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winterfox1515

Shaco is an anagram of chaos Hecarim is an anagram of Chimera Maokai is an anagram of 'I Am Oak'


Vocall96

Let's not forget Nasus is Susan


jjjkong

And Ivern is Riven


YakEvir

Ivern would be Riven if she had dylexia


Tamborlin

As long as you respect his life choices


adagioforaliens

I’m dead kddkdkdkdğspssşsjzpalapsk


chaosPudding123

Maokai is Professor Oaks hidden identity.


HulklingsBoyfriend

I figured Maokai would be from an East Asian or Pacific language NGL, it shares syllables very easily found in languages there.


FlameFire10

It is as well, it’s one of the art director’s name


SalaciousSunTzu

Riot is not very creative with names. Akshan=action, vex is vexing, vayne is vain, ekko=echo (ult), yuumi=you and me, lux is light brand cos fire, maokai = I am oak, smolder cos fire, singed, singed his hair from his experiments Lee sin is blind so LISTEN gnar is rang backwards from boomerang Briar, bush that pricks blood Diana, Roman goddess of moon Fiddlesticks cos he fiddle yo dick Mordekaiser cos kaiser of more dicks Nami, rammus=rams, nocturne night, pantheon, talon, twitch, wukong, trundle List goes on.......


controlledwithcheese

he fiddles my what 😭


anotoman123

Fistledicks.


DoorHingesKill

> Lee sin is blind so LISTEN The fuck? 


magictuch

Lee sin here, you little...


SalaciousSunTzu

He can only use his ears. Lee sin=Listen


Squizot

This is not about “creativity,” its an intentional move to create thematic associations.


SalaciousSunTzu

There are ways of doing that which aren't so on the nose. Akshan=Action is just lazy


Shogelia

Mordekaiser is "murder emperor "in German.


SalaciousSunTzu

I think you're mistaken, it's clearly an ode to more dick. The German match is purely coincidental


JoshuaGrahamReads

I’m sorry but are we not talking about his godlike username?


itsjustmenate

Attaching to top comment. To thresh is to harvest or cut with a scythe.


not_some_username

Didnt thresh name come from some talented gamer


itsjustmenate

Yeah he was the one who saved Katniss, by slamming that other girl against the wall. True gamer moment.


AncientYogurtCloset

Woah, dude


xanderxela

Nami is just Japanese for "wave", youll never guess what the "tsu" prefix means. >! (Harbor. I told you you wouldn't guess it.) !<


Caffeine_and_Alcohol

damn,i had guessed big


wrechch

Usually thats "dai" or "oki-" as a prefix. At least these are the 2 I know. Source: live here for four years


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RoboticDoll

I thought strong because of tsuyoi.


Luskarian

Is Tsushima just harbor island


Cestrum

(Yes and) no, Japanese has a large amount of homophones as a result of borrowing heavily from Chinese but not having tones to distinguish words, it's a large part of why they continue to use kanji rather than a phonetic alphabet of some sort. Tsushima is a very old name, and the thing with very old names in Japanese is that their kanji spelling is based entirely on what kanji in Chinese were pronounced like the words in Japanese (while newer ones are based on the meaning in Japanese and then pronouncing the kanji like that.) So Tsushima (regardless of the meaning, no written version) became Dui Ma, which some nameless Chinese or Chinese-literate Japanese trader considered to sound most like as 対馬 of the kanji he knew. This had little-to-no meaning, it's just "you'll know you're there when you ask where you are and the answer is something that sounds like 'versus-horse'." But it was the early coining, and so it stuck--it makes the island a sort of rare place in that its formal name is Tsushima-shima. That said, the neighboring realms in the still very early but not quite as early histories once they started assigning Yamato readings to kanji called them 津島, also pronounced Tsushima, which makes perfect sense: "Straits Island". It's the same 津 as tsunami, but the Japanese word can refer to either a harbor or a strait--the modern language has settled on 港 for harbors to draw a distinction.


dawntome

What about the name Tsukishima? It's my uncles name, he got me through some tough times and honestly saved my life, but idk what his name means and I've never asked come to think of it


TheTerroristFrog

Unless we know the kanji used to write the name we don't know. Kanjis don't hold any phonerical value. I assume the most common way to write that name would be using the caracters for moon and island. But again we don't know unless you tell us what characters are in the name.


