This is pretty interesting, what is behind all of the kombatants' names:
Characters:
01.
Scorpion He resembles a real scorpion by his spear special move. Also, "schorpioen" means "vicious" in Dutch.
02.
Sub-Zero The name comes from his frigid life and special moves. Originally he was meant to be named Glacier.
03.
Reptile He is a Saurian which is a reptilian race. He is also vicious and sneaky like a snake is commonly reputed of.
04.
Rain The name comes from American pop singer Prince's song "Purple Rain". Also, his half brothers' names are Daegon and Taven, all of them have the letter "n" in the end. He is also a prince of Edenia himself.
05.
Ermac The name comes from 'Error Macro' which can be seen in the first Mortal Kombat
game after a certain procedure. He was accidentally added to the game.
06.
Chameleon He is supposedly a Saurian or a clone of Saurian, which is
a reptilian race. Changes color while fighting and blends into the environment.
07.
Noob Saibot The name comes from Mortal Kombat's creators John Tobias and Ed Boon's surnames.
08.
Smoke Smoke has commonly a smoke cloud around him and he performs smoke related special moves.
09.
Cyrax The name is 'unstoppable' in a Middle Eastern language.
10.
Sektor A common word in technological devices. The "K" letter is an MK trademark.
11.
Stryker Means "courteous traveller". Kurtis comes from "courteous" and "stryker" tells
he is hard-working. He was created to be an every-man character.
12.
Kabal A condition in which you need a resperator to live.
13.
Dairou Means "great spin". "Dai" is Japanese for "great" and "rou" supposedly derives from "rotar" - spin, Spanish.
14.
Jarek A common name in Eastern Europe. [?]
15.
Darrius Greek for "possessor". Also means "kingly", attempting to rule of Seido.
16.
Reiko Japanese for "loving child" being a Shao Kahn's worthy henchman.
17.
Fujin Fujin derives from the Shinto god of wind of the same name.
18.
Bo Rai'Cho Derives from "Borracho" which means a drunk man in Spanish.
19.
Mavado Comes from 'malvado', Spanish, which means evil or villainous.
20.
Hotaru "Firefly" in Japanese.
21.
Nightwolf In his Animality he transforms into a wolf.
22.
Mokap Derives from "mo-cap". Mokap is a tribute to a Midway employee,
Rich Divizio, who does motion captures for the characters.
23.
Johnny Cage Kage, Japanese, means "shadow". Cage performs shadow kicks.
24. Kano [?]
25.
Jax Comes from his full name Jackson Briggs. Supposedly, Jackson comes from "Jacques", French, which means "supplanter" and Briggs from "bridges". He is a supplanter and a crucial link for Special Forces and Sonya Blade.
26.
Kai A first name globally. [?]
27.
Kenshi Means "sword saint" primarily. Also it means "swordsman" in Japanese and "fist of the poem". A common name in Japan. "Kensei" means "sword saint" in Japanese which he's called in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
28.
Shujinko Means "main hero of the story" in an Asian language.
29.
Hsu Hao Hsu Hao means "good compromised". "Hsu" means promise or compromised. "Hao" means good.
30.
Kobra Comes from his flaming special moves and the letter "K" replacing "C" is a trademark of Mortal Kombat.
31.
Khameleon She is a Saurian which is a reptilian race and the letter "K" is to show the difference between her and Chameleon, it's also a trademark of Mortal Kombat. Also changes color while fighting and blends into the environment.
32.
Daegon From the Middle Eastern deity "dagon", meaning "grain" or "rain cloud". Daegon is Taven's
little brother who grew up to be evil and causing bad things.
33.
Liu Kang Means "healthy willow". "Liu" means willow, and "kang" means healthy.
34.
Kung Lao Means "Great experience". Kung meaning great, Lao meaning old or experienced.
35. Shang Tsung [?]
36.
Quan Chi Quan Chi is "spring of energy". Quan is a name that's said
to be translated to "water spring". "Chi" is similar to "Qi" which is energy flow.
37. Shinnok [?]
38.
Raiden Raiden comes from "rayden" which means a god of thunder.
39.
Taven A common name, also resembles his brother and half brother's names. [?]
40.
Sonya Blade Sonya is Mortal Kombat's co-creator's Ed Boon's sister's name. Blade[?]
41. Kitana [?]
42.
Mileena Slavic meaning "favored". She was meant to be flawless,
favored by everyone and she wishes to be favored over Kitana.
43.
Jade Comes from her green costume.
44.
AshrahArabic for "ten".
45.
Li Mei Means "tall sprout". "Li" is a Chinese measurment standardized as 500 meters. "Mei" is a Japanese name and
depending on how it is written means, sprout, garment, reliant, or bright. [?]
46.
Tanya Tanya is Mortal Kombat's co-creator Ed Boon's other sister's name.
47.
Frost The name comes from her frigid life and special moves.
48. Sindel [?]
49.
Nitara "Deep-rooted" in Hindu.
50.
Kira Kira means "killer". Kira is a common name in Japanese culture.
It's a stereotypical Japanese pronounciation of "killer".
51.
Sareena Means clear, tranquil and serene. Reference to her beautifulness.
52.
Sheeva A many armed goddess in Buddhism.
53.
Baraka Baraka means "blessed" in Arabic.
54.
Motaro Comes from "Momotaro", a Japanese legend.
55.
Havik Havik is from Chaosrealm where everything is chaotic, Havik comes from havoc.
56. Drahmin [?]
57.
Moloch A monster in some stories. [?]
58.
Meat Meat is a skinless character, whose costume consists mainly of his meat.
59.
Shao Kahn Means "Laughing King". Shao is a Chinese girls' name which means laughter.
Kahn is derived from the word "Khan" which means king or emperor.
60. Goro [?]
61.
Kintaro Kintaro comes from a Japanese folk-story hero, Kintarő. Also means 'big daddy'.
62.
Onaga the Dragon King "Naga" is Sanskrit for snake and dragon. The former king of Outworld.
63.
Blaze Blaze is a flaming character. Originally he was meant to be named Torch.