Since this is a Tifa thread, discussions about Aeris/Aerith ought to be in an Aeris/Aerith thread - which this isn't. Let's talk about Tifa's name instead!
The quote, below, used to appear at "Tifa Lockhart - The Final Fantasy Wiki has more Final Fantasy information than Cid could research" (
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Tifa_Lockhart) but has been recently edited out. An interview with a staff member at Square Co. Ltd. who said basically the same thing used to be footnoted at the relevant "Wikipedia" page, but that reference has been removed as well.
"Etymology
"Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania, a book made with much input from the staff of Final Fantasy VII, states that 'Tifa' is a shortened version of the name Tiffany. In Japanese, Tiffany is written as ティファニー - the same way that Tifa is spelt, only with '-ni' at the end. Tiffany in turn comes from a Greek word that means 'manifestation of God'. Despite this, Tifa's name is pronounced with a long 'e' (Tee-fa) rather than a short 'e', as Tiffany is pronounced. Tifa's last name, Lockhart, is most probably a reference to Tifa's hiding away her feelings for Cloud, 'locking' them within her heart."
One wonders why "The Final Fantasy Wiki" and "Wikipedia" removed those references. I wonder, anyway, since they were sourced to an official publication and a published interview respectively.