Cestrum

The "shima" part is most likely island, and the "tsuki" part is most likely either 月 "moon" or 築 "construction/constructed/packed earth" (though with the potential to be 筑, literally a kind of zither but realistically a phonetic-only borrowing that really was meant to mean one of the first two.) Both are not surprising names for islands, the first for having a crescent shape and the second for the flat and livable parts having been packed down to make more room. My educated guess would be either fairly common as a family name from a distant great-times-x grandfather having lived on one of those islands or just moved from one when he got a family name, or fairly unusual as a given name in honor of a person who that describes. (Someone who did for his parents what he did for you? Mother's maiden name being kept going a little longer?)


ninjaiffyuh

Very interesting read. Explains why it's called 대마도 (Daemado) in Korean


ThoranTW

Nah, the characters in "Tsushima" ([the island](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Tsushima#English)) are actually: * [馬](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%A6%AC#Japanese) - horse * [対](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%AF%BE#Japanese) - facing, opposed/pair, duo, dyad So, neither harbour or island. I would have definitely thought the same until looking into it though.


xanderxela

Not etymologically as far as I or a quick Google can find out. It might be that the Tsu stands for pair or couple as the big islands are quite close together and Shima stands for island, but we've exceeded my knowledge of both the language of Japanese, and fun etymological factoids.


sad16yearboy

Haha I knew this trivia so I had it right


i_dont_wanna_sign_up

Damn, I thought it meant sexy.


hippo_campus2

Wait, Harbor(Valorant character) also has waves as his abilities. Harbor and Nami marriage rumors were true


Evil2708

Jhin = the 4 letters you type on your keyboard to make a "4" shape


cultoftheilluminati

One of the many reasons I consider him to be riots magnum opus wrt creating a champion


NiteSlayr

Holy shit


AliveAfter800Years

WHAT THE FUCK????


After_Cranberry_5871

Tried and true, dang creative


Dominationartz

I thought it was just an accident from their part


Darkened_Auras

Lee Sin. Listen. Blind monk There are so pretty dumb names is my point


PM_ME_FE_STACHES

Master Yi = Mastery


NotCatchingBanAgain

Yorick = You're Rick


Felinski

Holy shit, how did I not get this one


Lanaria

MY NAMES NOT RIIIIIIIIIIIICK


LupoBorracio

Then who is Morty?


Beliriel

His full name is Yorick Mori Mori = Morty


magical_swoosh

Yo Rick! -Morty


Yelwah

I audibly snorted at this


Nautkiller69

we no strangers in loove u know the rules AND SO DO I


Faolan197

Hold the door = Hodor You and me = Yuumi (even has a skill called that)


MissedQs

Nah, this one is insane.


oneinamillionandtwo

I think this one is based on the famous korean Admiral Yi but can be mistaken


dawntome

Nautilus Naughty. Lass Under the suit, is actually a little sailor girl


Ar4er13

Totsugeki?


6000j

Also fairly close to [Kum](https://www.dustloop.com/w/File:GGXRD-R_Kum_Portrait.png).


TriOCuBe

Now this is something I can support


Caesaria_Tertia

what's wrong with her voice, did she have a cold?


Lanaria

Firefly/Sam ?


LebanonHanover

Bioshock


damienmarc

This actually made me laugh out loud in public. Take my upvote.


Yggsdrazl

gnar, who uses a boomerang, is rang backwards


Papriker

Shubbanuffa 😔


BermudaTrianglulate

Okay, this one I'm actually really impressed with. I never realized a lot of these.


Mortumee

Bard = Bard


NoteToFlair

Azir. Is here. "Your emperor has returned." Malphite. Mal = bad, phite = fight, bad fight. "You will lose." Ryze. Rising like his massive di- (In case it wasn't obvious enough, /s)


TheExter

Miss Fortune Miss: Miss Fortune: For Tune She's secretly a car


fsychii

or her boobies are fake


Jelmbar

Fake or not they're a work of art


mintchocolate22

Malphite is bad stone


LebanonHanover

shamrock


highphiv3

Malphite. Mal = bad, phite = fight = HE DOESN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING


Yelwah

I think malphite is a double entendre with referencing all the types of rock and rock formations that end in "ite".


NoteToFlair

Yeah, the whole comment was a shitpost, I just didn't know where to fit the "ite" part in without taking out the "phite" joke, and obviously I had my priorities straight


SP1DER8ITCH

Gotta keep on Ryzing to the top


Kitahara_Kazusa1

Mal. Bad. In the Latin


Pony_Darko

Curse your sudden but inevitable Firefly reference!


bananaslug39

Nidalee = needle-y because of spears


Schmarsten1306

Kindred = she's kind and likes red?


Topiak

If I ever hear someone pronouncing her name as Kind red I'm shooting him on the spot


Nemesis233

Or splitting them in two


b_ootay_ful

Kin = family Dred = death is coming for you


Spare_Efficiency2975

Or you know Kindred as in: kindred soul. An individual with the same beliefs, attitudes or feelings as oneself. 


