it must be disgusting. EW, your opinion seems very realistic. But Nambu didn't alter Joe's name. Because in the ep81(BC.Island) Katse said "This man looks just like Giuseppe Asakura" looking at a picture of Joe. And Allen knew his name Joe.

Rachel, I was thinking about your comments about the Chinese letters -- though they had the same sonds, they had opposite meanings...Nambu could have kept the same sound of "Asakura" but changed the meaning....instead of maintaining the image of power that came with his parents' position, Joe is given an illusion of powerlessness that would cause Galactor to look elsewhere if they had ever suspected that Joe had survived the assassination of his parents. Basically, I was looking more into possible symbolism than into cut-and-dried canon. Does that make any sense?

Here is Joe's Korean name "Hyuk" I collected frequently used Chinese letters for "Hyuk" as a male's name. For the Condor, Japanese and Korean names are not connected with each other. Almost every Korean name is consisted of three syllables. like Kim Jung-il, Kim Jung-Un. One is family name, the other two is first name. Relying on my experience, only about 1% of Korean has one-syllable first name. And I barely encountered a person who has first name with three syllables. Many people consider one syllable name cool. But one syllable name is not common as below reasons. -Koreans like something normal. -Some name makers(fortune teller) insists that one syllable is not enough to protect his soul and luck. -Brothers and sisters usually share the same syllable. Many family regard it as a tradition. Kim Jung Un's bros's names are Jung Nam, Jung Chul. When I was a seven years old girl, I felt my heart beating fast whenever I saw Gun and Hyuk on TV. I thought their one syllable name was so cool. Whenever a guy with a one syllable name came around me, I was frequently attracted to them. I can tell I'm not the only girl who feels like this. One of my friend said, "I really like one syllable name!! Do you remember Doksuri-O-hyungJe(Korean title)? They had one syllable name, too!!" I think Gun and Hyuk always had been in deep inside of Korean women's mind. My husband has one syllable name. He served as UDT/SEAL for three years. He was an outstanding gunner. Every Korean young male has to perform mandatory military service at least two years. If you're a military mania, you must know Korean UDT(underwater demolition team). Even US Navy Seals ask them to perform military exercises every year. When I met him in the university, he was living alone in a tiny house near the campus. Whenever I read descriptions of Joe's trailer, it reminds my memories.

EW!! Wow! Now I can understand you!! If Tatsnoko directors had thought as we guessed, it is soooooo awesome thing!! When I was writing a comment about your opinion, I thought it didn't make sense for Nambu not to change Joe's name! It felt a little bit strange.

EW, that does make a certain amount of sense! I agree that it'd be weird for Nambu to not change Joe's family name. That's very interesting about the names, Rachel!

Really interesting stuff here EW, CW and Rachel! I really enjoyed reading this. Rachel, are you going to do the other team members names too?

I believe she has references for all of them for the original Kanji now (it was helpful when she showed me some Kanji characters to look for since all I was doing was looking for pretty pictures that looked like they went with character profiles), so I'm looking forward to her breakdown of all that!

RB, yes i will. But i will post them on Sunday. Now i am in Jeju island the southern edge of korea. I may say it's korean BC Island. It is a resort island one hour from Seoul by airplane. Chris, you can look foward to it♥

Enjoy your trip, rachel!!

Originally posted by ChrisW I believe she has references for all of them for the original Kanji now (it was helpful when she showed me some Kanji characters to look for since all I was doing was looking for pretty pictures that looked like they went with character profiles), so I'm looking forward to her breakdown of all that!

Thanks, CW. I missed the part where Rachel stated she would, further up. I think I might need to join Jinpei for some of those reading comprehension classes!

Originally posted by rachel RB, yes i will.

Awesome, Rachel!

Originally posted by rachel But i will post them on Sunday. Now i am in Jeju island the southern edge of korea. I may say it's korean BC Island. It is a resort island one hour from Seoul by airplane.

Hope you have a great time, Rachel! Hmmm....just be sure it's not a Galactor resort island (like Club Aphrodite).

Perhaps we might have gone too far with Joe's family name. However, even though the character designer considered what we guessed, he couldn't reveal it openly because it is extremely rude behavior to those who have the same family name with Joe's. I hope there is a Japanese here who can give us his opinion. PS) I've searched Japanese-Korean dictionary and found æµ… is used to describe "not acceptable to upper classes" "vulgar" but it seems that its main meaning is "shallowness in knowledge" "not deep" etc.

Jun Jun's Korean name is Soo-Na. Women barely have one syllable name. I've met only two entire of my life. Here are collection of corresponding Chinese letters which are the most frequently used for female name. Not all of the Chinese letters are available for Korean name. There are certain designated Chinese letters to name a person. -A swan lives in water. -She's got supreme beauty. -Her eyes are beautiful jade green Her Korean name seems quiet suitable for the Swan. "Jun" is a male syllable in Korean. I think that's why Korean staffs changed her name. I remember that Jun's family name was Himuro. Now I can't find where I'd seen it... Japanese family name Himuro is as below. Himuro means a storage room for ice cubes.

Jinpei's Korean name is Ppyung. I think it is a fortis prononciation of Pyung(å¹³). If you see below Japanese name for the Swallow, you may understand why his Korean name is Pyung. Jinbei is Japanese traditional daily costumes. Jinpei was found by Jun, being abandoned when he was three years old in the Mt.Jupiter. I guess that when Jun had first seen him, he might be worn a Jinbei because he was a member of a Ninja family. If you watch Gatchaman Japanese version, you can notice sometimes Jun is calling Jinpei as Jinbe-. pronunciation is barely spoken. I think Jinpei is altered pronunciation of Jinbe-. As far as I know, there is no exact Japanese alphabet for p and b. They have the mixed pronunciation of P and B.