| | Punny Names Although he is perhaps known best as a master of action, Dragonball creator Akira Toriyama is a self-proclaimed humor manga artist at heart. So it comes as no suprise that many of the names in Dragonball are puns. For example, all of Piccolo Daimao's henchmen are named for musical instruments and the Ginyu Force are all named for dairy products. Since the story is loosely based on the Chinese collection of legends, The Journey West, there are also a lot of names based on Chinese mythology, too. | NAME | | PUN | | Bulma | | Buruma (bloomers) are tight gym shorts worn by Japanese school Girls | | Dr. Briefs | | A kind of men's underwear | | Oolong | | A common type of Chinese Tea | | Yamcha | | Yamucha is another word for dim sum. (Chinese Appetisers) | | Pu'ar | | Pu erh is a special kind of Chinese tea that is formed into bricks | | Tenshinhan | | Tenshin are Chinese Deserts | | Jackie Chun | | A pun on Jackie Chan | | Chaozu | | another reading for his name is gyoza, or pot stickers | | Kinto'un | | Kinton is boiled, mashed yellow sweet potatoes with chestnuts | | Gohan | | Boiled rice or a meal | | Goku | | Translates as air | | Goten | | Translates as sky | | Saiyan | | rearrange the syllables to make the word yasai, meaning vegetables. | | Raditz | | Raddish | | Vegeta | | Vegetable | | Nappa | | a general term for greens and a type of cabbage | | Kakkarot | | an interesting mutation of the word carrot | | Namek | | add 'uji' and you have namekuji, meaning slug | | Dende | | add 'n' and you have denden; denden-mushi is snail in Japanese | | Cargo | | add 'es' and you have escargot, the French word for edible snails | | Nail | | Nails (Hammer and nails) | | Mr. Satan | | Named after the American word for Satan | | Videl | | Re-arranged spells Devil | | Ginew | | Japanese for Milk | | Guldo | | Japanese for Yogurt | | Recoom | | Japanese for cream | | Jees | | Comes from the American word for Cheese | | Baata | | Comes from the American word for Butter | |
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