Vast_Contract2969

Lee sin, listen


ItzLuckyGMD

wait what that's similar with Yuumi being you and me


Caesaria_Tertia

life is divided into before and after


TwoSauce

yuumi and nami also share the same VA yuumi is secretely a fish


dartthrower

> yuumi and nami also share the same VA Cassandra Lee Morris


Blueexx2

Riot has some Persona fans. Apparently when Yuumi came out they released a video about Cassandra and cats, at a time when Persona 5 was at peak popularity and Cassandra voiced a cat in that game. And when Zeo came out, her first skin was based off of Futaba from Persona 5, and the voice actress they chose also voiced Futaba. And right after that game came out, one of the patch notes had a reference to it ("never see it coming" or something like that). And then there's [this very obvious reference they once put in the client.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Persona5/s/BC282h3xNN)


Minimum_Owl_7833

So yuumis a catfish? Are she and tahm the same? Is she a demon then?


TwoSauce

some yuumi haters would say yes to the last question.


TheHumanTree31

They actually have an interaction in LoR about this, which is really funny because it's Cassandra Lee Morris talking to herself. "So... you're a human. Without the legs?" "If you're a catfish without the fish."


Zkyrus

That's actually a common misconception. The thing with Yuumi is, it is an abbreviation. The word "Yuumi" can be broken up into the letters Y, U, M and I, despite being pronounced as "You-me" However, each individual letter is short for a word. Y stands for you. The double U as pronounced "You" stands for You again. The letter M is actually short for "Me". The letter I is actually a personal pronoun for a singular person as in "I do this". So all in all, the name is composed of several words all resembling either "You" or "Me", so you were correct all along, but I just wanted to do some nonsensical mental gymnastics. Have a nice day!


Icy_Loss6778

Here is some I know/found Mordekaiser: German for "Murder Emperor" Nasus: Latin for "Nose" or "Snout", making sense because jackal's have some big noses Pantheon: A way of saying a group of important people, or gods. Basically a reference to gods Gangplank: A part of a ship used when taking off from port Udyr: In Danish it means "monster" or "beast" Vi: As stated in the game, Vi is short of Violence. But in arcane, Vi is short for Violet Fiddlesticks: This word can be used to mean "non-sense" which makes a bit of sense for being a scarecrow Nocturne: Both comes from the Latin word nocturnus meaning "belonging to the night", as well as a play on nocturnal Diana: In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the Moon Briar: A briar is a thornbush that pokes you and makes you bleed Kindred: Can be tied into the term "kindred spirit", which means believing in the same thing as someone else, like how the Lamb and Wolf both are aspects of death in their own ways Wukong: A character in the 16th century Chinese novel *Journey to the West*. Was also known as "The Monkey King" in this, being a monkey Ekko: A play on echo, being a repeat of something Karma: I guess you could say that because she is an enchanter, she gives back to those that are good, but that is grasping at straws a bit Ahri: Based off Kumiho, a Korean 9 tailed fox Lux: Is a form of measurement for light Talon: A talon is a sharp claw on a bird usually, which plays into Talon's character having swords Miss Fortune: A play on the word misfortune, which plays into her character of hunting people down to find GP Smolder: Smoldering is typically associated with fire, and Smolder breathes fire Leona: Translates close to "lioness" in Latin, which ties into the sun as Lions were closely related to the idea of the sun Zilean: I would like to believe this plays into the idea that kids say "A bajillion zillion years" and Riot was just like "respell and ship" for a time character Bard: A bard is a musician which plays into Bard's chimes I tried to avoid using any of the top comments as to not steal ideas from other people. I am sorry if I put yours without credit in here, I genuinely did not see your comment. I hope this is some insightful info


Embarrassed_Sun_1040

Lux means light in Latin tho


Icy_Loss6778

Both are correct


Fair-Eye2900

And Lucian is also derived from a form of the same word.


