The reason why a Western-style name ends in a male name if it ends in o (o) and a female name if it ends in a (a)



The once popular CM song '

Kite Alo Elina' reminds me of a soft sight, and I think it's a woman. But what if it was 'Kite Antonio'? He was encouraged by saying, 'I'm sorry, it's okay,' and he seems to be slapped by injecting fighting spirit. 1, 2, 3, Dar!

Hello, this is Takuya Suto @ Chariderman who went around the world by bicycle . Western-style names are female when they end with 'a' and masculine when they end with 'o'. That's why Alo Elina and Antonio have different images ... Let's start forcibly.

◆ Male and feminine nouns
When I was in high school, I was listening to a French course on NHK Radio in anticipation of my future trip. There, I find out that French nouns have sex. 'Chateau' is a masculine noun, 'promenade' is a feminine noun, and so on. However, I was completely unaware of it on my actual trip. I was full of conversation at the level of connecting words.



Similarly, Spanish nouns have sex. There are words that have different meanings with the same spelling endings, such as 'hijo, hija' for sons and daughters, 'hermano, hermana' for brothers and sisters, and 'esposo, esposa' for couples, so I was a little conscious of it even when traveling. rice field. Male nouns often end with an 'o' and feminine nouns often end with an 'a'. From this, the pattern that the Spanish-speaking male name ends with 'o (o)' and the female name ends with 'a (a)' is conspicuous. There was a similar tendency in Italian, which is similar in language to Spanish. (It seems that there is a similar tendency in Portuguese, but I have passed this time due to lack of study. I'm sorry.)

With these rules in mind, think of 'Spanish-speaking' and 'Italian-speaking' people. Does the male name end with 'o' and the female name ends with 'a'?

◆ Example
·Anime
'Pinocchi o ' is a fairy tale set in Italy. Disney-produced movies are also famous.



The Ghibli anime 'Porco Rosso' is also set in Italy. The name of the main character, Pig, is 'Marco Pagot '.



The boy who is the main character of the anime 'Marco in Search of Mother' is also ' Marco '. A story about Marco, who lives in Italy, goes to find her mother who has lost communication while working in Argentina. The law fits perfectly with 'Pietr o ' for dads, 'Ann a ' for moms, and 'Toni o ' for older brothers.



The black chick 'calimer o ' with an egg shell is also a work by an Italian cartoonist. The heroine is 'Priscill a '.



There are four main characters in 'Mutant Turtles' where turtle ninjas rampage. They were named after Italian artists as 'Leonard o ', 'Raphael', 'Michelangelo' and 'Donatell o ' respectively. (In the United States, it's Raphael, but in Japan it's called Raphael.)



・ Personal name



If you pay attention to the names of the people who appear in the world history of the school and the news on TV ...

Name Surname Name Surname Profession Country of origin
Benito Mussolini Benito Mussolini politician Italy
Francisco Franco Francisco Franco politician Spain
Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi politician Italy
Ugo Chavez Hugo Chavez politician Venezuela
Alberto Fujimori Alberto Fujimori politician Peru
August Pinochet Augusto Pinochet politician Chile
Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso Artist Spain
Marco Polo Marco Polo Adventurer Italy
Domingo Gusman Domingo Guzman baseball player Dominican Republic
Julio Zuleta Julio Zuleta baseball player Panama
Diego Maradona Diego Diego Maradona soccer player Argentina



Anita Alvarado, who made a variety show as a

Chilean married woman , was also a woman who ended with 'a'.

◆ Japanese also apply



Dragon Quest is one of Japan's leading role-playing games. Among them, the marriage event of the fifth work 'Bride in the Sky' is divided into 'Bianca school' and 'Flora school', and there is still a great debate on the net. In the remake version, a third option called 'Deborah school' has been added. The names of these three brides all end with 'a'.

The world view of Dragon Quest is a structure that is conscious of the West in both the city and the castle. It's a king, not a lord, a church, not a temple, and a sword, not a sword. The adventurous spirit is tickled by the world that is different from everyday life. That's why the names of the characters that appear were also Western-style.

If you collect female characters whose endings end with 'a' in successive series, it will look like this.

Character name Title of work
roller Dragon Quest I
Arena Dragon Quest IV
Magna Dragon Quest IV
Minnea Dragon Quest IV
Bianca Dragon Quest V
flora Dragon Quest V
Deborah Dragon Quest V
Barbara Dragon Quest VI
Islay Dragon Quest VII
Zessica Dragon Quest VIII
Meetia Dragon Quest VIII
Ricca Dragon Quest IX



When you collect male characters ending in 'o', it looks like this.

