Dragon Ball Super loves to mix in strange western influenced references. From using werewolf references or a Winnie The Pooh like character, there is many Easter eggs for western culture. One of the most known facts of this is the vegetable related names of primary characters, the Saiyans.
It is well known that many of the character names are silly in Dragon Ball Z. But one of the funniest play on names starts in Dragon Ball Z. This is when Goku discovers members of his home planet, Planet Vegeta, and his birth name. Vegeta, a twist on the word vegetable, is a hint at all the names. Most true Saiyans are named after some type of vegetable, or edible greens. Here is a few examples.
Prince Vegeta – Vegetable
It makes since that Vegeta is names after the word Vegetable. He is the named prince of his home planet. So this name gives him kind of a Saiyan royalty.
Kakarot (Goku) – Carrot
It seems Goku’s birth name from Planet Vegeta is another random vegetable. Kakarot is his true name, and is a twist on the word carrot. I find this mildly funny, considering Goku is always wearing his orange suit.
Broly – Broccoli
Broly is one of the most powerful Saiyans to ever exist. Yet his name is no different than the others. Broly, which is short for the English word broccoli, is also named after a vegetable. His name also is relative to his dad’s, being they are both stalk-like green vegetable
(Whats really cool is Broly is now cannon thanks to
Dragon Ball Super: Broly!)
Paragus – Asparagus
Paragus’ name is one of the more obvious ones. His name is short for asparagus. That may be why he names his son Broly.
Nappa – Green/Leaf
Nappa is a bit different than the rest. His name loosely translate to mean “green” or “leaf of edible plant”. Nappa isn’t the most powerful or smartest Saiyan by far, so it still kind of fits!
Raditz – Radish
Raditz is named after radish. He only has a brief appearance in the series, but he startes off the Saiyan Saga.
Universe 6 Saiyans
In Dragon Ball Super, we learn not only that other Universes have Saiyans, but that they also follow the vegetable naming process. Here’s a few of there warrior names that was in the battle of the universes, along with their similar veggies.
Caulifla – cauliflower
Cabba – cabbage
Kale – well, its Kale
Universe six also has a Saiyan planet. But, instead of being called Planet Vegeta, it is called Planet Sadala. Which, is another mix up of a vegetable related word, salad.
A Few More Cool Notes About Dragon Ball Names
The Japanese word for vegetable is yasai. If you move the letters around and ad an ‘n’, you get Saiyan.
Some secondary characters carry on the tradition as well. We will look more into these soon. Such as Toma (tomato), Onio (onion), Turles (turnips), and Bardock (root).
See more at page Dragon Ball Names: All Characters
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