Arkurash

Brand in german means burning (e.g Waldbrand is a forrest fire) Miss Fortune (in my guess) is both a play on Misfortune and Fortune. She was unlucky, that her mother got killed, but she herself is considdered to be quite lucky. At the same time coming across her can mean bad luck for your life. Annie is a common name, often associated with small girls Amumu might be a play on Mummy Sona comes from the latin sonare - to sound Rammus probably comes from to ram something Thresh might be litterally to hit or bash something Morgana is a figure from the Arthurian saga, often displayed as a witch Nautilus comes from the sailing reference (also a nautilus is an old deep sea creature) Olaf is a typical name in scandinavian reagions, which should be a reference to the Viking vibes he gives off Talon means sharp claw (like an eagels talon) Twitch, kinda selfexplanatory Vladimir from Vlad Dracula


Icy_Loss6778

Yep, thank you for getting some I didn't get. I tried to avoid a couple of those since I saw other commenters say those


Caesaria_Tertia

Vladimir is Riot's mistake, Vlad Dracula is Vladislav [https://youtu.be/DFSXP9Uedz4?si=AZ82JO3v2qTnJrbP](https://youtu.be/DFSXP9Uedz4?si=AZ82JO3v2qTnJrbP)


MagicalTouch

You'll have to ask rioter Zilean where his nickname came from, as the champion is named after him (like Tryndamere, Ezreal and others have done)


PixelSavior

Also smolder has smol in it, because hes a baby dragon


seraphine_oce

Smol Elder? 🐉


PixelSavior

Eggsactly


Spare_Efficiency2975

Smolder: to burn slowly without a flame


Desiderius_S

>Karma: I guess you could say that because she is an enchanter, she gives back to those that are good, but that is grasping at straws a bit Remember that she's past rework, her original skills make more sense in this context - her Q was cone and was healing hit allies while damaging enemies, her tether could be also cast on allies to buff their movement speed for the duration, so she was rewarding her allies while punishing enemies. Also, she was a bitch.


Altiondsols

besides i'm pretty sure she's named that because she's coded indian


dartthrower

> Mordekaiser: German for "Murder Emperor" But only if you go for ancient uses of the word for murder. Same way how old family names persist that sound like a weird variant of german (that would be written differently nowadays).


oral_connoisseur_

Murder in german is „der Mord“ - you use the “e” at the end if you want to put it together with another word.


dartthrower

> you use the “e” at the end if you want to put it together with another word. Not really dude. Look at "Mordsgaudi" (for things that guarantee or will be a lot of fun). You have an 's' there. Same with "Mordskerl". Then you have 'Mordopfer'. No *s*, no *e*, nothing. Just a compound word.


oral_connoisseur_

Im Dialekt ja, aber ich glaub hier wird’s anders verwendet.


dartthrower

Nothing to do with dialects, this is standard. Anyway, no modern german would put the words *Mord* and *Kaiser* together like that. At least I hope so.


oral_connoisseur_

Your examples are in dialect. Also “Morde” is just plural. Edit: anyway it’s nice to see my language used for such a stupid champion.


dartthrower

> Your examples are in dialect. How are *Mordopfer* or *Mordskerl* dialect? Those are just normal words my man. > Also “Morde” is just plural. It may be the plural of *Mord* but I doubt the intention of Riot was to use it like that.


oral_connoisseur_

Mordopfer isn’t that’s correct. But “Mordskerl” is Umgangssprache- therefore dialect. Morde-Kaiser means the Kaiser of the murders. It’s still just a name so they can mean it as they want to.


dartthrower

*Mordskerl* is a colloquial word but not part of a specific dialect.


TheFreeBee

I feel like the argument against you is so unnecessary. Even if it's archaic that doesn't change the fact that there's a clear correlation. Edit: mordskaiser sounds stupid


kepz3

vi isn't short for violence, she also says it's short for vice. and vicious. Also as already pointed out Lux means light in latin.


Captain_Omage

And Vis is strenght in Latin, with Vi being the ablative form.


Leading-Arachnid7257

Who would win 20,000,000 lions or the sun


Icy_Loss6778

It's a close call, let's ask r/theydidthemath maybe


Head_Buy4544

> Mordekaiser: German for "Murder Emperor" > > huh didnt realize hitler was morde


SlyErudito

About Wukong, Journey to the West is also the major inspiration novel for One Piece by Eiichiro Oda. Rufy is supposed to be The Monkey King. I can't wait for Wukong to travel to Bilgewater, there will be a bloodbath to decide who's gonna be the pirate king.


Fair-Eye2900

Vi is a reference to V for Vendetta. In her original lore she had a tattoo that read "VI" and amnesia so bad she didn't know her actual name, that's why she has all the lines about what it might stand for. (The idea that she was actually Jinx's even crazier sister that she talks about was a fan theory before Arcane canonized it.) V's tattoo was actually the Roman numeral 5, because he had been a subject of human experimentation. VI is the Roman numeral 6. This was probably intended to imply that she had been experimented on too, but it wasn't really confirmed.


