GAMERA:
That etymology is logical too.
kame = turtle
ra = word suffix indicating monster
But if they’d have made it “kame -ra” then it sounds too much like CAMERA, which in Japanese is exactly the same word as in engrish. People would have been thinking “cheese!” and Sony and Pentax, and all that.
Similarly:
Moth = Mosu
ra= monster suffix
Mosura (which is how you pronounce it in Japan) = Moth monster
The one I don’t get is “Kingu Gidora” cuz what in hell is a GIDO..? That one I don’t know, don’t know where it comes from.
Kingu is kinda close to Kaiju, which, as you know....
He's ugly and pink like a PIG. And most Japanese movie goers already know that engrish word, so they hijacked it, Japanizing pig as PIGU, as they almost all pronounce it.
If they had stuck to the old formula, this character would have been PIGU-RA, but for the MONSTER "ra" they instead this time hijacked half of MONster, and used that istead.
Ergo:
"Pigu mon", spelled pigmon in English.
“The one I don’t get is “Kingu Gidora” cuz what in hell is a GIDO..?”
Kingu is king, and Gidora is from hydra, the seven-headed beast, although Gidora only has three heads.
What about Rodan, the giant bird?