Why is Nintendo’s Isabelle called Marie in France?

A dozen different names for a single character: this is the mystery surrounding Nintendo’s virtual little yellow dog, called Marie in France.

The character is notably present in Animal Crossing, one of Nintendo’s most popular licenses. The latest iteration of the game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, is the perfect example. Its success is explained by a very pleasant universe to explore, an obvious accessibility and very endearing characters. Some of them even go beyond the borders of Animal Crossing, like the famous Marie.

Introduced in Animal Crossing: New Leaf in 2013, Marie quickly became a fan favorite, as she is the one who assists the player when he becomes the mayor of the village. In the games that followed, Marie occupied various roles, always in support of the player. A weighty ally, which has also been found in other Nintendo games, such as Mario Kart Or Smash Bros. Ultimate. Marie’s list of accomplishments doesn’t stop there. She is the official effigy of the account Twitter from Animal Crossing and also one of the many characters in the series to have multiple names, which differ depending on the country where Animal Crossing is played.

But then, why is Marie called Marie in France, but Isabelle in the United States, and Melinda in Germany?

Marie or Isabelle (or Fuffi, or Shizue…)

• In France, we know her as Mary. According to several fans, this name would refer to the words ” city ​​hall ” And ” mayor ”, since the protagonist is the assistant of the mayor of the city in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. If Nintendo never confirmed this rumor (Numerama tried to obtain more information, without success), other interpretations on the name of Marie were made.

By associating Marie with Digby, the English name of her twin brother Max, we get Marie Digby. Whether it’s a coincidence or not, it’s also the name of Married Digby, an American singer. And coincidentally, Marie also has a taste for music, since she is involved in the town song, which we hear very often in the game.

• In the Nederlands and in English-speaking countries (USA, UK, Canada and Australia in particular), she is called Isabelle. There too, the fans found several reasons. According to the Animal Crossing wiki, Isabelle was named so because of the resemblance of her head to a bag of bells (Isabelle = “is a Bell”) and for her charming and well-liked nature (Isabelle = “is a Belle” ). Puns that are even mentioned by the character Palutena in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Isabelle could also refer to the bells for the month of December, in Animal Crossing. Her birthday is in the same month, bells are usually associated with Christmas, and she additionally wears a red ribbon with bells in her fur that jingle when she walks or tilts her head. Even more obvious coincidences.

• In Russiathe name is similar to that used by English speakers, since she is called Izabel there.

• In other European countries, Mary also has another name. In Spain, she is called Canela, probably because the first syllable of her first name, “Can” is a Spanish word that can refer to a dog. In Germany, Marie is called Melinda, while it is Fuffi for Italy. It is a name for dogs that is very popular in this country,

In Asia too, Mary has other variants

In Asia, Mary also has names very far from Mary.

• In China, it is Xīshī huì (西施惠).西施 (xīshī), which is a figurative expression that translates to “beautiful woman” or “fallen flower”. As for 惠 (huì), it is a word that can be used to mean “benefit, favor” or “benevolent, good-hearted, gentle”.

• In South Korea, Marie’s name is Yeoul (여울). It literally means “female friend”. The Hangul alphabet also goes in this direction, with individual meanings for each character. 여 (yeo) means “woman, female” and 울 (ul) means “family, friend, relative, relative”.

• In his country of origin, the Japan, she is named Shizue. It can be translated as “quiet branch”, as is the town of Animal Crossing. But it is also a derivative of Shih Tzu, the breed of dog to which it belongs.

In addition to Mary, other Animal Crossing characters have different names in different regions. The twin brother of Marie, Max is called for example Kento in Japan or Digby in English. These are certainly very different names, but that does not change the characters, which remain the same around the world.

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