Megumin's name

Toadesstern said:
The joke on that is supposedly that her name isn't all that weird and she's that super chuuni loli wizard that should have one. On the other side you have all those guys with names like Aqua, Darkness etc.
Or at least I was told so because back when I read her introduction scene I didn't quite get that either and had to ask

goodbyedays said:
Do you think her name is weird? Because whenever she introduces herself they make fun of her.

dirtyuncle said:
I think it's because Megumin sounds cutesy/childish, like a nickname rather than a real name. For example, Akari from Yuru Yuri is called "Akarin" by her friends, and Kagami from Lucky Star is "Kagamin". But Megumin is her actual name, which is why it sounds weird or funny to the other characters.

goodbyedays said:
What about Hyoizaburo and YuiYui?

dmrch said:
Hyoizaburo: It is much crazier than Darkness and Aqua. Firstly, "hyoi" sounds rather funny for native Japanese speakers. Also, it is an onomatopoeia about lifting up a weight light thing easily. So his name is:
"(onomatopoeia about lifting up a weight light thing easily) - third born man"

PantsOnHead said:
In this parody, the non-japanese chuuni has a japanese nickname as their real name. Megumi is a name, but Megumin is a nickname.

EratiK said:
I think it would be clearer if you'd just say "agile third son".

Takuan_Soho said:
兵三郎 or Hyouzaburo is an actual name. 兵 (hyou) is a common foot soldier (as opposed to an officer, knight, or samurai), 三郎 (zaburo) is third son. So the name used to imply that the third son would join the military, i.e. the spare(able) third son. It was popular during the Meiji and Taisho eras (pre-world war II), but such names are considered a bit archaic now - particularly with the 5 syllables. To a modern ear it would sound a bit grandeous, old fashioned, and a little strange. I.e. exactly the name a chuunibyou would pick.

dmrch said:
I checked the ep 2 again and also checked the original text. She said, "Hyoizaburo" (or ひょいざぶろー). And also, in Japanese chuuni sense, "郎" is basically an uncool word for human names, especially, "三郎" sounds dull.

dmrch said:
Indeed, it would be clearer probably, but the strangeness of the name is mainly based on the sound of that onomatopoeic word, "Hyoi". If translating "agile third son" into Japanese, it would be 俊三郎 (Shunzaburou), 捷三郎 (Shouzaburou), or the like, and those wouldn't be so weird, even though those would be archaic. (Though I'm not sure about whether "agile" sounds funny for native English speakers or not).

I checked the ep 2 again and also checked the original text. She said, "Hyoizaburo" (or ひょいざぶろー). And also, in Japanese chuuni sense, "郎" is basically an uncool word for human names, especially, "三郎" sounds dull.

DarklordVor said:
So I think the joke is that Megumin's name is rare in that world, since all the other girls have a normal, as in overused, names.

Toadesstern said:
The joke on that is supposedly that her name isn't all that weird

dirtyuncle said:
I think it's because Megumin sounds cutesy/childish, like a nickname rather than a real name.

dmrch said:
"hyoi" sounds rather funny for native Japanese speakers.

aobazuku said:
Quite so. Disgustingly, it's also incredibly common for idol otaku to do so for their objects of worship lol. Also are you really a netouyo?

Netouyo said:
People on this forum doesn't even know what Netouyo is. My previous username was Zaitokukai and no one had a clue what it means.

asadachi said:
I realise that I'm a little late in replying, but seeing as it's only halfway through the season, I suspect my reply is still quite relevant. Please forgive me if you consider 7 days a necro. Ahem!

No, no, the joke is exactly as stated; her clan all have really weird names.
As dirtyuncle mentioned, 'Megumin' is pretty much a cutesy nickname. Definitely not a name. And as dmrch mentions, Basically names like Yuiyui, Yunyun, Megumin sound like stupid/silly nicknames, whereas Hyoizaburou sounds like a real name, except with a bit changed to make it sound stupid. The fact that ___zaburou used to be extremely common as a male name ending in Japan (50ish years ago, names like Kenzaburou, Jinzaburou, Keizaburou etc. were really common.) just makes the first part sound all the more incongruous.

Anyway, just imagine names like Cassiewassie, Beckypoo or Lizliz used as given names. And names like Benjormin, Manthaniel and Afrony for the men. And it's a whole clan of people with names like this.


Edit: As is also mentioned above, her tone (during her chuuni rants especially) is really quite archaic, and somehow 'heavy' and 'pompous'.　如何にも、我が名、我（われ）、わい（←particularly old man-ish）etc.

It's quite similar to the tone that Gandalf uses in the Japanese translations of Lord of the Rings if that gives you any clue. Given that she ends said pompous introduction with the Japanese equivalent of Cassiepoo, anybody would suspect that she came to troll them.

Incidentally, the way the voice actress enunciates the words is pretty chuuni as well, which just adds to the fun lol. 'mazikku aitemu'

"Huhuhu, our meeting was surely preordained by the world. Long have I awaited for the likes of you to appear.

