Does Tsukiko have a last name?

[RndmNumGen]

Bit of an odd question, but does Tsukiko have a last name at all? I know Redcloak and Xykon don't, but those are made-up titles, not really real names.

[ti'esar]

Not that she ever mentioned.

(Perhaps if she had, things would have turned out better for her).

[Domino Quartz]

Does O-Chul have a last name? Does Hinjo have a last name? The answer to all three questions is "Probably, but it's not mentioned because it's not relevant to the story."

[Vinyadan]

Does O-Chul have a last name? Does Hinjo have a last name? The answer to all three questions is "Probably, but it's not mentioned because it's not relevant to the story."

Right, but that's a good starting point. Do Azurites have a surname? We know one case where they do, so it's possible that Tsukiko also does.

[KillianHawkeye]

Does she need one? :smallconfused:

[Vinyadan]

Does she need one? :smallconfused:

Gotta know if there should be some place left free on her cenotaph's headstone! :smalltongue: you know, just in case it turns out later that something more should be written on it.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Tsukiko Gosusuteriotaipu.

[Ghost Nappa]

Tsukiko Bitterleaf

Nah.

[halfeye]

I don't know how the Azurites do it, but in China and Japan, it's <family name> <personal name>, so there her last name would have been Tsukiko, with whatever her family name was before that.

[Jasdoif]

I don't know how the Azurites do itIt seems to be given name first. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0209.html)

[Nerd-o-rama]

I don't know how the Azurites do it, but in China and Japan, it's <family name> <personal name>, so there her last name would have been Tsukiko, with whatever her family name was before that.

:miko: What is this "Japan" you speak of? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0209.html)

And I lost because I had to look up how to do a Miko "smiley"

[Jasdoif]

:miko: What is this "Japan" you speak of? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0209.html)

And I lost because I had to look up how to do a Miko "smiley"Even as a smiley, Miko introduces complications :smalleek:

[Nargrakhan]

If things had worked out for her, it would have been Tsukiko Xykon (née Tsukiko). :smallwink:

[Mr. Pants]

It's Deadwoman...

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Does it really make a difference if she does or doesn't? Perhaps she doesn't have a last name, perhaps she does. It is unlikely we will find out.

[Lombard]

I heard some wight folk sayin it was something like tekkamaki


rimshot

[Gnome Alone]

Tsukiko Bitterleaf

Nah.

Tsukiko Nah. That kind of has a nice ring to it.

[Trillium]

Tuskiko Wight****er.

I mean, it fits. Even though it is not nice.

[Vinyadan]

If things had worked out for her, it would have been Tsukiko Xykon (née Tsukiko). :smallwink:


This empty mausoleum was erected in the memory of

TSUKIKO

who rejected previous life and family, in hope of being named

XYKON

seeking love she only found death
(in every possible meaning)

[Cicciograna]

Does O-Chul have a last name?

The last name is clearly Chul, while O is the first name.

[Storm_Of_Snow]

This empty mausoleum was erected in the memory of

TSUKIKO

who rejected previous life and family, in hope of being named

XYKON

seeking love she only found death
(in every possible meaning)

Whilst I'm assuming that's done for the comedy value, that's actually a good point - she would probably have either rejected her family, or her family would have rejected her, so she likely wouldn't have had a family name.

Tsukiko may not have even been her birth name, she might have rejected that and chosen Tsukiko herself at some point.


The last name is clearly Chul, while O is the first name.
O-Chul's so awesome, he doesn't need a family name. :smallcool:

[ti'esar]

If things had worked out for her, it would have been Tsukiko Xykon (née Tsukiko). :smallwink:

But Xykon isn't his surname.

[Silferdrake]

O-Chul's so awesome, he doesn't need a family name. :smallcool:

Huh, I always figured O-Chul was his last name, his first name probably being something like Bruce, Jack or Chuck...

[Cicciograna]

Huh, I always figured O-Chul was his last name, his first name probably being something like Bruce, Jack or Chuck...

And so the irish ancestry of O-Chul (or should it be O'Chul :smallsmile: ?) comes to the surface.

[Silferdrake]

And so the irish ancestry of O-Chul (or should it be O'Chul :smallsmile: ?) comes to the surface.

