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Aesop was an Ancient Greek fabulist or story teller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables. Here is a description of Aesop:

"of loathsome aspect... potbellied, misshapen of head, snub-nosed, swarthy, dwarfish, bandy-legged, short-armed, squint-eyed, liver-lipped—a portentous monstrosity,"

Here are somethings that they have in common.

  • They both tell fictitious stories.
  • They both have liver-lips.
  • Their names are pronounced the same.

I believe that Ussop might be a combination of Pinocchio and Aesop.

user3043348
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2 Answers2

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Ussop's name is probably based on "Isoppu" which is the Japanese pronunciation of Aesop. (One Piece Wiki)

The Wiki also claims "uso" means "lie" in Japanese so Ussop is a combination of "liar" and "storyteller" (Aesop). Basically this says it is likley but the source is not at all canon. We don't know as Oda hasn't definitively said, but probably.

kaine
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    `ussoppu mean ... liar` I'm rather sure it isn't the case. – nhahtdh Aug 18 '15 at 18:06
  • Thanks. There is a reason i stress that the wiki is not canon: "considering that uso and usoppu mean "lie" and "liar" respectively in Japanese.... "Ore wa Usopp" can mean either "I am Usopp" or "I am a Liar"." If you japanese enough to know that is wrong, you could probably edit it out of the wiki. – kaine Aug 18 '15 at 18:09
  • I agree with @nhahtdh. I can't find any source (dictionary, slang, blog, etc.) besides the Wiki that suggests it means "liar". ("liar" in this context would be *usotsuki*.) – Cattua Aug 18 '15 at 18:10
  • It does seem the Uso part is right (google translate) so I will edit the answer a little. – kaine Aug 18 '15 at 18:16
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Usopp's name was inspired by Aesop. Aesop told made up stories called fables, much like Usopp. Also, Aesop is the author of "the boy who cried wolf", the story of the boy who lies to the villagers about a wolf appearance in order to alarm the villagers for fun, but because of his history of lying, the villagers don't believe him when the wolf actually appears. This is parallel to Usopp lying about pirates arriving in order to prank the villagers, but they don't believe him when he's telling the truth.

Zoro
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