Meaning behind the names?

I know Henrietta and Rico relate to Enrica, and I guess Angelica is pretty obvious (as explained in the series) but what of the others?

A couple of months back Professor Voodoo advanced a very elegant and persuasive origin for Triela's name to honour Hilshire's hometown: [link to post]

As for Petrushka, it ties into her Russian origins and her past as an aspiring ballerina: the name is both the title of a ballet, and the name of a traditional folk puppet, appropriate enough for a cyborg (although I wonder if it'd be like calling an English-origin cyborg "Punch"?). The ballet character "Petrushka" is male while our Agency Petra is female, but that comes from Marco's informing Alessandro that many handlers give their cyborgs boys' names (e.g. Rico & Claes).

Chris Hansen wrote:I know Henrietta and Rico relate to Enrica

wat

Nachtsider wrote:

Chris Hansen wrote:I know Henrietta and Rico relate to Enrica

wat

Henrietta

Rico=Enrica

One thing that's crossed my mind...Rico is the only cyborg to remember her past, surely she remembers her old name. Wonder what that was.

Since we seem to be out of canon characters to discuss...how did your OC get her (or his) name?

I'm still waiting for someone to explain Cleas to me. That's a boy's name?

Chris Hansen wrote:I'm still waiting for someone to explain Cleas to me. That's a boy's name?

It was her middle name prior to her memory wipe & cyborg conversion...but yes, Claes is a common male name in northern Europe.

It's in the anime too. I'm surprised you didn't catch it, Chris.



It was even zoomed in, in the anime.

Professor Voodoo wrote:
Henrietta

Rico=Enrica

One thing that's crossed my mind...Rico is the only cyborg to remember her past, surely she remembers her old name. Wonder what that was.

I suppose that could work, but until canon explicitly says that was how the Croce brothers named their cyborgs, I can only regard it as speculation. Or an educated guess at best.

And I like to think that Rico's real name is Florence.

Triela wrote:It's in the anime too. I'm surprised you didn't catch it, Chris.



It was even zoomed in, in the anime.

That's all fine and dandy but what's the significance behind it? And why would a young French girl have a men's middle name, and a rather decidedly non-French-like name overall?

Chris Hansen wrote:That's all fine and dandy but what's the significance behind it? And why would a young French girl have a men's middle name, and a rather decidedly non-French-like name overall?

It's just a name her parents gave her, there's no meaning behind it. Maybe her parents just liked the name. Not all names have to be a plot device, especially something like this. So her middle name was Claes and Rabalo used it when she became a cyborg. Simple as that.

Also, maybe Yu liked it. When I name my original characters something it just comes to me. I names one of my characters Miyo. There's no plot point to it, I just thought of the name. My mom gave me my real name because she saw it and liked it, end of story.

Chris Hansen wrote:That's all fine and dandy but what's the significance behind it? And why would a young French girl have a men's middle name, and a rather decidedly non-French-like name overall?

Maybe because Claes is Swedish?

(Her dossier that Raballo is reading states she is the daughter of a Swedish professor.)

Johanssen =/= French

Professor Voodoo wrote:One thing that's crossed my mind...Rico is the only cyborg to remember her past, surely she remembers her old name. Wonder what that was.

The cynic in me says it's a way for Jean to exercise control over, and instill loyalty in, Rico since she appears to feel she is only valuable to Jean because of her cyborg body, which she dearly loves.

Professor Voodoo wrote:Since we seem to be out of canon characters to discuss...how did your OC get her (or his) name?

Michele chose it to recognize her heritage - Kara for her Japanese side (not sure it's a true Japanese name, but it can be written in katakana and hiragana) and Michelle for her French side.

Chris Hansen wrote:And why would a young French girl have a men's middle name, and a rather decidedly non-French-like name overall?

Well, she wouldn't be the first person to get a cross-gender middle name.

Professor Voodoo wrote:Since we seem to be out of canon characters to discuss...how did your OC get her (or his) name?

I don't really have a fanon reason as to why Monty was called "Monty". However I'd take a guess that Jethro's thought process was similar to mine. First up; I've always liked the Monica/Monique name set. Of course they also both shorten down to the wonderfully androgynous "Monty", thereby fulfilling my obligation to give her a boy's name.

"Monique" sounds kind of French (going back to Monty's French roots) and, to me at least, sounds very feminine. "Monty" on the other hand is more British and has a bit of spunk and attitude about it which I like, but without quite losing that femininity. I think the combinaiton of name and nickname serve as a nice play on different facets of her personality. That's one of the reasons it took me so damn long to give Monty and Jethro names after creating them.

Speaking of Jethro. When I was looking for his name I wanted something a bit down to earth. The sort of name that would be content with a pie and chips followed by a pint of bitter to wash it down... but without being boring (ie. it should still feel at home in a tuxedo drinking a martini). Oh, and it had to be British. The "Blacker" part was actually a play on the last name of my Design History lecturer (Blackler... took out an "l"), who was the most Queen and Country British person I've ever met... she famously once gave us the exam question "What year did the Spitfire first fly" without actually teaching it to the class on the assumption that that sort of thing was general knowledge. We got along like a house on fire.

So again Jethro's name is a play on different parts of the character himself. That Monty's adopted his last name should speak volumes.

I'm still waiting for someone to explain Cleas to me. That's a boy's name?

This actually occasioned me some acute embarrassment a few months ago. A drawthread (where artists looking for quick practise open up for requests) had started up over on 4chan and, looking for art to help fill out the Passion Lives Here website, I asked for a picture of Claes. A few hours later a sketch duly came back, very nice but augmented by a certain... bulge.

"Sorry, drawfriend, it's very good but what's this?"

"What you asked for!"

"I didn't ask for this! What do you take me for? The character's just a girl, not some fetish freak!"

"A girl? I assumed it was a trap [i.e. ladyboy. Imagine Admiral Ackbar saying it]. Claes is a male name."

"It is?"

"Yeah."

"...oh."

Robert Frazer wrote:A girl? I assumed it was a trap [i.e. ladyboy. Imagine Admiral Ackbar saying it].

Ahaha, I never thought of that before - that gave me a good laugh. Speaking of Passion Lives Here, when will it start? I dying to read it!

It was supposed to start last October, but since 47ness dropped out to concentrate on his Sally Sprocket & Piston Pete comic it's been on ice for want of an artist. I can't draw myself, and finding someone who's a GSG fan, with halfway decent skill, is able to commit to a long-term project, isn't busy with his own work, and is willing to work just for a split of the ad revenue has been the Labour Of Sisyphus. :\

If you know anyone who might be interested, please send them my way...

Robert Frazer wrote:I asked for a picture of Claes. A few hours later a sketch duly came back, very nice but augmented by a certain... bulge.

"A girl? I assumed it was a trap [i.e. ladyboy. Imagine Admiral Ackbar saying it]. Claes is a male name."

So are we ever going to get to see this picture of tranny Claes?

Sorry, Voodoo, but I deleted it soon after. There's a drawthread active now on their anime board, though - if you're desperate you could always go and ask for your own version.