Before anything else, here's a neat tidbit from Jason Copeland: "There had been somewhat of a mystery as to Squall's paternity. What seemed obvious (and possibly an intentional red herring, which I'm sure Square enjoys creating to enrich the whole FF mythos), was that Laguna and Raine were Squall's parents. What was the hint? That all of their names are water-related. "Squall" referring to a storm at sea, as was mentioned on your site; "Laguna" is Spanish for "lagoon" (a calm, enclosed body of water sharply contrasting a squall); and "Raine"...well for rain." Continuing on that theme, WTG3@aol.com also mentions that Laguna's last name, Loire, is a river in France. baka-neko says that Raine could actually be a mistranslation of Rhine, another river; the pronunciation is the same.
Adel: From Damian Maxwell: This is German for "noble".
Caraway, General: Nick says a caraway is a type of white flower/herb. tasuki100 says that Nick Caraway is the exact same name of the narrator in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
Edea: Ebony thinks it's a cross between "Eden" (as in Garden of Eden) and "dea", Latin for "goddess" - sort of a reference to her having created the SeeDs. Master Dreamer I-Chan thinks it may be based on Medea: "In Greek mythology, Medea was a princess and sorceress of Colchis who helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece from her father, lived as his consort, and killed their children as revenge for his infidelity. This might have something to do with her being taken over by Ultimecia and trying to kill the Orphanage gang who in a sense were her own children."
Fujin and Raijin mean "wind god" and "thunder god" - which explains Fujin's absorbance of Wind elementals and Raijin's Thunder elementals. Raijin was also the Japanese name of one of Edge's ninja magic spells. StarZander says the following: "According to some legend, Raijin and Fujin were originally demons who opposed the gods. The great Buddha ordered his army to capture them. After a severe battle between the two demons and 33 gods, the demons were captured and converted.
"Some other info on Fujin: The Japanese god of the wind and one of the eldest Shinto gods. He was present at the creation of the world and when he first let the winds out of his bag, they cleared the morning mists and filled the space between heaven and earth so the sun shone. He is portrayed as a terrifying dark demon wearing a leopard skin, carrying a large bag of winds on his shoulders. Sounds alot like Pandemona, no?"
Irvine is similar to the names Irwin/Irving, both of which mean "handsome" or "beautiful" in the British dialects. See next entry as well.
Laguna comes from the word Ragnarok, a sword used throughout the series and a spaceship in this game. Those who don't speak Japanese may be in the dark until they find out that Ragnarok spelled out in Japanese is "La-gu-na-ro-ku". Druff has an anecdote from what sounds like a very reputable source, as follows: "FF creator Hironobu Sakaguchi had been spending a good amount of time at Square's offices in So. California, Costa Mesa to be exact. During his visits he came to really fall for two neighboring towns: Laguna Beach, and Irvine. It was said that he liked them so much that he insisted on naming two characters from the upcoming FF8 after them."
Piet is the head of the Esthar space program. There's an Admiral Piett in The Empire Strikes Back (the second Star Wars film). "Piette" also accompanies Wedge and Vicks (Biggs) in Chrono Trigger, in Norstein Bekkler's lab.
Quistis Trepe - I have no clue about Quistis, but the Trepe may come from the word "trepidation", which basically means nervousness - a state many students find themselves in when around her.
Alexander Megius-Keyho thinks the name may come from here: "Most likely from Quistia. An ancient witch who cursed a manour in Lancashire. She said if another woman lives in the house she will never be happy with a man. The curse is true to this day."
Rinoa: From silentshadow: I've heard that "Rinoa" is a katakana form of the name "Lenore", which is linguistically very feasible, especially since the name is a French form of "Eleanor", which means "light". She brought light back into Squall's life, didn't she? And "light" contrasts sharply with the dark, brooding sense of the name "Squall".
Seifer: Just a coincidence, probably, but in Hebrew this word has the same root as Sephiroth. Secretzman writes: Seifer's name is pronounced "sigh-fur" [confirmed]. "Sigh-fur" is pronounced the same way as the word "cypher (cipher)," which means "zero" or "one having no influence or value; a nonentity." In the game, Seifer was a pawn, a puppet that was being used by Edea/Ultimecia to fulfill their needs. Although he believed he was important as the sorceress's knight, he was in fact just an expendeble pawn with no real value to the sorceresses. Also since Seifer is a German name that I believe is associated with the Teutonic Order, you can draw comparisons between Seifer's Blood Cross symbol and the cross-shaped insignia of the Teutonic Order, which also worn on the sleeves of the Teutonic Knights.
An uncomfirmed e-mail from Strom 4 says that there's actually a type of cactus called the seifer almasy. O_o Anyone to confirm this?
Squall Leonheart: A squall has a few meanings in English: a sudden storm at sea, a scream, or (as lately it's been used) trouble of any kind. I think Square meant for him to sound like someone who enters your life and then leaves it, like a sea storm. Leonheart is close to Leon; either a reference to his lion symbol, Griever (the music for the final battle is also called "Maybe I'm A Lion") or the character Leon from FF2. Alex Scott adds: "Just to clear things up, 'Leonhart' is the proper romanization of Leon's name in the Japanese version, so Squall's last name probably is a reference to Leon (though Squall's the only one with all the lion imagery) -- FF Origins' translators obviously noticed as well, as "Leon" was also Squall's alias in Kingdom Hearts."
Also, see Leon/Lionheart from FF2.
