As any fan of the Animal Crossing series will likely know--especially if you've got any of the Animal Crossing amiibo cards--many of your favourite characters have entirely different names in non-English speaking lands.
You may know the localised (or original) versions of some of the more famous characters' names, but below we've picked out a handful of our personal favourites - ones that we feel really suit the character well or are otherwise noteworthy.
Thanks to Nookipedia for helping us narrow down the list of localised names. If you're looking for every available character in New Horizons (and there are over 200 of them!), check out our full list of Animal Crossing villagers.
So, let's take a look at the alternative international names of ten Animal Crossing characters...
K.K. Slider
Name in Japanese: Totakeke
Celebrity, musician, DJ, philosopher - K.K. is a dog of the people. If you've been a fan of the franchise since the beginning, you likely already know the genesis of the series' resident hound dog's name, so we best begin with him.
K.K. takes his name from Nintendo composer Kazumi Totaka, the man responsible for the famous Totaka's theme Easter Egg hidden in many Nintendo games.
Although we know him as K.K. Slider, this title is inferred to be a stage name - he tells players that his real name is 'Totakeke' when introducing himself at the start of the very first game back on GameCube (or Nintendo 64 in Japan).
So, while his name is very similar around the world, K.K. doesn't quite belong in that small group of Animal Crossing characters--which includes raccoon entrepreneur Tom Nook--who are known by the same name worldwide.
Luna
Name in Spanish: Alakama
Luna is a dreamy tapir who first appeared in New Leaf and escorted players through the Dream Suite to visit other people's islands while slumbering.
She recently arrived in New Horizons via an update, and it's a pleasure to have her deliver us to other players' islands in our dreams.
While her English name relates to the Moon and its nocturnal mystery, her Spanish name, 'Alakama', works on two levels.
Firstly, it evokes the 'magic' word (and, of course, the Pokémon) 'alakazam'.
Secondly, 'a la cama' in Spanish means 'to (the) bed' (Voy a la cama = I'm going to bed), which fits Luna's position as dream monitor even better than her English moniker.
You’ll also note that Luna’s birthday falls on that rarest of days, 29th February - a birth date she shares with only the dreamiest of people.
Wolfgang
Name in Japanese: Lobo
The Japanese name of wolf villager Wolfgang is 'Lobo' (or 'Robo' thanks to the 'L'/'R' issue that crops up through transliteration into Japanese), which is Spanish/Portuguese for 'wolf'.
Confusingly, Lobo is the English name of a totally different wolf villager (known as 'Bunjirou' in Japanese).
In fact, the whole wolf pack is a nightmare when it comes to inter-regional renaming.
For example, the character that English players know as Kyle is called 'Wolfgang' in Germany, where Wolfgang goes by 'Weber'.
The Latin 'lupus' shows up in different forms for various wolves depending on region: Audie is 'Lupilia' in Italy; Freya is 'Lupita' in Spain and 'Luppa' in France; Lobo is 'Lupo' in Spanish and German, but 'Lupen' in Italy; Skye is known as 'Lupilla' in Italy.
We could go on, but we're going a bit lup-y here. There's another wolf further down the list, but let's take a break with some chicken...
Goose
Name in Japanese: Kenta
Goose, everyone's favourite jock chicken, has been in the series since the beginning. He's known as 'Kenta' in Japan, likely a reference to the finger-lickin' good variety of fried chicken that hails from Kentucky - a food that has become incredibly popular in Japan around Christmastime.
We'd have probably gone with 'Colonel' or 'Sanders', but Kenta's good too.
The French call him 'Pouli'.
The Germans call him 'Konrad'.
Nobody calls him 'Chicken', something he shares with Marty McFly.
While we’re on the topic, it’s noteworthy that fast food joints like KFC and McDonald's have been getting in on the tasty Animal Crossing action recently. You might even say... they’re lovin’ it.
Cally
Name in German: Hörnchen
Cally is one of several villagers whose name was changed following her English GameCube debut - she was originally known as 'Sally'.
The squirrel subsequently disappeared on the DS and Wii until returning in New Leaf on 3DS with her new one-letter-different identity.
It seems Witness Protection apparently aren't too worried if Cally's past catches up with her.
Cally is known variously as 'Almendra' (Spain, literally 'Almond'), 'Rosa' (Italy) and 'Celia' (France), although our favourite has to be her German name, 'Hörnchen', which apparently translates as 'Croissant'.
