Legend of Zelda Why are some English Zelda Enemy names so silly?

[Shog]

I just wonder about some names, particulary Dark Nut

For example, in Germany Dark Nut is divided into
"Schattengarde",

"Finstergarde"

and finally "Nimbusgarde", latter being the strongest variation(represented in the Zelda games with either a cape or more impressive helmet)

If you want to have a quick translation: Shadow guardian, Dark Guardian and Nimbus guardian, while Nimbus either means Dark Cloud(Latin) or Halo.
Garde could also mean Royal Guardian

I bet there are other silly names for enemies, but Dark Nut is so incredible wierd that I have to ask, why is it called that way in the English language?

 

[Substitution]

Because silly names stand out more.

 

[greatbernard]

Many of the Zelda enemy names were made back in the 1980's from the first game. This was back when Zelda was seen as just one video game and not a giant franchise. They were probably rough translations.

 

[finalark]

They were called Darknuts in the Japanese version. I wouldn't be surprised if they were going for Dark Knights instead but that got muddled by a lack of knowledge of the English language.

Maybe the localization team kept it the same for the sake of being faithful to the original. Which would be very unusual because until the early 2000s or so being faithful was not a priority for most translators.