Character name Title of work
Clift Dragon Quest IV
Torneko Dragon Quest IV
Pissarro Dragon Quest IV
Chamorro Dragon Quest VI
Drango Dragon Quest VI
Gabo Dragon Quest VII



I don't know if the game makers are aware of it, but there was a tendency like this.

Another reason is that Nintendo's Pokemon evolved from Nidoran ♂ (male) to 'Nidorin o ' and Nidoran ♀ (female) to 'Nidorin a '.

When doing a Western fantasy of reincarnation in another world with a light novel, I think that it will fit nicely if you name the characters with the endings 'o (o)' and 'a (a)' in mind. (However, even in the same Western world, there are British, German, Russian, etc., so it cannot be said unconditionally.)

◆ Just change the ending



Here is a summary of the Spanish words introduced above that have different meanings at the same spelling ending. It wasn't as irregular as the English words 'husband' and 'wife', 'son' and 'daughter', so it was pretty easy to remember.

male meaning woman meaning
abuelo Grandpa abuela grandmother
esposo husband esposa wife
hijo son hija daughter
hermano Brother hermana Sisters
nieto Grandson (male) nieta Grandson (female)
nino boy nina girl
mario Game character maria Our Lady
toro Bull vaca cow
gallo Rooster gallina Hen



Also, cows and chickens were spelled differently depending on their gender.

◆ If you pay attention to the law
If you keep in mind the foreign language law that sex is determined by 'o (o)' and 'a (a)', unexpected discoveries are rolling in your daily life.

・ Nacchan and Orangina



Speaking of Suntory's orange shoes, that's right, 'Nacchan'. When it was first released in 1998, the commercial that actress Rena Tanaka played in the same role as the product name 'Natchan' became a big topic. Therefore, 'Natchan' is associated with women.

In 2009, Suntory acquired French beverage giant Orangina. Our main product,

Orangina , is an orange-based carbonated drink that is a nationally popular product in France. When it was first released, it was named 'Naranina', which is the Spanish orange Naranja with the suffix -ina 'cute' and 'small'. Then the product name has changed to 'Orangina' which has the same meaning in French. When Spanish comes from-ina is female, so Orangina also associates it with females.

Nacchan, Orangina, and two orange girls across the sea became the brand of one company, Suntory.

・ Mona Lisa's smile



'Mona Lisa' is the most famous portrait of a woman in the world. This mona is an abbreviation for 'Madonna'. 'She is a Madonna of this class,' which is a word familiar to Japanese people in the sense of a heroine. This Madonna comes from the old Italian language. It can be divided into the possessive 'ma' meaning 'my' and the 'dona' meaning 'lady'. From this, mona means 'my lady'.

In other words, 'Mona Lisa' can be translated as 'My Lady Lisa'. Since it is a word that expresses a woman, the ending was unified with 'a'. It was drawn by an Italian man ending with 'Leonard o da Vinci' and ending with 'o'.

・ Even in Russian



Russian nouns also have surnames (male, female, neuter). Therefore, there was a difference in Russian names between men and women. Many Russian female names end with 'a (а, я)'.

There were also male and female surnames. For example, there is a rule that if the surname ends with 'fu (в)', it is male, and if it ends with 'wa (ва)', it is female. Two easy-to-understand examples are President Putin's aide, Prime Minister Medvedev, and the popular figure skating idol, Medvedev.

This is also like this, for example.

name Profession
(woman)
Sharapova Tennis player
Sotnikova Skating player
Tereshkova astronaut
(male)
Brezhnev politician
Khrushchev politician
Andropov politician
Gamow physicist



◆ Summary
The title 'Why Western-style names have a male name if the ending is o (o) and a female name if the ending is a (a)' was influenced by Spanish and Italian. However, once again, it will be different in English-speaking countries and German-speaking countries, so it cannot be grouped together. Of course, there are names that do not fit the law in Spanish and Italian.

Spanish nouns have adjectives such as 'Rica' and 'rico', such as the country name 'Costa Rica (rich coast)' and the American Dominion 'Puerto Rico (rich port)'. It is divided into 'a (a)' and 'o (o)' as shown in. So, as with the names of men and women, pay attention to the bottom of the words when studying Spanish and Italian.

( Sentence / Photo: Takuya Suto @ Chariderman
Bicycle around the world coverage http://shuutak.com
Twitter @shuutak
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/chariderman/
DMM lecture request https://kouenirai.dmm.com/speaker/takuya-shuto/
)

in Column, Posted by logc_nt