What Does the Name ‘Deku’ Mean in ‘My Hero Academia’?

It doesn’t mean, “my love” as much as we want it to.

C’mon y’all, Kacchan and Deku’s relationship could someday blossom into the greatest enemies-to-lovers arc of all time. It would be so easy. Bridgerton could do it. Hell, even spam emails can do it. My Hero Academia can do it too. They probably won’t, but a girl can dream, can’t she?

So if Deku doesn’t mean “you for whom my heart burns with the heat of 10,000 suns,” then what does it mean? To answer that, we’re gonna need to dip our little pinky toe in the vast ocean known as The Japanese Language.

Deku

Okay, so the Japanese characters of Midoriya Izuku’s first name have more than one pronunciation. One day, when Bakugo is reading Midoriya’s last name, he tells Midoriya that his first name, “Izuku,”—can also be pronounced as “Deku”. While “Deku” is not a derogatory term, Bakugo decides to be bitchy and uses it as an abbreviation of the word “dekunobou” which means “good for nothing.” So, basically, Bakugo is calling Midoriya “useless.” But don’t you understand, Bakugo? Midoriya isn’t useless, because your little hand-grenade heart could use his love. But you’re too silly to understand, too used to creating real explosions to understand the emotional explosions going on inside of you. You’ll figure it out someday Kacchan. One day you’ll fall in love, and when you do, Deku will be there to catch you.

Featured Image Credit: Bones