Taken from FF Name Origins at http://www.square.net/misc/text/origins.html: Chrono Trigger Not part of the Final Fantasy series, but very much in the Squaresoft tradition. Not as many mythological things as FF3, but of course there are many noteworthy items. Some items, like the Valkyrie and Kali Blade have origins that are listed with other games. Chrono: Means "time". Cronos was the leader of the Greek Titans. "Chrono" is part of many time-related words like "chronology", "chronometer", "chronicle", etc. Lucca could be named for the Italian city which flourished in the 15th century. It's the root word in many light-related terms in European languages, like "lucent". Ayla: In the book series "Clan of the Cave Bear" by Jean M. Auel, there's a character named Ayla. She's from the prehistoric past, but is semi-intelligent, just like CT's Ayla. Kino: ('ki no) German for 'cinema', or stressed another way ("kinou"), Japanese for 'yesterday' - undoubtedly coincidence! Also, the main character in John Steinbeck's "The Pearl" is named Kino. Magus: Comes from Latin and means someone who uses magic. Incidentally, Magus is immortalized in FF2 and 3 as well. At the top of the Tower of Zot in FF2 you meet the "Magus 3", and FF3 has Strago Magus (who lives in Thamasa, the town of magic) and the Magus Rod. Janus: Magus' real name, from 12000 BC. The first month is named for Janus, who was the Roman god of gates and doors. Janus was a two-faced god; one face saw the past and the other saw the future. Appropriate for Magus, who saw both in his extensive time travels. Prometheus: Robo's real name. Though Robo is a robot, created by humans, he's named for the Greek god who stole fire to create humans. There's an enemy in FF3 named "Prometheus" also. Atropos is one of the three Fates in Greek mythology. Atropos means "inflexible" and she severs the thread of life... which isn't really appropriate for the robot in CT, but... In Norstein Bekkler's lab, you meet Wedge, Vicks, and Piette. Wedge and Vicks, who also show up in FF3, are rebel pilots in the movie "Star Wars". And one of Darth Vader's assistants is named "Admiral Piette". (Vicks should be Biggs, though.) Cyrus: In the 6th century BC, Cyrus the Great unified the Persians and the Medes, and went on to conquer all of Babylon. Maybe the CT character is named for him. Melchior, Belthasar, and Gaspar: These are the names of the three wise men in the Bible. Originally their names (in CT) were Bosh, Hash, and Gash; they're nonsense words and don't have any meaning. Here are some decidedly non-mythological names:Ozzie comes from Ozzy Osborne, Slash is from Guns 'N Roses, and Flea is from Red Hot Chili Peppers. At least I think I've got them right this time... ^_^ Remember in 12000 BC when the Nu writes, "The Mystery of Life, Vol. 841, Ch. 26. All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu. This is the truth! This is my belief! ...at least for now," in a book? This is the actual origin of the word! In Greek lore, Nu is the primeval fluid with which the world was created. Terrasaur (one of the dinosaurs): This name is actually a pun. "Terrasaur" looks like it would mean "earth lizard", but there are also dinosaurs named "Gigasaur" and "Megasaur". So it's actually "tera" meaning "1 trillion." Many dinosaurs, both real and imagined, appear in Square games. Some real ones are: Tyrannosaurus Rex (FF1, 5j, 3), Brontosaurus and Ceritops (should be Triceratops) (FF3), Black Tyrano, Mesosaur, and Pterodactyl (CT); some fictional dinosaurs are Wingraptor (FF5j), Gigasaur, and Megasaur from CT. Pahoehoe (pa-ho-ay-ho-ay): This is a kind of soupy lava which flows from volcanoes. Thus it has a volcano-like form. The Mammon Machine: "Mammon" refers to the god of greed and avarice. Appropriate for Queen Zeal. (not Schala; thanks for correcting me, everybody! ^_^) Mammon appears as a tree in FF5 and as a person's name in SoM. (see those games' entries too) Giga Gaia: This time, I think Giga has its original meaning of "gigantic" (rather than '1 billion'). Gaia means earth, so the whole name means "Great Earth". Barghest is a frightful goblin that porteds misfortune. I'm not sure which mythology it's from, though. Meso Mail: Probably refers to the Mesozoic Era, which ended about 65 million years before the present time. Before that was the Paleozoic; this era is the Cenozoic. Town of Medina: In A. D. 622, Mohammed moved from Mecca to Medina; this is known as the Hegira. The Islamic calendar begins with this pilgrimage; in that calendar, this year is 1418. Some historical stuff... I don't think that the date 65 million BC was chosen arbitrarily. A while ago it was shown by Luis Alvarez that a meteoric impact in the Yucatan peninsula around that time may have been what triggered the global climate changes which caused the dinosaurs to become extinct and indirectly paved the way for mankind to rule the earth much later. And in CT, Lavos arrives in a meteor at exactly that time! Of course, it was artistic license on the producers' part to have human beings alive at that time. And having them speak semi-intelligible English... 12000 B. C. is supposedly when Atlantis sank, which ties in perfectly with the sinking of the kingdom of Zeal. There are several theories about where Atlantis once was; one of them puts the great civilization on the island of Thera. Also, the "Day of Lavos" comes in 1999... and in the 15th century, Michel de Nostredame, also known as Nostradamus, predicts the end of the world to be in July of 1999. He wrote a quatrain that began "In the year 1999 and 7 months... Mars shall reign at will." [Mars is the war god in Roman mythology.]