Somebody mentioned in another thread that Tidus's name from Final Fantasy X comes from Tida, the Japanese for "sun." I thought about that and realized that Tidus's Celestial Weapon, the Caladbolg, is powered up using the Sun Crest and Sun Sigil. Anyone else know of any interesting Japanese-originated references like that within other English-translated versions of the FF games?

I've never heard of "Tida" meaning sun in my four years of Japanese study - only "ni" or "nichi" or "hi".

Still, I looked it up on an online dictionary (don't have one of my own), and the only other way to say sun that comes up is "taiyou". Now, Tidus' name is something like "Taidasu", but that's not enough evidence to claim anything. Why? The "tai" in "taiyou" (and the common sound between taiyou and taidasu) means great, fat, or thick. That has nothing to do with the sun.

Someone like rezo who knows more than me, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm really not buying the connection at all.

Actually, Tidus' Japanese name is "TIDAA" （ティダー）　which doesn't begin with the sound "tai," and pretty much nullifies the argument of them having the same first syllable, anyway. Maybe it means sun in another language, or is some obscure Japanese term, but if it really is a Japanese word meaning SUN, it's not one that I'm familiar with (or anyone else I know is familiar with, either)... ^^.

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Here's some from FF9.

Vivi's name in Japanese is "Bibi," and one of the first things Puck says to Vivi as they're climbing over the rooftops is "bibina yo!" which is a Japanese play on Vivi's name that translates to "Don't be a wuss!" or "don't be such a 'fraidy-cat!" Since Vivi was often struggling to overcome being afraid of everything, the word "bibiru" and the name "bibi" could very well play off each other.

Another thing is that the translated name "Vivi" can also mean "I live" in Latin, and could apply to Vivi, too.

Oh, okay. Guess somebody had some bad info then. The "Vivi" one is cool though.

Tidus' name comes from an Okinawan word, as far as I remember. Same with Yuna's.