Welcome back to Translation Time! For my current project, I'll be covering Xenogears. Although this should be obvious for all of these, it goes double for this one - beware of spoilers. As usual, I'll be starting with the characters.
Playable characters:
Fei Fong Wong - ウォン・フェイフォン - UON • FEIFON - Wong Fei Fong
Fei Fong is still his given name in the Japanese version. In either case, he's apparently named after
Wong Fei-hung.
Elhaym van Houten (Elly) - エレハイム・ヴァン・ホーテン (エリィ) - EREHAIMU • VAN • HO-TEN (ERYI) - Elehayym van Houten (Elly)
Citan Uzuki (Hyuga Ricdeau) - シタン・ウヅキ (ヒュウガ・リクドウ) - SHITAN • UDZUKI (HYUUGA • RIKUDOU) - Shitan Uzuki (Hyuga Rikudou)
Bartholomew Fatima (Bart) - バルトロメイ・ファティマ (バルト) - BARUTOROMEI • FATIMA (BARUTO) - Barthlomei Fatima (Bart)
Ricardo Banderas (Rico) - リカルド・バンデラス (リコ)- RIKARUDO • BANDERASU (RIKO) - Ricardo Banderas (Rico)
Billy Lee Black - ビリー・リー・ブラック - BIRI- • RI- • BURAKKU - Billy Lee Black
Maria Balthasar - マリア・バルタザール - MARIA • BARUTAZA-RU - Maria Balthasar
Chu-Chu - チュチュ - CHUCHU - Chuchu
Emeralda - エメラダ - EMERADA - Emerada
Her name in both versions is a reference to her emerald-colored hair.
Antagonists:
Emperor Cain - 天帝カイン - tentei KAIN - Heavenly King Cain
Named after the biblical figure
Cain.
Gazel Ministry - ガゼル法院 - GAZERU houin - Gazel Court
That's "court" as in a court of law.
Miang Hawwa (Executioner) - ミァン・ハッワー (エクスキュージョナー) - MIAN • HAWWA- (EKUSUKYU-SHONA-) - Myyah Hawwa (Executioner)
"Myyah" is the last five letters of "Elehayym" in reverse order. Hawwa is the Arabic name for
Eve, the first woman in Abrahamic tradition.
Krelian - カレルレン - KARERUREN - Karellen
Named after a character from the Arthur C. Clarke novel
Childhood's End.
Grahf - グラーフ - GURA-FU - Graf
Id - イド - IDO -
Id Kahran Ramsus - カーラン・ラムサス - KA-RAN • RAMUSASU - Kahran Ramsus
The official romanization of his Japanese name is "Carlin," but as you can probably tell, I have a bit of a soft spot for the name Kahran. ^_^
Dominia Yizkor - ドミニア・イズコール - DOMINIA • IZUKO-RU - Dominia Yizkor
Named after the angelic order of
Dominions.
Kelvena - ケルビナ - KERUBINA - Cherubina
Tolone - トロネ - TORONE - Troné
Her name is derived from the angelic order of
Thrones, although it's not exactly "Throne," which would be "スローン" in katakana.
Seraphita - セラフィータ - SERAFI-TA - Seraphita
Shakhan - シャーカーン - SHA-KA-N - Shakhan
Vanderkaum - ヴァンダーカム - VANDA-KAMU - Vanderkaum
Bishop Stone (Isaac Stein) - ストーン司教 (イザーク・スタイン) - SUTO-N shikyou (IZA-KU • SUTAIN) - Bishop Stone (Yzak Stein)
I went with this spelling because there's another character whose name can also be romanized as Isaac, but uses different katakana.
Nikolai Balthasar - ニコラ・バルタザール - NIKORA • BARUTAZA-RU - Nikola Balthasar
Renk - ランク - RANKU - Rank
Named after
Otto Rank.
Helmholz - ヘルムホルツ - HERUMUHORUTSU - Helmholtz
Named after
Hermann von Helmholtz.
Stratski - ストラッキィ - SUTORAKKII - Strakki
I couldn't find anyone who he might have been named after by Googling the Japanese name, so I just went with a romanization. I'm guessing that the English name came from reading the ッ katakana, which just means to double the following consonant sound, as a full-sized ツ (tsu) katakana, hence getting "Sutoratsuki" instead of "Sutorakki."
Broyer - ブロイアー - BUROIA- - Breuer
Named after
Josef Breuer.
Vance - フランツ - FURANTSU - Franz
Other NPCs:
Chief Lee - 村長リー - sonchou RI- - Headman Lee
Timothy - ティモシー - TIMOSHI- - Timothy
Alice - アルル - ARURU - Aruru
Dan - ダン - DAN - Dan
Yui Uzuki - ユイ・ウヅキ - YUI • UDZUKI - Yui Uzuki
Midori Uzuki - ミドリ・ウヅキ - MIDORI • UDZUKI - Midori Uzuki
Big Joe - ビッグ・ジョー - BIGGU • JO- - Big Joe
Sigurd Harcourt - シグルド・ハーコート - SHIGURUDO • HA-KO-TO - Sigurd Harcourt
His surname is a reference to Duncan Harcourt from Final Fantasy VI.
Lawrence Maison - ローレンス・メイソン子爵 - RO-RENSU • MEISON shishaku - Viscount Lawrence Maison
Franz - バンス - BANSU - Banth
Likely, his name was switched with Vance/Franz's somewhere in translation.
Isaac Balthasar (Ol' Man Bal) - アイザック・バルタザール - AIZAKKU • BARUTAZA-RU - Isaac Balthasar
Wiseman - ワイズマン - WAIZUMAN - Wiseman
Marguerite Fatima (Margie) - マルグレーテ・ファティマ (マルー) - MARUGURE-TE • FATIMA (MARU-) - Marguerite Fatima (Maru)
Sigmund - ジークムント - JI-KUMUNDO - Sigmund
Hammer - ハマー - HANMA- - Hammer
Captain of the Thames - タムズの艦長 - TAMUZU no kanchou - Captain of the Tammuz
Jesse Black (Jesiah Blanche) - ジェシー・B・ブラック (ジェサイア・ブランシュ) - JESHI • B • BURAKKU (JESAIA • BURANSHU) - Jesse B. Black (Jesiah Blanche)
Primera Black - プリメーラ・ブラック - PURIME-RA • BURAKKU - Primera Black
Queen Zephyr - ゼファー女王 - ZEFA- jo'ou - Queen Zephyr
Taura Melchior - トーラ・メルキオール - TO-RA • MERUKIO-RU - Tora Melchior
Gaspar - ガスパール - GASUPA-RU - Gaspar
Erich van Houten - エーリッヒ・ヴァン・ホーテン - E-RIHHI • VAN • HO-TEN - Erich van Houten
Medena van Houten - メディーナ・ヴァン・ホーテン - MEDI-NA • VAN • HO-TEN - Mediena van Houten
Khan Wong - ウォン・カーン - UON • KA-N - Wong Khan
Karen Wong - ウォン・カレン - UON • KAREN - Wong Karen
Characters in the past:
Abel - アベル - ABERU - Abel
Kim - キム - KIMU - Kim
Lacan - ラカン - RAKAN - Lacan
Sophia - ソフィア - SOFIA - Sophia
Possibly named after
the Gnostic concept of the same name.
Roni Fatima - ロニ・ファティマ - RONI • FATIMA - Roni Fatima
Rene Fatima - レネ・ファティマ - RENE • FATIMA - Rene Fatima