The process of finding human names for the objects of BFDI is probably as old as the show itself. The oldest example that I have is from 2014, as recorded on a Notepad document. But English isn't the language in which I recorded the first 擬人化 names; no, that honour goes to the language that the term 擬人化 originates from: Japanese.
I had been working on an extremely amateuristic and unofficial Japanese translation of BFDI in 2014, a time when all things Japanese were cool, but I didn't want to use transcriptions of the English names of the contestants, e.g. ペンシル (Penshiru for Pencil) or Japanese translations of the names of the objects, e.g. 鉛筆 (Empitsu). That would be too objectifying… ironically, for an object show.
It was around this time that I was most interested in baby names, a trend that was later revisited after the release of Abacaba's beautiful 2015 video about the popularity of baby names over time, and I noticed from the detailed U.S. data that a lot of Japanese-language names made their debuts in the 1910s and 1920s.[1] Some of those names worked as aesthetically pleasing English-language names, like Masao and Shizuko, so I wondered if I could use them as the Japanese names for the BFDI contestants. And that's what I did. That's why there's a separate section on the character infobox with the Pencil 2.O characters' Japanese names: because of this, Pencil becomes Hisako, Match Akari and Pen Tsuyoshi.[2]
But that has little to do with each contestant's English names.[3]
Pre-code naming (2015–2017)[]
Not referring to dirty movies, but to the first (and pre-codified to RLBFDI) English names for the contestants. I had played with the idea for a while, but it wasn't until 2015–2017 that I had a name for all contestants from BFDI and BFDIA.
Note that deprecated names are written in red, and deprecated names similar to current names (or currently used in other versions) are written in maroon.[4] As this section is quite long, do click the collapse button if you wish.
Evolution of human names for the BFDI contestants, 2015–2017
Named on the basis of phonetic similarity (the best method in my opinion).
Donut: Don, Donald (since 2017).
Eraser: Erasmo (2016–2017).
Ice Cube: Isis (since 2017).
Match: Maja (since 2015[5]; Maia and Maya are back-formations).
Named mostly because they have the same first letter.
Blocky: Brett (2015–2016).
Book: Barbilla, Bel (c. 2017; Isabel is a back-formation from Bel).
Coiny: Christopher (2015–2016), Columbus (since 2017).
Donut: Dorcas (2016).
Firey: Frederic (since 2015), Freddy, Frederick (2017).
Leafy: Lisa (2015–2016).
Teardrop: Tabitha (2015–2016), Teresa, T.D. (2016–2017).
Tennis Ball: Terrence (2015), Trey (2016).
Yellow Face: Jiji, John-Isaac (2016–2017), Yusuf (2017). (I did not know any common names that begin with Y until 2017.)
Named on the basis of personality.
Blocky: Adolf, Dolph (2017), Adolfo (since 2017). (He is basically a serial murderer, just like someone else with that name was.)
Named on the basis of meaning.
Firey: Robin (2015). (Robins are red-orange, a colour that means fire. Fire = Firey.)
Flower: Flora (since 2017; Florence is an earlier back-formation). (Flora means "flower".)
Fries: Francis, Francisco, Frank (2017). (Names that mean "French", a component in his full name French Fries.)
Puffball: Pixie (since 2017). (Pixies are mystic creatures; Puffball has a mystic personality and appearance.)
Tennis Ball: Brandy (2015). (Brandy seems to me to be an all-American name, which is what T.B. is to a T.)
Named on the basis of symbolism.
Book: Astrid (since 2017). (Named after Astrid Lindgren, Swedish author of the Pippi Longstocking series.)
Ice Cube: Caroline, Cary (2017). (Named after Cary, her original voice actor.)
Named to reflect their cultural heritage.
Bubble: Boitumelo (2015–2016). (She was supposed to be Tswana from South Africa. This was changed as most theories suggest that she is really from Yoyleland, i.e. Turkey.)
Eraser: Seleukos (2015).
Pen: Parascevas (2015), G.P., Giampiero, Gian Pietro, Gianpietro, Johnny (since 2017). (The latter was also borrowed from a foreign language version; a Danish translation calls him Per, a form of Peter.)
Pencil: Paulinha (2015).
Pin: Phuong (since 2015).
Snowball: Symounde (since 2015; Simon is a back-formation).
Bubble: Nicaya (2015, from Princess Nekaya from Utopia Limited).
Eraser: Giuseppe (since 2017, from The Gondoliers; Joseph is an earlier back-formation).
