I wrote about the names of characters briefly in another site but I couldn't find any other topics relating to it so I thought I'd share my thoughts and findings here.
I think it is probably well known that each of the characters in MK represent a colour.
Kuroba Kaito - black
Nakamori Aoko - Ao - blue/green
Hakuba Saguru - Haku - White
Koizumi Akako - aka - red
If this selection of colours sounds familiar you may want to re-read DC chapters 712 - 715 The Kirin's Horn that Vanished into the Dark.
There were 4 podiums the DB's were protecting Green, white, red and black. Each colour represented one of the guardian symbols of Asian mythology.
Seiryu the blue dragon
Byakko the white tiger
Suzaku the red bird
Genbu the black turtle. (remember Genbu's black podium was guarded by Genta)
So how does this relate back to our MK crew?
Let's start with Kuroba Kaito. The kanji in his name is 黒羽 快斗 so let's break it up
Kuroba Kaito 黒羽 快斗
黒 - black/guilty, 羽 - feather, 快 - cheerful, 斗 - dipper
Dipper! his name is Dipper!? The GF fangirl in me finds this hilarious! Actually this is a very interesting point! The dipper in Asian astrology is and collection of starts under the northern sky ruled by Genbu the black turtle.
Within the mansions under Genbu the black turtle we find Dipper 斗Ancient Chinese astronomers divided the sky ecliptic into four regions, collectively known as the Four Symbols,
each assigned a mysterious animal.
They are Azure Dragon (青龍) on the east, Black Tortoise (玄武) on the north, White Tiger (白虎) on the west, and Vermilion Bird (朱雀)
on the south. Each region contains seven mansions, making a total of 28 mansions - wiki
So we have 2 connections to Kaito and Genbu the black turtle. But there is more.
If we look at the Kirin case Kaito disguised himself as Genta who just happened to be guarding the black turtle statue. Was Aoyama foreshadowing that Kaito was going to do something involving Genta from the beginning!?.
Then there was the Blush mermaid (DC 828 - 830) Kaitou Kid is brought back for another case involving a turtle!? Why a turtle Aoyama? Seems a bit much to be a coincidence.
Seriously Jirokichi next time to want to challenge Kid to steal a gem from an aquarium fill it with fish! the biggest scaly bug eyes fish you can get.
So Kaito and turtles seems to be becoming a theme.
There is one more interesting thing to point out and that is Genbu is often seen with another animal. A Snake!
Is this why Snake is the main antagonist?
In the Chat Noir case. Ruby thought Kaito's birthday was in December because she thought of Malachite (pronounced Mala-kaito in Japanese) as a birthstone of December.
It is unknown if Kaito was actually named after this stone but I found it funny that Malachite green (a dye named after the gem) is used in treatment of sick fish.
The others are only related by colour but there are still some interesting insights into their names.
Nakamori Aoko 中森 青子
中 - inside 森 -forest 青 - blue/immature 子-child.
So she is literally and Immature child. That explains a lot. like the way she talks about herself in the third person like a child.
It was mentioned in the Chat Noir that she was actually named after the blue of a sapphire.
Hakuba Saguru 白馬 探
Haku White/Caucasian 馬 - horse/fool Saguru - to search
Saguru is also the first kanji in Detective (Tantei 探偵). So Foolish white detective making a reference to the fact he is British on his mother's side. Another reading of 白 is innocent so it could be foolish innocent detective but it is read differently (it would make his name Shiroba rather than Hakuba)
Koizumi Akako 小泉 紅子
小 - Small, 泉 - fountain, 紅 - Crimson, 子-chld
Speaks for itself really. she is the red witch and crimson child. But I expected Koizumi to be koi - love zumi - arrangement but instead it is ko-izumi meaning small water fountain.
Maybe a reference to her tears?
Bonus name
Kudo Shinichi 工藤新一
工 - Work/solve 藤- wisteria/conflict 新 - new 一 - first/beginning
Solve conflict and New beginning. Maybe a reference to a new beginning solving conflict as Conan.
That's all I have so far. I am really interested in the how the Genbu stuff might actually relate to Kaito. I would never have noticed if the turtle thing didn't come up twice in DC (Kirin's horn and blush mermaid)