"Shika" means deer (鹿), and "-maru" (丸) means "round", "circle", or "well-developed", but is commonly used as a suffix in boys' names. The names "Ino", "Shika" and "Cho" are also a pun on the "Ino-Shika-Cho" winning combination in Hanafuda. His surname, Nara, is taken from Nara ko-en (Nara Park), a park famous for deer whose antlers are used for medicines. Nara was also the era when Buddhism was introduced to Japan. The Buddhist monasteries founded in the Nara Prefecture took the deer as their symbolic protector, and made hunting deer illegal in the prefecture. "Nara" also refers to maple, which is the plant associated with the shika card in Hanafuda.
In Shonen Jump's character popularity polls, Shikamaru has been in the Top 10 since the third poll and is usually in the 4th or 5th place. In the most recent poll, however, he was placed 10th. He is the only character on his team to make it to the top 10.
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