Love’s Name: A Short Note on Ponyo and Calling People by Their Name

I have been watching Ponyo a lot lately, kiddo’s new favorite movie. We switch back and forth from the subtitles to dubs and I noticed something interesting that I had overlooked in the past.

It’s a common point to notice that Sosuke calls his mother and father by their names instead of mom and dad in the subbed version. This was changed for the dubbed version for some reason I do not understand. I think this was in error though as I think that it is more than what I see other people talk about online. The most common explanation I have seen people give to this is that it shows that Lisa has a more equal relationship with her son and that Sosuke is has more responsibility than other children his age might.

There does seem to be some truth to that but I think there is another element that Miyazaki has woven through the movie that also is exemplified with Ponyo. Specifically, that calling people by their name means something more than calling them by a title.

When Sosuke first encounters Ponyo, he calls her a goldfish. He says he found a goldfish to Lisa but shortly after decides to call her Ponyo. From then on he is particular about calling her Ponyo and not a gold fish. The scene that establishes this clearly is when he is showing Ponyo to a little girl at his school. The girl remarks that he has a goldfish and Sosuke says definitively “she’s not a goldfish, she’s Ponyo!”. Later, Ponyo goes through a similar exchange with the a mother who knows Sosuke’s mom. She refers to Sosuke as Lisa’s little boy. Ponyo emphatically says, “He’s not a little boy, He’s Sosuke!”

Given these two interactions I think the fact that Sosuke calls his mom Lisa and his dad Koichi is more of an indication of their intimacy and that they know each other than precociousness. They aren’t just a mom, dad, boy, or goldfish, they are someone specific that each person cares deeply about and calling them by their name is an indication of that love.