The production company today issued a naming announcement confirming that the younger brother, until now referred to only by a nickname, is formally named 牛旺 (Niu Wang). Overseas releases will use the romanisation Niu Wang uniformly, rather than leaving each territory to transliterate.
More closely watched than the name itself was the surname. Earlier versions gave the younger brother only a single-character nickname and never a family name, leaving audiences to argue over whether the two were brothers at all. The announcement settles it: he is a Niu, like his brother Niu Lai.
Niu Lai’s own name, design and characterisation are unchanged — a point the studio emphasised, answering speculation that the elder brother would be renamed too.
Why it had to be settled
The problem grew out of two years of distribution. Because the character originally had only a code name, dubbing and subtitling teams in different territories each chose their own, producing three competing translations and leaving audiences unable to work out who was being discussed.
The studio conceded the situation "could have been resolved earlier", and said all merchandise, subtitles and promotional material will now use 牛旺 (Niu Wang), with older translations replaced as titles are reissued.
A character should not have three names. Audiences can argue about him — but they should at least know who they are arguing about.— The producer, in the naming announcement
Two days of argument over one syllable
Discussion quickly moved from standardisation to pronunciation. Viewers pointed out that said quickly, 牛旺 sounds close to 牛王 — "ox king" — and that since the elder brother is the one who leads, calling the younger one "king" gets the hierarchy backwards.
The observation spread widely and produced a great deal of fan work. The studio’s answer was blunt: pronunciation was considered, but 旺 was chosen for its sense of flourishing and has nothing to do with rank. "If audiences want to play with it, we do not mind."
Others took it as evidence of a good name — memorable, easy to say, and open to a joke. One long-time viewer commented that the brother has always been "the one who follows behind and steps forward when it counts", and that the name is "unexpectedly fitting".
- Named: the younger brother, standardised as 牛旺 (Niu Wang)
- Newly confirmed: the brothers share a surname, absent from some earlier versions
- Unchanged: Niu Lai’s name, design and characterisation
- Retired: three regional translations withdrawn
The third character still has no name
The leopard appearing alongside them in the announcement image is a new regular for the coming season. The studio said naming is still in progress and will be announced before the season starts: "This time we want to get it right first, and avoid a second standardisation announcement."
The new season is confirmed for next month, running to twelve episodes released weekly. The studio also said the relationship between the two brothers will be one of the season’s main narrative threads.
That detail in the middle — I assumed it was only like that where I live.
You do not see many pieces that show the process like this any more.
Clearly written, and the section on the data is more solid than most coverage of this.
I had not thought about it from this angle. It did shift my view a little.
I had not thought about it from this angle. It did shift my view a little.
Hope there is a follow-up. These things tend to drop out of view after a few weeks.