Bilingual Bonus: the meanings of Aragami names in Japanese

Nearly every name in Aragami has a meaning in Japanese. This guide lists those meanings, together with theories (in spoiler tags) for why those meanings were chosen.

Introduction

This is a guide to the Japanese meanings of the names in Aragami, complete with explanations. Spoilers are marked.

I used the names as written in the Japanese translation of the game for reference; the English versions are missing indications for long vowels (e.g. "Kaiho" would most commonly be transliterated as "Kaihou" elsewhere), which can really trip you up if you're a Japanese learner and/or using a dictionary. I've put in macrons (which indicate that a vowel is twice its normal length) to indicate the correct pronunciation.

Names from the Main Plot and Scrolls

Amaterasu - In Japan's Shinto religion, the sun goddess and supreme deity

Aragami - In Shinto, a powerful, evil spirit that seeks vengeance after dying and receiving no gratitude for its sacrifice

Dākudagā - Dark Dagger(s)
This is a straight transliteration, but it's not obvious until you lengthen the right vowels.
On graduation, a member of this Shadow assassin's guild is presented with a dark dagger (Hyo 1).

Fu-kurō - Owl
There's probably no significance to this, except that Fu-kuro is a Dakudaga master, and owls are associated with wisdom (Hyo 1). Hyphen added because apparently the Steam censor has a thing against Japanese owls.

Hebi - Snake
A clan which has a snake as its symbol (Hyo 13).

Hikalcum - probably a portmanteau of "Hikari" meaning "light' and "Orichalcum" the mythical metal
Hikalcum is a mineral which can store and emit Light essence (Yuki 13).

Hikaru - Shine
Hikaru is a Light wielder and one of the founders of Kaiho (Yuki 13).

Hyō - Leopard/Panther
The kanji for his name is shown in the Nightfall expansion.

Inari - In Shinto, the fox god of the harvest
His wife and daughter's family symbol is the fox, and Yamiko has loved foxes since she was little (Hyo 11, Chapter III).

Kaihō - Liberation/Release
Fairly self-explanatory. Kaiho are revolutionaries aiming to free the world from the Nisshoku empire.

Kibō - Hope
Kibo brings Yuki and friends hope when they're at a loss (Yuki 9) and under his new name of Kurosu, he saves the day at the last minute when Aragami is battling the Shadow Empress (Chapter XIII).

Kurosu - Probably a pun on "Kuro" meaning "Black" and "Karasu" meaning "Crow"
Kurosu is a black crow (Chapter II), and also holds some of the Shadow Empress's soul, making him even more black (Tsuyoshi 15, Yuki 16).

Kyūryū - My dictionary gives "vault (a poetic term for clear skies)". This doesn't seem to fit with Nisshoku's symbolism or the city's appearance, but I have no better ideas.

Maelsha - No idea. Neither this word nor the Japanese version (Merusha) seem to mean anything.

Mitsuki - Moon(?)
This name has several possible meanings (see Wikipedia[en.wikipedia.org] for some common ones), but "Tsuki" means "Moon", which Hyo compares Mitsuki to (Hyo 3).

Nisshoku - Eclipse
Self-explanatory. Nisshoku is a faction of Darkness wielders whose main enemies are Light wielders. See also Hyo 16.

Orochi - Serpent
Comes from a family with a snake as its symbol (Hyo 11). Oddly, when Aragami uses a snake-themed technique to protect himself from the Shadow Empress, she claims it is Ryuta's (Chapter XIII).

Rashomon Valley - The Rashomon is a famous gate in Kyoto (and also in Nara), as well as the title of a Kurosawa film about several people's contradictory accounts of the same incident. None of this seems relevant to the context.

Ryō - No idea. This name has too many possible meanings.

Ryū - Dragon
A clan which has a dragon as its symbol (Hyo 13).

Ryūta - Dragon + male name ending
Comes from a family with a dragon as its symbol.

Saigōsen - No idea. Please write in if you know

Sanzen Kōzui - Many Floods/Radiant Flood
No way of telling which meaning is intended. The main plot doesn't even use this name, instead calling it simply the Great Lake in both English and Japanese.

Shinobu - Ninja
"Ninja" and "shinobi no mono" (usually shortened to "shinobi") are different readings of the same pair of kanji, and have the same meaning. Shinobu's name is the first of these kanji, meaning "to sneak" or "to endure".

