Housepets!

Wonder what would the cast's names be if they were to be written in Japanese? Wonder no more!
This is just something that I did while on standby at the office, and completed during the weekend.

Some disclaimers though:
1) The Japanese names here might not be accurate, although I did try to make sure they sound natural and are acceptable.
2) The list will be updated as new characters are introduced.
3) And of course, Housepets! and all its elements belong to Rick Griffin.

Well, enough of the legal stuff. Here we go! Each link leads to an A4-size image containing the names indicated in the link.

OLD VERSION

Peanut, Grape, Max, Tarot, Sabrina
Fox, King, Bailey, Sasha, Daisy

Fido, Bino, Joey, Fiddler, Keys
Marvin, Tiger, Zach, Sgt. Ralph, Kevin

Res, Rex, Spo, Squeak, Mr. Bigglesworth
Keene, Lana, Pit, Duke, Simon, Rock

Miles, Lucretia, Daryl, Lester, Terrance
Shahdrul, Gambit, Tarmac, Karishad, Silverbolt

Rodney, Snow, Jack, Elaine, Poncho
Uncle Deadeye, Natalie, Itsuki, Duchess, Spot(superdog), Stripe

Teoxihuitl, Pete, Spirit Dragon, Great Kitsune, Boris, Yeltsin
Cerberus, Rufus, What Chicken & Rick Griffin

Colleen, Karo, Bahamut, Ponbon
Alan, Simeon, Teddy D., Truck, Falstaff

Bruce, Roosevelt, Devo, Griswold, Sten

NEW VERSION

Peanut, Grape
Max, Tarot

Sabrina, King
Fox, Sasha

Bailey, Jessica
Fido, Bino

Joey, Squeak
Spo, Mr. Bigglesworth

Karishad, Zach
Marvin, Tiger

Kevin, Jata
Satau, Ptah

[EDIT]
- Tweaked Sgt. Ralph, and redid Mr. Bigglesworth, Boris and Yeltsin
- Added Page 12
- Redid Karishad's name
- Added page 13
- Edited page 13, and added pages 14 and 15
- Edited page 15
- Changed links to Dropbox links
- Started new version
- Added pages 1, 2 and 3
- Added pages 4, 5 & 6
- Edited page 6 and added page 7
- Added pages 8 and 9
- Added pages 10 to 12

This is so cool! But why are you leaving out the Humans? You missed Cerberus by the way.

Thoughts (may be added to later...)

Daisy should be called whatever Princess Daisy is called in the original Japanese of Super Mario Bros.

Mr. Bigglesworth ought to be called whatever the character is called in the Japanese Dub of Austin Powers.

In the interest of maintaining name puns, I think Boris and Yeltsin ought to be straight transliterations as well.

If we're going to keep name punst Peanut's full name should be the Japanese for Peanut Butter and Grape's should be the Japanese for Grape Jelly.

Kitch wrote:Thoughts (may be added to later...)

Daisy should be called whatever Princess Daisy is called in the original Japanese of Super Mario Bros.

Mr. Bigglesworth ought to be called whatever the character is called in the Japanese Dub of Austin Powers.

In the interest of maintaining name puns, I think Boris and Yeltsin ought to be straight transliterations as well.

That or be the first and last name of another politician, possibly a Japanese one.

You got a pretty interesting idea about those names Good work.

Regarding Ralph, gunsō is familiar to me, being a One Piece fan. In refinement, it means "chief petty officer", which is the naval equivalent of a higher-level sergeant in the Army. ("sergeant" and "petty officer" are the same level) Funimation uses the term "Sergeant" in their translation, likely since the Navy is the only government military force in that universe.

this was absolutely great!!!
Just a doubt from an ignorant guy: isn't 'Ken' the word for 'punch', while 'wolf' should be translated as 'okami'?
Thank you.

Woah, thanks for the inputs! I love you guys and gals *hugs*.

IceKitsune wrote:This is so cool! But why are you leaving out the Humans? You missed Cerberus by the way.

I'm focusing on the animal casts first, but I guess I can do them too later. And yeah, I just realized I missed Rufus and the What Chicken too. Will be added once I'm free again X3

Kitch wrote:Thoughts (may be added to later...)

Daisy should be called whatever Princess Daisy is called in the original Japanese of Super Mario Bros.

Mr. Bigglesworth ought to be called whatever the character is called in the Japanese Dub of Austin Powers.

In the interest of maintaining name puns, I think Boris and Yeltsin ought to be straight transliterations as well.

Sleet wrote:That or be the first and last name of another politician, possibly a Japanese one.

I never knew that Daisy is based on the princess. And I checked, it's just a transliteration of Daisy, Deiji-Hime.
Mr. Bigglesworth's origin is new though, gotta check that out later. (never really watch any Austin Powers or Bond movie..)
I'll rethink Boris and Yeltsin too.

RandomGeekNamedBrent wrote:If we're going to keep name punst Peanut's full name should be the Japanese for Peanut Butter and Grape's should be the Japanese for Grape Jelly.