Flower: Sacaris (2015, from Sacharissa from Princess Ida).
Golf Ball: Sirmonique (2015, from a non-canon professor from Princess Ida).
Ice Cube: Salata (2015, from Utopia Limited).
Match: Phœbé (2015, from Phœbe Meryll from Utopia Limited).
Pen: Frédéric (2015, from Frederic from The Pirates of Penzance).
Pencil: Jeanne (2015), Joana (2017, both from Gianetta from The Gondoliers).
Flower: Scynthe (2015, from Scynthius from Princess Ida).
Needle: Inês (2015, from Inez from The Gondoliers).
Teardrop: Phyllis (2015, from The Princess, the Tennyson poem on which Princess Ida is based).
Name borrowed from a foreign language version.
Bubble: Katherine, Katie (2017), Catherine (2017–2019, all from French Catherine).
Coiny: Kichiro (2015, from Japanese 吉郎).
Gelatin: Joaquin, Joey (since 2016, from Spanish Joaquín).
Golf Ball: Gina (2015), Gena (2017), Eugenia (since 2017, all from French Eugénie).
Leafy: Yolanda (2015–2017), Lela, Lelanda (since 2017, from Spanish Lelanda).
Pen: Am (2017, from Hebrew עט).
Rocky: Iwa (2015, from Japanese 岩).
Spongy: Éponge (2015, from French).
Woody: Isamu (2015, from Japanese 勇).
Named for unknown reasons.
Pen: something beginning with I (2016). (Only the initial is available.)
Puffball: Honorata, Maria Honorata, Marion (since 2017).
Name left unchanged.
Bomby: Bomby (since 2016).
David: David (since 2016).
Dora: Dora (since 2017).
Rocky: Rocky (since 2017).
Ruby: Ruby (since 2017).
Spongy: Spongy (since 2016).
Woody: Woody (since 2016; Woodrow is a back-formation).
First standardization (2018–2019)[]
The first attempt to standardize the human names of the (now no longer just BFDI, but) BFB contestants was carried out when I released the script to a two-part episode of Pencil 2.O, "Attack of the Six Foot Californians" and "The Softening". Although all BFDI characters appear at the end of the episode with their human names known, most of them only make cameo appearances as the episode focuses on the 擬人化 versions of the P2O characters.
This cemented some names into the RLBFB canon: Match is Maja, Pen's name is whatever Italian spelling of John Peter is popular and the Aussie guy he shagged is called Trey. However, as sex- and profanity-heavy as it was,[7] this episode is not considered canon for RLBFB, only for the real-life dimension parallel to P2O.[8]
Second standardization (2019–2020)[]
For the people who frequently browse this wiki, a breakthrough must have happened towards the end of 2019. When I posted by review of the then-latest BFB episode, "The Four Is Lava", I "accidentally" used some of the contestants' human names: I called Bottle Bethel, Remote Renata and Pen Gianpiero. AzureCrystals noticed, which prompted me to post a picture of the BFB contestants from that tier-list website, and my official human names next to each and every one of them.
A few other people on the wiki saw this picture and we had a good conversation about what the backstories and nationalities of the contestants were. Mind you, I haven't forgotten; I've posted the link to the post above! I had hoped that these names would be set in stone forever, and for most of 2020, they were.
That you know. But what you didn't know is that I didn't think up these names while I was creating the image. They were first conceived in February 2018, a few months after the personalities of the new contestants had been decided and I was ready to come up with human names for them.
Evolution of human names for the BFB contestants (2018–2020)
In early 2018, I had access to the database with all the names from the Social Security database[9] and their approximate phonetic forms.[10] I used this to my advantage when I came up with the human names, but only for the female contestants. I had the database of boys' names, but I admit I was too lazy to do the phonetic stuff with those. I'd got several proposals just by running the female contestants' names through the same process and finding matching names. Here are the ones that didn't make it.
Barf Bag: Barb, Barbara Ann,[11]Barbie, Barbra, Brownie, Providence
Basketball: Bijoux, Bisceglia
Bell and Pillow: Bailey, Beulah, Billie, Paula, Viola, Willie
Basketball: Pasqualina (since 2018; Lina is a nickname).
Bottle: Bethel (since 2018).
Bracelety: Briselda (since 2018).
Foldy: Violette (since 2019 from Violet).
Gaty: Katja (since 2019, from Katie, to which it briefly changed before the post).
Pie: Abbie (since 2019, from Abby).
Pillow: Paola (since 2019, from Paula, to which it briefly changed before the post).
