Bleach Names and Meanings

WinterLion · Oct 13, 2006

I saw the beginnings of this topic in another thread, so I wanted to create a new thread with this topic and you can all post your thoughts, opinions, facts and whatnot here.

But I thought I'd start off with quoting a few of the posts in the other thread to get this rolling...

bestos said:
well, how about the fact that the name Isshin - means prince or royalty - i got that from watching Innocent Venus last week. that is the name of a boat in that show and the translators said Isshin meant - prince or royalty. just saying.

Unfortunately, this is incorrect. In Japanese, the name itself usually does not have any meaning, the meaning comes from the kanji used in the name. (Though there is some word association that can be done, it isn't technically correct). Isshin's name uses the kanji "one" and "heart/soul/mind" （一心）put together those words mean to devote one's mind/singleminded. There are a few other words with the same sound using different kanji that would give "isshin" a different meaning, but would not apply in this case. Also I've never heard of a word for "isshin" with the meaning prince/royalty. There is a slightly different word "ishin"（遺臣） which would have a similar meaning (an old lineage of royalty/a survivor of a royal lineage that was destroyed). To most people it would be hard to tell the difference, but there is a distinct difference in pronounciation as well as written (exculding the matter of kanji) in these two words.

baxteristic said:
I just asked Winterlion, she gave me weird trans "kuro" = black and "saki" = penninsula, so black peninsula

Again, there are various kanji that can be used for Kurosaki, but as the author uses these particular kanji, it would be black and penninsula.（黒崎）

And a few interesting things to point out... If you take Ichigo's name, the meaning of the characters is "one" and "protect"（一護） or as Isshin once explained to Ichigo, it was so that he could "protect one person till the end." If you just look at the reading for name and not take into account the the kanji, it can mean "one, five" （一五）or it can also mean "strawberry" （苺）or I can mean "one language" （一語）But the official meaning for Ichigo's name would be "one, protect." And since most of the characters in Bleach have names written in kanji, we can base the meaning off of those kanji.

And finally a quick list of a few of the more interesting ones (imo):
Ichigo and Family (and Kon)
Kurosaki (黒崎) = Black Peninsula
Isshin (一心) = Singleminded
Ichigo (一護) = One Protect
Karin (夏梨) = Summer Pear
Yuzu (遊子) = Play Child
Masaki (真咲) = True Bloom
Kon (コン) = They don't use the kanji for his name, but it came from Kaizoukonpaku (改造魂魄) which means Modfied Soul. The Kon (魂) just means soul. And on a side note, Ichigo was thinking about using either Kai or Kon for him, but Kai sounded too cool, so he decided on Kon. :XD

Humans
Sado (茶渡) = Tea Give/Cross
Yasutora (泰虎) = Layer Tiger
Arisawa (有沢) = To be Mountain stream
Tatsuki (竜貴) = Dragon Noble
Asano (浅野) = Shallow Field
Keigo (啓吾) = Open Self
Kojima (小島) = Small Island
Mizuiro (水色) = Light blue (color)
Inoue (井上) = Well (like a well that holds water) Top/Above
Orihime (織姫) = Weave Princess

Urahara Store
Shihouin (四楓院) = Four Maple House (院 has several meanings/uses. It's often used as an honorific to end the name of an emperor/empress after the have stepped down from the position (when they are no longer the current emperor/empress. I'm not sure how this is called in Eng) or for a member of the shogunate family post death. 院 can also refer to a house or institution as well.)
Yoruichi (夜一) = Night One
Urahara (浦原) = Beachside Field
Kisuke (喜助) = Joy/Happiness Help

Soul Society Members
1st Div:

2nd Div:

3rd Div:

4th Div:
Unohana (卯ノ花) = Flower of Rabbit/Flower of the East/Flower of 6pm (卯 is an old form of writing to mean rabbit (still used for the chinese zodiac) and used to be used to tell time time (approx the equiv of 6pm now) or to mean East).
Retsu (烈) = A fiercly burning/raging fire
Kotetsu (虎徹) = Tiger To go through/To pass
Isane (勇音) = Courage Sound

5th Div:

6th Div:
Kuchiki (朽木) = Decayed/Rotten Tree
Byakuya (白哉) = White Perhaps/Maybe/Possibility (哉 was used most frequently during the Nara period and was used to end a sentence to express a possibility/maybe/perhaps).
Renji (恋次) = Love Next

7th Div:

8th Div:

9th Div:
Tousen (東仙): East Hermit/Other Worldly/God-like (Hermit is an old meaning of the kanji)
Kaname (要): Pivot

10th Div:
Toushiro (冬獅朗) = Winter Lion Cheerful/Bright/Radiant (Yes, I took the first two of his name for my MH name.

)
Rangiku (乱菊) = Confusion/Disorder/Turbulence Chrysanthemum

11th Div:
Kenpachi (剣八) = Sword Eight
Kusajishi (草鹿) = Grass Deer
Yachiru (やちる) her name is written in hiragana, so there's really no meaning. The original Yachiru from whom Kenchan took the name to give to her was 八千流 = Eight Thousand Flows
Ikkaku (一角) = One Corner/Angle
Ayasegawa (綾瀬川) = Twill (the fabric) Shallows/Rapids (like in a river) River (the 瀬 actually has several other less commonly used meanings as well. It can also mean "chance", "position or station in life", "point" or "place")
Yumichika (弓親) = Bow (as in bow & arrow) Parent

12th Div:

13th Div:
Kotetsu (虎徹) = Tiger To go through/To pass
Kiyone (清音) = Pure/Clean Sound

Vizards:
Kuna (久南) = Long South (the 久 means long in reference to time only)　
Mashiro (白) = White　
Rokuguruma (六車) = Six Car
Kensei (拳西) = Fist West

And if you want to find out what some of the other character's names mean, post it here, and I'll answer when I can, or maybe one of the other transes (like pocket) might feel inclined to do so, or someone may already know. And with that, I'd love to hear what the rest of you think, so let start posting!

Gold Knight · Oct 13, 2006