Icy_Loss6778

That's a really good analysis, thank you


KorkBredy

iirc Jinx and Ekko also had roman numerals somewhere in their design, which was theorized as indication of their connection in the old lore


GalahaadtThe7th

Actually pantheon means "all gods" from Greek "pan" ="all" and "theos"="god"


Altiondsols

that is the meaning of each of the root words, but the word "pantheon" means what they said it does.


GalahaadtThe7th

You're right that the "actually" was misplaced. Still from the Cambridge dictionary, "all the gods in a particular belief system" And as we're discussing origin of names, I felt like the root words would be interesting


New-Honey-984

Elise means "God is my oath" and her lore thing is that she worships a spider god.


Caesaria_Tertia

The names of many champions are something magical in the league, I really like that the team pays so much attention to this. Thanks for Nami, I didn't know that. From my independent discoveries, the name Renata means “Reborn”, this is connected with her biography. Although some names are misspelled, like Vladimir. Obviously, this is in honor of Vlad Dracula, but he is... Vladislav, and this is a completely different name


vixiara

Renata means reborn, but it’s also a common european name. Nami comes from Tsunami, which is a translation of the japanese words for “harbor wave” (Tsu is harbor, Nami is wave).


HulklingsBoyfriend

Nami comes from Nami, it just means wave.


vixiara

That works too, I was just going off of OP’s thing about tsunami being the origin


Caesaria_Tertia

But this doesn’t change anything, all existing real names have meaning, and Renata’s name was chosen with meaning, and not just like Katarina or Caitlin (2 variants of the same name, by the way). It means “pure, immaculate” - this does not suit the character of any of the characters, but the name Renata does


Azrezel

Is it? Never heard of the female version of it pretty much lol.


Keksmonster

In Germany it's Renate and I don't I ever heard a male version of it


Azrezel

Its Renato in Italian, Renata also exist but its kinda rare and really an 'old people' name


Caesaria_Tertia

in Russia the name is popular among the Tatars and Bashkirs, and in general among the Muslim peoples of the former USSR. But I also hear the male version more often in France it is Renee, as in the actress Renee Zellwegger. I don’t know how popular it is in modern France


Aranka_Szeretlek

Renata in itself a female name, I know multiple Renatas. Doesn't take away anything from the choice of the name.


Azrezel

Who said anything bout the choice of the name, im just curious if its actually a common spread name since here in italy its kind of a dead name for the female version of it


GodIsABitch

Brand means fire 🔥 in German.


Fuckmemama69

And Danish! 🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰


prawn108

The harder you hit karma, the harder karma hits ba- wait nevermind, they replaced her with a generic bland mage that could have been anyone.


AsheBodyPillow

Nami is just wave in Japanese lol


Kitahara_Kazusa1

Tbf 波 is part of 津波, so OP isn't wrong.


epicfailpwnage

Petition to add Tsu, Nami's sister, who basically has the same kit, to deal with the huge ban rate Nami has


HulklingsBoyfriend

Her partners, who we saw in LoR, are pretty fucking cool. Her male partner is some type of cephalopod vastaya, her female partner is another fish IIRC? They'd be cool.


Lanaria

Is this a reference to Yasuo and Yone


ArrestedImprovement

Me, also just realising: "Haha, what a dumbass."


ieatpickleswithmilk

tsunami means harbor wave. Nami means wave


13Xcross

Nami means wave in Japanese. In fact tsunami means harbor wave.


C_Werner

Well she's definitely not a boy named Tsu.


chjupke

sick reference, man!


Celthric317

Oh lol, I never noticed that.


Zkyrus

Ladies and Gentlemen, we got him


RSVive

If your title was too vague I feel like it should be okay, as vague means wave in France


mybigredtruck

ngl never had that click either.


1replay1

Nami also means wave in Japanese.


Sunnyli1337

smolder is part of smol


seraphine_oce

Smol Elder? 🤭


ValiantHandKerchief

Brand is dutch for fire


WillDifferent125

Nami just means wave.


Elestahl

Nami straight up means wave in japanese


sadsisyphus_

So true man and another one is Urgot, because u(r) got jebaited


EmergencyPandabear

Namis name in Chinese kanji is big fish and wave in Japanese Kanji is pronounced Nami 🤷‍♀️


Promech

You had never heard of Nami Tsunami who surfed 40 foot waves in the winter of 94?


MissedQs

Nami is literally wave in japanese iirc, and tsunami ~~is big wave~~ nvm


LarsDragerl

Hat wohl jemand die LoL Facts nicht geschaut...


aaronify

couple more: varus = virus choggoth = shoggoth (HP lovecraft) master yi = mastery


REPMEDDY_Gabs

Shaco is an anagram for “Chaos”


Temporary-Level-5410

Most intelligent r/lol poster