Remote: Renata (since 2018). Additionally, Renata means "born again" in Latin, which makes sense given her own story.
Saw: Jodie (2019, from Jo, a name that was considered but never used).
Taco: Takiyah (since 2018).
Teardrop: Deirdre (very early 2020).
Other changes made from this period:
Named on the basis of phonetic similarity (through the old method).
8-Ball: Eduard (2019), Eduardo (since January 2020).
Balloony: Blaine (since 2019).
Cake: Jakob (2019), Jake (since January 2020).
Clock: Khalid (since 2019, very loosely)
Cloudy: Claude (since 2019).
Eggy: Echo (since 2019).
Liy: Lily (2019), Lill (since 2020).
Lollipop: Lulu (since 2019).
Loser: Lothar (since 2019).
Marker: Marc (since 2019).
Naily: Nellie (2019).
Roboty: Roberto (since 2019).
Saw: Sanna (very early 2020), Sana (since January 2020).
Stapy: Stephan (2019), Stefan (since January 2020).
Tree: Trey (since 2018, except for a break in very early 2020).
Named mostly because they have the same first letter.
Black Hole: Bilal (since 2019).
Grassy: Gabriel (since 2019, sometimes spelt the Dutch way, Gabriël).
Lightning: Leo (since 2019).
Saw: Sinéad (2019, used only once).
TV: Tomas (since 2019).
Yellow Face: Yitzhak (since 2019).
Named on the basis of meaning.
Robot Flower: Aronatus (2019). (The name of a flower as mentioned in the song "Wildwood Flower"—in Danish, she was called Analeder, a misheard lyric of Emanita).
Named on the basis of symbolism.
Firey Jr.: Freddy (since 2019). (As Firey Jr. is, in RLBFB, the son of Firey, it would make sense for him to have the same name as his father.)
Name borrowed from a foreign language version.
Bubble: Shigeko (very early 2020, from Japanese 茂子).
Naily: Shiori (since January 2020, from Japanese 栞).
Robot Flower: Hanako (since January 2020, from Flower's Japanese name 花子).
Teardrop: Thérèse (since 2019, from French, except for a break in very early 2020).
Tree: Kitsugi (very early 2020, from Japanese 木次).
Name left (barely) unchanged from the original.
Bell: Belle (since 2019).
Fanny: Fannie (since 2018).
Name barely changed after 2017.
Bubble: Kathrina, Kathy (since January 2020, from Catherine).
Golf Ball: Eugenia (changed to Eugenie briefly, but changed back again before the post).
Needle: Nathalia (since January 2020, from Nathalie).
Nickel: Nicholas, Nick (since January 2020, from Nicolas).
Pen: G.P., Gianpiero (since January 2020, from Gian-Piero).
Puffball: Honorata (since January 2020, from Maria Honorata).
Name left unchanged from 2017: Adolfo, Astrid, Bomby, Columbus, David, Donald, Dora, Flora, Francisco, Frederic, Giuseppe, Isis, Joaquin, Lelanda, Maja, Penelope, Phuong, Rocky, Ruby, Simon, Spongy, Thomas, Woodrow (Woody).
Third standardization (2020–2021)[]
The next and current stage of standardization is taking place as I write out this entire mini-series, in a time span that runs from December 2020 to the present day (which as of now is 20 January 2021). The case for codification is extremely important, because on another page of this post there will be images of the contestants' 擬人化 forms next to name placards, and they can't be incorrect.
As of today, there will be no more name changes, as the table on the INFO AND IMAGES page may only be changed in case of error.
So here are the changes that have happened in this very short period of time.
Evolution of the human names for the BFB contestants (2020–2021)
Name changed to match the common form in their language or dialect.
Basketball: Pascualina (Spanish form of Pasqualina).
Bomby: Bombi (Mossi name that stands on its own; Bomby is still used in English).
Cake: Jakob (in German; Jacob is a new English-language back-formation).
Clock: Khaled (Algerian Arabic form of Khalid).
Firey: Frederik (in Scandinavia), Friedrich (in German).
Foldy: Viola (in German), Violeta (in Portuguese and Spanish), Violetta (in Italian).
Fries: Francesco (in Italian), Francisco (in Portuguese and Spanish), Franciscus (in all other languages, based on Flemish).
Needle: Nathalie (only in French; Nathalia is used elsewhere).
Taco: Takia (non-English).
Yellow Face: Isaak (non-English).
