It's probably because Olivia is a more common name/spelling than Olivier. Personally, I've never heard of Olivier before this character so it's more natural for me to call her Olivia... Olivier makes me think of a boy's name for some reason, not sure why lol.

I can understand that I guess, I guess I was wondering if there was ever a time when it was translated as her name. But I guess it's a bit different from the Lin/Ling, Ran Fan/Lan Fan, Fuu/Huu/Foo problem.

I'm one of those still insisting on Olivia XD and I know brotherhood spealt it Olivier too, but when the characters said the name they did actually pronouce it as 'olivia' so i wouldnt say it was incorrect or anything, opposed to lin and ling having different pronouciations, that annoys me xD olivier allways makes me think of oliver which is a boys name, so yer, and I've never seen the olivier spelling before either XD I don't personally mind, i use both, but writing olivier involves a concious effort to include the extra 'i' otherwise it would end up as oliver *looks for RAW* grr dammit I can't find a RAW with her name in it XD I can't be bothered to look for ages, anyone know what her name written in kana is?

オリヴィエ
Which is more or less Orivie, which I believe would be pronounced 'oh-ree-vee-eh', which would be 'Olivier', not quite 'Olivia'.

I think. |D;

I hope this helps.

Well, according to wikipedia, its

オリヴィエ, ("Orivi-eh", or Olivier)

If it was Olivi_a_, it would be spelled like this:

オリヴィム

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fullmetal_Alchemist_characters#State_Military)

I really don't see why there's that much of a question. I've seen "Olivier" in the context of names like "Sir Laurence Olivier" so I don't see why it's a big deal.

I might be because Olivier isn't as well known name as Olivia, but the fact that the spelling isn't a case like Ran Fan or Winry where R/L causes issues, really just confuses me as to where the Olivia usage has come from. It's rather perplexing to me.

Then again I'm also perplexed by why the unicycle was invented

oh i see, thanks hawkflame, because something like 'sir laurence olivier' is a mans name XD olivier looks like oliver, when i first read olivier i read it as oliver and thinkin this was a male/female name error just read it as olivia which is the female variant, its very recently i even noticed the second i XD

Because Olivier is a boy's name, at least in French (that's also how we call an olive tree). Just as Miller, which was a spelling for her middle name at some point. I theorized at one point that her parents expected/wanted a boy as their first child and didn't give up on the names they came up with, even when they realized she was a girl.

Funny thing is that Olivier/Olivia as a name represents peace and tranquility, and she's the most angry and militaristic figure in the entire book. Arakawa said she chose the western names completely randomly, but when you see how some names fit the character they're attached upon, you gotta wonder if she's really serious...

^ I like your "father expected/wanted a boy" theory.

----------------------


*cough ..don't trust it automatically just because 'it's says so on Wiki"... cough* ^^


If her name were to be spelled as Olivia in English, in Japanese it would have been spelled this way: オリヴィァ (or with larger ァ at the end.. )

(And, not オリヴィム because that would make her English name as "Olivim" or something like that with "M" sound at the end)

I'm agreeing with Sannom that all the confusion with Olivier/Olivia comes from Olivier generally being known as a boy name. Also in French the pronunciation is rather close to Olivia, just the "a" is long.

I was never confused, because my first thought on seeing her name was immediate connection to Jean. In the first anime, there is a scene where his name is said using the French pronunciation. Which sounds more like John(I can't remember if it's like that in the dubbed version, but definitely the subbed). Due to that his name confused me more than Olivier's, because my middle name is Jean, pronounced like the type of pants.

Also, I think part of the issue is when people think "western" they aren't really thinking France...

I really like your theory on why her parents named her that, Sannom.

The Armstrongs probably assumed that the first born would be a boy, but instead had a girl.

Either way, I like that it's Olivier and not Olivia as it's unique and not unlike the trend of girls now having either a boys name as their own (such as James and Sean). The name 'Milla' (which I believe is the correct spelling) is a nice touch as to me, it compliments the more masculine nature of her first name with a very feminine middle name.

