Why is Suzaku's name in katakana?

[nelotizapu.livejournal.com]

I was looking at the japanese site (http://www.geass.jp/world_03.html) and saw that Suzaku's name is in katakana, even though all the rest of the japanese (and chinese) character's have kanji names. (Well, except for Kallen, but she's a half.)

Is it because he's an "Honorary Britannian"? Or is he a half also? XD

Well, his family is in kanji, but still... it's weird that his given name isn't. :|

...and looking at Kallen's wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kallen_Stadtfeld), I finally find out why I was confused about it being Karen or Kallen. It's both? Then again, it puts her given name in katakana even it's "Kōzuki Karen". So how is it known if it's Karen or Kallen when it's in katakana either way?

I'm confused. XD

Gasp! My first time using a tag!

Comments

[apapazukamori.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if there's a specific reason behind Suzaku's first name being in katakana as opposed to kanji, but it's not uncommon for that to happen in anime/manga. Weiss Kreuz comes to mind, where all four of the main characters are Japanese, but their first names were written in katakana. (Though if I remember correctly, Ken and Ran did have kanji associated with their first names. Not sure about Omi or Yohji.) Sometimes in Japanese katakana is used for "native" words in order to emphasize them.

As for Karen/Kallen, it's just dependent on whether you use the "r" or "l" romanization. Though I believe the "official" romanized spelling is "Kallen"?