Name changed to avoid what may not be popular in the countries from which they come.
Blocky: Now known as Ady in English, although Adolfo is still a nickname. In other languages—especially German—all instances are replaced with Bruno.
Balloony: Blaine became his last name; his real first name is Jamie.
Bell: Belle remains her nickname, though her real name is Bahiya. (It is a name that means "beautiful" in Arabic, just as Belle does in French.)
Fanny: Known only by her full name in English outside the U.S., as they prefer Frances over Fannie.
Ice Cube: Known as Icie in Britain. Outside those countries, she is called Iris.
Naily: Her full name is Cornelia, but always goes by Naily rather than her Japanese middle name.
Snowball: Known as Symounde (but pronounced as Simon) in Britain.
Tree: Known as Terrence or Terry universally.
Some names were changed for the purpose of internationalization.
Eggy: Emmy (non-English).
Pie: Pia (non-English).
Puffball: Pixie (Protestant countries).
Robot Flower: Arbutus (outside the U.S., a revival of a proposal from 2018). (This became her middle name. In the U.S., she is known as Hanako-Arbutus with a hyphen between the names.)
Ruby: Rubina (non-English, revival of an old name).
Some nicknames were changed for internationalization as well.
Naily: Her Japanese name still stands in Scandinavia, though it has been assimilated to Siri.
Pen: His nickname outside English-speaking countries is the non-initialism Gianni.
Puffball: It is still disputed whether Maria Honorata is her actual name or a Latinized version of the acceptable French form, Marie-Honorée.
Roboty: Roberto became a commonly-used nickname; his real name is Roboty.
Spongy: Spongy is his last name as a nickname; his real name is Sponyé.
Tree: Trey is a hardly-used nickname and has been gradually semi-deprecated.
Everyone else's first names have stayed the same, regardless of language.
Future codification attempts[]
They have been usually in vain. But since most of these names were chosen for characters born in the late twentieth century rather than the middle of it, there are some anachronisms that I would have changed earlier if it were not for the image to which I have tried to be most faithful.
23 January 2021: Changed! But only for the RLBFB versions of the contestants, not the human names of the contestants themselves.
Proposed and rejected name changes for RLBFB
Name changed to fit the time period.
Eggy: Margaret or Peggy (to replace Echo, born 1944). [Successfully changed.]
Ice Cube: Iris (to replace Isis, born 1953). [Successfully changed.]
Taco: Toni (to replace Takiyah, born 1944). [Successfully changed.]
Name changed due to their immigration to Western countries, pre-1940s.[12]
Blocky: Adolph (to replace Ady, born 1936). [Successfully changed, but to Adolphus.]
Eraser: Joseph (to replace Giuseppe, born 1939).[13]
Marker: Marcus (to replace Marc, born 1948).
Match: Mae or May (to replace Maja, born 1942).[13]
Pen: John Peter (to replace Gianpiero, born 1941).[13]
Pillow: Paula (to replace Paola, born 1943). [Successfully changed.]
The most successful of the pre-publication name adjustments took place on 6 April 2021, when several first and middle names were changed or appended. Here are the details of this update.
Evolution of the human names for the BFB contestants (April 2021 update)
Names that have been respelt.
Terence more often (i.e. more conventionally) has one "r" and not two, as Terrence would have us believe.
Abbreviated names lengthened in formal form:
Lill becomes Lilly. It doesn't sound Swedish but is still a spelling that they use there.
Toni is now known as Antonia in full, although Toni is still a name that can stand by itself.
First names that are to be appended to the name of calling:
Bilal's first name—that is, the name that comes before (as in many of the world's cultures)—is Abdullah, a spelling that more Nigerians use than "Abdallah".
Frankie's first name is Jan after the saint's day on which he was born. It would have been his middle name, but "Jan Franciscus" looks more aesthetically pleasing than the other way around.
Middle names[]
And first names of people who go by their lasts.
This was one of the last things I thought of, as middle names are not often used in many cultures. They are also the least important part of a full name, at least for the majority of the BFB contestants. Still, you will find that these middle names sometimes have more symbolism for a character's appearance, personality etc. than a first. Since I came up with these while writing about RLBFB, they also fit better with the era in which the series is set.
Note that I've only got "out-universe" reasons for why I gave the contestants their middle names. There really was no famous Canadian immigration officer named John P. Davis, as far as I know, and if there was, it's a total coincidence.
