Yu-Gi-Oh! yugioh question!

have u ever thought that the name kaiba was the name given to him when he was adopted.. or was it that he birth parents also have the last name of Kaiba.

 

There's actually some debate on that.

As I understand it, Seto and Mokuba were adopted by one Gozaburo Kaiba - which would make Kaiba their adoptive family name, not their birth surname. This makes sense given that the company is named Kaiba Corp (and it was not changed for the dub, as far as I've ever heard).

However, I also think that "Kaiba" is supposed to mean "seahorse" or something of the like. Mokuba's name means "wooden horse" (and it was translated literally as that in the HK bootlegs XD). This adds credit to the idea I've heard that Kaiba's family name is actually Seto - which would make them Kaiba Seto and Mokuba Seto. But I've only heard that one from a few people, I've never seen a credible argument for it other than from individual fans. The name Seto is taken from "Seth" (the High Priest's name, as well as the name of an Egyptian god); this is support for the traditional view that it's his given name.

But long story short - as far as I know, Kaiba is the name they were given when adopted; Gozaburo's biological son also has the surname Kaiba, so it couldn't have been that Seto and Mokuba kept their original family name. I've never heard anyone mention a previous surname for the Kaiba brothers, though.

 

That's what strikes me as odd too... I mean if Gozaburo if the horrible man he is, why the hell would Kaiba allow people to call by his last name then? It's not his first name or his original last name so...yeah. But then again that raises the question why he didn't change it after Gozaburo died. (but that cna be easily answered I guess)

However as it seems in the anime his last name is indeed Kaiba. However I think that was not the case in the manga. The person that first told me that Kaiba was his first name about a year or more ago said that it was in the manga (they had only read the manga). And I personally belive them over anyone else, cause they do know what they're talking about...

Hmmm...give me a while to get my stuff from the YGO: Fact or fiction thread. I stated everything about this issue there. ^.^

 

Name recognition for the company. *shrug* It's as simple as that.

Also, it's quite common for people to be referred to by their surname in Japan, and a lot of the YGO characters do it.

It's always possible that his first name was originally Kaiba, but that it was then changed to his surname - to accomodate the plot. Since he was intended as a minor character but then became the first season's villain, maybe it was decided to make Kaiba the surname so that it wouldn't seem as if he and Yugi had been on a first-name basis originally? Also, when the whole card game part got tied in with the Ancient Egypt backstory and the character of Seth the High Priest was thought up, there needed to be some tie to Kaiba - hence the given name Seto.

Eh, I dunno.