Well... I haven't found the exact kanji for both 'butter' and 'jelly', as they are not native to Japan. I'll think of a leeway for them XD

Karlos wrote:You got a pretty interesting idea about those names Good work.

Thanks ^w^

Kitch wrote:Regarding Ralph, gunsō is familiar to me, being a One Piece fan. In refinement, it means "chief petty officer", which is the naval equivalent of a higher-level sergeant in the Army. ("sergeant" and "petty officer" are the same level) Funimation uses the term "Sergeant" in their translation, likely since the Navy is the only government military force in that universe.

*facepaw* Yeah, my bad, I was learning the military ranks of the Japanese Army, and got the meanings mixed up @.@

valerio wrote:this was absolutely great!!!
Just a doubt from an ignorant guy: isn't 'Ken' the word for 'punch', while 'wolf' should be translated as 'okami'?
Thank you.

Well, most kanji characters can be read with two reading styles: on-yomi (Chinese reading, usually used when the character is paired with others to form another term) and kun-yomi (native Japanese reading, usually used when the character is read on its own).

For the more common character for 'wolf' (狼)(used in Sgt. Ralph's name) , the on-yomi is 'rou' and the kun-yomi is 'ookami'.
The second, less-known kanji for 'wolf' (狽)(used in Miles' name), it only has three on-yomi: 'hai', 'bai', and 'ken'.
'Ken' has a whole lot of other meanings too, like 'sword', 'ticket', 'shoulder' and 'fist', among others.
*nazi mode OFF* .... Heh, got carried away, sorry >.<''

kurowolfe wrote:

Kitch wrote:Regarding Ralph, gunsō is familiar to me, being a One Piece fan. In refinement, it means "chief petty officer", which is the naval equivalent of a higher-level sergeant in the Army. ("sergeant" and "petty officer" are the same level) Funimation uses the term "Sergeant" in their translation, likely since the Navy is the only government military force in that universe.

*facepaw* Yeah, my bad, I was learning the military ranks of the Japanese Army, and got the meanings mixed up @.@

Sorry to bother you with that. "General" is actually shōgun, believe it or not. "Admiral" is taishō.

But gunsō does actually fit your translation for Ralph. I went to Wikipedia for Sergeant, hit the Japanese link to go to the Japanese equivalent, and it took me there. So it's probably used in Japan for both a Petty Officer and a Sergeant.

This is pretty awesome stuff

Updated with some fixes, changes and also a new page.

I always find it intriguing that Japanese/chinese symbols seem to always point towards a meaning, but in this case: It's awesome if the translations are spot-on with what i read so far. I just find it funny that Peanut's translation hints Death. what is it with main characters having a death theme?

Grape and Max are action cats. makes sense.

Nice work on Boris and Yeltsin

heh Nice doing Ricks name and I agree Boris and Yeltsin are better now.

GameCobra wrote:I always find it intriguing that Japanese/chinese symbols seem to always point towards a meaning, but in this case: It's awesome if the translations are spot-on with what i read so far. I just find it funny that Peanut's translation hints Death. what is it with main characters having a death theme?

https://www.housepetscomic.com/2010/01/ ... l-culprit/
Just a hunch.

What must it take for me to make a connection between Bigglesworth and Austin Powers? I cannot believe I never figured it out until this very moment.

And I would guess Spot(professor) would be Koromaru[sensei].

This is actually really awesome and cool!

By the way, Karishad's name is from a native american language which I cannot for the life of me recall

rickgriffin wrote:By the way, Karishad's name is from a native american language which I cannot for the life of me recall

To the interweb!

Thanks for the info, Rick!
Tried looking for Native American names that at least sound like Karishad (as GameCobra had mentioned, searching for Karishad doesn't yield much info), and so far I found these:

1) Charisa (Hopi language) -> Elk (girl's name)
2) Kajika (forgot..) -> Walk without sound (boy's name)
3) Kaliska (Miwok language) -> Coyote chasing deer (girl's name)

Then, I tried breaking the name down and search for their meanings:

1) Ka- (Unknown) -> American girl name prefix
2) Ka- (Sanskrit) -> Little
3) Lisha (African) -> Full of mystery (girl's name)
4) Rishad (Arabic) -> Form of 'Rashad' or 'Rashid' -> wisdom, judgement, good guidance
5) Kari (Greek) -> Pure
6) Kari (Norse) -> Curly-haired, gust of wind
7) Shad (Babylonian) -> Short for 'shadrach' -> command of Aku (Babylonian moon god)

I'll try again when I get some free time.
Anyway, why do I keep getting references to girls' names while searching? @_@

kurowolfe wrote:Thanks for the info, Rick!
Tried looking for Native American names that at least sound like Karishad (as GameCobra had mentioned, searching for Karishad doesn't yield much info), and so far I found these

I asked him again. It's from the Paiute language, which has close to zero online references. It means fox or fox-like.