Most of these were thought of at the end of 2020. Some were added in the great name change of 6 April 2021—these will be indicated by Unicode character #2,568 (╨). Those that date from another time are noted differently.[14]
BFB contestants' middle names
Named for obvious reasons.
David (╨): David.
Named because they share a letter with their object name.
Naily: Eiko. (Japanese 鋭子, meaning "sharp child".)[16]
Woody (╨): Ngahere. (Meaning "forest".)
Eggy: Uy Pan. (Hokkien Chinese pronunciation of 黃斑 huangban, meaning "yellow spots".)
Ice Cube: Yukiko. (Japanese 雪子, meaning "child of snow".)
Named to reflect their cultural heritage.
Eraser: Aronne. (Version of the Hebrew אהרוןAharon; born to Jewish and Italian parents.)
Lollipop (╨): Cebisa. (She is Xhosa.)
Pen: Davide. (Version of the Hebrew דודDavid [he said "Aw, seriously?" once[17]]; born to Jewish and Italian parents; also for legacy reasons)
Clock: François. (His mother is French.)
Tennis Ball: Rutger. (He is German-American, but Roger was not politically neutral for the time he was born.)
Cloudy: Yannick. (He is Breton.)
Named on the basis of symbolism.
Bomby (╨): Alfred. (Named after Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite.)
Saw (╨): Essa. (In Arab countries, the middle name is frequently that of the father—Essa, Sana's father, was named after Jesus, a carpenter.)[18]
Firey: Jefferson Davis. (Named after the President of the Confederacy during the American Civil War. It was changed to the cooler Jay Dee sometime during the 1960s.)
Firey Jr.: Juneteenth Douglass. (A clever reference to his father's middle initials, but in honour of African Americans instead.)
Liy: Marlene. (Works really well with her first name Lilly, obviously for the time she was born in the 1940s.)
Nickel: Shelton. (Variation on Thomas Jefferson's wife's middle name, née Martha Skelton Wayles.)
Bracelety: Teofania. (Rarely used Spanish form of Tiffany, a famous jewellery retailer.)
Coiny: Todd. (Abraham Lincoln's wife's pre-married name, Mary Todd.)
Named appropriately for the time and place in which they were born.
Book: Åse. (Common Norwegian name.)
Cake: Austin. (Common Anglo-American name.)
Pillow: Donna. (Common Anglo-American name.)
Grassy: Jaap. (Common Dutch name, equivalent of Jacob.)
Balloony: Jamie Samuel. (Actually his first and middle names; common and Scottish.)
TV: Jung Hoon. (Common twentieth-century Korean name.)
Rocky: Ibrahim. (Common African Muslim name.)
Loser: Karl. (Common German name.)
Needle: Maria. (Common Portuguese name.)
Basketball: María. (Common Spanish name.)
Foldy: Marie. (Common French name, actually the first part of her hyphenated name, Marie-Violette.)
Teardrop: Marie. (Common French name, actually the second part of her hyphenated name, Thérèse-Marie.)
Taco: Mercedes. (Common Hispanic American name.)
Remote: Nzinga. (Common name in Angola, named after a historical queen.)
Match: Anastasia (since 2015). (Saved one of her middle names from Pencil 2.O.)
Blocky: Aniketos. (Named when his birthday was different, the Christian saint name for 20 April, corrected in late January 2021 from Anekitos.)
Bubble: Boitumelo. (Though she is Turkish and not Tswana, I saved her former name as her nickname.)
Pencil: Carmencita (since 2015). (Saved one of her middle names from Pencil 2.O.)
These "middle" names were originally first names, although these contestants remain called by these (╨): Bilal and Franciscus (Frankie).
The following contestants have no middle names: Belle, Dora, Eduardo, Hanako-Arbutus (depending on the version), Joaquin, Katja, Maria Honorata, Roboty, Ruby, Simon, Spongy, Stefan, Violette and Yitzhak.
Last names[]
In many cultures, one's last name (more properly "family name") is the most important component. It is what important people are called by nearly everyone, from presidents to teachers to people you've just met. However, I came up with most of the contestants' surnames after I came up with their first names, probably because in BFDI (and most reality shows in Western countries), TV show characters are known mostly by their first names.
For the new BFB contestants, their last names were chosen at the end of 2020 and have hardly changed since then. As for the others, I had chosen their surnames much earlier and they have gone through some revisions over time.
Named mostly because they have the same first letter.
Tennis Ball (and Golf Ball par mariage): Brown (2015), Barrington (2016–2017).
TV: something beginning with V (2019), Woo (since 2020). (As Korean has no V sound, W was used instead.)
