Name Changes in Anime

[Ghost]

I wanted to ask some people this. This is isn't just about Astro Boy, but I'll mainly talk about that since it's a good example of what I'm going to talk about.

Most people that watch anime know that when a series is dubbed sometimes they make edits to the show, whether they be unnecessary or not. For editing, I can understand for things like swearing, nudity, and violence to a certain extent. Now in the case of the 2003 Astro Boy anime, I think most of those edits were unnecessary.

I could understand them not dubbing and airing the episode "Eternal Boy" because of Copyright. However, almost all of the edits they made to the rest of the episodes that were dubbed were completely ridiculous. Most of it was to just to mess with Atom's image. Atom and Astro were practically two different people in that series. Atom being Tezuka's true creation remade in the series, while Astro is the edited "dubby" version of Tezuka's creation as Dragonrider refereed to him as.

One of the unnecessary edits not just made in Astro Boy but other anime as well are Name Changes. Cobalt from the original B&W series is one example, for some reason beyond my understanding they changed his name to Jetto for the English version. Then you have Dr.Tenma up until the 2003 anime where he was called "Dr. Boyton," and again, I do not understand why they changed his name. And of course they changed Atom to Astro. I personally have no problem with either of the names, but I think I will start referring to him as "Atom" for a simple reason of the name sounding a bit better.

Now, the only time I think a characters name should be changed in a different dub is when the character's Japanese name is unpronounceable. I myself, like many English speakers don't speak Japanese very fluently. However names like, Cobalt, Atom, and Tenma are pretty easy to pronounce. (At least I think so.) Now if their name is hard to pronounce, then I can understand. What I don't understand is why certain series get edited so that their names are changed when their original Japanese names are simple names that are easily pronounceable for English speakers.

So here's a question: Why is it that names are so often changed for their English versions?

[Astro Forever]

If I recall correctly, they changed "Atom" for "Astro" because in America, there was already a character called "Atom".

I think a few decades ago, the networks didn't want the shows to look like they were Japanese for some reason (perhaps so kids would think it could happen in their own city). Perhaps that's why they changed the names. I would think that as people are getting accustomed to other cultures, as more and more people travel or immigrate, and with the Internet, there is no need to hide the Japanese origins of a series anymore (perhaps it is also an advantage, as a sign of quality). So, in 2003, they went with the Japanese names, for example, except for Ochanomizu who was shorten to O'Shay, but even then, his name is at least somewhat close to the original.

[Fauna]

It's usually to make it more accessible to English audiences, or to make it more pronounceable for kids. Plus, a lot of foreign names used for anime characters can be utterly ridiculous (for example, see Zeta Gundam).

Like, take Super Dimensional Space Fortress Macross AKA Robotech: The Macross Saga, which was a space drama turned into a kid's action show. One of the characters was originally Maximillian Jenius, but became Max Sterling. Claudia Lasalle became Claudia Grant, just to have a more realistic last name. Roy Focker became Roy Fokker to step away from the f-word. Misa Hayase was Lisa Hayes (this is my most favourite Americanization because it's so simple), and Hikaru Ichijo became Rick Hunter...basically, the Japanese names were just made into stuff that would seem catchier and make more sense to kids. Otherwise the sponsoring toy companies lose out...

Kid In 1985: Dad, I want the Heekiru Itchyjo figure for Christmas!
Dad In 1985: The what?
Kid In 1985: I mean, the Hakiru Ishijow figure!
Dad In 1985:

A lot of the Americanization happens with toy-centric kids' shows, or most shows televised in the nineties and prior. Like, it's inescapable with shows about feudal Japan, with the only exception being Samurai Pizza Cats. Pururun became Polly Esther, and people who've seen the original actually say it's much more bland than the dub. (I'm not saying all dubs are great, but this one was actually pretty great.)

There's a whole bunch of French-dubbed anime from the eighties that had interesting name changes to make it more accessible for kids, since that's the only market anime really was brought over for then. I think Sailor Moon was named Elizabeth or Victoria...

To end off...the worst dub names ever, from Tetsujin 28/Gigantor (dubbed 1964):
Shotaro Kaneda = Jimmy Sparks
Dr. Shikishima = Dr. Bob Brilliant
Kenji Murasame = Dick Strong
Chief Otsuka = Inspector Ignatz J. Blooper

[Astro Forever]

Misa Hayase was Lisa Hayes (this is my most favourite Americanization because it's so simple), and Hikaru Ichijo became Rick Hunter...basically, the Japanese names were just made into stuff that would seem catchier and make more sense to kids. Otherwise the sponsoring toy companies lose out...

In the 1980 Astro Boy series, Midori became Mindy, Osamu became Sam and Kenichi became Kenneth. They did attempt to remain close to the original names here and there.

[Ghost]

Yes, I can understand names being changed if their unpronounceable to different languages.

Mr. Mustachio aka Daddy Walrus is one example with his Japanese name being Higeoyaji. I still do this day cannot pronounce his Japanese name correctly. It's when names don't sound like curse words and/or if they're simple to pronounce in other languages. That's when it doesn't make sense to me.

I can understand when they change names to make it easier for kids to pronounce, or if their Japanese names sound like curse words in English.

[AprilSeven]

Great thread. It's still really difficult, on some level to think of him as Atom instead of Astro -- I guess it's like the Americanized 60's version was my "native" language, and thinking of Astro as Japanese (and Elefun as Ochanomizu) is thinking in a secondary language - I can do it, but I prefer to think of the characters by the name I've known them by for forty years.

It will be interesting to see how they handle the Pluto movie in the few years (will they call him Atom or Astro?)

BTW the American name for Tenma was Boynton (and Tobio's name was Astor, not Aster which I've seen here some place).