One difficult aspect of creating a story is naming the characters, especially fantasy and science fiction names or names from cultures the author isn’t familiar with. Such was the case for light novel author Kiraku Kishima (The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Back to the Battlefield: The Veteran Heroes Return to the Fray!) and the heroine “Latina” from his new novel Kasshoku Musume no Latina-san ni Ore no Karada ga Nerawarteiru. Thankfully, the author cleared things up on his naming choice.
©岸馬きらく／集英社
The X (formerly Twitter) account Manga Mogura RE gave a short synopsis of Kishima’s new novel Kasshoku Musume no Latina-san ni Ore no Karada ga Nerawarteiru on August 15:
New Latina Romcom “The Dark Brown Latina Girl Is Aiming For My Body” LN by Kiraku Kishima & Oryou
Youth Romcom about an ordinary high school boy (well, maybe with a higher sex drive than usual) is helping out a foreign Latina girl in trouble. Grateful this super cheeful girl… pic.twitter.com/TCzJQz3kDK
— Manga Mogura RE (Manga & Anime News) (@MangaMoguraRE) August 15, 2024
However, on August 17, Kishima took to X/Twitter to reply and clear up some confusion. The author noted that the heroine is, in fact, named Latina as well as a being a Latina girl. The author further explained he chose the name “Latina” after asking an AI, “Please tell me the most typical South American female names.” But Kishima wasn’t aware “Latina” is a term used to describe women of Latin American descent in general.
For Latina, when I asked the AI, ‘’Please tell me the most typical South American female names,” I chose one from the list of possible names that I thought had a nice sound. I had no idea that it was a word used to describe Latin women themselves…
— 岸馬きらく (@ej3lHqlQqk3WIsr) August 17, 2024
Kishima also expressed why he was open about his mistake in another reply on August 18:
The reason why I’m talking openly about the process is because people who saw the excitement overseas and thought, “This is written by someone who is knowledgeable about Latin culture!” were disappointed after purchasing it. Because I didn’t want it to happen.
— 岸馬きらく (@ej3lHqlQqk3WIsr) August 18, 2024
Those who say I don’t care👌
I would be happy if you could support me 😀— 岸馬きらく (@ej3lHqlQqk3WIsr) August 18, 2024
Unfortunately, since Kishima only posted a machine translated version of his statements, it’s difficult to parse out exactly what he meant. Surprisingly, though, “Latina” is also the name of an Italian city and province. So, there’s precedent of the term not specifically referring to females of Latin American descent, though it’s still odd to have a character named “Latina.”
Even though Kishima likely means no harm by his naming, it’s a good reminder that authors and editors should do a little research into names before deciding on one.
Sources: Kiraku Kishima‘s X/Twitter account (link 2, link 3, link 4, link 5) via Manga Mogura RE’s X/Twitter account, Shueisha‘s website
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