

In Fairy Tail, there are names like Lucy and Wendy mixed with Japanese names
like Nastu and Kagura. I was wondering if there was a specific reason for
this, or if they just wanted that way for no reason. I've been questioning
about this for a while.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-07T19:40:54.330
49081
2019-06-06T18:29:31.817
42796
question
fairy-tail
Why are there Japanese and English names mixed in the anime series Fairy Tail?


Like Hiro Mashima said in his interview with ThoughCo.,

"Q: Are the Fairy Tail characters based on people in real life? Is there a
character in Fairy Tail that is most like you?

Hiro Mashima: Definitely Natsu. He's like me in junior high! (laughs) All the
other characters are based on my friends, my editors, people I know through
work."

So based off of this text, a valid guess or answer could be that the names
were based on people he knew. Lucy is a plausible common name for people and
as an author of a popular manga before _Fairy Tail_ , _Rave Masters_ , he most
likely would've known some people with these names or similar names. For
example, there was a Japanese Musician named Masakazu Natsuda. (Pure guesswork
here) So Natsu could've very well come from there.

So in conclusion and answering OP's question, the names that were given to the
characters were extremely diverse like you said, some Western names, some
Japanese names, and even a Russian name! Based on that interview (Little
evidence here, please don't blast me), I believe that the names could've come
from the people and connections Hiro Mashima had in real life.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-05T03:55:06.150
52810
2019-05-05T03:55:06.150
35558
49081
answer


By and large almost all the names in Fairy Tail are Western names or at least
meant to sound Western. The setting of Fairy Tail is a pretty generic western
fantasy world at its base, so most characters have names appropriate for such
a world. While there are a few obviously Japanese sounding names, I don't
think there's much reason for them beyond their characters usually being
obvious Japanese or Far-East stereotypes.

There doesn't seem to be much information on how the author of Fairy Tail
names his characters. However, in an [interview in
2008](https://www.liveabout.com/interview-hiro-mashima-2282820#mntl-sc-
block_1-0-78) he explained why he named Natsu after the Japanese word for
summer:

> For my Japanese audience, I thought western fantasy names would be
> unfamiliar. [...] Natsu means "summer," so he's a fiery guy.

However familiarity doesn't seem to have been a concern when he named other
characters, or when he gave Nastu a family name, Dragneel or his nickname
"Salamander".


CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-06T18:29:31.817
53163
2019-06-06T18:29:31.817
7861
49081
answer