"Shiyonasan" wrote:[QUOTE=M4dG4rl;243004]Atom -> A to mu -> A 十 六 -> A 10 6 -> A106 .
. . I found that in a discussion forum but I couldn't really understand as to why 'to' and 'mu' become '十' and '六'
Good eye on their part! Very interesting, and something I didn't realize before!
After searching on Google, I found out that Japanese has different numbering systems based on what you're referring to. While most of us are familiar with the
Sino-Japanese numbering system, there's also a Native Japanese numbering system. According to the sites linked, Sino-Japanese numbers are used in combination with counter words when counting things, actions and events, while the Native Japanese numbering system is used to count objects (I'm guessing these numbers are used on their own).
So, the number 10 in the Native Japanese numbering system is
十 (tō , while the number 6 is
六つ (muttsu), so for A106's name, it looks like they shortened "muttsu" to "mu".
Character names in manga and anime are often wordplay and/or puns based on the Japanese language. A106's name is another case of that.
Here's links to see the different Japanese numbering systems:
http://www.wikihow.com/Count-to-Ten-in-Japanesehttp://www.omniglot.com/language/numbers/japanese.htm[/QUOTE]
Ah, I see
Native Japanese