Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25431873-20190323174700

To quote from the comment section: 121.54.90.209 wrote:

So, Rosenthal is a Jewish name and her family background has Jewish influences (golems). Should we change her name from Estelle to the much more common Esther? Like the Biblical character? Obed, Nathan, and Isaac are pretty much Biblical Jewish/Hebrew names, and so is Esther.

Estelle and Esther also uses the same Katakana. And now the official site for the Accelerator anime has her profile with the romanization of her name as Esther.

So the question is now: should Estelle's name be changed for Esther or kept as is?

The argument that it is more thematically appropriate with the Rosenthal being clearly Jewish necromancers and her ancestors having names of Hebrew origin makes sense. Laura Stuart was recently changed to Lola, after the confusion due to both names being written the same in Japanese, once it was revealed in the novel that this is more thematically appropriate. Esther could be argued under that same logic. The fact that the anime uses it is also gives weight to it, since the wiki has before complied with name changes confirmed by Kazuma Kamachi and/or official materials, like with Sasha Kreutzev, the British Royal Family Arc, God's Right Seat Arc, etc. Magic God Othinus Arc and Magic God Invasion Arc were names also given by Kamachi iirc.

(There's also the Dark Side of Academy City Arc but it hasn't really been changed in articles, though it has been noted. Another instance is the Fall of Academy City Arc and the Coronzon Arc names having been given in the Dengeki Bunko Magazine)

On the other hand, some fan translations are largely preferred to official material on the wiki as well due to making far more senses. The prime example being Christianity and the Christian Churches. In the original Japanese, something the official Yen Press translations would faithfully adapt, it is not the word Christianity that is used, but "Religion of the Cross" ("Crossism" in YP), and the denominations are referred to as British Puritan Church, Roman Orthodox Church, and Russian Achievement Church. Fans have largely ignored that as it is clear from context and presentation what religious denominations they are, since, besides their names and the existence of magic, virtually nothing about those churches has changed from real life. Furthermore, volume 7 of the Old Testament has the names of the churches (specifically, Roman Catholic Church and Anglican Church) in the English subtitles of its chapters, removing any doubt. And if we are using official materials as a benchmark, the official manga translation of A Certain Scientific Accelerator also translates her name as Estelle.

There is enough evidence for both cases to be valid here.

So I ask my fellow wiki users, what do they prefer: Estelle or Esther? Personally, I am in favour of Esther, but I feel like the question should be settled with a majority consensus.  