Romanizations

This site mostly uses the official North American romanizations of character names as released by Pioneer, except for Anderson. These are basically the same as the official anime Japanese romanizations, which are similar to the manga romanizations. It's kind of confusing, so I'll just list out what I know so far.

Arucard

Pretty consistent overall, no? Actually, the technical romanization is "a-ka-do" (based on how it's written in kana), but the manga actually spells out "Arucard" in English, and all manga merchandise uses "Arucard." The official romanization for the anime in Japan is also "Arucard." (See the Raid OST.)

Personally, I think "Alucard" makes much more sense than "Arucard" (the Dracula link), looks much better, and sounds better coming from English speakers. "R" and "l" are the same sound in Japanese; the "l" technically doesn't exist, so these letters are used interchangeably in romanization. Obviously, however, English does have distinct "r" and "l" sounds, so "Arucard" is different from "Alucard." That's why Pioneer should have used "Alucard" instead of "Arucard." They didn't though, and yet everyone in the English dub calls him "Alucard."


Integra Hellsing

Integral's full name in the manga is absurdly long, which is probably why everyone just calls her "Integra." "Integra" is also her nickname in the anime, and it's the name that Pioneer is going with. In the dub, it's pronounced differently than in the Japanese dialogue. Pioneer hasn't yet acknowledged that Integral's real name is "Integral," and it just uses "Integra," even when Anderson originally uses her full name. The original anime, at least, specifies her true name in the Raid OST and in the script when appropriate.


Seras Victoria

Actually, I don't think that the manga itself specifies the romanization of Seras' name. However, some of the manga merchandise (specifically a collectible card) uses "Serace." The original anime, however, uses "Seras." Again, see the Raid OST for that. The dub just sticks with the anime romanization. "Celes" is a bad fan romanization. BTW, Seras is her first name, not Victoria; Victoria is her family name. Don't ask me why she's given an English first name as her last name and a weird first name; it doesn't make sense to me either. =o


Walter Cumm Ddollneazz

The manga and the original anime both use that really odd middle and last name (back of manga #4 and the Raid CD respectively). I don't know what language it's supposed to be; it's just weird. Anyhow, Pioneer hasn't bothered to give Walter a last name yet.


Alexander Andersong

In the second volume, the manga spells it out as "Andersong." Well actually, Maxwell screams out "Aaaanderrrrsooong" or something, but there's a definite "g" at the end. The original anime romanizes it as "Andersong" in the third DVD extra. The Pioneer dub calls him "Anderson," but his name is subtitled and credited as "Andersong."


Peter Fargason

Fargason doesn't show up in the manga, so there's no problem there. In the Raid CD and in the actual anime, his name is fully spelled out. The dub goes along with the original spelling.


Jan Valentine

I don't know what the anime romanized his name to be; I don't think they spelled it out anywhere. In the manga, it's romanized "Jane" (page 60, tankubon #2), and that's odd for various reasons (foremost because it's usually a girl's name). For the North American release, Pioneer decided to go with "Jan." Fansubs of the TV series used "Yan," which is a variant of the name John, according to Thomas Wright.


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