Pokemon Species Alternate Names!!

Something a bit different as a fun distraction from stress!

I spent last week refining some plans related to Dreamons’ setting and story, but got thrown off mid-way through the week when a health scare put my mum in hospital for the better part of a day.

Then, just a couple of days after that, my step-dad’s relatives had some huge party in the adjacent community hall, which meant dozens of people were milling in and out of my house. And one guy stayed overnight here, for two nights.

I just spent my time hiding in my room ‘bed rotting’ - as they seem to say these days - like the almost-37-year-old-man I absolutely don’t feel like I am, due to my various mental issues (I can’t concentrate with strangers around in the same way that a severe arachnophobe couldn’t concentrate with a large spider on their ceiling). I lost the whole weekend and most of Monday.

I passed the time by playing a lot of Pokemon FireRed on my phone (using an emulator called Delta), since I started that for whatever reason a while back and wanted to finish it rather than abandoning it half way.

I have some stuff I want to write about Dreamons - specifically story-related thoughts and plans for the game, with accompanying concept art - though I’ll probably do that in a Patreon post since I haven’t updated there in a while. Hopefully I’ll write that in the next day or two.

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To relieve some tension in my broken brain and have a bit of fun while stretching the ol’ creativity muscles, I want to use the rest of this post to list several alternative names for Pokemon species I came up with!!1

I greatly admire the designs of Pokemon, and usually am impressed by - or at least have no issue with - their English names, which are typically clever, meaningful portmanteaus. I find them inspiring, and look forward to each new generation mostly so I can admire all the new carefully-designed creatures.

But some names stand out to me in a way that gets me thinking about how I might do them differently. Especially with the generation I designs - which the FireRed version I’ve recently been playing is focused around - which were designed and named with far less careful planning (compare Ekans to Combee, or Mankey to Dhelmise).

Rabbish (rabbit + radish) and Anguist (angst + guise + geist + anguish), which I made for Atonal Dreams. This gif is from 2021, apparently. TIME FLIES.

I’ve designed my own creatures over the years, so I’m familiar with and interested in the process of coming up with layered designs and names. I enjoy the process! So I was automatically applying the kind of brainstorming I had to do when naming those while enduring the repetitive battles Kanto seems to be full of, to keep my mind engaged as much as anything.

Even people who aren’t fans of Pokemon will be so familiar with many of the gen 1 names that any attempt to suggest alternatives would be essentially heresy. “It’s different to what’s established and what I’m accustomed to so it’s bad and wrong!”

I’m fond of them too, and would find it odd and annoying if they were suddenly changed. Offensive, even!

So the suggestions here should be considered as something like an alternative universe, how things could have been, rather than what I think they should be changed to now.

Anyway. Here’s a list!

(With images taken from Bulbapedia.)

Oh, actually, I’ll include a number of stars (eg ★★★☆☆) for how confidently I feel each of the alternatives would be an improvement!

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Mimikyu → Pikaboo

Pikachu + peek-a-boo + boo (like a ghost)

★★★☆☆

This one came to mind years ago, and it’s what got me started considering alternate names for others (I suppose because I’d got into making my own designs when gen 7 came out, whereas I played gen 1 as a far less discerning child). It seemed like such a frustratingly missed opportunity! It’d make more sense if the ghost regularly emerged from its disguise to surprise, though. I get that it retained its Japanese name like Pikachu did (as do all the other Pika clones; wait, is Mimikyu a Pika clone? A brief google suggests it depends on who you ask), and it's interesting that its name is based on English words (mimic + you) even in Japan. I’d definitely call Pikaboo an alternative, but not an improvement.

Dewpider → Spiver

Spider + diver

★★★★★

Or maybe this is the one that got me started? I remember feeling viscerally irritated by the name of this when I first saw it while playing Sun for the first time. Why call it Dewpider when Spidew is right there?? Why?!? I suspect the only reason for it is because of copyright issues or something? (But does that mean names like ‘Hypno’, ‘Golem’, and ‘Gloom’ WERE copyrighted somehow??) Such a shame, because I love its design AND both the design and name of Araquanid! Originally I had this one as Spidew - as that’d been what I thought it should be for years - though while writing this, ‘Spiver’ came to mind, which I think is an even better alternative! (The design is based on the diving bell spider.)

Golurk → Goloom

Golem + loom + gloom

★★★★★

It looms (towers imposingly) way more than it lurks (hides sneakily)! And is a gloomy ghost. I imagine the only reason it ISN'T called this is because there's already a Pokemon called Gloom. I wonder whether Goloom was the intended name by the creator, considering he’s British (so likely would have been considering an English language name while designing). I’d be surprised if NOBODY considered it!

