What Japanese onomatopoeia for gobbling inspired Pac-Man's name?

The Japanese onomatopoeia “paku-paku” inspired Pac-Man’s name. It describes the repeated opening and closing of a mouth while gobbling food, matching the character’s defining action in the game.

The name is also connected to the phrase “paku paku taberu,” meaning to gobble something up. During development, the game was known in Japan as Puck Man, a title that reflected this eating sound and action. Pac-Man’s gameplay turns that idea into a complete character concept: he continuously consumes pellets, fruit, and power pellets while navigating a maze.

For the North American release, Namco changed “Puck Man” to “Pac-Man.” The alteration helped prevent vandals from changing the initial letter on arcade cabinets to create an offensive word. The change did not remove the Japanese linguistic origin; “Pac-Man” remains an internationalized form of the same concept. The other choices are also familiar Japanese expressions, but they refer to things such as rumbling, excitement, or a pounding heart—not gobbling.