Names in “Number”

Today’s random blog-post topic is something I had been thinking about as I started going through and scanslating Number.

I noticed that a lot of the characters in Number have floral or fruit names. Anzu = apricot, Zakuro = pomegranate, Edelweiss is a tiny German flower, Sakura = cherry blossom, Kuchinashi – gardenia. Ageha and Tamamushi have insect names – an ageha is a swallowtail butterfly and a tamamushi is a jewel-beetle.

Interesting, no?

Not only that but Toneriko’s last name is “Furoribanda”. “Furori” = Flori? Maybe?

(EDIT: In Japanese "banda" means "many branches". So, "many branches of flora", maybe.)

I had a hard time figuring out “Toneriko” and I was actually about to give up when I randomly put “tone” into my handheld electronic dictionary just to see what came up, and lo and behold! “Toneriko” means “ash tree” in Japanese. Another plant. :)

To be honest I’ve no idea what Tekirai and Aralagi’s names mean. But if it’s Aralagi… who cares. XD

(EDIT: An Araragi is also a butterfly.)

But Tekirai’s could be interesting. I tried to piece some kanji together for it and came up with:

嫡雷 Descendant of Thunder
敵来 Future Enemy
擢雷 Surpasses Thunder

Any would be fitting.

Names usually have significance in manga stories (at least in the ones I read, har har), so that’s why I thought of it.

Randomness over. Back to relaxing before school starts again. :/