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In most anime, the character's names are usually common Japanese names (for
example, Yuuki, Yoko, Chiharu, etc.). So, why in Fullmetal Alchemist are the
characters' names more on the English side of things?


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2015-09-13T22:28:06.233
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2015-09-13T23:37:09.407
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fullmetal-alchemist-series
Why aren't characters' names in Fullmetal Alchemist Japanese?


The main setting of FMA is in Amestris, which is a pastiche of various
European countries, in particular, England. (See the answers to [this
question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/501/2604) for more details.) We
can readily see that English is used in-universe, for instance, when Hawkeye
corresponds with Roy, writing in vol. 19 of the manga:

> SELIM BRADLEY IS HOMUNCULUS

Note that many character names are not actually "English" or even German,
although fans often posit Amestris to be a parallel of Germany. Some examples:

  * Jean Havoc's first name is French -- in English, Jean is more commonly a female name and is also pronounced differently -- and [Riza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa#Name_variants) is possibly a Hungarian name. [Olivier](http://www.behindthename.com/name/olivier) might sound English, but it is not an English spelling of the name Oliver.

  * With regards to the suggestion that the names are German, [Hughes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_\(surname\)), [Bradley](http://www.behindthename.com/name/bradley), and [Armstrong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_\(surname\)) are at most rather English in nature. Similarly, the German equivalent of Jean would presumably be Johann -- see this webpage on the [name](http://www.behindthename.com/name/john).

I remember Arakawa stating she chose names at random from a dictionary of
European names for more minor characters, on some of manga bonus pages. I
don't remember the specific chapter where this appeared, but this is stated in
one of the answers of the question I linked to and also readily comes up in
search results for `arakawa european name dictionary fullmetal alchemist`.

**So in short: the names are not Japanese because the setting is largely in a
country derived from Western Europe of the late 19th or early 20th century.**
However, it is incorrect to say that the names are English or necessarily
German in origin. Of course, it's possible that there's so much ethnic
diversity in Amestris that some variation in names isn't entirely unexpected,
but well, that supports the "pastiche of Europe" view of the setting more.


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I might be wrong, but I noticed that early anime (80s thru early 2000's) tend
to have more English names. Not always, but sometimes, yah. I didn't even know
Serena (from sailor moon) real name was usagi until 2011.


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