Shirokitsu - "Shiro" means "White", while "Kitsu" is from "Kitsune" meaning "Fox"
Mitsuki and Yamiko both have white hair, and Yamiko has a strong fox motif (Hyo 3, 8, 11).

Sohtho - Grand Undertaking
This is a strange case. I can't imagine why this name is spelled like this in English but simply Sōto in Japanese. "Sohtho" has no meaning I know of, but "sōto" can mean "priest/monk" or "grand undertaking" and the latter seems appropriate since the dog's death sparks a great discovery by Tsuyoshi's brotherhood (Tsuyoshi 10).

Sora - Sky
Light comes from the sky, and Sora is a gifted Light wielder (Yuki 5) and a founder of Kaiho, a faction dominated by Light wielders (Yuki 13).

Tsuyoshi - No obvious meaning, but it could be a portmanteau of "Tsuyoi" meaning "Strong" and "Shi" meaning "Master".
Tsuyoshi is a very powerful essence wielder referred to as a master by himself and others (Tsuyoshi 3, Yuki 1).

Yamiko - Darkness Child
Early foreshadowing (i.e. a massive spoiler if you know Japanese) that Yamiko is the Shadow Empress (Hyo 16, Chapter XIII). Note that "ko" is an extremely common female name suffix in Japanese, and in itself not indicative of very much.

Yūki - Courage
There are other possible meanings, but this one seems most likely. Still not particularly meaningful except insofar as the portrait of Yuki painted in his scrolls makes him look fairly courageous.

Shadow Technique Names

Banmoku - Many Eyes

Kage - Shadow

Kunai - Kunai (no translation)
Originally farming tools, these were sharpened and used as weapons by ninja. They were mostly used as melee weapons, like daggers, but could also be thrown.

Kurosuna - Black Sand

Shinen - Abyss

Sakkaku - Optical Illusion

[Button Eyes]

Thanks for the info! I just thought its weird since he is (probably, as far as I remember) the only character with a name meaning that doesn't represent what he is. And while its probably a coincidence I don't think I ever saw any Japanese character named Futashita.

[Velorien]

That would be "covered" as in "with a lid" ("futa" means "lid"), so it's probably just a coincidence.

[Button Eyes]

Is there a meaning behind Futashita, Alchemist's real name, or at least what Hikaru called him? I thought it may be a slang for "foreigner", which he calls him later, but Google Translate said it means "Covered".

[GameJutsu]

Saigosen has a few possible meaningful translations given the story:
Saigo means 'the end', particularly one's final moments - i.e. the death of a person.
Sen can mean a magician/wizard, but it can also mean war or someone having a fetish for something. It can also mean a stopper/cork/bung or a faucet.

So Saigosen could come out to be...Deathly Wizards, War to End Lives, or...I feel the most telling would be 'Someone Who Fetishizes Death/Killing'.

As cool as that would be, though, it could also be 'The Plug That Holds Back One's Final Moments' in a poetic sense.

Likewise - a theory on Maelsha is similar to the portmanteau of Hikalcum. Mael as in Maelstrom and Sha as in Person, to be Pardoned for something, or even School Dormitory.
So Maelsha could mean 'Bringing Tumult to the School' or even just 'Tumultuous Person' or 'One Who's Restlessness Should Be Forgiven.'

But that's just to spitball some possible ideas, if they were thought that hard on.

[NOTORIuS NuLL]

this makes want to play more

[RedBrigade]

Vault is also another word for ceiling, or roof. It's a little archaic now, but it's often used in English poetry, particularly stuff that describes the sky. I read a lot of ancient Greek & Roman poetry for work, and in they often conceptualise the sky (ie: heaven) as a ceiling, and in a lot of the English translations from the 20th century that gets translated to Vault. I daresay it comes from that influence.

Anyway, that's why the dictionary says what it does.

[Velorien]

I haven't seen Mulan. What does Kyūryū (穹窿/Qiónglóng?) mean there?

[[ĽÊGΣŇÐÆŔҰ]™ Nemo]

for kyuryu i believe its meant to be a Mulan reference =p considering theres a pole w/ an arrow at the top of it in a particular level taking place in the city.

[宅宅的二胖]

Your welcome.

[Luckyu]

Their use of is quite brillant Kyūryū, in the game the city is quite literally a vault holding Yamiko and metaphorically holding a storm (Yamiko's wrath) thus clear skies. Which is also a great ironic contrast to the atmosphere and in the city especially in chapter XII trying to get to the palace since you are unleashing the storm.