Meaningful Name / Sailor Moon

Many, many characters have Meaningful Names.

Sailor Guardians

• Tsukino Usagi's name is pronounced the same as Rabbit of the Moon (and they then had trouble finding the moon princess). All the Sailor Senshi have names that reflect their specific elements and their planets.
  • The Moon Rabbit one gets Lampshaded in the manga, as when they're on the moon Sailor Jupiter wastes no time declaring that Sailor Moon is now the true Moon Rabbit.
  • Her English name "Serena" comes from "Serenity", the name of both her true mother and her own past and future self. It is also a reference to Selene, the Greek goddess of the moon and lover of the prince Endymion.
• Sailor Mercury: The characters used to write "Ami" can be read as "Asian beauty," and the "Mizu" in "Mizuno" means "water." Hence, mizu no ami, "beauty of water".
• Sailor Mars: Her given name is written in katakana, but sounds the same as the words meaning "cool," "spirit," or "companion." The "Hi" of her last name means "fire". Her full name sounds the same as the Japanese phrase hi no rei, meaning "spirit of fire".
• Sailor Jupiter: The "Ki" in "Kino" means "wood" or "tree". Her given name is written in hiragana, but sounds like the word for "sincerity"; her full name sounds the same as the Japanese phrase "sincerity of wood". She got her Canadian dub name "Lita" because it is similar to "lightning", her other elemental power. It also sounds like a variation of "Leda", which is one of the moons of Jupiter, and the mother of Helen of Troy by Zeus.
• Having been created first, Aino Minako is the only inner Sailor Guardian without the element pun.
  • Her first name contains the kanji for "beautiful" and "child," and her beauty is referenced in-series.
  • Her last name, which has the symbol for "love," represents the planet of Venus as Venus is the god of love in Roman mythology. So she's literally called the "beautiful child of love".
  • She has a different planet pun: the kanji in her given name have the alternate reading "binasu", and up to 1991 that was the official pronunciation of "venus" in Japanese.
• The outer Senshi (except Saturn) take their family names directly from their planet. Haruka Tenoh represents Uranus, or Tenohsei. They also reference their powers. Tenoh = Sky King, Kaioh = Sea King, Meioh = Dark King.
  • Sailor Pluto: Meioh as in Meiōsei, the Japanese for Pluto which means "King of the Underworld Star". Her given name has no inherent meaning, but is a homonym for a Japanese word meaning 'moment'. More specifically, it refers to the Japanese transliteration of the term 'ksana' - the smallest measurement of time in Buddhism. "Setsuna" also sounds similar to "setsunai," which is the Japanese word that means "bittersweet" (describing a mixture of feelings such as sadness, heartache, love and nostalgia). Fittingly, the Cloverway dub gave her the name "Trista," which means "full of sadness" in Latin.
  • Sailor Uranus: Tenoh as in Tenōsei, the Japanese name for Uranus literally meaning "sky king star". Her given name in kanji means "distant".
  • Sailor Neptune: Kaioh as in Kaiōsei, the Japanese name for Neptune meaning "sea king star". Her given name means "rising".
• Completing the set is Tomoe Hotaru; "Tomoe" = "earth^note dirt, not the planet sprout," "Hotaru" = "firefly." Besides Saturn's Japanese name being "Dosei" (earth star), the firefly's primary mystical significance in Japan is carrying the souls of the dead. Thus, her name can literally be taken as "firefly sprouting from the earth".
• Chibiusa shares the name of Tsukino Usagi, so she also represents the Moon Rabbit. Her nickname "Chibi-Usa" means "little rabbit", too. Her English name "Rini" is a diminutive of "Serenity", after her mother Neo-Queen Serenity (who in turn is named after her mother from her past incarnation).
• The names of the sailor forms (and other alter-egos).
  • Sailor Jupiter, who uses lightning-based attacks, one of which is combined with Petal Power (Specifically, oak leaves). Jupiter is the Roman name for Zeus, god of thunder and lightning. The oak tree was sacred to him. Also, the planet Jupiter is connected to Plants in Japan.
  • Sailor Mars, who uses fire-based attacks. The planet Mars is associated with fire in Japan.
  • Sailor Venus... All the inner Sailor Soldiers have an individual "For Love and x". In her case, it's "For love and beauty". Both of these are domains of the goddess Venus, AKA Aphrodite. Other domains of Venus (but only Venus, not Aphrodite) are victory, and she spams the V-Sign all the time, and war, and her body count is immense. Also Venus-Love-Me-Chain and its upgrades have a metal theme. The planet Venus is connected to metal (mostly gold) in Japan.
  • Sailor Mercury is the most intelligent and quick-thinking. Again with the Greek/Roman god thing. Domain of Mercury, AKA Hermes. The Water comes from the planet Mercury's water connections in Japan (ironic for the planet that's closest to the Sun).
  • Tuxedo Mask should be self explanatory, but just in case it isn't, he wears a tuxedo accessorized with a top hat, a cape, a cane, and a domino mask with one-way-transparency film in the eyeholes.
  • Sailor Uranus, Soldier of the sky. Ouranos/Uranos/Uranus was the sky itself (including space) in Greek myth and the first husband of the earth.
  • Sailor Neptune, Soldier of the sea. Neptune/Poseidon, Roman/Greek god whose domain is the ocean.
  • Sailor Pluto, Soldier of the underworld. Pluto/Hades, Roman/Greek god who ruled the underworld.