Oddish → Wanderoot

Wander + root (also ‘wander out’)

★★★☆☆

I also considered Sproutanabout (sprout + ‘out and about’), which I find funny, though it’s too long!

Gloom → Raffloomy

Rafflesia + bloom + gloomy

★☆☆☆☆

I took a stab at this evolutionary line because I had Goloom just above, and thought this one’s name was lazy so it’d be easy to improve upon. I just read on Wikipedia that Gloom is based on gloom + bloom + glue (its saliva), though, which is cleverer than I ever realised! Probably better than my half-baked idea here.

Vileplume → Ranciflora

Rancid + rafflesia + flora

★★★★☆

Or Ranciffloria, though that’s too long! Could also be Rancifflesia or similar. Seems odd that its original name makes no reference to the kind of flower it’s based on. “General Vileplume” could be a good name for the leader of an evil crow army in a fantasy story about talking birds.

Rattata → Rattack

Rat + attack

★★★★★

Or Rattak. Fits as a prevolution to Raticate (rat + eradicate). I don't get why they didn't go with this. Rattata sounds like machine gun fire or something, or knocking on a door. And it already had Rattatak as its beta name, apparently, so they dropped the ck bit and kept the attata. Why??

Magikarp → Koing

Koi + king

★★★★★

One of my favourites in this list! The design is already based on a king (its dorsal fin is a golden crown and its colours match the robe of an archetypal king; it’s one of the cleverer gen 1 designs if interpreted as such) and it's called Koiking in the original Japanese. 'Koing' also sounds goofy in a way that's fitting for the Pokemon, while Magikarp sounds arcane (I get that it's meant sarcastically/ironically, like calling a chihuahua 'Goliath', but calling it a king also has that effect).

Gyarados → Fiercerpent

Fierce + Fear + serpent

★★☆☆☆

According to Ken Sugimori (via Bulbapedia), “Gyarados's name has no specific origin and was chosen merely for its ‘force’”. It’s also left untranslated, for whatever reason (they discarded the beta name ‘Skulkraken’, thankfully, since that’d better fit a bone-clad cephalopod). It’s probably less clumsy and challenging to pronounce - and more ‘forceful’ - in Japanese; ‘gya’ doesn’t really occur in English, so it just comes across as strange. I remember always feeling it was a weird name, as an immersed child who knew nothing of the behind-the-scenes. Fiercerpent (Fierserpent? Though maybe that reads as ‘fiery’?) seems to fit with its associated traits. Hardly perfect though.

Ponyta → Foalare

Foal + flame + mare (possibly)

★★★☆☆

Or Foalame (foal + flame), though maybe that reads like ‘follow me’? Foal is more appropriate for a young horse than pony, and how well-known among English-speakers is the word 'bonita'? I've never heard Ponyta not pronounced as 'pony taah', which just sounds inelegant, awkward, meaningless. Maybe this would be misread as ‘fo-LAR-ee/ay’ or something though.

Rapidash → Horch

Horse + scorch or torch

★☆☆☆☆

Or Scorse (scorch + horse). Probably too silly to fit; doesn't give the right elegant impression. Sounds like hooch, porch, porsche, pooch, hork, etc; silly! Mostly included here because I did Ponyta. And because I found it funny.

Growlithe → Puppyro

Pup(py) + pyro

★★★☆☆

Growlithe is growl + lithe, but what about this Pokemon is lithe? No wonder it's usually mispronounced as growl-ith (which fits with its rocky regional form, actually, since lith = stone). I wonder whether Puppyro would end up getting pronounced as 'puppy-roe' though (yum yum?). Puppyro would be even more perfect if it had Egyptian aspects to its design (papyrus)!

Arcanine → Emberoar

Ember + roar + emperor

★★★★★

I love this one! I also love the name Arcanine (arcane + canine), but it seems more appropriate for a mystical psychic dog rather than an imposing, quasi-legendary fiery one (plus it's commonly mispronounced as 'ARCA-nine' - even in official media - losing all meaning). Emberoar probably couldn't work now though considering Emboar (a great name) exists.

Bulbasaur → Bulbufo

Bulb + bufo

☆☆☆☆☆

‘Bufo’ means toad in a few languages, which it’s more like than a dinosaur. Its Japanese name, Fushigidane, means ‘strange seed’, so maybe ‘bufo’ being similar to ‘buffoon’ is kind of similar?? Bit of a stretch, though. It’s called ‘Bulbizarre’ in French, which is probably even better! At least when it comes to matching the original Japanese name; it doesn’t seem especially odd, design-wise, to me.