My name is Cassiewassie!

The Archwizard is my calling; those who command the most fearsome of offensive magics, the Explosion Magic!"

Toadesstern said:

The "normal" japanese nickname is not normal for the World they're in.

Noone said it's a proper name just that the nickname itself would not be outlandish in JP and not get that kind of reaction. But because they don't speak japanese in the other world she does get that reaction for a "normal" nickname.

At least that's my take on it.

Toadesstern said:
but the point, like people mentioned, is that it's a nickname for a japanese kid. It's is NOT that weird. Just look at all the VA's with the -n ending as nicknames:
Hayamin, Kayanon and a shitton others like that.

asadachi said:
That's completely wrong. For one thing, even Kazuma mentions that it's weird. The whole point is that it actually is really weird for a given name.

You say 'normal nickname', but what I was trying to explain is that it isn't Cassandra turning into Cassie. It's Cassandra turning into Cassiewassie. It's dimunitive and cutesy to quite a degree higher than normal nicknames in English. Honestly, unless you're a gyaru (or particularly modern), actually letting people call you Yunyun or Megumin is actually a little embarrassing.

「めぐみん」はさておき、「ひょいざぶろう」をどう説明するんだ？

It's obviously not just Megumin either. Despite what you think you know about Japan, there's heaps of evidence against your take on it. For one thing, try explaining Hyoizaburou under your 'Crimson names are weird because they're ordinary Japanese nicknames'.

EDIT:
Yeah, no. You don't seem to get it, but that is not 'normal'. Fans intentionally give their objects of worships particularly cutesy and affectionate names. It's close to 'hunnybunnybear'-tier nicknaming.

Toadesstern said:
then why are the other names that are REALLY chuunibyou all considered to be normal and noone bats an eye

Toadesstern said:
Clearly those are considered to be normal in the world to the point of the majority of people actually walking around with one of those names.

Toadesstern said:
I mean I could very well be wrong.

Toadesstern said:
But this just doesn't make sense either.

Toadesstern said:
The only ones that get shit for their names are the people with japanese names (or nicknames).

Toadesstern said:
for all I know it could be something like:
Male crimson pick something "cool" (trying to sound like a Samurai/oldschool in a different language) thus resulting in a somewhat old name but wrong because he's just some chuuni who messed up.
Female crimson pick someting "cute" (trying to sound cute in a different language), probably not realizing how awkard it sounds if you call yourself that because it's some chuuni who messed up

asadachi said:
Because it's a fantasy world, and names like Aqua, Sena and Lalatina are splendid Western-sounding names?
Wonderful, except the novel is narrated from Kazuma's point of view, and the only mention of the naming sense is either from him or Aqua who presides over Japan in any case.
You are.
To you.
And by who? Kazuma and Aqua, who both know what normal Japanese names are supposed to be.
It's not.

Look, I'm sick of trying to convince somebody who clearly has no experience with Japanese names. Obviously, Japanese people aren't a monolithic hive-mind, and on 2ch and shit, I've seen at least two people who jokingly mentioned that Darkness and Aqua were weirder names than Megumin to them, but the majority pretty much took the joke the way I explained, so unless the author is an idiot and didn't know how his joke would be interpreted, you're wrong.

Edit: It's a shame the web novel doesn't exist anymore, otherwise we could just browse the damn 感想 section from a few years back when Megumin first appeared, and end this stupid discussion once and for all.

asadachi said:
Regarding your Japanese friend, have they actually watched or read the series? If they have, then I honestly don't know what to say lol. Japanese people are people too, is about all I can comment.

I forgot about the Dullahan, I'll admit. The thing is though, I think you're deconstructing this a bit too seriously. Given how light-hearted the series is, the whole joke about the weird names most likely takes for granted that these fantasy characters share certain sensibilities with Japanese people. It's the same as why in light novels, even fantasy "Western" characters will inexplicably enjoy hot springs, miso soup, and drinking milk after a bath.

asadachi said:
Regarding your Japanese friend, have they actually watched or read the series? If they have, then I honestly don't know what to say lol. Japanese people are people too, is about all I can comment.

I forgot about the Dullahan, I'll admit. The thing is though, I think you're deconstructing this a bit too seriously. Given how light-hearted the series is, the whole joke about the weird names most likely takes for granted that these fantasy characters share certain sensibilities with Japanese people. It's the same as why in light novels, even fantasy "Western" characters will inexplicably enjoy hot springs, miso soup, and drinking milk after a bath.

Toadesstern said:

so tl;dr:
The Author is japanese, and the reason only the japanese names are getting shit on is because she's only knowledgeable about them and just has no idea about the english names? Despite them being equally weird as names for people who are fluent in english?
So reading into it being specifically a difference for english - japanese is just too much because author just picked those ones kinda random because "wow, this sounds cool/western, yolo" ?