Supporting and other characters

• Luna means moon in Latin (and other languages).
• Artemis was a Greek goddess who was identified with Seléne - the Roman equivalent of Seléne was Luna. Diana, their daughter, was another Roman goddess of the moon, who was the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Artemis.
• Mamoru means "to protect". His full name translates as "protector of the Earth". The US dub of the 90s anime managed to somewhat retain the pun by giving him the surname Shields.
• There's also Queen Serenity, referring to both her personality and the Mare Serenitatis, or Sea of Serenity, a lunar landmark.
• Endymion was a character from Greek mythology who was in love with Seléne, the Greek goddess of the moon and Serenity's pre-incarnation.
• Sailor Starlights: Seiya means "field of stars", Taiki means "atmosphere", and Yaten means "night sky". Also the "three lights" are a Shinto concept, meaning the sun, moon and stars (represented by Seiya, Taiki and Yaten respectively).
  • The name "Three Lights" comes from an English translation of "san hikari", something from Shinto mythology (the "san hikari" were believed to be the sun, moon and stars, represented by Seiya, Taiki and Yaten respectively).
• Kakyuu means fireball, probably referencing the fact that she hid in an incense burner.
• Phobos and Deimos are named after Mars's two moons.

Villains

• Metaria (which is the correct spelling as confirmed by Word of God) means "of boundaries" or "belonging to boundaries", referring to how she was sealed.
• Recurring villains from the Dark Kingdom, the Black Moon Clan and the Death Busters are for the most part named after minerals or gems (including Koan of the Black Moon Clan: kōan is the Japanese name of kermesite, and in this case has nothing to do with Zen).
  • Monsters of the Week are normally excluded by this convention, but Fluorite and Vivian of the Dark Agency branch of the Dark Kingdom have mineral-based names, indicating their (relatively) high rank and ability to actually put a fight against Sailor V.
  • Danburite, a minor member of the Dark Kingdom and the Big Bad of Codename: Sailor V, has two other names: Ace Saijyo, his "civilian name", stands for his ability to excel at everything he's seen doing, and his past life's name Adonis references that he had been a subordinate of Sailor Venus in the Silver Millennium and loved her from afar.
  • The Dead Moon Circus also has the Amazon Trio, who are also named after gems; Tiger's Eye, Hawk's Eye, and Fish Eye.
    • The majority of Shadow Galaxia's Animamates have the first half of their name taken after metals. There's Sailor Iron Mouse, Sailor Aluminum Siren, Sailor Lead Crow, Sailor Tin Nyanko, and Sailor Heavy Metal Papillion. The musical adds Sailor Pewter Fox, and Sailor Titanium Kerokko.
• CereCere, VesVes, PallaPalla and JunJun are named after Ceres, Vesta, Pallas and Juno, names of Roman goddesses and asteroids. which is fitting as they become Sailors Ceres, Vesta, Pallas and Juno later on.
• In the SuperS movie Perle, Poupelin, Banane, Orangeat, Madame Badiane and the Marzipannu Castle are all named after French (or German in Orangeat's case) sweets and desserts, except for Perle, whose name means "pearl" in French, like the stone, or like tapioca pearls.