Indeed. O-Chul's great grandfather was Brian O'Chul, the fighting Irishman, who immigrated to Azure City since there was no one left to fight in his native hamlet.

[skim172]

The majority of stickverse characters encountered so far have had only one name - including among the protagonists.

Perhaps the Stickverse is a world and setting where many cultures still use mononyms and have no family names. Or, maybe Tsukiko never had a family - she burned them all to death and raised them as zombies before she learned to talk and thus never learned her family name.

[martianmister]

The majority of stickverse characters encountered so far have had only one name - including among the protagonists.

Roughly 66 percent of protagonists have a surname.

[Socksy]

Tsukiko may not have even been her birth name, she might have rejected that and chosen Tsukiko herself at some point.


I researched what it meant at one point, and it means 'moon child'. Seems like a name a gothy spellslinger would pick for herself, especially the more perky sort of goth. I wouldn't be surprised if she chose it herself.

[KillianHawkeye]

I researched what it meant at one point, and it means 'moon child'. Seems like a name a gothy spellslinger would pick for herself, especially the more perky sort of goth. I wouldn't be surprised if she chose it herself.

OR maybe she was just born during a full moon?

[Nerd-o-rama]

I think most of the surnamed characters we know of have either been Northerners or Southern nobility. Northerners seem to have hereditary epithets more than anything (Greenhilt refers to the patriarch's sword, Starshine indicates a nocturnal profession, Thundershield seems to be a long line of priests of Thor...) Southerners without titles and all Westerners I can think of (possibly including Tarquin, Elan, and Nale) only seem to have given names, same with elves.

(O-Chul and most of the rest of the Sapphire Guard were probably of the samurai social class based solely on warrior merit and lacked hereditary titles. Kazumi and Daigo, meanwhile, are I guess younger children of hereditary samurai families who were doing their time in the army).

Or I'm reading too much into this and characters have last names if they sound cool and don't if they don't.

[Keltest]

I think most of the surnamed characters we know of have either been Northerners (Greenhilt, Thundershield, Starshine, Windstaff, etc.) or Southern nobility. Southerners without titles and all Westerners I can think of (possibly including Tarquin, Elan, and Nale) only seem to have given names, same with elves.

(O-Chul and most of the rest of the Sapphire Guard were probably of the samurai social class based solely on warrior merit and lacked hereditary titles. Kazumi and Daigo, meanwhile, are I guess younger children of hereditary samurai families who were doing their time in the army).

Or I'm reading too much into this and characters have last names if they sound cool and don't if they don't.

the newly ennobled House Kato had family names before becoming nobility. Its how they survived long enough to do so.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Oh right. I guess either Southerners have or don't have surnames in no particular pattern, or there's an actual social taboo about bringing up your family name if it's unimportant. Probably the former.

[campkilkare]

Oh right. I guess either Southerners have or don't have surnames in no particular pattern, or there's an actual social taboo about bringing up your family name if it's unimportant. Probably the former.

Actually... it seems like the only Azurites with real surnames are noticeably lower class in origins.

Soon, Shojo, Hinjo and Kubota are all in the aristocracy. (However,there is also discussion of "House Kubota," implying it's his family name.) Tsukiko got kicked out of some of the finest magical schools in the South, which could imply wealth and indulgent parents.

Daigo [Something] and Kazumi Kato were ordinary infantry. Miko had risen to the level of a samurai, but she was an orphan raised by monks and only adopted into a noble family late in life. (We don't know anything about her family background, but presumably if they were noble she wouldn't just be chucked in a monastery and forgotten until Shojo discovered her...)

When Daigo and Kazumi are elevated, Kato becomes the name of their house. Maybe everyone has two names, a family name and a personal name, but in the aristocracy the family name is a noble House and referred to as such--the proper address for Kazumi now would would be 'Kazumi of House Kato,' whereas before her elevation she would have been Kazumi Kato. Possibly, her family might have been attached to some noble House--she could have been Kazumi Kato of House Soon, or whatever.

In casual speech she would still be Kazumi or Kato in either case, but in a formal situation it would make a difference, and she would be much more likely to be introduced by a single name if she was a noble.