I would be very happy if the correct spelling of her middle name is "Milla", not because it has a more feminine ring to it, but because it's a flower and right away gave me the idea that the Flower Lady is very much related. Though it is a dry-weather/summer flower, that grows more in the south...and I'm probably looking too much into it.

Anyone care to shed their knowledge with us on the spelling of her middle name. I've seen it translated both as Milla and Mira.

Yeah, for Miller/Milla, the problem is that Japanese people would probably pronounce it the same way, so there is really no way to tell!



I don't know, for me (I'm french) Jean and John pronounces really differently. Notably, you don't really pronounce the "n" in french, the whole part after the "j" sounds like a big vowel. Actually, the lonely "n" at the end of a word is rare in french... my grandfather pronounces "Washington" according to french pronunciation, it's hilarious



My theories : the weirdest they are, the more they please Although my theories about Mustang's mother and name's origin weren't met with a big success

Oops, that's what I meant. heh heh...

At any rate, the Japanese spelling pretty definitively indicates "Olivi-ay (or eh)" not "Olivi-a"

And yeah, Sir Laurence Olivier is a man's name, but Olivier is his -last- name, not his first name. I mean, I assume he also had a mother with the same last name...

I honestly believe her name is OLIVIA. It's just been mistranslated. Olivier is normally a male name. Like the great actor Laurence Olivier

Could it be possible that her name was supposed to be "Olivie" without R in the end? The official Finnish translation used that, I think. (Except when it mysteriously changed to "Olivier" in volume 22). It... Sounds less masculine than "Olivier". Then again, since it is spelt "Olivier" in the character page of the Japanese manga, maybe she just has a boyish name, or the naming conventions in Amestris are a bit different from our world.

Mistranslated by the English or the Japanese? I got the katakana straight out of book nineteen, and I'm pretty good with katakana and even used some references to confirm- it's officially listed as the equivalent of 'Olivier'. Like Tombow said, if it was 'Olivia', the last syllable would have been written differently.
Also, as was pointed out earlier, Olivier is Laurence's /last name/, so that doesn't automatically make it masculine. And even if it is a boy's name, does it matter? Ms. Armstrong is indeed a very masculine character in my opinion, and I myself have used boy's names to name masculine girls in my own writings, so maybe Arakawa was doing the same.
I also believe it was mentioned earlier that 'Olivier' would be pronounced the French way like Jean Havoc's name is? If that's the case, I'm not an expert on French, but I believe that pronunciation would sound somewhat similar to 'Olivia'? The 'r' at the end would be silent, right?

In french, the 'er' at the end is pronounced 'ay' or 'é'. Just like the 'é' character at the end of Padmé's name in Star Wars. Anyway, I second Sannom's theory on the origin of Olivier's name. The fact that Alex was the Armstrongs' heir even though he was the fourth child always seemed to me like the Armstrongs favored sons over daughters. Giving their daughter a male name could go in that trend too.

Ah, my mistake.

That theory does work, too. And maybe they just liked boys' names.

Yeah, maybe in Amestris it's not a male name (I mean, there's no french in Amestris!). And I don't think Winry or Pinako or Heymans really mean anything in our world. At least, it's not like in Baccano where a guy was named Claire!

Heymans sound suspiciously a lot like a german name... and it is not, it's apparently a derivative from a fairly common jewish last name

As for Winry and Pinako, they're actually the name of real life tool manufacturers companies from South Korea.



And yet, two of the main characters are named after very old and rarely used french names I mean, Alphonse? Does Arakawa have any idea of how unfashionable that name is today? And same with Roy, which is the old spelling (and pronunciation, actually) for "roi", "king" in french. If you count Olivia as Olivier, that makes three. Jean too is a french name, for a boy at least.

Actually, the names for the characters in FMA come from all over the place : western Europe, eastern Europe (notably the spelling for Kimblee's name), spellings from many different countries, etc.

And seriously, if Olivia's middle name is truly Miller, then it's settled : she was given a boy's names for some reason.

Thing is, to us it may seem weird to have such a mishmash of Europeon names, but I'm sure somewhere there's Japanese people reading Japan/Asia-based stories written by people in the West, scratching their heads and questioning why there's such a curious mishmash of Japanese names everywhere.

