Game Character Names You've Been Mispronouncing This Whole Time
Names grant characters their own uniqueness, though some names end up twisting tongues in the process. To be fair, people have the potential to mispronounce anything, from popular bands to video game character names. Some stumble over common character names like Mario and Pikachu, even though they have most definitely become part of mainstream media.
When it comes to video game character names, mispronunciations are sometimes an honest mistake. After fans learn the proper pronunciation, they might just correct themselves and leave it at that. Other names have the potential to cause controversy because of surprising official pronunciations. A number of characters also have longer names that are crammed with too many consonants and vowels. Alternatively, they can be deceptively short and easy-to-read. Still, some characters (and their names) attract more attention than others.
These are only a few video game character names you might've been pronouncing wrong this entire time.
Lady Dimitrescu - Resident Evil Village
Alcina Dimitrescu, more commonly called Lady Dimitrescu or Lady D, has set off her fair share of pronunciation wars. The sexy vampire villain from "Resident Evil Village" might be an internet phenomenon, but that hasn't stopped others from butchering her name. Most fans know to pronounce her first name Alcina as "al-SEE-nuh." It's her surname that's the problem.
Many Romanian fans insist that Dimitrescu is pronounced "dimi-TRES-koo," based off of the existing Romanian surname. According to Inverse, the surname Dimitrescu traces back to Greece and means something similar to "follower of Demeter." The name's roots spread even further into Romanian origins — specifically into Transylvania, a place commonly associated with the famous fictional vampire Count Dracula. Connecting even more dots, Dracula apparently once sailed on a ship called Demeter, though it's uncertain if the writers intentionally threaded this into the meaning of Lady D's name.
However, Capcom representatives and all supporting media pronounce her name as Lady "dimi-TREECE." Fans agree that the official pronunciation is a bit misleading because of the neglected "cu" at the end.
Raiden - Mortal Kombat
Raiden, "Mortal Kombat's" God of Thunder, throws off quite a few fans with the first half of his name. It's even worse for Japanese audiences and culture enthusiasts. After all, Raiden is based off of Raijin, the Japanese god of lightning, thunder, and storms. The fact that "rai" lines up with the Japanese word for lightning doesn't help. The "ai" would typically signal a sound similar to "eye" in Japanese, but not in the case of this Earthrealm god.
In the games, Raiden's official name is pronounced "RAY-den" — like a ray of sunshine. Some rumors say that although Raiden's name might've originally leaned toward the Japanese pronunciation when the first game was in production, mispronunciations in Western media could have led the developers to reconsider the official pronunciation for overseas releases. Not that it matters for Japan, considering it looks like the series might not ship there in the near future.
Geralt - The Witcher
Geralt, the protagonist from "The Witcher" series, has a name that apparently stems from Polish origins. For years, the Witcher's adventures were only told in the pages of books, which made learning the correct pronunciation a trickier proposition. In particular, the "Ger-" has misled some fans to assume his name is pronounced similar to the more modern name "Gerald." As a result, many mispronounce his name as "JERR-alt." In actuality, the name is pronounced "GAIR-alt," with a soft "g" sound. There's even a scene in "The Witcher 3" where Geralt explains how to properly say his name.
"The Witcher," which now has branched out into separate book, television, and video games series, all pronounce Geralt the same way and serve as reliable sources for how to say his name. Fans should hear his name plenty of times in the related media, but Geralt somehow remains one of the most mentioned mispronounced video game character names in online forums.
Tidus - Final Fantasy 10
Tidus, one of the protagonists from "Final Fantasy X," has some association with tides because of his skill with the underwater game known as Blitzball. As Final Fantasy Union explains on YouTube, Tidus' water affinity and the name's similarity to the word "tide" have made it easy to assume that his name would similarly sound like "TIE-dus." But, in this case, it's not that simple.
The English voice actor for Selphie got away with pronouncing it "TIE-dus" in one scene in the "Kingdom Hearts" series. However, Square Enix representatives and supporting materials all reference Tidus with the official pronunciation "TEE-dus" — or at least, they try to. Some suspect that Square is set on this pronunciation because of Tidus' Japanese name, which sounds like "TEI-da," and the company might want to keep the names as consistent as possible.
Tidus' name has caused such an outrage that some fans still refuse to use the proper pronunciation. You'll still frequently hear "TAI-dus" in videos like Final Fantasy Union's, or in casual conversation between friends who don't care about what Square says.
Rattata - Pokémon
Rattata isn't the only infamously mispronounced Pokémon name. Honestly, the franchise is infamous for the number of crammed consonants and unintuitive pronunciations to come out of the Pokédex, but Rattata sparked one of the first and oldest Pokémon pronunciation battles.
In the anime episode "Pokémon – I Choose You!," the purple mouse is referred to as "RAT-tat-ta," with a more staccato pronunciation. But because so many voice actors have inconsistently pronounced its name, fans can't rely on the anime to find the correct pronunciation.
With the anime out of the equation, only a few other official sources have addressed the problem of Rattata's name. The 1999 Official Pokémon Handbook listed its pronunciation as "ruh-TA-tah." Meanwhile, the Pokédex 3D Pro, an official Pokédex software released alongside Pokémon Black and White, reads Rattata as "ruh-TA-tuh." Not even the official sources can seem to come to an agreement on Rattatta's name, making it a truly unique case.