…Actually, while reviewing this post, I’ve changed my mind on this! I read somewhere that the designers considered this line to be based on frogs, though I wouldn’t say they actually ARE frogs, visually. The -saur suffix makes more sense even than the original Japanese names, I’d say. There’s something valuable in this being its own unique thing (a Bulbasaur) rather than, say, ‘a frog with plant aspects’, which - while maybe cleverer - might be more generic.

Ivysaur → Herbasaur

Herb + dinosaur

★★★☆☆

I had Plantoad for this, but considering the revision above, I changed it to this. Nothing about the visual design suggests ivy! It’s not explicitly herbs either (though that’s a much vaguer term anyway), but I’d say it’s closer, plus I like how it sounds like ‘herbivore’ (though are these herbivores, I wonder??). Huh huh. I nicknamed mine Spliffy Mc420. Huh huh.

Venusaur → Florasaur

Flora + dinosaur

★★★★★

Rolls off the tongue as easily as Venusaur - arguably even better due to the rhyming syllables - but makes more sense with the design, in my opinion! Why didn’t they just go with this?? It has no venus fly traps on it, nor is it a goddess of beauty or a planet!!!

Charmander → Palamander

Pal + salamander

★★★★☆

Salamanders are already a kind of mythical fire lizard, so adding 'char' only doubles up on that. 'Pal' as in friend because it's a starter, cute, friendly, etc (though annoyingly might bring to mind Palworld these days). I wonder if it's only called Charmander and not Charamander because of the 10 character limit (like with Feraligatr)? I doubt the inclusion of ‘charm’ was deliberate.

Charmeleon → Salamanger

Salamander + anger

★★★★☆

While I like the original combination of char + chameleon, this Pokemon isn't a chameleon! It’s still a fire lizard, but angrier, and this name reflects that. Notable alternatives I considered first, which only change the prefix: Iremander (ire meaning anger), Firemander, Angermander, Dandermander (which I adore, as dander can mean both 'cinder' and 'passion, temper, anger', though it’d sound like a goofy pet prone to shedding).

Charizard → Salamaster

Salamander + master

★★★☆☆

With ‘master’ meaning ‘the best at something’. Doesn’t really feel right though, as ‘master’ implies something cerebral and deliberate, whereas this thing’s strength is more bestial, like a force of nature (Salamagma?). I also considered Dragomander, Drakomander, Wyrmander, or similar, though they seem worse. Ehh. Seems silly though that Charizard is char + lizard, when 'lizard' seems less imposing than even salamander. Charizard sounds imposing, though I wonder how much of that is due to years of association and familiarity. Or maybe it’s just the COOL ZED. (Now I’m wishing it was like a wizard so it could be called Salamancer.)

Wartortle → Watertle

Water + turtle

★★☆☆☆

I think the name Squirtle is perfect and cannot be improved upon, so I’m not going to try! I wonder if ‘Watertle’ was what ‘Wartortle’ was aiming for, actually (I always wondered what about it was either warlike or warty). Other consideration: Tidetle, though that feels harder to parse to me. Or maybe it should be called Testurtle because it’s testy. You know, like irritable. Testurtle. Yes. I would train two. Also I said Charmander doubled up on two fire words as if that was a reason to change it, but this name does exactly that with water words (like ‘sky bird’) because I am a terrible hypocrite or something.

Blastoise → Torrentle

Torrent + turtle + torrential

★★★★☆

Or Torrentoise. Torraintle? Hmm. I also have no issues with Blastoise, though ‘torrent’ seems more water-related than the more generic ‘blast’ to me. And turtles live in the sea, unlike tortoises.

Voltorb → Ohmimic

Ohm + mimic + oh! (surprise) + O (round)

★★★★☆

Ohm is as much an electrical term as volt. Voltorb (the name) has no connotations of mimicry; Ohmimic has layered meanings. Other considerations: Electrorb (electro + orb), Poworb (electric power + explosive (pow!) + orb).

Electrode → Dynamorb

Dynamo + orb

★★★★★

Dynamo can mean either an electricity generator or an energetic person. Not a vampire.

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That’s probably enough. FOR NOW!! I started with the ones that’d stuck in my mind for years, but this post sort of turned into me going through the Pokedex and trying to come up with new names for everything for the sake of it. I have other things I should be spending my time on!!

Do you prefer any of these over the originals, or have any ideas for alternative Pokemon species names of your own??

Hopefully I haven’t offended anyone with my blasphemous revisions of sacred favourites!!