I probably missed a thread on this before, but can somebody please tell me wtf is up with her name "Van"? That is NOT a Japanese word, and it is surprising that it is not written in Katakana.. because it does have a Kanji. Everyone pronounces it "Ban", so why is it "Van" correctly?
What's her REAL last name??

Thank you T_T

Goodness, where's the sticky? >_<

Her real name is "伴 都美子"; she just chooses to be creative when writing it out in English. When Japanese romanize their names (write it with English letters) they have the choice of sticking to conventional spellings or doing whatever the heck they feel like. She chose to do whatever the heck she felt like.

Another example is Maki Goto. Her name should actually be spelled "Gotou", but she drops the "u".

Also partly because there is no "v" in the Japanese language. They pronounce and write v's as b's. Usually when words with "v" are written out in katakana (like "vocalist"), they come out as "bocalist" because of that fact. So it's not so weird that Ban-chan writes her last name as "Van"...it's practically the same.

I hate katakana words. It's like your playing that Mad Gab game. :x Death to katakana.

I hate reading a bunch of English words put together in katakana. It's a pain to figure out what words they are in English too unless you say it out loud. I think this is a new thing in katakana, though, where they use the katakana for "u" with ten marks (those two dashes) for "v" instead of a "b" syllable word. Lol, that's confusing.

Example:
ヴォーカリスト (vookarisuto)
ボーカリスト (bookarisuto)

lol.. no need explaining about katakana, i can read and write japanese just fine.. i just wanted to know why she sticks that V onto the pronunciation.

so thank you saiko gal, you did answer my question =D

Japanese people must think "Van" is cool. I notice a lot of RPGs with lead characters named "Van".

americans too... think VAN HELLSING..

Van gets me the feeling of a family car....i dunno why @_@


:rolling:

Maybe she just spelled her name out in english and decided that "Tomiko Van" looked better than "Tomiko Ban".

Ban Tomiko reminds me of the English "Ban Tomiko," like "Ban her from this forum." XD

LOL, me too!! :rolling:

yeah, I don't like to say that.. it sounds weird XP

Van sure sounds cooler than Ban. reminds me of Bun. but i still like to call her Ban Chan. cept is i talk bout her with my frens who might not get what -chan means, @_@ i'll keep with Tomiko Van.

I know a guy named Ban and a guy named Van but they're both first names

well that Van in Van Hellsing is from the Dutch style last name.. same thing why in German it's usually Von something. Van and Von meaning 'from', so like.. 'Van Hellsing' means like.. from hellsing (usually a town).

and yeah the Van might remind you of a family car, because thats what it is.. i never see it that way.. you have to think how the japanese would pronounce it: Vahn.. or in this case.. Bahn. (long ah sound)

Yes my grandmother's maiden name is like that =O

But I know a guy who's really named Van. I dunno if he's Dutch, but I am partly and I dun like him so possibly not.

And the Ban is Chinese

I knew a dude in high school who's name was Van, but he was from the Phillipines.

haha, maybe Tomiko realized the meaning of "Ban", too, and didn't like it. And there's always the phrase "V" for victory. Shoot, that's what we should have asked her at Akon. "What the heck is up with your name?"

A highschool classmate of mine is named Van also (from the Phils).

O, is it a popular boy's name?

And may I ask, is it possible for a 10 year old be a general in the army over there because he always said he was, and we thought he was lying.

oh there are so many strange names in the world... imagine there are children walking about and being called "Apple"!?
well, I like the Van better than Ban, cause it's something special ^.^ it reminds me of "Vans Off The Walls", I really love that!
and, her real name is Tonko, not Tomiko, right? I would have changed that, too. sounds like "ton", related to the weight... hehe. she seems to be having problems with her names, somehow.
ah and about the von/van: yeah that are Dutch and German surname parts of families that come from aristocracy. princes and so on are often called "von". If I hear that someone is called with a von, I'm like: "Wwwooow, aristocracy!!"

I don't think it's related to weight in Japanese.

My understanding is that Tomiko is what her parents named her when she was born

I'm pretty sure Tonko is just a childhood nickname that she hated, and Tomiko is her real given name.

I know that it's not weight in Japanese, but it is in English, though. ^^
okay, maybe you're right with the name, I just read that somewhere. don't mind.

Tonko is simply a nickname, there's no mistaking that.

the kanji ban is a surname..

van means a transportation vehicle

we know that

sorry for my ignorance

but before, i really thought 'Van' was her first name..... and 'Tomiko' was her surname.

then it suddenly came to me that most japanese girls' names end with '-ko'

gomenasai!!!

hmm.....I guess he was just lying....though I think I've heard of that rumor before.....???????????????????
......Or am I just dreaming?????......@_@.................

i don't know if this has been thought of before, but from her kanji name...Ban=half... and Tomiko (from the kanji) means something like "all-beautiful child."