Inspiration for Alita's (actually, Gally's) name?

[Redfern]

For anyone well versed about the original "Gunnm" manga (as opposed to the 2019 movie or the one shot anime), did author/artist Yukito Kishiro ever state his inspiration for the lead character's name, "Gally"? I would not be surprised if "Gally" means something in Japanese , or maybe it's a contraction /corruption of a longer word. But I suddenly had this notion that, well, was Kishiro maybe inspired by the Greek myth of Pygmalion who sculpted a statue he named Galatea, one that in some versions of the tale Aphrodite brought to life? Galatea...Gally? I freely admit I'm more than likely woefully wrong, but I'd like to be certain so I can free myself of this idle, but almost obsessive speculation.

 

[Christopher]

The name Gally (Garii) is actually a reference to Gulliver "Gully" Foyle, the antihero of Alfred Bester's novel The Stars My Destination.

Does or doesn't Erika know she is a necrosoldier? - ^Ripper's Anime Page

* Gally's character finds its origins in a "Tuned" female cop character from one of Kishiro's unpublished short stories. While that character was also called "Gally" (a reference to Gully Foyle, the main character of Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination), that was just a nickname, and her full name was "Karii Yōko" ("狩井陽子"), i.e. a Japanese name there again.

"Gully" and "Gally" would both be Garii in Japanese; only the transliteration differs.

It wouldn't have been derived from Galatea, because the name was originally used for a different, more human character in a different work, and because Japanese nicknames don't use "-y" suffixes like English does. Galatea would probably be abbreviated as Gara, if anything.

 

[Redfern]

Well, I guess that answers that. Thanks for providing a source.