And if you come back with a Paiute vocab list that says something else, it's not that one. there's more than one Paiute dialect.

Yeah, pretty much every online search engine i could think of actually thinks Karishad is a Irish word. X3

kurowolfe wrote:Anyway, why do I keep getting references to girls' names while searching? @_@

I should elaborate, but looking up Karishad on google or most search engines brings up... Karishad. *drum beat*

But yeah, fox name related searches usually goes around the area of feminine names. Probably because folklore seems to almost always depict foxes with feminine names =P

I have an opinion myself. I like the idea of Housepets character names in Japanese but why should we just limit this to just one language? Why not turn this into a thread for the translation of Housepets characters into all different languages?

rickgriffin wrote: I asked him again. It's from the Paiute language, which has close to zero online references. It means fox or fox-like.

And if you come back with a Paiute vocab list that says something else, it's not that one. there's more than one Paiute dialect.

Thank you again, Rick! Send my thanks to Karishad too~
I got a good translation for his name, though I was apprehensive at first, since it sounds like a girl's name =w='
But after taking into account the history of the name, I think it suits him best. Hope it's ok.

GameCobra wrote:I should elaborate, but looking up Karishad on google or most search engines brings up... Karishad. *drum beat*

But yeah, fox name related searches usually goes around the area of feminine names. Probably because folklore seems to almost always depict foxes with feminine names =P

Ah, I guess so. Even some of the more prominent kitsune in Japanese folklore are females, like Tamamo-no-Mae and Inari Ookami.

{2nd post}

Kitch wrote:And I would guess Spot(professor) would be Koromaru[sensei].

Whoops, missed your comment! And yup, Koromaru-sensei it is~

By the way, I've already come up with translations for both Colleen's and Karo's names, but I'll need to wait until the arc's done first, just to be on the safe side.

Nice but you should change gami into kami. Gami is only used when put together with other as far as I have understood. For example when they talk about god they usaly say Kami-sama While when talking about the death god they say shinigami. Might be wrong but it's what I understood

Revius wrote:Nice but you should change gami into kami. Gami is only used when put together with other as far as I have understood. For example when they talk about god they usaly say Kami-sama While when talking about the death god they say shinigami. Might be wrong but it's what I understood

青緑神　(Seiryokugami) would indeed use the pronunciation "gami" in this circumstance. Japanese pronunciation has a lot to do with what rolls off the tongue easier, so it is difficult to pin down actual "rules".
If you mean the etymology part, I assume he ran out of room to put "kami" in parentheses next to "gami" (as he did with Rufus - Akagami)
He was already scrunching the words to fit Teoxihuitl and Seiryoku in the same box never mind the rest of the break down

Erm, yeah...

I got some accidental free time, so I made another page for Colleen, Karo and Bahamut. Will be filled later.
I seemed to have missed several characters, but I guess it's because I haven't been following the comic as faithfully as before.
Still, I don't want to let this project die, so yeah.

In case I haven't said this before, I love all the etymology work you've put into this. And the Japanese is really great. Thanks for doing all this.

I'm bumping this, for new characters. And because it's awesome, and new members should see it. <3

I'll be honest, I'm surprised anyone had remembered this project. So, I guess I'll add a few more names to the list.
Credits to Sleet for helping me with the new characters.

Do tell me if I have missed anyone, and I would probably do one for the humans as well in the somewhat distant future.

again, you keep being awesome with this job *bows* thank you for your effort in this
I think you need to add Griswold, Devo and Sten
https://www.housepetscomic.com/2013/02/ ... uals-zero/

Well, there are the three new characters in Love and War. :3

And I see what you did with Roosevelt. Inverting the trope "She's a Man in Japan". x3

Thanks, valerio and Kitch! I've added the three of them in the last page.

Devo and Griswold's pictures are inverted.
Confirmed: Devo's name, inspired from the namesake band, stands for 'De-evolution'

Ah, my bad! Fixed :3

AWESOME! I don't know why, but reading through the names you can find a lot of anime references
My favorite it have to be Rufus -> Akagami. OMG, now I'll never be able to get that out of my head. Whenever I think in Rufus now I also think in "Akagami no Shanks" hahaha

By the way, Tarot wouldn't be just "Misa"? (like the name of that girl of Death Note)

I suppose the next ones have to be minor characters like Jasper, Jinx, Delusional Steve, the horses, Terrance, Pap, etc etc

Gren wrote:AWESOME! I don't know why, but reading through the names you can find a lot of anime references
My favorite it have to be Rufus -> Akagami. OMG, now I'll never be able to get that out of my head. Whenever I think in Rufus now I also think in "Akagami no Shanks" hahaha

By the way, Tarot wouldn't be just "Misa"? (like the name of that girl of Death Note)

I suppose the next ones have to be minor characters like Jasper, Jinx, Delusional Steve, the horses, Terrance, Pap, etc etc

You mean the ones who were up for a vote?

Sorry to dig this up, but the pictures are gone.

I find this thread interesting, I would like to help in anyway possible.