Named as a back-formation of their (human) name.
Book: Sabel (c. 2017, from Isabel).
Bottle: Bethel. (Usually referred to by her last name.)
Fries: Francisco, French (c. 2017). (Based on his full object name, French Fries.)
Named on the basis of appearance, be it visual or auditory.
Leafy: Pearson (since 2015, except for a break c. 2017). (Leafy is green, as are pears.)
Snowball: Burger (since April 2021). (Snowball isn't German or Dutch, but because as a human who usually uses grunting sounds to communicate, he was given this surname by English archaeologists.)
Named on the basis of meaning.
Eggy: Tan. (Chinese 蛋 dan, meaning "egg"; also a Hokkien name common among Chinese-Filipinos.)
Firey: Rosso (c. 2017). (Italian, meaning "red".)
Grassy: Weiland. (Dutch, meaning "grassland".)
Liy: Lampström. (Swedish lampknapp, meaning "light switch", combined with the common suffix -ström.)
Loser: Verlier. (German Verlierer, meaning "loser".)
Naily: Carpenter. (Nails are used in carpentry.)
Stapy: Krammetjies. (Afrikaans krammetjie, meaning "staple".)
Tree: Linwood (December 2020) (contains the word "wood"), Leigh (since January 2021). (means "clearing".)
Yellow Face: Liebgelb. (Yiddish געל gel, meaning "yellow"; outside English and German versions he is called Lieberman.)
Named on the basis of symbolism.
Basketball: Angola. (Braian Angola is a famous Colombian basketball player; known as Ortiz in Portuguese—named after Stalin Ortiz—to avoid colonial connotations.)
Coiny: Lincoln (since 2016). (On the back of the U.S. penny is the face of 16th President Abraham Lincoln.)
Dora: Marquez (since 2016). (Apparently Dora's official last name, used more frequently in various GoAnimate videos.)
Nickel: Jefferson (since 2016). (On the back of the U.S. nickel is the face of 3rd President Thomas Jefferson.)
Pie: Kipling. (Rudyard Kipling, English author of The Jungle Book, which takes place in India.)
Taco: Ortega. (Ortega, a company that makes taco shells.)
Named appropriately for the place their families came from.[19]
8-Ball: Machava. (From Mozambique.)
Balloony: Armstrong (December 2020), Blaine (since January 2021). (Scottish.)
Bell: Saleh. (Syrian.)
Black Hole: Haladu. (Hausa Muslim.)
Blocky: Deeb. (Lebanese Christian.)
Bracelety: Varela. (Galician, also used in Hispanic America; her second last name is Núñez.)
Bubble: Can (c. 2017). (Turkish.)
Cake: McCrea. (Anglo-American, common among Black Americans.)
Clock: Saad. (Maghrebi Arabic.)
Cloudy: Le Page. (Breton or French from Brittany.)
Eraser and Pen: Sotiropoulos (2015) (Greek); Greco (2017), Graffeo (since 2018). (Greek of Southern Italy; Greco was used as their mother's birth name instead.)
Foldy: Dufour. (French.)
Gaty: Horvat. (Slovene.)
Gelatin: Fernández. (Spanish; his second last name is the Venetian Zanello.)
Ice Cube: Tsukuda (since 2015). (Japanese.)
Lollipop: Madikizela. (Xhosa.)
Marker: Anastasiades. (Greek.)
Pencil and Needle: Carvalho (since 2015). (Portuguese.)
Pillow: MacPherson. (Scottish.)
Pin: Nguyen (since 2015). (Vietnamese.)
Remote: Monteiro. (Portuguese.)
Rocky: Mohamed. (East African Muslim. He had no surname before 2020.)
Ruby: Jiwe. (From Iringa, Tanzania.)
Saw: Salama. (Arabic.)
Spongy: Karjalainen. (Finnish or Karelian.)
Teardrop: Cohl (since December 2020, before which Cole was used). (Belgian.)
Name inspired by names from their families' regions of origin, with a twist on their personalities.
Bomby: Kaboumogo. (Many names in Burkina Faso end in -ogo; combined with the onomatopoeic "kaboum". He had no surname before 2020.)
Fanny: Hateford. (Sounds like several English names; incorporates the word "hate".)
Name borrowed from a foreign language version.
Leafy: Perez (c. 2017, from Spanish Pérez).
Name left (barely) unchanged from the original.
Book: Boek (c. 2017).
