<P> Gojira (ゴジラ) is a portmanteau of the Japanese words: gorira (ゴリラ, "gorilla"), and kujira (鯨 (クジラ), "whale"), which is fitting because in one planning stage, Godzilla was described as "a cross between a gorilla and a whale", alluding to its size, power and aquatic origin . One popular story is that "Gojira" was actually the nickname of a corpulent stagehand at Toho Studio . Kimi Honda, the widow of the director, dismissed this in a 1998 BBC documentary devoted to Godzilla, "The backstage boys at Toho loved to joke around with tall stories". </P> <P> Godzilla's name was written in ateji as Gojira (呉 爾 羅), where the kanji are used for phonetic value and not for meaning . The Japanese pronunciation of the name is (ɡoꜜdʑiɾa) (listen); the Anglicized form is / ɡɒdˈzɪlə /, with the first syllable pronounced like the word "god", and the rest rhyming with "gorilla". In the Hepburn romanization system, Godzilla's name is rendered as "Gojira", whereas in the Kunrei romanization system it is rendered as "Gozira". </P> <P> During the development of the American version of Godzilla Raids Again (1955), Godzilla's name was changed to "Gigantis", a move initiated by producer Paul Schreibman, who wanted to create a character distinct from Godzilla . </P> <P> Within the context of the Japanese films, Godzilla's exact origins vary, but it is generally depicted as an enormous, violent, prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation . Although the specific details of Godzilla's appearance have varied slightly over the years, the overall impression has remained consistent . Inspired by the fictional Rhedosaurus created by animator Ray Harryhausen for the film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Godzilla's iconic character design was conceived as that of an amphibious reptilian monster based around the loose concept of a dinosaur with an erect standing posture, scaly skin, an anthropomorphic torso with muscular arms, spikes on its back and tail, and a furrowed brow . Art director Akira Watanabe combined attributes of a Tyrannosaurus, an Iguanodon, a Stegosaurus and an alligator to form a sort of blended chimera, inspired by illustrations from an issue of Life magazine . To emphasise the monster's relationship with the atomic bomb, its skin texture was inspired by the keloid scars seen on survivors in Hiroshima . The basic design has a reptilian visage, a robust build, an upright posture, a long tail and rows of serrated fins along the back . In the original film, the fins were added for purely aesthetic purposes, in order to further differentiate Godzilla from any other living or extinct creature . Godzilla is sometimes depicted as green in comics, cartoons and movie posters, but the costumes used in the movies were usually painted charcoal grey with bone - white dorsal fins up until the film Godzilla 2000 . </P>

Where did the idea of godzilla come from