• There are currently leaks out on the internet for FFVII Rebirth; we have received legal notice about these being posted on the forums. Do not post any images, videos, or other media, or links to them from FFVII Rebirth or the artbook. Any leaked media or links to them will be deleted.Repeat offenders will be suspended.
    Please help us out by reporting any leaks, and do not post spoilers outside of the spoiler section.

real names of characters?

Littlewing

Pro Adventurer
AKA
human
Hi, I was just thinking that there's very close and similair sounding names that are comparable to the ones given to the main protagonist in the game. For example, Cloud almost sounds the same as Claude. Barret=Barrie? and then Aerith, with the proper pronounciation sounds almost just like Aretha (like Aretha Franklin?) was this a coincedence, was there any other close or strangely similair sounding names in the games? I was thinking it's like this for the whole series with all the characters.
 

Rydeen

In-KWEH-dible
I'm pretty sure Aerith was supposed to be an anagram of "earth." Barret was supposed to be the Japanese transliteration of the English word "bullet." I bet Cloud is called such because his identity is so clouded.

Now I wanna make alternative/lengthened names for everyone.
Tifa = Tiffany
Yuffie = Yumiko
Reno = Renaldo (fun fact: it means "ruler's advisor")
Rude = Rudolph/Rudy

I always think of Aerith when I see an Arris router.
 

youffie

Pro Adventurer
You know, I actually read a theory ages ago that Tifa's name was maybe derived from Tiffany (another popular one was that it was derived from the Tiphareth instead). And I've definitely read some fics where Rude was short for Rudolph :P I think I also remember some people saying that maybe "Reno" should have actually been "Leno", which is a real surname.

About Cloud, yeah, it's because of the clouded identity and stuff, but his mom is apparently called "Claudia Strauss", so I think they were at least aware that his name looked/sounded like an actual name.
 

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
“Cloud Strife” is so on-the-nose that it’s frankly embarrassing to a native English speaker. As someone who played the game having renamed him, the canon name is so... well. In the end, I don’t care so much: it’s an appropriation of English that serves the story if you’re a Japanese player. You’re rewarded for looking at the deeper meaning of the characternym, much as native English speakers feel vindicated by watching a movie and picking up on your buddy “Caleb” being the secret spy of the villain before the twist is revealed.
 

JBedford

Pro Adventurer
AKA
JBed
If FFVII had a 4Kids dub.

The English version already sort of did some of this when Zax became Zack. Rix from OtWtaS didn't get the same treatment (unfortunately).

I didn't think there was much indication that Cloud's name derived from Claude, the idea that Square just picked an English word sounded more likely. I decided it was a little more plausible when his mother's FFVII artwork was shown with "Claudia" on it, but they still wouldn't have even had to consider then ame "Claude" because they use the "Cloudier"-like pronunciation.

Barret's name came from "bullet" (and in early development was "blow"). It's quite possible the devs knew that its pronunciation in Japanese is identical to Barrett, which would be doubly relevant because the firearms manufacturer, but "bullet" is the official origin.

Aerith is obviously derived from (mostly) a deliberate misreading of the English word "earth" (Luneth in FFIII is similar with the word "runes"). I've seen many Aeris vs. Aerith debates online, and someone said her name was meant to be "Alice". They obviously had know idea what they were talking about, but I think it's actually quite possible that factored into her name--it explains the extra "i". "Alice" seems to be a common western-style name in Japanese media, and maybe you can draw some similarities with Aerith and Wonderland Alice???

Rufus's Japanese name is actually pronounced "Rufaus", which is likely to give it that German sound, and something to do with Faust?). Despite that his name's always been spelled "Rufus", even in the original Japanese game.
 

Rydeen

In-KWEH-dible
It's quite possible the devs knew that its pronunciation in Japanese is identical to Barrett, which would be doubly relevant because the firearms manufacturer, but "bullet" is the official origin.

That reminds me of the time I once photoshopped a Barrett M82 sniper rifle to his gun arm. :monster: Don't have it anymore though.

Rufus's Japanese name is actually pronounced "Rufaus", which is likely to give it that German sound,

The attempted pronunciation, but in the end... it will unfortunately never not sound like "doofus" in Japanese. :monster:
...Now if only they'd bring back his reddish hair, as his name heavily implies.


Now that's something really interesting to think about. I'm a filthy casual and I don't really know anything about this legend, but I do see Rufus as someone who craves knowledge almost as much as he craves power. Often to the detriment of morality and in-game spiritual truths, at least pre-meteor. The embodiment of the in-game cultural shift. Not sure if he'd be considered hedonistic, though.
 
