I believe the other user was right. It is agreed that his real name is Gran, not grand Haloman333-My Head Asploded!-|My Doomsday Theory 23:59, 1 July 2009 (UTC)
I figured it was a French name, since 'Basque' is a French word and the 'd' in Grand is silent in French. But then again, since - as a military member - Iron Blood would have been named after some sort of military vehicle or hardware, I'd be fully convinced if I could find something military with the name Gran on it. Grand is probably too common a word/name to be attributed to any one war machine or make, but my searches for 'Gran' haven't brought up anything at all. I'll leave it as it is and keep an eye out for anything conclusive in the meantime. CorbeauKarasu 00:49, 2 July 2009 (UTC)
Actually, his name is Basque Grand, at least according to Brotherhood. Episode 4, An Alchemist's Anguish, when Maes Hughes is looking over some reports, there's a picture of Basque and under it it reads "Basque Grand". Make of it what you will. Nub888 02:18, March 5, 2010 (UTC)
Yeah, I moved it back. I'm sure it's Grand and both anime support that, according to Nub888. CorbeauKarasu 03:16, April 29, 2010 (UTC)
Gran The Place[]
Gran (now called Esztergom) is also the former capital of Hungury. It could be a reference to Brigadier General Gran's strength, to be named after a capital? Full Metal Fan 20:52, March 5, 2010 (UTC)
Shouldn't he be the former Brigadier General since he died? It says Maes Hughes is the Brigadier General too so I thought Hughes just took his place?Crona-Chan (talk) 03:16, July 17, 2013 (UTC)
No, because Brigadier General is just a rank, it's not a position to be filled. Just like how there are multiple State Alchemists, Majors, Major Generals, Privates, etc, there are multiple Brigadier Generals too. The only rank that is a position to be filled is the very top, the Fuhrer. But everything else below it, multiple people can occupy. Tommy-Vercetti (talk) 16:54, July 17, 2013 (UTC)
Parallels to German officers in WWI?[]
The title "Blood Iron Alchemist" brings to mind Otto von Bismarck's "Blood and Iron" speech. Also, his mustache is remeniscent of that of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Both men were top German officials during the First World War, and considering that Fullmetal Alchemist is set during the WWI time period, I feel as though this is a reference to (or even the FMA version of) those two officers. Is there a connection or am I just looking too hard?