Twiggy
Name in Japanese: Pichiku
One of our favourites, peppy Twiggy is known as 'Pichiku' in Japanese, which we think reflects her cute character nicely.
Twiggy was part of our Wild World village, which we revisited recently after a decade away. We hadn't seen her for years, but she still came bounding up to us full of beans. Ah Twiggy! She'll forever hold a special place in our heart.
Elsewhere in the world she's known as 'Tití' or 'Titti'.
Stop sniggering at the back.
Klaus
Name in Italian: Gruñerto
Klaus, derived from the Greek 'Nikolaos' according to Nookipedia, is a bear who rocks a classical Grecian style.
He can often be found wearing a toga or a shining breastplate and generally looking curmudgeonly, despite being classed as a 'smug' villager. He just looks grumpy to us.
In Italy and Spain he's known as 'Gruñerto' - the 'gruñ-' part relating to grumpy ('gruñon' in Spanish) and growl ('gruñido').
Yep, that name suits him better, we think.
Whitney
Name in French: Blanche
Returning once more to the lupine villager group, English speakers know this white wolf as Whitney. We suppose the link to the colour of her fur has been right there in her English name all along, but it never occurred to us. Perhaps lockdown has slowed us down.
In French she's 'Blanche' (literally 'white'), although that's the name of an ostrich villager in the English game.
In Japan she's known as 'Bianka' from the Italian word for white (predictably, Italians call her 'Bianca'). In English, Bianca is also another villager - a white tiger.
The Spanish and Germans, however, can't get enough of the Latin root when it comes to wolf villagers; in those countries, Whitney is 'Lupe' and 'Lupa' respectively.
Simon
Name practically everywhere: Simon
Simon is proof that the best villagers have multiple aliases when they travel abroad.
Simon is a lazy monkey and arguably one of the least interesting characters in the game. Of course, the Simon Fan Club must have members (who are welcome to race to his defence in the comments) but for our money he's a bit dull.
In China they call him 'Yuǎnrén', and he's 'Etekichi' in Japan; otherwise he's plain old Simon.
No offence to any Simons reading this--you are surely all fun and fascinating!--but this monkey needs more business going on. Animal Crossing's Simon is as bland as they come and he doesn't even have exotic foreign names to make him more interesting.
He visited our campsite the other day; he didn't stay long. Simon says... nothing interesting. On your bike, son.
And finally, the lovely Isabelle
Name around the world: various
First introduced in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Isabelle became a fast fan favourite and is known by various names around the world.
Italians call her 'Fuffi', while her French name, 'Marie', is a play on 'mairie' (meaning 'Town Hall', which is pretty neat).
She's 'Melinda' in Germany, and 'Canela' in Spain, which means 'cinnamon' and is also a pun on 'can', another word for dog (her brother Digby is 'Candrés' in Spanish).
Back in Japan she's called 'Shizue' - a play on that famous dog breed, Shih Tzu.
Wherever she is, though, this efficient administrator is loved by all. We probably don't need to hear about her TV habits any more at this stage, but we'll let that slide. We love you... whatever you're called!
And there we are! Of course, the names above are just a small taste of some of the delightful variation across the globe when it comes to Animal Crossing villagers. We've only scratched the surface of the character list here, so let us know some of your local favourites below.
Comments (51)
"Simon is a lazy monkey and arguably one of the least interesting characters in the game."
um speak for yourself ! I love Simon, that face is so pure.
I wish they'd keep the names the same for all regions.
It's easier googling fan art of them that way. 😅
@e-love I’m expecting a wave of Simon love here. Bring it on.
EXCUSE ME??? I WILL NOT TOLERATE SIMON SLANDER AROUND HERE! #GAVINLANEISOVERPARTY
Reminds of me of that one classic joke that works in loads of different languages.
Where do cats go when they die? Purr-gatory.
¿De dónde van los gatos cuando mueren? Pur-gato-rio.
Dove vanno i gatti quando muoiono? Nel pur-gatto-rio.
Où vont les chats quand ils meurent? Au pur-chat-oire.
Para onde os gatos vão quando morrem? Para o pur-gato-rio.
The first Animal Crossing had a gangsta sheep who permanently wore sunglasses called Woolio in it and there will never be a better character name.
@Clyde_Radcliffe
Woolio is legendary. It's the biggest travesty he hasn't been in any game since. I just don't understand it.
@e-love I know right? Imagine having him and Pietro on the same island. They'd make such good rivals!