Last edited:

Mayo Master

Pro Adventurer
Is Cloud called Nuage in the French version?
Nuage Conflits
Tifa Fermecoeur
Rouge Treize
Aerith Bénéficearrondissement
Cid Hautvent
Vincent Valentin
Actually, for the French version, Cloud's name was changed to "Clad". I think the change was made to sound better - it actually does, to a native French speaker. The spelling of "Cloud" in French would have been pronounced as "Clood", which doesn't sound great. By the way, if the character had been named "Claude" (pronounciation "Clod"), it would have been extremely bland and uninspiring. How to explain it... imagine (for English speakers) if FF VII's main character had been named something like... Alfred :mon: (see what I did, there?)
Red XIII's name was actually changed to "Rouge 13". While Cid's name had remained unchanged, the airship's name got translated into "Hautvent"!
 
Last edited:
Isn't 'Clad' a meaningless word, though?
Not to go off on a tangent, but I'm always struck by how many French speaking kids have English names. We had the local lycee in for a visit last week, and among them were a Betty, an Eric, a John, and a Brian. I asked Brian if his name was pronounced in the French style. (Bree-uh). He said No.

Rufus means 'red' and that's why it's shocking that he's not ginger in the Remake. In the UK it's quite a posh name.
 

Rydeen

In-KWEH-dible
It is, but it's the subtlest of red hair colors and a lot of people consider it to be more blond than red. In reality, blond really just varies from warm to cool, and strawberry blond would be the warmest blond but the most subtle (natural) ginger. The first two colors on this chart would generally be considered strawberry blond.

red-hair-color-swatches-244328-red-hair-finally-a-good-chart-of-red-hair-color-swatches.jpg


red-hair-shade-how-to-be-a-redhead-connie-britton.jpg
 

Littlewing

Pro Adventurer
AKA
human
You know, I actually read a theory ages ago that Tifa's name was maybe derived from Tiffany (another popular one was that it was derived from the Tiphareth instead). And I've definitely read some fics where Rude was short for Rudolph :P I think I also remember some people saying that maybe "Reno" should have actually been "Leno", which is a real surname.

About Cloud, yeah, it's because of the clouded identity and stuff, but his mom is apparently called "Claudia Strauss", so I think they were at least aware that his name looked/sounded like an actual name.
omg, that\s what it was, I knew there was similair sounding names but I completely missed that.

I still don't really get why people think he was ever a ginger, he's blonde even in his old artwork:
View attachment 4893
I know his in game model has hair that borders on orange
:hairflip:
But it's not to the extent of really looking like he's a red head, at least to me.
Isn't the name something to do with hair? like a thick head of hair? it sounds similair to "tuff" as in having or describing hair that is thick.

I'm pretty sure Aerith was supposed to be an anagram of "earth." Barret was supposed to be the Japanese transliteration of the English word "bullet." I bet Cloud is called such because his identity is so clouded.

Now I wanna make alternative/lengthened names for everyone.
Tifa = Tiffany
Yuffie = Yumiko
Reno = Renaldo (fun fact: it means "ruler's advisor")
Rude = Rudolph/Rudy

I always think of Aerith when I see an Arris router.
The proper pronounciation was supposed to be "Earthsu" and thus Aretha is basically the same sounding name or equivalent strangely enough. I just laughed and wondered if it was a coincidence because Claude sounds so similair to Cloud, because as an actual name it sounds kind of strange like it's not real. Cloud Strife? it sounds cool, but it's his problem I guess but there's different interpretation\s.

Sephiorth = Stephanie
I guess Stephan or Steven.
 

Mayo Master

Pro Adventurer
Isn't 'Clad' a meaningless word, though?
Not to go off on a tangent, but I'm always struck by how many French speaking kids have English names. We had the local lycee in for a visit last week, and among them were a Betty, an Eric, a John, and a Brian. I asked Brian if his name was pronounced in the French style. (Bree-uh). He said No.

Rufus means 'red' and that's why it's shocking that he's not ginger in the Remake. In the UK it's quite a posh name.
In fact, 'Clad' in French doesn't mean anything.
[Tangent]Eric has been the "French" version of this particular first name for ages (centuries) - unlike Betty (although we have 'Beatrice'), John (the French being 'Jean') or Brian which are recent appropriations, mostly because of exposure to American media (e.g. the number of 'Brendon's that popped up following the broadcast of Beverly Hills in the 90s). You can find the same 'recent' trend in Latin America (with the common addition that the spelling is changed to make it 'sound' like the American first name, such as 'Brayan' or 'Dayanna').[/Tangent]
 
Top Bottom