Kzickas t1_jd8z12n wrote on March 22, 2023 at 6:09 PM

I'd expect that a big part of it is when their names were introduced to western audiences. I'd expect that generally the willingness to not alter the names much from their original form has probably increased over the last few decades.

cyklone117 t1_jd9pshb wrote on March 22, 2023 at 8:58 PM

It's still inconsistent. Take MLB phenom (and MVP of the 2023 World Baseball Classic) Shohei Ohtani for example. The family name is Ohtani, but in the MLB his name is westernized. As is every other Japanese (and Korean) player signed to the MLB.