Hey, I was doing some research on the MK character names. This took a while to do. Characters with names and bold are people who I have found information for and am sure about. All the others, I'm not positive on what their name means, or I don't have any info on them. If anyone wants to help out with it, post here, I'd appreciate it. I hope you find this to be an interesting read.
Ashrah - Arabic for "ten". I think it can be used as a female arabic name. There is also something called the "Ashrah Mubasharah" which is a group of ten holy men of the prophet that said Allah has accepted their great service in the name of Islam and that they would enter paradise. Ashrah is a holy-looking character and is trying to free herself from the Netherealm to what she could consider paradise.
Baraka - Arabic word for "blessing". This one doesn't make any sense. If someone has something better, let me know.
Blaze - Just another word for fire. He was originally going to be called Torch, but Midway couldn"t use that name since it was already a registered trademark for an X-Men character.
Bo" Rai Cho - From the Spanish word, borracho, which means "drunk". Bo’ Rai Cho is an alcoholic, and one of his fighting styles is called Drunken Fist.
Cyrax - Probably from Cyrix, a popular manufacturer of processors back in the day. One of Intel"s biggest competitors and enemies. Cyrax was originally called Mustard.
Dairou - Male Japanese name. I don"t know what Dai means, but Rou is supposed to mean old. And he does look kind of old.
Darrius - Male Greek name. Means "he who upholds the good". He desires freedom and opposes strict order. So to some he does uphold good, but to others he is a terrorist.
Drahmin - ?
Ermac - Short for Error Macro. People have claimed to have found an Error Macro in the first Mortal Kombat game, which would cause a red palette swap of Scorpion to exist.
Frost - This one is obvious. Frost is tiny ice crystals that form when water vapor freezes.
Fujin - Japanese name meaning "wind god". Fu means "wind" and jin means "god". And Fujin is indeed the wind god.
Goro - Japanese name. Means "fifth son". What this has to do with him, I don"t know. I guess he has a lot of siblings?
Havik - A play on the word "havoc", which means disorder or chaos. The name fits him perfectly.
Hotaru - Feminine Japanese name, meaning "firefly". His armor resembles the exoskeleton of an insect. He has special moves which are like a firefly"s glow (Lava Burst) and power of flight (Grasshopper). Something interesting is that there is a character in the anime, Sailor Moon, who is called Hotaru (Sailor Saturn). She is nothing like the MK Hotaru, however.
Hsu Hao - Chinese name. I don"t know what this means in English. He was originally going to be called Kubla Khan, but his name was changed so that he wouldn"t be confused with Shao Kahn. Some people still thought he could be Shao Kahn, because if you remove the H and u in his first name, you get shao.
Jade - Jade is a mineral that is used for gemstones and carving with a pale green or white color. Jade wears green, so this fits.
Jarek - Male Polish name meaning "born in January". That doesn"t seem to be a good reason for his name. Maybe it"s from the name Jared, and they just replaced the d with a k. The Black Dragon members all have the letter k in their names (although his name ends with k, and everyone else"s begins with k). Even then, Jared is Hebrew for "one who rules", and that doesn"t make much sense either.
Jax - Short for Jackson I guess. Jax"s real name is Maj. Jackson Briggs. Jax was originally going to be called Stryker. Midway scrapped the idea however, but made Stryker a character in the next game, Mortal Kombat 3.
Johnny Cage - No idea. His real name is John Carlton, and John/Johnny is just a real common name. Maybe Cage is from the famous actor Nicholas Cage? Johnny Cage was originally going to be called Michael Grimm.
Kabal - Kabal is a misspelling of the word "cabal". A cabal is a secret group which does illegal acts. The Black Dragon clan, to which Kabal belongs, is a cabal. Kabal was originally going to be called Sandman, and have chainsaw-like weapons on his wrists, instead of hookswords.
Kai - ?
Kira - Probably from CIRA (Continuity Irish Republican Army), an Irish terrorist group formed in 1994. Kira is in the Black Dragon, which is like a terrorist group, and she does kind of look Irish with the red hair.
Kano - Not sure. I think Kano is Japanese for "water god". What this has to do with Kano, I don’t know.
Kenshi - Japanese for "sword saint". In MK:DA he is referred to as the sword saint. There is also a character named Kenshin in the anime, Rurouni Kenshin, that uses a katana, just like Kenshi does. Kenshi was originally going to be called Blind Gi.
Kintaro - Hero in Japanese mythology. His name means "Golden Boy". He was the son of a princess, and had very great physical strength. Seeing as how Kintaro is shokan, and is a boss character, he is very powerful physically.
