Quote Originally Posted by Black Mage
Right. I know enough Japanese to understand the nuances of the language, and I could understand the name changes-- All of them, if those who are translating had nothing more to go on than the katakana itself.

However, that's not the case. The manuals of the Playstation remake, and the GBA port (And I would assume the Super Famicom's as well) have printed romanizations of the characters names. Not only that, but you can also find them in various ToP artbooks. I find it difficult to justify changing of the names so drastically when there is already official material out there.
Just as you find it hard to believe they would do something like that, I find it hard to believe that anyone would care enough to mention it or make any sort of deal out of it. Whether that deal is a BIG deal or a small deal. They are just names and don't change anything in the games story or gameplay.