Name
Ninamori.

Throughout the entire show, I don't think anyone ever refers to Ninamori Eri as anything other than just "Ninamori." Out of habit, on this shrine, all I've been calling her is Ninamori. In the manga, I think they might call her Ninamo a couple times, but it's still a name based on her last name. They don't call Naota "Nandaba" all the time, so what's up with everyone and Ninamori's name? Why doesn't anyone just call her Eri?

Okay, I thought about this for a while on more than one occasion, and I can think of a couple reasons (some more thought out and probable than others :P).

At first, I made the assumption that everyone calls her Ninamori because her father is the mayor of Mabase, and that it's some kind of respect thing or something.
And if that is the case, then that's pretty sad.. All she's known as is a person's daughter, not as herself. And aside from taking away her basic claim to identity, being called by her surname probably isolates her too. None of the other kids in her class are known by their last names only. No wonder she's got problems. She's got a serious identity issue with her name.

Another (probably more likely but still pretty descriptive of something about Ninamori) reason for no one in the entire show calling her by her first name could be that no one is friendly enough with her to do so. I think it's pretty common for classmates (just classmates, not friends) in Japan to call each other by their last names, isn't it? This isn't coming from someone with a ton of knowledge about Japanese culture (I'm basing this on reading Paradise Kiss ¬¬), but I guess that could be the reason.
And, in that case, it's still pretty sad! There's not a huge range of characters in FLCL - we only see Ninamori interact with Naota and the people in his life, because the show is of course about Naota :P - but could this maybe mean that the girl doesn't have any real friends? The only kids her age she hangs out with (or that we see her hang out with, rather) are Naota, Fatlips, and Glasses, so you would think they'd be pretty close friends.. but still, they call her by her surname, as if they're just acquaintances. The only people in the entire show she seems like she could have a real relationship with refer to her casually - is it because everyone in class is intimidated by her? Do they think she's stuck up? She is the class president - is it because everyone likes her or is everyone avoiding her because of it? She seems like she's pretty bossy. And judgemental. And manipulative. It could be possible everyone shys away from her because of it, and that's actually why no one is close enough to her to call her Eri. She's just too "grown up" for her own good and no other kid her age wants to be around her. But who knows, I could just be reading too much into all of this.

Anyway, I don't really know if Ninamori's name is the cause of all of her problems or just an indication of them, but that's about all I have to say. If anyone else has any better ideas, lemme know! Or, even better, if you know what her name might mean (literally in Japanese), that would be even better!
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