Matoran names meaning

There were many Matoran introduced over the years, most of them in 2003 Mata Nui Online Game II: The Final Chronicle.
Here I discuss the meaning, origin and inspiration of their names. More will be added later:

Po-Matoran

named after the element itself:
Kivi - stone (Estonian)
Piatra - stone (Romanian)
Kamen - stone (Czech, Slovak, Russian)
Pekka - Finnish name meaning stone
Onewa - dark grey stone - basalt (Maori)
Ahkmou - akmou means edge (Greek)

named after sport related terms:
Podu - 1) likely derived from ‘podos’ (Greek) meaning foot; 2) alternatively derived from ‘pôda’ (Slovak) meaning soil.
Golyo - goal (Uzbek)
Gadjati - to shoot (Serbian)
Ally - possibly ally in the context of teammate (English)

named after architecture:
Hafu - gable (Japanese)
Bour - an old term for a chamber or a cottage (English)

geographical locations/species:
Epena - 1) Epena is a district and a village of northeastern Republic of Congo; 2) epenĂĄ is one of the names for genus Virola of South American rainforest trees. Some species of this genus are used for production of hallucinogenic snuff powders. [Both options are related to warm climates]
Pouks - his original name Puks means bush (Estonian).

other:
Velika - Great (Slovenian) Hmm… I see :smirk:
Kodan - Kōdan a traditional oral Japanese storytelling originating from historical and literary lectures. [perfect name for a Chronicler]
…
Onu-Matoran

derived or named after the element itself:
Zemya - earth (Russian)
Azibo - African name meaning earth
Dosne - Celtic name meaning ‘from the sand hill’
Aiyetoro - African name meaning ‘peace on earth’
Onepu - sand (Maori)
Whenua - land (Maori)
Akamu - Hawaiian name meaning ‘of the earth’
Kaj - Danish name meaning earth; other possible meanings include ‘warrior’ and ‘the keeper of the keys’ [fitting for his occupation: Guard at the gate of Onu-Koro]
Damek - Slavic name meaning ‘son of the red earth’
Taipu - sand dune (Maori)

other:
Mam(o)ru - mamoru = to protect, defend (Japanese); mamru = ‘I mumble.’ (Polish)
Nobua - unknown, but his other name Tamariki means children or juvenille (Maori) [quite fitting]
Tehutti - Tehuti is another name for Egyptian diety Thoth, ‘the scribe of gods’ connected to wisdom, knowledge and sciences [fitting for an Archivist]
Gar - refers to gar fish, gar means spear in Old English.

Ta-Matoran

derived or named after the element itself:
Agni - Hindu god of fire
Kapura - fire (Maori)
Kalama - torch (Hawaiian)
Keahi - Hawaiian name meaning flames
Aodhan - derived from an old Irish name meaning little fire
Brander - burner (Dutch)
Maglya - boiled (Arabic), bonfire (Hungarian)
Nuhrii - original Nuri means my light (Arabic) or my fire (Aramaic)
Vohon - fire (Ukrainian)
Vakama - to burn (Fijian)

military related:
Aft - a naval term meaning towards the rear of the ship .
Balta - means axe (Hungarian) or white (Lithuanian)
Tiribomba - bomb shots (Italian)

other:
Sarda - a fish genus
Jaller - originaly Jala = bright or special (Persian)
Dume - a wordplay on doom
Vultraz - probably derived from vulture

11 Likes

woooow.
Impressive.
Are you going to add others later? Just asking.

It is actualy “zemlia”, but maybe Lego just altered it.

Reaaaaaaaly? Nice.

I found that “akmou” is edge in greece.

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Thank you!
Yes, I plan to add other villages. I think I’ll do Ta-Matoran today.

Really? the translator didn’t alter zemya to zemlia when I tested it, but I don’t explicitly speak Russian, so I am open to be corrected.

Yeah, that one was quite shocking :laughing:

Can you post some kind of link? I couldn’t find anything interesting or concrete on Ahkmou.
EDIT: never mind I found it! I must have missed this somehow… But I do think it fits him.

2 Likes