Kitana - Don't know. Probably a misspelling of the word katana. A katana is a Japanese sword. But she uses fans; this doesn"t have anything to do with her...?
Kobra - Misspelling of Cobra. Cobras are a type of venomous snake from Asia and Africa. Kobra has designs on his gloves like that of a cobra’s hood. He also has a picture of a cobra on his back in both of his costumes. In his alt costume he also wears a hood like a cobra. In Konquest if you fight him and lose to him, he"ll even say that your venom is weak. Kobra was originally going to be called Ben, from his Street Fighter look-alike, Ken Masters.
Kung Lao - Chinese name. I think Kung (gong) is supposed to mean work/skill/art. Lao is supposed to mean "old". So Kung Lao means work old? I need help with this one.
Li Mei - Chinese name. Li means "strength" and Mei means "plum". Li Mei wears plum-colored clothing, and like any MK warrior, she has a lot of strength.
Liu Kang - I don’t know. I think Liu translates to "six", but what about Kang? I need help with this one too.
Mavado - Mavado was originally going to be called Malvado. Malvado is Spanish for "evil". And he was indeed an evil character.
Meat - Meat is a kind of food. You know, the stuff that comes from animals.
Mileena - ?
Mokap - Short for motion capture, which were the devices used to capture the character’s movement in MK:DA.
Moloch - God of the Canaanites and Phoenicians. Children would be sacrificed to him by throwing them in fire. Moloch is also the name for a lizard in the deserts and plains of central and southern Australia. Their head and back are covered with large, spiny scales. They look really cool. What does this have to do with Moloch though? Maybe he sacrifices people in the Netherealm?
Motaro - ?
Nightwolf - This one is obvious. Nightwolf’s name is made up of two words, "night", and "wolf", meaning he is the wolf of the night.
Nitara - ?
Noob Saibot - Noob Saibot’s name comes from the two producers of the Mortal Kombat series, Ed Boon, and John Tobias. Boon Tobias read backwards is Noob Saibot.
Onaga - Japanese name. Onaga translates to "long tail". Onaga is the dragon king and has a long tail. Could also be from Naga, which is a mythological serpent-like creature.
Quan Chi - Quan Chi is Chinese for "concentrating on chi (energy)". Quan Chi is a sorcerer, so he probably has a lot of chi. Correct me if I’m wrong here.
Rain - This one is easy. Rain is condensed water that falls from the clouds in the form of drops. This is fitting for Rain because he has water- elemental powers. His name is also a joke from the song "Purple Rain" by Prince, since Rain is the purple ninja in MK. One UMK3 kombat kodes says "Rain can be found in the Graveyard." Meaning Prince’s career is dead.
Raiden - God of thunder and lightning in Japanese mythology. Comes from "rai" (thunder), and "den" (lightning). Raiden is the god of thunder in MK. Raiden is also a character from the game series Metal Gear Solid. Was called Rayden on home console versions of the earlier MKs for some reason.
Reiko - Feminine Japanese name meaning "pretty" or "lovely child". Doesn’t make any sense.
Reptile - This one is pretty obvious. A reptile is a cold-blooded, scaled creature. And that’s what Reptile is.
Sareena - ?
Scorpion - An arachnid with a segmented body, large pinchers, and a tail with a venomous sting. I don’t know why Scorpion has this name. I guess it’s because of his trademark bloody spear, which resembles a scorpion’s tail.
Sektor - A misspelling of the word "sector". From what I could understand that I read, a sector is a small section of a magnetic hard disk or optical disk that holds a certain amount of data. A hard disk sector has 512 bytes, while an optical disk sector has 2048 bytes. Sektor is a robot, so a name like this fits him well. Sektor was originally going to be called Ketchup.
Shang Tsung - ?
Shao Kahn - Chinese name. Kahn means "king". But what does Shao mean? Need help with this one.
Sheeva - ?
Shinnok - ?
Shujinko - Japanese name. Shujinko (shujinko) means "hero or heroine of a story".
Sindel - ?
Smoke - This one is easy. Smoke is the gray cloudy stuff, which comes from fires, cigarettes, etc. He is the gray-colored ninja and has the power to use smoke.
Sonya - Feminine Russian name meaning "wisdom".
Stryker - I don’t know about this one. Stryker is Dutch for ironer. Ironer can mean "peacemaker" because an ironer is a smoother of differences. Stryker is a cop, this would make sense.
Sub-Zero - Sub-zero is a temperature that is below 0 degrees.
Tanya -Feminine Russian name meaning "fairy queen". I don’t get it.