Ultimecia: Possibly from Ultima; see here. Arcanus Dominus thinks it may come from Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon. "In Greek mythology, Artemis was part of the triple goddess (along with Selene and Hecate) associated with the moon, women, and witchcraft. Hecate in particular was considered the goddess of witchcraft and magic." Regann disagrees: "Her name could also be derived from the name Artemisia, the queen of Caria who spent her life building the great Mausoleum to her beloved dead husband (ya know, the whole 'time' thing?) The mausoleum at Halicarnassus was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world."
Adel: From Damian Maxwell: This is German for "noble".
Caraway, General: Nick says a caraway is a type of white flower/herb. tasuki100 says that Nick Caraway is the exact same name of the narrator in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
Edea: Ebony thinks it's a cross between "Eden" (as in Garden of Eden) and "dea", Latin for "goddess" - sort of a reference to her having created the SeeDs. Master Dreamer I-Chan thinks it may be based on Medea: "In Greek mythology, Medea was a princess and sorceress of Colchis who helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece from her father, lived as his consort, and killed their children as revenge for his infidelity. This might have something to do with her being taken over by Ultimecia and trying to kill the Orphanage gang who in a sense were her own children."
Fujin and Raijin mean "wind god" and "thunder god" - which explains Fujin's absorbance of Wind elementals and Raijin's Thunder elementals. Raijin was also the Japanese name of one of Edge's ninja magic spells. StarZander says the following: "According to some legend, Raijin and Fujin were originally demons who opposed the gods. The great Buddha ordered his army to capture them. After a severe battle between the two demons and 33 gods, the demons were captured and converted.
"Some other info on Fujin: The Japanese god of the wind and one of the eldest Shinto gods. He was present at the creation of the world and when he first let the winds out of his bag, they cleared the morning mists and filled the space between heaven and earth so the sun shone. He is portrayed as a terrifying dark demon wearing a leopard skin, carrying a large bag of winds on his shoulders. Sounds alot like Pandemona, no?"
Irvine is similar to the names Irwin/Irving, both of which mean "handsome" or "beautiful" in the British dialects. See next entry as well.
Laguna comes from the word Ragnarok, a sword used throughout the series and a spaceship in this game. Those who don't speak Japanese may be in the dark until they find out that Ragnarok spelled out in Japanese is "La-gu-na-ro-ku". Druff has an anecdote from what sounds like a very reputable source, as follows: "FF creator Hironobu Sakaguchi had been spending a good amount of time at Square's offices in So. California, Costa Mesa to be exact. During his visits he came to really fall for two neighboring towns: Laguna Beach, and Irvine. It was said that he liked them so much that he insisted on naming two characters from the upcoming FF8 after them."
Piet is the head of the Esthar space program. There's an Admiral Piett in The Empire Strikes Back (the second Star Wars film). "Piette" also accompanies Wedge and Vicks (Biggs) in Chrono Trigger, in Norstein Bekkler's lab.
Quistis Trepe - I have no clue about Quistis, but the Trepe may come from the word "trepidation", which basically means nervousness - a state many students find themselves in when around her.
Alexander Megius-Keyho thinks the name may come from here: "Most likely from Quistia. An ancient witch who cursed a manour in Lancashire. She said if another woman lives in the house she will never be happy with a man. The curse is true to this day." Rinoa: From silentshadow: I've heard that "Rinoa" is a katakana form of the name "Lenore", which is linguistically very feasible, especially since the name is a French form of "Eleanor", which means "light". She brought light back into Squall's life, didn't she? And "light" contrasts sharply with the dark, brooding sense of the name "Squall".
Seifer: Just a coincidence, probably, but in Hebrew this word has the same root as Sephiroth. Secretzman writes: Seifer's name is pronounced "sigh-fur" [confirmed]. "Sigh-fur" is pronounced the same way as the word "cypher (cipher)," which means "zero" or "one having no influence or value; a nonentity." In the game, Seifer was a pawn, a puppet that was being used by Edea/Ultimecia to fulfill their needs. Although he believed he was important as the sorceress's knight, he was in fact just an expendeble pawn with no real value to the sorceresses. Also since Seifer is a German name that I believe is associated with the Teutonic Order, you can draw comparisons between Seifer's Blood Cross symbol and the cross-shaped insignia of the Teutonic Order, which also worn on the sleeves of the Teutonic Knights.
An uncomfirmed e-mail from Strom 4 says that there's actually a type of cactus called the seifer almasy. O_o Anyone to confirm this?
Squall Leonheart: A squall has a few meanings in English: a sudden storm at sea, a scream, or (as lately it's been used) trouble of any kind. I think Square meant for him to sound like someone who enters your life and then leaves it, like a sea storm. Leonheart is close to Leon; either a reference to his lion symbol, Griever (the music for the final battle is also called "Maybe I'm A Lion") or the character Leon from FF2. Alex Scott adds: "Just to clear things up, 'Leonhart' is the proper romanization of Leon's name in the Japanese version, so Squall's last name probably is a reference to Leon (though Squall's the only one with all the lion imagery) -- FF Origins' translators obviously noticed as well, as "Leon" was also Squall's alias in Kingdom Hearts."
Also, see Leon/Lionheart from FF2.
Ultimecia: Possibly from Ultima; see here. Arcanus Dominus thinks it may come from Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon. "In Greek mythology, Artemis was part of the triple goddess (along with Selene and Hecate) associated with the moon, women, and witchcraft. Hecate in particular was considered the goddess of witchcraft and magic." Regann disagrees: "Her name could also be derived from the name Artemisia, the queen of Caria who spent her life building the great Mausoleum to her beloved dead husband (ya know, the whole 'time' thing?) The mausoleum at Halicarnassus was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world."
