@Captain:
Earlier in the thread I posted some thoughts about translating names and handling the process on a case by case basis, so it doesn't bother me that Dogstorm and Catviper were written in English while Tamago wasn't (as much as I now think Tamago would have worked better translated). Stephen, at the time they were introduced made the call that the meanings of the names were more relevant to English readers than their pronunciation. Zou isn't especially Japanese looking in culture or setting, and the names of all the other minks are relatively simple, and often western sounding, so having two guys with five-syllable, inescapably Japanese names in the middle of that feels a little out of place. Plus the names are descriptive, and are used to build up their owners before we meet them. I'm sure most translators, had they known this was coming for Tamago, would have handled him differently from the start.
I don't think it's enough to assume no translation is needed for a name, just because it's a name. What the author intended the name to say to the reader has to be taken into account. The character's context has to be taken into account.
Good comment! I do recall being conflicted about whether to call him Baron Tamago or Baron Egg in his initial appearance (which was very soon after I started doing OP for Viz) but I opted for Tamago because I felt it still had a good sound/rhythm to it, and I suspected that enough people would be aware of the word from sushi or vocab lessons. That is the same argument for keeping Nekomamushi/Inuarashi, of course, but in the case of Tamago it's much shorter and more straightforward, which makes it a stronger argument. If I had known it would be a joke later on, I would've been more swayed to translate the name - as it is, I was lucky enough that there was room to explain the joke in the dialogue. Otherwise I'd have had to either leave it unexplained, or break the translation pattern between his different forms.
So yes, I always stress that it's a case-by-case thing, because I will use opposing arguments in different situations, depending on what is required or what seems best.