(Lien is the daughter of a fisherman, and O-Chul's background is not clear, but he doesn't seem like an aristocrat. But I don't think we've ever seen them introduce themselves in a formal way the way Miko did, and of course Miko of all people would never forget to humble herself by announcing that she has a surname.)

It's all highly speculative but I think you can see a through-line if you squint.

[Orc Warrior]

I was rereading OOTS, and I just noticed that Tsukiko had a Xykon-plushy.

[Storm_Of_Snow]

Actually... it seems like the only Azurites with real surnames are noticeably lower class in origins.

Soon, Shojo, Hinjo and Kubota are all in the aristocracy. (However,there is also discussion of "House Kubota," implying it's his family name.) Tsukiko got kicked out of some of the finest magical schools in the South, which could imply wealth and indulgent parents.

Daigo [Something] and Kazumi Kato were ordinary infantry. Miko had risen to the level of a samurai, but she was an orphan raised by monks and only adopted into a noble family late in life. (We don't know anything about her family background, but presumably if they were noble she wouldn't just be chucked in a monastery and forgotten until Shojo discovered her...)

When Daigo and Kazumi are elevated, Kato becomes the name of their house. Maybe everyone has two names, a family name and a personal name, but in the aristocracy the family name is a noble House and referred to as such--the proper address for Kazumi now would would be 'Kazumi of House Kato,' whereas before her elevation she would have been Kazumi Kato. Possibly, her family might have been attached to some noble House--she could have been Kazumi Kato of House Soon, or whatever.

In casual speech she would still be Kazumi or Kato in either case, but in a formal situation it would make a difference, and she would be much more likely to be introduced by a single name if she was a noble.

(Lien is the daughter of a fisherman, and O-Chul's background is not clear, but he doesn't seem like an aristocrat. But I don't think we've ever seen them introduce themselves in a formal way the way Miko did, and of course Miko of all people would never forget to humble herself by announcing that she has a surname.)

It's all highly speculative but I think you can see a through-line if you squint.
Kind of agree - I think it's basically about whether the person is well known enough in general that if you refer to them by their given name, everyone will know who you're talking about (which is apparently what Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, and basically achieved).

Kubota could be the family name, and thus applied as an honorific, or to refer to him in his position as head of the house, or it could be his actual given name, or he could even be Kubota Kubota.

But Azure City also seems to be a real mish-mash of different Earth oriental cultures, so they could well have various different rules about people's names and their use, but because everyone's been brought up with them, everyone knows exactly which one applies where.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Actually... it seems like the only Azurites with real surnames are noticeably lower class in origins.

Soon, Shojo, Hinjo and Kubota are all in the aristocracy. (However,there is also discussion of "House Kubota," implying it's his family name.) Tsukiko got kicked out of some of the finest magical schools in the South, which could imply wealth and indulgent parents.

Daigo [Something] and Kazumi Kato were ordinary infantry. Miko had risen to the level of a samurai, but she was an orphan raised by monks and only adopted into a noble family late in life. (We don't know anything about her family background, but presumably if they were noble she wouldn't just be chucked in a monastery and forgotten until Shojo discovered her...)

When Daigo and Kazumi are elevated, Kato becomes the name of their house. Maybe everyone has two names, a family name and a personal name, but in the aristocracy the family name is a noble House and referred to as such--the proper address for Kazumi now would would be 'Kazumi of House Kato,' whereas before her elevation she would have been Kazumi Kato. Possibly, her family might have been attached to some noble House--she could have been Kazumi Kato of House Soon, or whatever.

In casual speech she would still be Kazumi or Kato in either case, but in a formal situation it would make a difference, and she would be much more likely to be introduced by a single name if she was a noble.

(Lien is the daughter of a fisherman, and O-Chul's background is not clear, but he doesn't seem like an aristocrat. But I don't think we've ever seen them introduce themselves in a formal way the way Miko did, and of course Miko of all people would never forget to humble herself by announcing that she has a surname.)

It's all highly speculative but I think you can see a through-line if you squint.

