MEANING OF HER NAME With the help of others, I was actually able to come up with a few possible meanings for Naru. An old friend of mine found THIS ENTRY, stating that she's basically a narcissist, though I don't see that as too accurate a depiction of Naru's real character.

Later on, I received an e-mail from a guy named Amalaric, giving me a much better name analysis, which is:

• Naru: to change, to become
• Se: rapids, current
• Gawa: surroundings

Amalaric pointed out that it could mean to change, according to one's lively surroundings. Naru's feelings are always changing in each situation that she's in, so there ya have it... a perfectly nice translation.

However, to touch up a little more on the subject, I received another e-mail that seemed to make a lot of sense, as well. Apparently, the translation of her name is literally "the growing current of the river." As "naru" means "grow, become," "se" means "current," and "gawa" means "river," it seems perfectly legitimate, right? He also pointed out the fact that "naru" can mean either "goodness" or "benevolence," which is a lot better than the narcissism bit. Thanks, Shonosuke Dragonstryke! :]

Anyway, I also decided to try and find some other names that would fit her. (Ya know, American names.) Here was my closest match: Alana, which means fair and beautiful. I tried typing in things like funny, smart, studious, determined, beautiful, etc., but some weird names came up, so... x_X Anyhow, Alana was the prettiest one I could find! ^^;

I found the name and results at BABYNAMES.COM. If a severe case of the boredom bug hits you, you should mess around on that site. :P