Naruto the titular protagonist of Naruto Ship[puden was named Naruto Uzumaki by the author of the manga unlike what is mostly done in the western side of the world where the father’s surname is given to the child.
It was no problem until his mother and father were revealed which was Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze, it was then that the Western audience of the show started to question the reason why he was named after his mother’s surname instead of his father’s.
In this post we will discuss why he was named Naruto Uzumaki, we will look at the Japanese culture of naming a newborn, and will also look at what the manga has told us about naming Naruto Uzumaki.
In Japanese Culture Surname of an Influential Clan took providence.
Well, the question of Naruto’s surname being Uzumaki was by the Western audience but in the post-modern era when Japan was a Feudral society having someone marry another clan was to increase the power of the lower clan and the lower member who joined the powerful clan changed his surname to the influential clans.
The surname given to the newborn was based on the influence of the family of the parent if the father’s side was more influential his surname would be used and if the mother’s side was more influential her surname would be given to the child.
And since Naruto Shippuden takes place in post-modern times it could affect the name, and the Uzumaki clan was among the most powerful at the same level as the Uchiha, Senju, and Hyuga, and up till now we only know one person from the Namizake clan, Minato Namikaze so maybe his clan’s influence was not much so he was given his mother’s surname.
You can read about the naming system in feudal Japan here.
The Author Had Not Thought Of Naruto’s Lineage
Many of the readers will say what am I saying? How could Kishimoto had not known about the parents of Naruto?
So guys listen first it was Kishimoto himself who had said in an interview once that he had not planned for Naruto to ever meet his parents even in the soul realm but after becoming a parent himself he decided for Naruto to at least say Goodbye to them once.
And maybe it was after that he had created Minato to be the fourth Hokage and his father and Kushina a member of the Uzumaki Clan.
Then to get the reader’s attention decided to keep them and their background hidden until the end so we would not get disconnected from Naruto knowing he was the son of the Hokage.
It could have a Negative Effect On Young Naruto
Since Naruto had lost both of his parents at birth he did not know anything about them nor did there anyone who had told him about their achievements because of this he did not feel any sense of responsibility to follow in his parent’s footsteps.
Nor did he know what they had done for the Leaf Village and how they sacrificed themselves for the Leaf Village.
If he was named Naruto Namikage then there were not many Namikaze in the leaf village Naruto would easily guess that he was the son of the Fourth Hokage and all the other persons would expect big things from him.
But having the Uzumaki surname he only knew he was one of the very few survivors of the long annihilated clan and since his hair was yellow people would only know his Uzumaki heritage if they knew his full name.
And one more thing that could have happened was Naruto becoming an enemy to the leaf let me explain the case of Sasuke. When he came to know that his brother had sacrificed himself and destroyed his whole clan for the safety of the Leaf village and seeing his immense love for Sasuke, he came to hate the Leaf.
The same could have happened in the case of Naruto, when he came to know his father and mother died sealing the 9 tails inside him to save the leaf, at a young age when he was not mature and did not understand the value of sacrifice he would have also hated the Leaf and could have tried to destroy the leaf after losing control over Kurama.
To Prevent Minato’s enemy from attacking the Leaf
During the third great ninja war, the role of Minato in that war was very crucial. He was a one-man army who had killed thousands of enemy shinobis and because of that many enemy villages had announced the order to flee at first sight of Minato Namikaze the Yellow Flash.
This was a very big embarrassment for the enemy villages which resulted in them having a grudge against Minato.
And if people came to know that Minato had a son after he had died fighting 9 tails and the village was vulnerable to outside attack his newborn’s life would have been in danger as he would be the target of other shinobis.
So to protect him from all this danger his name could have been decided to be kept as an Uzumaki who was not part of any village and had red hair finding him would become more difficult and a child belonging to an annihilated clan would be of no threat to other villages.
So for his safety, his name was chosen to be Naruto Uzumaki.
The reason Given In the Manga
The manga has given us the reason why it was decided to be Naruto Uzumaki rather than Naruto Namikaze and it was the same as above.
It would be safer for him to have his mother’s surname otherwise all the enemies that Minato had made in his life would target Naruto to take their revenge.
It was told to us by Minato himself when he was reincarnated in the 4th ninja war.
Is Uzumaki Surname A Real Surname?
Well we had till now talked why was Naruto surname was Uzumaki but is this surname also used by real world people’s.
So you will be amazed to know it is an actual surname.
So you would also have thought in which country it originated so if you had thought Japan then you are completely wrong.
Uzumaki surname originated in Russia and it is written as Russian: Узумаки.
Currently in the whole world there are more than 50 people who have this surname out of which half are currently living in Brazil.
And about 40% belongs to the country of the rising sun Japan.
This knowledge I came to know from Forebears you can read there to know more.