Concerning Cally's German name:
'Hörnchen' in this context doesn't mean 'Croissant'. It means 'squirrel' as in the name of the family of rodents.
The squirrel, as in the one with a bushy tail, would be 'Eichhörnchen'.
Isabelle's English name is the best imo. I love the pun.
Last night Saperto (Henry) moved to my island. It's pretty funny in Spanish because Sapo = Toad and Alberto, Roberto ... are pretty common names over here.
Edit: Alakama is just top comedy material lol
While all the different localised names are interesting to look over on the cards, the best is any EU Tom Nook card, which just invites you to say "Tom Nook" in a variety of accents.
Sherb's name in spanish is Morfeo, which is definitely cooler than 'Sherb'.
@nessisonett In fact it works better in Italian, due to having "gatto" in it xD I know we're adding the extra "T", but still great
In my opinion, Raymond sounds more appealing than Jack, Wolfgang sounds better than Lobo, Hamlet > Hamukesu, Bam > Takeru, Marshal >>> Jun, Colton > Anthony.
Ah, Twiggy...
If you know her name (Lesley Hornby) as a former model from UK and featured on Seventeen magazine also she was a judge for America's Next Top Model cycle 5 - 9.
There is still no David name on Animal Crossing games since David is my real name here.
If my name will be used on Animal Crossing, i hope it's not a name for monkey / elephant / rhino / gorilla / anteater / octopus / pig / frog / crocodile / sheep.
I prefer animals such as Wolf (i played as Wolf as my Amiimal on Dillon's Dead Heat Breakers 3DS), Rabbit, Deer, Mouse, Cat, Eagle, Bird, Kangaroo.
If David name used by some famous factor, i hope it based on David Copperfield (magician / illusionist) or David Carusso (CSI Miami detective police) but not David Beckham (soccer player and coach) as i don't like at all everything about soccer.
@Anti-Matter Big Top is named "Déivid" in Spanish, which is literally just "David" being pronounced in English, instead of how we would normally say "David" in Spanish.
@Eel

My name was an elephant ??? 😲
NOOOOOO......! 😱😱😱
@Anti-Matter If it makes you feel any better, there's no villagers with my name, or anything similar to it.
Big Top is one of the cutest elephants though, so there's that!
Thought I would look up a couple of my favourite villagers as well:
Rooney: Maiku [Japanese] / Mike [French] / Balzak [Italian] / Robert [German] / Cerillo [Spanish]
Lyman: Ozumondo [Japanese] / Kalyptus [French] / Nicola [Italian] / Pepe [German]
Eugene: Rokki [Japanese] / Jamy [French] / Corrado [Italian] / Sunny [German] / Eucalin [Spanish]
Ozzie: Donguri [Japanese] / Koko [French] / Koloa [Spanish] / Oskar [German]
Kody: Aidaho [Japanese] / Bill [French] / Salomone [Italian]
Sydney: Shidoni [Japanese] / Koaline [French] / Silke [German]
@Nintendzoey now, this is a wild guess, but I get the feeling you might be Australian.
Hamlet's German name, Hamid, is very close to my middle name, but that's it.
@Eel Well, I did say that I was from Sydney 😄
@TeslaChippie I've never thought of what pun "Isabelle" might be....I thought it was a totally boring, generic name. What is the pun supposed to be?
SIMON ROCKS!!!!! He's the 'Ralph Wiggum' of our happy little village!
@NEStalgia Is A Bell..... I only realized it a few weeks ago. She's golden color, and her head is shaped like a bag of bells.
@emayekayee @NEStalgia she also jingles when she moves.
@Eel @emayekayee OMG I never saw that before!
“K.K. doesn't quite belong in that small group of Animal Crossing characters--which includes raccoon entrepreneur Tom Nook--who are known by the same name worldwide.”
Tom Nook is called Tanukichi in Japan.
@NEStalgia Perhaps it’s because she is a bellend?
@nessisonett
You are on a roll, lad.
I never would have guessed KFC would be popular in Japan...much less around Christmas.
@Giygas_95 The story is incredible. Word has it that KFC ran an ad campaign in the 80s showing Americans eating KFC for Christmas dinner and so the Japanese, eager to be like the West, adopted it as their food of choice on Christmas Day. That has to be the most successful ad campaign in history.
Klaus name in Italy is Maciste, not that other thing I can't even spell, not so hard to look it up you know
Interesting article, thanks for posting!