David: Justdavid. (Translated directly into other languages, e.g.Gewoondavid in Dutch, Solodavid in Spanish etc.)
Spongy: Spongy. (Half of a double-barrelled surname Spongy-Karjalainen. He had no surname before 2020.)
Tennis Ball (and Golf Ball par mariage): Ball (since December 2020).
Woody: Woody (2015).
Named for unknown reasons.
Blocky: Fitzgerald (2015–2020).
Bubble: Jinko (since 2015, except for a break c. 2017). (In German, her name is given the Turkish spelling Cinko.)
Coiny: Webb (2015–2017).
Donut: Adura (since 2017).
Firey (and Firey Jr. par extension): Collins (since 2015, except for a break c. 2017).
Flower (and Robot Flower par extension): Harvey (since 2015).
Golf Ball: Coleman-Brown(-Barrington) (2015–2020), Coleman (née, since December 2020).
Woody: Gutta (since December 2020). (He had no surname from 2015–2020.)
Yellow Face: Alfareed, Alfaridi (c. 2017).
Named for legacy reasons.
Eraser and Pen: Schreiber (2016). (Name simply lifted from Pencil 2.O, until it was realized that they're not Ashkenazi.)
Match: Zanarowski (2015), Zanarov (2016), Zanarow (2017–2020), Zanaroff (since December 2020). (Name simply anthropomorphized from the obviously object-based Zapałka from P2O.)
Pencil and Needle: Estiguês (2015–2017), Triángolo (2016–2017). (For the first instance, their mother is named Estigua; this was the first part of their double surname, typical in Portuguese. For the other instance, the name was simply lifted from P2O.)
The following contestant has no surname: Roboty.
Notes[]
↑Almost exclusively used by American-born Japanese children from Hawaii, such as Iris/Isis.
↑Just in case you wanted to know, here are the names of the BFB contestants in Japanese (finalized in early 2018), coupled with their extremely literal meanings and why I chose them. Click the "expand" button!
BFB contestants' names in Japanese
English
Jp. (Rōmaji)
Jp. (Script)
Meaning
Why I chose it
8-Ball
Hachiro
八郎
eighth son
Based on meaning
Balloony
Haruo
春夫
man of spring
Based on appearance (Balloony is green)
Barf Bag
Ayako
彩子
child of colouring paint
Unknown
Basketball
Akiko
秋子
child of autumn
Based on sound (very loosely)
Bell
Hatsue
はつえ
first-born grace [ambiguously written]
Unknown
Black Hole
Noboru
昇
he who rises
Based on appearance (Black Hole floats in mid-air)
Blocky
Zanryu
斬龍
murderous dragon
Based on personality (Blocky murders for a living)
Bomby
Bombu
ボンブ
bomb
Literal translation
Book
Iroha
いろは
name of an ancient poem, lit. "colours"
Based on personality (Book should be acquainted with classic literature)
Bottle
Hotaru
蛍
firefly
Based on sound (ほ ho often becomes ぼ bo in compound words)
Bracelety
Haruki
春木
trees of springtime
Based on sound (very loosely)
Bubble
Shigeko
茂子
overgrown child
Based on appearance (Bubble is larger in volume than the rest of the alliance)
Cake
Seiki
正規
normal
Based on sound (loosely)
Clock
Soku
蒼空
blue sky
Based on sound (very loosely)
Cloudy
Kiyoshi
清
pure
Based on appearance (the water vapour of which clouds are made up are pure in chemical composition)
Based on personality (Eraser frequently works with Blocky on his pranks)
Fanny
Harumi
春美
beauty of spring
Based on sound (very loosely)
Firey
Akira
明
brightness
Based on appearance (Firey glows in the dark)
Firey Jr.
