According to a 2001 developer interview published in V-Jump magazine, the game's character designer Tetsuya Nomura stated the main character's name, Tiida (Tidus in the international release), was the Okinawan word for "sun". After Final Fantasy VIII, the team wanted to give their next main character a brighter and more cheerful personality. Kazushige Nojima gave Tiida his name, and Nomura thought he had a "bright" motif for the character in mind considering his name's meaning.