Strange name romanizations

[BetterSense]

I've noticed the mangaka that wrote Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed spells his name Masamune Shirow. Why the W? Is this part of some romanization that I've never seen? I've seen other bizzare name romanizations as well.

[richvh]

It's probably an attempt to indicate a long O without the distortion that spelling it OO or OU might elicit.

[doinkies]

richvh wrote:
It's probably an attempt to indicate a long O without the distortion that spelling it OO or OU might elicit.

Indeed...it's just his stylized romanization of "Shirou". Likewise, Naitou Yasuhiro, the creator of Trigun, spells his surname "Nightow".

[burstandbloom]

doinkies wrote:

richvh wrote:
It's probably an attempt to indicate a long O without the distortion that spelling it OO or OU might elicit.

Indeed...it's just his stylized romanization of "Shirou". Likewise, Naitou Yasuhiro, the creator of Trigun, spells his surname "Nightow".

Much trendier. : )