Do all the characters' names have some kind of joke or meaning to them?

[Pian]

Toriel is short for tutoriel, Sans and Papyrus are named after fonts, and Undyne sort of sounds like undying. What about Alphys, Asgore, and Mettaton?

[!?!]

Mettaton is probably a wordplay on megatron.

[Juno Brier]

Alphys = Alpha, most likely.
Mettaton, I dunno, but the first half is likely derived from "metal".

I'm in the opinion that Asgore is just chosen as a sufficiently threatening-sounding name, as his name is first mentioned in a context that makes him sound like a threat.
It may also be so that there was an excuse to name his son "Asriel" (Asgore + Toriel), since "Asriel Dreemurr" is anagram of "Serial Murderer".
On that topic, "Asriel" sounds like "Azrael".

[Devin]

Originally posted by Juno Brier:

since "Asriel Dreemurr" is anagram of "Serial Murderer".

WHAT
omg

[Zaltys]

Dreemurr also sounds like Dreamer, obviously. One of the word pairs in certain boss battle is Dreamer/Murderer.

[VGBM]

Originally posted by Zaltys:

Dreemurr also sounds like Dreamer, obviously. One of the word pairs in certain boss battle is Dreamer/Murderer.

Hold on, word pairs? What boss battle are you talking about?

[Zaltys]

Originally posted by VGBM:

Hold on, word pairs? What boss battle are you talking about?

Flowey, one of the hearts. The one with the notebook theme.

[VGBM]

Originally posted by Zaltys:

Originally posted by VGBM:

Hold on, word pairs? What boss battle are you talking about?

Flowey, one of the hearts. The one with the notebook theme.

Ohhhhh! I actually just went through that fight, I didn't notice the words were in specific pairs.

[sev]

on the surface the game really doesn't look like it has much to it
but when you look at the ♥♥♥♥ loads of lore and all the ways the author expected you to ♥♥♥♥ around, you start to realize that's just not true.

[melami]

i like the minor character names like the monsters that attack when you're walking around...especially the "final form" kind of version of Loox bc it's named "Astigmatism"

[dat_potatoe]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metatron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azrael
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undine

Maybe related, maybe not. "Angel of Death" makes some sense given the true pacifist boss fight.

[Pian]

Very interesting interpretations, thanks for sharing. Is there any other meaning to Undyne's name. I was thinking because she's a fish and "un"+"dyne/dine"=not dine, her name is telling us not to eat her. Also, what would Alphys be an alpha of, she seems like a very shy and submissive girl.

[Samael]

Well, before you meet her, the only thing you've got is what Papyrus and Monster Kid tells you - the first thing that comes to mind is Undying. So you think maybe "oh, okay, maybe another skeleton" cos undine, though I'd heard the term before, is a bit less common on the whole. Its a false friend kind of thing, you see a word, assume it means one thing but in actuality, it means another. So, like, for some people that she is what she is is kind of a twist I guess?? But then you see the dark route and it goes for Undyne the Undying anyway, haha.

[Space Punk]

I thought of Metatron when I met Mettaton, but it might also be a pun. He's so popular because he's Mettaton of people.

[eco-terrorist paulie walnuts]

Mettaton backwards is Nottatem. Not a Tem.
so that rules something out regarding his original identity.

[Pizza Cat]

what about alphys?