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English Name: Serena Tsukino
Japanese name: Tsukino ("of the
moon") Usagi ("rabbit") [月野う瘢雹さぎ]
Serena's name is a modification of Selene, one of the Greek
goddesses of the moon. The "rabbit on the moon" is a common
figure of Asian mythology. The symbol for the moon, tsuki, appears
in the Japanese word getsuyoubi, "Monday". Monday is
"moon day".
English Name: Amy
Japanese name: Mizuno ("of
water") Ami [水野亜美]
Despite looking similar, Amy and Ami are not pronounced the same
way. An alternative reading for mizu, sui, appears in suiyoubi
"Wednesday". The word Wednesday is derived from the Old English Wodnes
Daeg, which in turn is a translation of the Latin Mercrii dies,
or "day of Mercury'. The planet Mercury is associated with the
classic elemental water. Mercury is obviously associated with the element
mercury.
English Name: Raye Hino
Japanese name: Hino ("of fire") Rei
[火野レイ]
The use of the English name Raye for Rei is fairly obvious. DIC
also chose to use her last name as Hino in one particular episode. Hi
can also be read as ka, as in the Japanese word for Tuesday, kayoubi.
Tuesday is derived from Old English tiwesdaeg, day of Tiw, which in
turn is derived from the Latin dies Martis, Mars' Day. Due to its
reddish coloring, the planet Mars is associated with the classic element
of fire. The symbol of Mars is a stylized shield and sword, which is
associated with the element iron.
English Name: Lita
Japanese name: Kino ("of wood") Makoto
[木野まこと]
I'm not sure how they came up with "Lita" for
"Makoto". My Guess would be that they used "Leta" a
name of one of Jupiter's moons and changed it to "Lita". Ki
is read as moku in mokuyoubi, Thursday: Old English for
"Day of Thor", which is from the Latin dies Jovis, day of
Jove (Jove is another name for Jupiter, king of the gods). Ki is
the symbol for wood, making mokuyoubi literally "wood
day". Wood is associated with strength, which Lita most certainly
has. The god Jupiter's trademark of throwing lightning bolts comes across
in Sailor Jupiter's attack, and her size certainly reflects the enormous
size of the planet Jupiter!
English Name: Mina
Japanese name: Aino ("of love") Minako
[愛瘢雹野美奈子]
Mina is the exception to the rule. Her English name is obviously a
shortening of the Japanese Minako. Her surname should really be
something along the lines of "of gold" or "of metal"
to be like the others. Aino Minako was named before the existence of the
comic Sailor Moon, where she appeared in Naoko Takeuchi's comic Code
Name: Sailor V. Venus is the goddess of love, and the surname Aino
certainly makes sense in that context. Sailor Venus' outfit is meant to
appear gold, and not orange. The Japanese word for Friday, kinyoubi
is literally "gold day". Sailor Venus' "love me chain"
is a metal-based attack as implied by her associated day. The
"crescent beam" is a leftover from the Sailor V comic.
The astrological symbol for Venus is a hand-held mirror and also the
ancient symbol for copper. Early mirrors were made from polished copper.
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