Talk:Barubaroi

Reason for Barubaroi’s Name Change

The entry states that Barubaroi’s name was changed because it “sounded too similar to Berber,” citing Heisei Godzilla Perfection. Berber in Japanese is ベルベル人 (beruberujin), which I think sounds pretty different. Page 92 of Heisei Godzilla Perfection doesn’t specifically mention anything about Berbers, but merely says that the name was changed “because it was found to have derogatory connotations in Ancient Greek” (なお、「バルバロイ」には、古代ギリシャ語で蔑称の意味合いがあると判明したため、「デストロイア」に名称が変更されている). Barbaroi (βάρβαροι) means “barbarians” or “savages” in Ancient Greek and is the plural of “barbaros.”

The English Wikipedia page for Destoroyah also says the name was changed for sounding like Berber, but cites a different source: 東宝特撮映画大全集 ["Toho special effects movie Complete Works"], Village Books, 2012, pp. 248-251.

I do not own a copy of Toho Special Effects Movie Complete Works, so I cannot confirm if anything about Berbers is mentioned.

The Japanese Wikipedia page for Destoroyah merely rephrases the statement about “derogatory connotations in Ancient Greek” from Heisei Godzilla Perfection, citing pages 92-94 from the same book. - Kaizyuu (talk) 13 January 2020 23:54 CT