The best is Jacob being called "Jakey" in the UK! XD
Worth mentioning: K.K. Slide is called Totakeke in Spanish simply because K.K. is pronounced the same way as sh*t in Spanish and that would be hilarious but very inappropriate...
Also it's ironic how I like Luna better than Alakama precisely because of the fact that it sounds too blatantly like "a la cama" and it's ...weird.
@nessisonett TBH I think the whole “JAPANESE CHRISTMAS DINNER = KFC, OMG WTF JAPAN!!!” thing is a little over egged in the West at this point. The way it’s often described sounds like KFC stores lie empty for 99% of the year and then undergo a crazy spike at the entire country flocks upon them on the 25th, then proceeds to say grace around a mountain of friend chicken.
Ultimately, KFC functions much like any other the other multinational fast food chains (such as McDonald’s), which function much like they do anywhere else in the world. Seasonal and regional flourishes aside, they sit there year round selling pretty much the same greasy grub you could find anywhere. Yes, there is an uptick in sales around the festive period, due to an association between this season and ‘eating chicken’ (which is not really a million miles away from turkey and has the advantage of not tasting like cardboard), which was no doubt cemented by that fateful campaign in 1974.
However, ‘sales of chicken increasing during December’ (not just at KFC but at convenience stores/other fast foot outlets/etc) and ‘the entire Japanese population painstakingly attempting to recreate scenes of Western Christmas bliss but with Sanders replacing Santa’ are two quite different images. As far as I can tell, Christmas Day itself isn’t even a particularly big deal. 〜Christmas Eve〜 is typically much more hyped up in my experience, acting as a sort of frosty, illuminated version of Valentine’s Day. Perhaps it seems strange for a day typically associated with family to become a celebration of young lovers’ passions, but given that New Year’s Eve/Day already occupy the space of ‘traditional family gathering’, I suppose Christmas had to find itself a new niche.
But really, I think the whole ‘Xmas Eve -> Lovers’ Day’ transition is a much more interesting phenomenon that ‘increased chicken sales over the festive season’. I’ve been asked on multiple occasions whether I have a date for Christmas Eve. I’m not sure I know anyone who’s made a specific point of ordering KFC to eat on Christmas Day. Like, it happens, but by no means is it an unshakable part of Christmas.
Luna is Alabama?
sweet home alabama plays
Kevin The Pig is the best 🐷
@emayekayee That's another thing. Why are they called "Bells" in the first place? That's clearly a star on the bag. In German they are even called "Sternis", with Stern translating to star.
@Eberon
You were faster than me
At least it is some sort of cute and fitting name.
Most German names in AC are boring und generic. It seems, the translator just picked some normal names randomly...
I personally love the Spanish names, with the exception of Totakeke for K.K. Slider (yeah, in Spanish his name is the same as in Japanese). K. K.; Slider is just classier
Sometimes it can be a bit confusing because some English names for NPCs are names for villagers in Spanish, like Luna (Alakama) and Celeste (Estela)
@e-love I think simon is ugly LUL
@inenai Wow, imagine if a Spanish speaking individual knows K.K.'s English name LUL!
Boy do I love Isabelle's Japanese name!
@TioRogerio K.K. sounds like poop in Spanish. So it's just not viable to keep that.
They do shorten in to Tota for most of the songs though, which is nicer than the full name.
@Eel K.K. Slider has a whole other meaning there, huh?
I hate when they change names. I mean, why? I know it depends on the language, and in some languages, some names may sometimes be harder to pronounce. But still...
I'm french speaking, and most of the "play on words" they think they're doing is completely lost on me. No one I know ever thought that "Marie" is actually a play on "Mairie". Everyone just don't know why the name is different in French and English. Because usually, most english names don't magically change when you speak French (Except when you live in France - I don't - as they like to change things for absolutely no freaking reason, but hey, that's another debate).
I have a friend who's called Scott. He's english-speaking. And you know what? Every french-speaking person still calls him Scott. They don't change his name to a random "François" for some stupid reason no one care.
Changing names just confuses everyone...
@Realnoize
Actually, there are some great name changing.
I prefer Raymond over than Jack.
Sherb >>> Remu, Marshal >>> Jun, Dom >>> Chachamaru, Hamlet >>> Hamukesu, Punchy >>> Binta, etc.
Some Japanese names on Animal Crossing sounds really weird.
Lesson here: Isabelle is called cinammon somewhere in the world. That is her only name from now on.
@Anti-Matter well, I don't know of any villagers called Amy, so you and me both
...
Oh, wait, your an elephant, sorry.
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