I do find it cool however, that the characters have names that are rare even for us to hear. It makes them more memorable and unique.

I also think the fact Pinako and Winry are named after tool companies rocks out loud.

But she may have had in mind not how fashionable they are today, but the kind of names that were used in the time period it's set in. xD I'm certain there were many in the early 1900s called Edward and Roy in England and/or France. Not sure about Alphonse though...(I love the name Alphonse. *shot*)

QUOTE (Andie @ Nov 27 2009, 04:19 PM)

At least, it's not like in Baccano where a guy was named Claire!

But my name is Claire and I'm a guy! D;


JK, I'm a she. But my name really is Claire.

/bad joke.

Anyway, about the topic of whether she picked them randomly, while she did say in an omake that she did so by using a big book of European names, I think the major characters and the Mustang-tachi for the most part were picked purposefully. I did a search on the Mustang-tachi since we've already discussed Ed and Al and others, and found two whose names fit very well. One of them was Kain Fuery, which means "little battler", and Jean Havoc, which means "God's grace" (I found Riza on its own as "satisfaction", except it was an Arabian name. BTW, what's the meaning of her name again?).

With Kain, not only is he of smaller stature, but he is probably the biggest 'trooper' and doesn't get the attention in battle that the others get. Reminds me a lot of the scene in the later volumes, where he is in the South after being transferred and his fellow comrade was killed by an explosion while they were getting fired at by the enemy country at the border (Something with a "c'...Creta?). He screams, "I'm gonna live, dammit!" and runs as he is getting fired at.

With Jean, well, it's an ironic name, I guess you could say, because it seemed that God's grace never really fell upon him, with his bad luck with women, getting stabbed and paralyzed, and having to retire. However, it suits him very well in his most recent appearance.

So, it's pretty debatable whether or not she picked them randomly. Could easily be a big coinky-dink; maybe it's too much of one to not have been picked purposefully.

EDIT: Ha ha. While on the subject of Olivier -
Olivier [Armstrong] - "Elf army"

XD

Did Arakawa ever explain why she inserted the famous "Louis Armstrong" into the Major's name?

Umm... Armstrong is his family name. And, "Louis" is most likely his middle name, tho I don't know why Arakawa- sensei decided on that name. ^^

@deadbeat007 - Alex is just so extraordinary his middle name must be used. Louis is also another name with French origins(and German) and it means famed warrior.

I'm in the same boat as DistantBlue in thinking it's debatable as to whether Arakawa randomly chose names or not. More than a few name meanings are just too coincidental.

According to what I know, Riza means Guardian/Hunter


Arakawa said in that omake that MOST the names she picked randomly, but if she said that, it means that, some names, were actually well thought on, of she would have said 'all' or 'nearly all'. I believe it would be too much of a coincidence myself for Roy to have the same meaning of King Bradley's or Edward meaning "Wealth protector", or Riza's being "Guardian"... I mean, in Riza's case, it's not even a popular name!!! Most people don't even know it exists!
I guess that some key characters, the name even helped Arakawa to build up the characters.

hmmm.... I don't know -.-"

Oh and back to the "Olivier" theory... Her real name is eventually Olivier Mira Armstrong... It tells you in one of the chapters... I forgot the chapter but anyway... yeah... -.-

Woot woot. Tell you what? My school freaks me out -.-" we're singing "Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong right now -.-" wierd aye? >.<

I've always thought that Riza was the shortened version of "Elizabeth" or "Eliza/Elisa", but probably I was wrong P:

I don't know if someone has already pointed this out but Breda is the name of an Italian mechanical society that had produced warplanes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breda_(disambiguation)

Heinkel too but it was a German one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel

I've always wondered where Paninya's name comes from...it's sound Asian Indian to me :\

No... 'Liza' is the shortened version of Elizabeth and, if Riza's name was in fact 'Liza' (and actually a mispelling), it would state so in all the chapters of the manga where Riza appears in that first page of characters' profile, since they put every name there in Romaji. But in ALL versions of official translations: in the mangas, in the official site, etc, it is written with an R. (and we can't even say is something like "Light" and Raito from Death Note, since Lust is written like that and not "Rusto", as it should if they translated it from the sound). So, there's no doubt that Riza is not a mispelling of Liza, but actually a name of its own.
And, since both Liza and Riza are real and different names...