That theory does make sense. The only real flaw in it is that Miko does mention that her parents were nobility over yonder (www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0209.html), which is what got me started on the whole surname=aristocracy thing. And honestly, "monastery" is a much better destination for an orphan than, say, your typical pre-modern orphanage. In fact, fraternal orders of one religion or the other were common destinations for non-inheriting noble children for centuries in both Europe and Asia. I assume Miko's parents were very minor nobles, or else whatever incident resulted in their deaths resulted in someone else acquiring their titles and duties instead of their daughter, and a noble without lands or some sort of hereditary social position is pretty much destined for monastic, clerical, and/or military life.

Still doesn't help make sense of the name thing, but good to know.

[CaDzilla]

Start of Darkness Baker

[Nerd-o-rama]

Start of Darkness Baker

...my god.

Keith Baker actually does have heterochromia, though. He was drawn more or less true to life in SoD. Tsukiko has heterochromatic eyes as a play on her two different casting classes (and two different magical auras - blue for her Divine spells and dark gray for her Arcane ones.)

[Everyl]

Kubota was the name of one of the domains or feifdoms under the Tokugawa Shogunate, located roughly where modern Akita prefecture is. It was ruled by local daimyos of the Satake clan until the shogunate fell. Written with different kanji, Kubota is also a surname that roughly translates to "low rice field," but I'm pretty sure that name is of historically-commoner origin (most Japanese family names that refer to natural features are).

Kato is actually an interesting one - it was a historical samurai family name, and still exists as a family name today (I've met a few of them, even). However, written with a different kanji, it could also mean "lower class." That writing isn't used as a name, but it adds some interesting maybe-unintentional meaning to the ascension of House Kato.

I'm having a bit of trouble finding out more about Tsukiko than the obvious "Moon-child" meaning. It's worth noting that the trailing "-ko," while it literally means "child," is a very common suffix in traditional Japanese women's names. Also, perhaps interestingly, nearly all of the Tsukikos I'm finding when I Google the subject in Japanese are using it as a pseudonym - musicians, artists, and the like who prefer not to put their real names on their work.

Of course, nobody in Azure City (or anywhere else in the South) has heard of Japan, so that's only important to those of us who feel like speculating wildly about minute details. And why else would anyone be reading this forum? :smallbiggrin:

[skim172]

Start of Darkness Baker

... Genius. This is the only explanation that makes any sense.

[Chronos]

Wait, does that mean that Tsukiko is related to V's mate?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

*shudder*

Aaaaaaand I'd forgotten about Tsukiko's fate until this thread.

[allenw]

Miko had risen to the level of a samurai, but she was an orphan raised by monks and only adopted into a noble family late in life. (We don't know anything about her family background, but presumably if they were noble she wouldn't just be chucked in a monastery and forgotten until Shojo discovered her...)


I assume that someone has previously suggested that Miko is Redcloak's niece?
If not, dibs!:smallbiggrin:

[Vinyadan]

Kubota was the name of one of the domains or feifdoms under the Tokugawa Shogunate, located roughly where modern Akita prefecture is. It was ruled by local daimyos of the Satake clan until the shogunate fell. Written with different kanji, Kubota is also a surname that roughly translates to "low rice field," but I'm pretty sure that name is of historically-commoner origin (most Japanese family names that refer to natural features are).

Rather inventive and enterprising commoners, I'd say :smallbiggrin:

http://s2.postimg.org/v89z1tzq1/Kubota_KX040_4_2701.jpg

[Misery Esquire]

Tsukiko Nolongerappearinginthiscomic.

It was a very strange name to live with, but she seems to have grown into it.

[Jay R]

If she had one, then she stupidly forgot to use it when her life was threatened. That's why Daigo and Kazumi are holding his family name in reserve.

[137beth]

Well, O-Chul's name was originally going to be Oh Chul, so maybe Tsukiko is secretly zuki ko, and changed her name to Tsukiko to disassociate herself with the Azurites!

[Vinyadan]

Well, O-Chul's name was originally going to be Oh Chul, so maybe Tsukiko is secretly zuki ko, and changed her name to Tsukiko to disassociate herself with the Azurites!

Oh Chul, my Chul! :smalltongue:

[Loreweaver15]

Soon had a surname: Kim.

[konradknox]

If Tsukiko remembered her lastname on time, she may have survived the wights.