The adventures of Asterix and Obelix have been adapted in more than a hundred languages. What’s interesting is the inventivenes of the translators that were responsible for translating the names.

Steinríkur (Icelandic for Obelix)

In almost all languages, Obelix is the same: the full-bodied companion of Asterix, who fell into a pot of a potion as a child, and has had superhuman powers ever since.

In Icelandic, the emotional giant is called Steinríkur, which roughly translated means “rich in stones”, probably because of Obelix’s love of stones.

Witblix (Afrikaans for Idefix)

He is Obelix’s best friend and pet dog, and forms a conspicuous contrast to his corpulent master. In the English version he is called Dogmatix, but in many other such as the original French, German, Italian and other, it is called Idefix.

Idefix’s name is more like a word play, “Idefix = idée fixe = fixed idea”. Approximately the same meaning the name has in Afrikaans, Witblix, which means “mental flash” or “brainstorm”

Kawlorobix (Bengali for Cacofonix)

He is the village bard, and a good fellow, but only if it weren’t for his terrible voice, which the inhabitants in the Gallic village have always found it annoying. In the English version he is known as Cacofonix, or Troubadix in the German version. In Bangladesh the translators named the bard as Kawlorobix,  which in Bengali it stands for something like “much noise around for nothing”.

Aspirinix (Serbian for Panoramix)

His specialty is magic potions that give superhuman powers to the villagers. In the French original he is known as Panoramix, which would mean something like “the all seeing”.

In the German editions he is called Miraculix, derived from “miracle” or “mirakel” in German. The Serbs were especially creative with their translation: they named him Aspirinix, a word play for the world-famous headache tablet, Aspirin.

Yali (Chinese for Asterix)

Asterix is ​​the star in Gaul. Again and again, the little warrior beats the crap out of the Romans with the help of his sharp mind, as well as Aspirinix’s magical potion. No wonder Asterix is ​​called in Yali in the Chinese version, which means something of great force or pressure.