And about Breda, he's not the only one: most the military personnel from FMA has their names taken from military vehicles and it's usual for them to put the names of the builders/creators of a certain military vehicle in their creations. Grumman's, Falman and others were all like that.

I'm curious as to why there's controversy over the "Rin/Lin/Ling" thing. In this scan, Ling has an ID that distinctly says "Ling Yao," but the translation below reads "Rin Yao". Is "Ling" the official spelling?

Well, onemanga is not actually a very trustful resource, many times. XD

But if you're in doubt about a particular spelling of a character's name, it's a good idea to visit the profiles from the official website: www.hagaren.jp
Some names like Ran Fan's (Lan Fan) are a little more complicated, since they were written different ways in official sources, but most of them are quite 'standard'.

Adding to what Turdaewen stated above. ^^ In the case of this Xingese character's name, (assuming they are still doing the same) I think official FMA manga English translation uses "Lin" and not "Ling," while Character page on official FMA:Brotherhood anime JP Website lists his name as "Ling."
Yes, it's confusing. (And, if anyone thinks Lin/Ling is confusing, turn the attention to his bodyguard, Who/Fuu/Fu/Foo, and guess which spelling is listed as his English name in the official FMA manga Character book. XD)

And, BTW, if you use fan-made scanlations as the source of your FMA manga reading, please remember that fan-made scanlation is just that... fan-made, and the quality and the accuracy of the translation varies widely from one scanaltion to another. ^^

Well, the thing is, I actually OWN all the volumes 1-21, and it also has that Ling Yao bracelet - Arakawa definitely drew it in herself, not a scanlation group.

^ @DistantBlue - Yes, the panel in the posted scanlation is correct, but I think Turdaewen was addressing to Deadbeat007's remark about him reading this Xingese character translated as Ring in the BUBBLE portion of the scanaltion (despite the pic of the name tag in the panel spelling it as Ling.) ^^

Oh! I'm sorry! How stupid of me. XD I thought I might have been misinterpreting something when I posted .

Yup, I was using both the "Ling" on the bracelet and the "Rin" in the text bubble as comparison. Thanks to both Turdaewen and Tombow for clearing that up.

Can I ask what you *personally* use as an ultimate source of official names? I must admit I tend to accept what Brotherhood's website presents as the names as they are closest to what I imagined and they seem reasonable (opposite Character Guidbook's RunFun(?) and Who).

According to the Perfect Guidebook 2 I bought in Taiwan (Traditional Chinese version published by Tong Li), the Xingese character names are:
Lin Yao
May Chang
Who (I simply refuse to use this though )
Ranfun (and this too...)

And I know Arakawa-sensei drew his prisoner wristband with "Ling Yao" on it, but Lin makes sense. It's the correct pronunciation in Chinese for the word 鱗.

As for the rest...

Personally I tend to refer to the guidebooks as the official source, since Arakawa-sensei has to approve the details (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong).

I go with the Perfect Guidebooks and Viz's translation for the official names for the most part. The thing with the Viz translations though is that sometimes they screw up, such as when they misspelled Grumman in either vol. 20 or 21 (can't remember) but they also translate a name that could probably go either way - such as Rebecca's last name because it could either be Catalina or Katarina (not too sure as I don't have the book with me atm).

I heard a rumor that Envy's human name was William. But I don't remember this being mentioned at all in any of the 51 episodes.
So is Envy's real name William, or is that just a made up name for his truth form?

@Fullmetal666 - This question had come up before also, and the conclusion then was that since none of us had seen any official publications or articles substantiating that info, that one is most likely a made-up name by some fan.


I will move the posts to Discussions on Character names thread later. (It's fine here, too, but I think this would fit in that thread nicely. ^^)

ETA: Moved the posts to "Character Names" thread.