Almost no name in Dragon Ball is random. Akira Toriyama named his characters in groups, tying each family to a theme: vegetables, underwear, dairy, musical instruments. He explained it himself: coming up with lots of names is hard work, but grouping them into sets makes it much easier. Here are the main families and the pun behind each name.
The refrigerator logic
It all starts with Frieza. Toriyama said he pictured a refrigerator and grouped the characters in his empire by the food that goes inside it: the Saiyans are vegetables, his special squad is dairy. Strictly speaking "refrigerator" would have been more accurate, he admitted, but "freezer" landed the joke better. In Japanese the villain is in fact Furīza, a near match for the English word.
The Saiyans: a race of vegetables
"Saiya" is an anagram of yasai, the Japanese word for "vegetable". As a result, every pure-blooded Saiyan is named after one.
| Character | Pun |
|---|---|
| Vegeta | Vegetable |
| Kakarot (Goku) | Carrot |
| Raditz | Radish |
| Nappa | Japanese term for leafy greens |
| Bardock | Burdock |
| Gine | Negi, Japanese leek, with the syllables flipped |
| Broly | Broccoli |
| Paragus | Asparagus |
| Cabba, Caulifla, Kale | Cabbage, cauliflower and kale (Universe 6) |
In Goku's own family the theme widens to food in general: gohan means "rice" or "meal", and pan means bread. "Goku" itself is the Japanese reading of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King of Journey to the West, and its second syllable, kū, also means "sky". Goten keeps the theme going, since ten means "heaven": father and son share a name tied to the sky, while Gohan and Pan sit at the dinner table.
The Brief family: underwear
Bulma and her relatives are named after the contents of a lingerie drawer, borrowed from English.
| Character | Pun |
|---|---|
| Bulma | Bloomers |
| Dr. Brief | Briefs |
| Trunks | Trunks, boxer shorts |
| Bra | Bra |
Frieza's empire: cold and fruit
The tyrant's family is all about the cold: Frieza is the freezer, Cooler the cooler and King Cold the cold itself. His henchmen, on the other hand, are fruit: Zarbon comes from zabon, the pomelo, and Dodoria from the durian. The more recent films send the army back to the kitchen: Sorbet is sorbet, Tagoma echoes tamago (egg), Shisami is sashimi, and Broly adds Cheelai (lychee) and Lemo (lemon).
The Ginyu Force: dairy products
| Character | Pun |
|---|---|
| Captain Ginyu | Gyūnyū, cow's milk |
| Recoome | Kurīmu, cream, with the syllables shuffled |
| Burter | Batā, butter |
| Jeice | Chīzu, cheese |
| Guldo | Yōguruto, yogurt |
Toriyama said that with the Ginyu Force the theme came before the characters: first he decided "this time it's dairy", then he designed them.
Namekians: slugs and snails
"Namek" comes from namekuji, the slug. Dende derives from denden-mushi, a colloquial word for snail; Cargo from escargot; Nail from snail. Piccolo's lineage, meanwhile, is an orchestra: a piccolo is a small flute, and King Piccolo's minions are called Tambourine, Cymbal, Drum and Piano.
Magic, devils and stationery
- Majin Buu: read Bibidi, Babidi and Buu in a row and you get "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo", the fairy godmother's spell from Cinderella. The demon Dabura comes from "abracadabra". More in our Majin Buu profile.
- The Satan family: Mr. Satan is the devil, and Videl is an anagram of devil. Videl's classmates are school supplies: Sharpner (pencil sharpener) and Erasa (eraser).
- The Red Ribbon Army: its officers are named after colors, from Commander Red to General Blue, plus White, Black, Silver, Yellow and the ninja Murasaki (purple in Japanese).
Tea, dumplings and chestnuts
Many of Goku's friends come straight from a Chinese menu. Yamcha is the tea-and-dim-sum meal, Oolong and Puar are types of tea, Tien Shinhan is a rice dish and Chiaotzu is a dumpling. Pilaf is the rice dish, and his sidekicks Shu and Mai together make shumai. Krillin comes from kuri, chestnut, Toriyama's joke about his shaved head. Chi-Chi, the Ox-King's daughter, has a name that evokes milk in Japanese.
Androids and gods
The androids are numbers, but in 2014 Toriyama revealed the human names of the twins Android 17 and 18: Lapis and Lazuli, as in the blue stone lapis lazuli. Cell, meanwhile, is literally the "cell" he was grown from.
Dragon Ball Super brings a new theme, alcohol, born from a misunderstanding. Beerus comes from virus ("birusu" in Japanese), but Toriyama believed the word evoked beer: hence Whis (whisky), Champa (champagne) and Vados (Calvados), and eventually all the Gods of Destruction and Angels of the other universes.
Did you know? There is no pun behind Mr. Popo: Toriyama said he chose the name simply because it sounded nice.
Spotting these puns changes the way you read the series: behind a proud prince there is a vegetable, behind a galactic tyrant a kitchen appliance. It is the same sense of humor behind the stories collected in our Dragon Ball trivia.