Every protagonist in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has a name that has been deliberately constructed to include the nickname Jojo, but Jotaro Kujo’s name takes it a step further.
A Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure character’s name always has some meaning, but it’s not uncommon for a secondary meaning to emerge on its own. At least, it appears to be the case for Jotaro Kujo of the Stardust Crusaders.
Each protagonist in Jojo has had a name that can be abbreviated to or read as “Jojo,” continuing the motif forward across the series’ protagonists. The first few Jojos are self-explanatory: Jonathan Joestar and Joseph Joestar are both common English names that may be easily abbreviated, and Jonathan is even referred to in-universe as Jojo by Dio and others. Josuke Higashikata, the protagonist of Diamond Is Unbreakable, looks to resist the pattern at first appearance, but his title comes from his ability to comprehend Japanese Kanji characters in 2 ways, one of which yields the “Jo” sound. Even Giorno Giovanna by Golden Wind may be abbreviated to “Giorgio,” which seems the same.
With Jotaro, things start to get tricky. He’d be better addressed as Kujo Jotaro, which leaves a “Jojo” in the middle. ecause Japanese names are written with the family name first and the given name second. The same may be stated regarding Jolyne Cujoh, his daughter from Part 6. Because Jotaro was the first member of the Joestar family to be revealed to be Japanese, it seemed only natural to give him a name that would be as common there as Jonathan or Joseph would be in the west. In Japan, Jotaro is a reasonably popular given name, and -taro is a frequent suffix seen in other names, such as Kentaro. Jotaro’s name, on the other hand, alluded to a relationship with the series’ larger narrative.
While the trend didn’t persist forever, every early Stand in Stardust Crusaders is named after a Tarot card from the Major Arcana, a deck of 22 cards used in fortune-telling. For example, Jotaro’s Star Platinum, Joseph’s Hermit Purple, and Avdol’s Magician’s Red are all card references, as is Dio’s The World, which is rated 21st. Even the other Egyptian villains have ties to the Tarot, such as the Thoth stand, which refers to a certain form of Tarot card named after the Book of Thoth.
Jotaro’s name, at least in English, sounds a lot like Tarot, despite the fact that there is no proof that this is intentional. Because they (or the Speedwagon Foundation) seem to have resorted to naming things themselves, the naming method comes up very immediately when Jotaro Kujo meets his grandpa and learns about Stands. “Tarot” is generally written in Japanese as “tarotto,” signifying that it lacks the silent “t” that it does in English. However, it’s also customary to shorten Japanese terms by removing the first two syllables, which would still be “taro” in this situation, exactly like Jotaro.
It’s tough to determine whether this was done on purpose, but in any case, this detail connects Jotaro to the tale of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders in a way that other Jojo characters don’t.