Akikun
アキ君
autumn [ambiguously written]
Based on symbolism (uses the first two morae of Akira, also an antonym of Haru)
Flower
Hanako
花子
flower child
Based on meaning
Foldy
Itoshi
いとし
love [ambiguously written]
Based on sound (very loosely)
Fries
Hirokazu
裕和
abundant harmony
Unknown
Gaty
Katsue
勝恵
victorious grace
Based on sound (loosely)
Gelatin
Hoakin
ホアキン
translit. "Joaquin"
Literal translation of his human name
Golf Ball
Chie
知恵
wisdom
Based on personality (Golf Ball is the smartest contestant)
Grassy
Katashi
固
solid
Based on sound (loosely)
Ice Cube
Yuki
雪
snow
Based on meaning
Leafy
Haruko
春子
child of spring
Based on appearance (leaves turn green in the spring)
Lightning
Rin
臨
he who faces himself
Based on sound (very loosely); Rin is also a gender-ambiguous name
Liy
Mirai
未来
future
Based on sound
Lollipop
Ryoko
量子
quantum, lit. child of quantity
Based on sound (very loosely)
Loser
Ruza
ルーザー
translit. "loser"
Literal transliteration
Marker
Maku
マーク
translit. "Marc"
Literal translation of his human name
Match
Akari
あかり
lamp [ambiguously written]
Based on appearance (matches are meant to light up)
Naily
Shiori
栞
bookmark
Based on appearance (nails are like bookmarks between a piece of wood and the wall)
Needle
Yoshie
由恵
reason for a blessing
Legacy reasons (has existed in its present form since 2014)
Nickel
Goro
五郎
fifth son
Based on meaning
Pen
Tsuyoshi
健
strong [written as "healthy"]
Based on personality (he was good at physical challenges in BFDI)
Pencil
Hisako
久子
child for a long time
Based on sound (very loosely)
Pie
Ai
愛
love
Based on sound
Pillow
Chihiro
ちひろ
she who searches for thousands [ambiguously written]
Based on sound (loosely)
Pin
Keiko
恵子
child of grace
Legacy reasons (has existed in its present form since 2014)
Puffball
Honoka
ほのか
harmonious flower [ambiguously written]
Based on appearance (a puffball is a plant, and Puffball can make harmonies with her voice)
Remote
Kiyono
清乃
woman of purity
Unknown
Robot Flower
Robotto no Hanako
ロボットの花子
robot flower child
Based on meaning
Roboty
Robotto
ロボット
robot
Based on meaning
Rocky
Iwa
岩
rock
Based on meaning
Ruby
Rubina
ルビーナ
translit. "Rubina"
Literal translation of her name in non-English versions
Saw
Satomi
さとみ
beautiful village [ambiguously written]
Based on sound (loosely) and symbolism (the first name of her VA is Satomi)
Snowball
Yukidama
雪玉
snowball, lit. gem of snow
Based on meaning
Spongy
Suponji
スポンジ
translit. "Spongy"
Literal translation
Stapy
Daisuke
大介
big shellfish
Unknown
Taco
Takako
高子
high child
Based on sound
Teardrop
Miyuki
美由紀
beautiful reason to chronicle
Legacy reasons (has existed in its present form since 2014)
Tennis Ball
Satoru
聡
intelligence
Based on personality (Tennis Ball is also very smart)
Tree
Kitsugi
木次
sequence of trees
Based on meaning
TV
Terebi
テレビ
television
Literal translation
Woody
Isamu
勇
brave
Based on personality (ironic: Woody is afraid of just about everything)
Yellow Face
Kinkao
金顔
golden face
Literal translation
↑Okay, two of the BFB contestants (Ice Cube, Naily) are at least partially of Japanese descent. But the adoption of their names came after the whole English-naming process.
↑In some cultures, it is considered back luck to write someone's name in red because it means death. Since a contestant may no longer use that name, I thought it was appropriate, even if a little insensitive.
↑Back when I assumed Maja was pronounced the English way, /ˈmædʒə/.
↑Usually (but not always) named after the characters that they played at the Kwanzajinawa.
↑Proof? The name Janeka does not appear anywhere in my Notepad archives.
↑i.e. any name that was carried by at least five children born in a particular year… in the U.S.
↑This meant removing all the vowels and grouping similar consonants together. Phonetics beware; Siobhan and Spoona were grouped together, despite the bh in the former sounding like a "v".
↑The database does not put spaces in between compound names, but I did.
↑Explains why Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Piere Filiberto Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella became Rudolph Valentino.
↑ 13.013.113.2I actually wouldn't do that to the main characters from P2O; their names are too widely known.
↑Also since I'll only list one middle name per contestant, they will be shown in alphabetical order under each category.
↑Original text was as follows: Carmel. (Common American Catholic name, back when I thought she was Irish-American and not a Protestant Boston Brahmin.)
↑Until March 2021, her middle name was written as Shiori. This remains her Japanese name in the current era.
↑Saw's middle name was to be Hinatsu (هيناتسو), a tribute to the person who gives her her voice. It was scrapped in April, as there is not really a reason for a Palestinian-Egyptian teenager in the middle of the twentieth century to assume a Japanese last name in place of a nasab (نسب).
↑Not time, since surname frequencies change minimally compared to those of given names.