As a French I've always heard that Songohan's name comes from _gohan_ meaning
_meal_ / _cooked rice_. The English Wiki says the same and even mentions ご飯.

But I don't understand why, since the names in the family are like this:

  * 孫悟空 _Songokū_

  * 孫悟飯 _Songohan_

  * 孫悟天 _Songoten_

So it seems only the last kanji changes between the characters, and since 飯
alone already means _meal_ / _cooked rice_ , and 悟飯 alone doesn't mean
anything, why do we focus on _gohan_ and not only _han_ to explain the name of
the character?

* * *

EDIT: after reading your answers, I realized my mistake was to read 飯 alone as
_han_. That's why I didn't understand people saying "the name means _meal_
because of _go + han_ " since to me _han_ alone already meant _meal_.

I'm sure noone understands what I mean but thank you, it's clear now.
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names manga anime puns
孫悟飯 - Songohan, why non-Japanese say it comes from "gohan = meal/cooked rice"?
It's a pun. In fact, many, many of Dragonball's characters are puns on food
(or food-related) items:

  * サイヤ人 _Saiyajin_ from [ヤサイ]{野菜}人 "vegetable people"
  * ベジータ _Vegeta_ from ベジタブル "vegetable"
  * ウーロン _Oolong_ from 烏龍 (type of tea)
  * ピラフ _Pilaf_
  * ランチ _Lunch_
  * ヤムチャ _Yamcha_ from 飲茶【やむちゃ】 (snacks & tea)
  * カリン塔【とう】 _Korin Tower_ from 花林糖【かりんとう】 (type of sweets)
  * バーダック _Burdock_ from 牛蒡【ごぼう】 "burdock root"
  * カカロット _Kakarrot_ from 人参【キャロット】 "carrot"
  * ギニュー _Ginyū_ from 牛乳【ぎゅうにゅう】 "milk"
  * バータ _Butta_ from バター "butter"
  * リクーム _Reacoom_ from クリーム "cream"
  * ジース _Jheese_ from チーズ "cheese"
  * フリーザ _Freezer_ from "freezer" (like "fridge")
  * etc.

For a full list see [Dragonball Wiki's Origins of character
names](http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Origins_of_character_names), which I
found via [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/46145) on Anime.SE

So, 孫悟飯 doesn't literally mean "(cooked) rice", but it certainly alludes to
it, like the names of so many other Dragonball characters.

By the way, you need _gohan_ (here 悟飯) to make the pun work. 飯 by itself is
read _meshi_ and 飯【はん】 is not a word.
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