Hello! Mania here! I still exist!! I haven't commented on these in a while, but I do like Pokémon and I like the process of how they come up with names for them. There certainly are some stinkers among the official translated names, Talonflame always stuck out to be as a particularly bad one when I've seen multiple fan names that are better.
As a fun fact, did you know the translator for the first few generations suggested the name Phantomb for Spiritomb? A much better name, which they didn't go with!
Whether Mimikyu is a clone I think is officially a "no" since Gen 7's one would be the much more forgettable Togedemaru. But I'm sure that if Mimikyu was included it'd be the most favourite Pikachu clone, even more than Pikachu itself! A lot of these Pikachu clones are have untranslated Japanese names that make no sense to me.
I imagine Spidew isn't something they'd go for since it sounds a lot like it ends with "eww"... Or because Budew already exists! I do like Spiver though.
Goloom is also a good name, and it sounds funny! Definitely just not picked because Gloom is already a thing.
I've always liked Oddish since it's a walking Radish, which is Odd. It's clearly a silly name, but that just fits the simple and goody design. I think wacky names like it speak to one of the strengths of how they name Pokémon, which is that they go for variety in how they come up with the names. A lot of yours for example try to combine their base animal/plant origin with their elemental gimmick, which if you use them too much does start to become samey.
Gloom just feels lazy, even if there's stuff like bloom and glue that sound similar it's still just a word. Same with Golem, which isn't even remotely anything like a mythical Golem to begin with!!
Rattack really is just the better name here, though I rather like Rattattak as a name, combining both.
Koing definitely is a better name here! Fun fact, there's actually a random NPC trainer in Kanto in the Gold/Silver games who uses a bunch of 'King' Pokémon and has a comically overleveled Magikarp due to its Japanese name. They actually changed it to a Slowking or such for the original GBC release to match the new translated names, but then forgot to do that in HGSS. Very fascinating!!
Gyarados however I think is a case where the name actually does just sound mystical and powerful. "Gya" sounds like "gyaaaah" which certainly sounds fierce. Sometimes a name's just about having the right vibes, which a simple fierce+serpent doesn't convey as much, that could as much be the name of Ekans if it had an angrier sprite!
Foalare is a name I could see getting really badly mispronounced! While Rapidash is one of those names where they brazenly ignore the fact that this horse is clearly on fire and instead focus the name on how it's incredible fast. Fieryquine? That's certainly not going to be a confusing name for a 5 year old!
I do like Puppyro, that's a cute name. It's also very easy to say as roe, as you point out.
For Herbasaur, I wouldn't be surprised if they chose to not go with it because the word "herb" can be pronounced so differently with whether the H is spoken or silent, a herb vs an herb.
I do like Florasaur though!
Palamander is a cute name, but Pala- makes me think of Paladin more than anything else. A paladin salamander would be a neat design!
Salamanger sounds like it's some mangy creature! A name like Dandermander is also funny and would be viable now, but wouldn't've been back before they increased the character limit! (We still have "Feraligatr" due to that...)
I always assumed Wartortle was like War + Turtle, and it was named after war because... Uh, it gets cannons when it evolves? It was always a weird name to me!
Speaking of Blastoise, it's named Blast because it has huge cannons on its back! This is a case where just naming it a generic water word is much less iconic that the waterblasts it makes from the cannons coming out of its shell! It's also very odd that it has those cannons, are those natural? They seem like such a holdover from the oldest generation where their original plans for the series seemed much more warlike!
Thanks for commenting! I wondered if you might, since this one's probably easier to have something to actually reply to than most of my others these past few months or years. I appreciate that you're still reading these!
I wanted to include Talonflame since it's one I found very irritating when I first saw it - I had one on my team in X, and I think I wondered why they'd gone with such a horrible name several times during my playthrough - but I couldn't actually think of anything better that I liked!
I prefer Phantomb, and didn't know that!
I forgot Mimikyu and Togedemaru were in the same generation! And that Togedemaru existed, actually. I don't like any of the Pika clones, or the convention of sticking with the Japanese names that make no sense in English.
I was thinking myself while coming up with these that there is something to be said for the unique names like Oddish and Gyarados that aren't just combinations of traits; I mentioned it in the Bulbasaur description here. I do like the wordplay of portmanteaus and the creative process of coming up with them, though.
I vaguely remember the king-based Pokemon trainer, but didn't know they changed their party in only the translated version but not its remake!
I'd say Fieryquine would be about as confusing to a child as Arcanine?
'Torrent' means "A violent flow, as of water, lava, etc", "a strong and fast-moving stream of water or other liquid", so it's more appropriate than 'blast' for a stream of water from a cannon/hose/etc. I'd probably actually change Torrentle to five stars since it feels like a perfect fit!
Hello! Mania here! I still exist!! I haven't commented on these in a while, but I do like Pokémon and I like the process of how they come up with names for them. There certainly are some stinkers among the official translated names, Talonflame always stuck out to be as a particularly bad one when I've seen multiple fan names that are better.
As a fun fact, did you know the translator for the first few generations suggested the name Phantomb for Spiritomb? A much better name, which they didn't go with!
Whether Mimikyu is a clone I think is officially a "no" since Gen 7's one would be the much more forgettable Togedemaru. But I'm sure that if Mimikyu was included it'd be the most favourite Pikachu clone, even more than Pikachu itself! A lot of these Pikachu clones are have untranslated Japanese names that make no sense to me.
I imagine Spidew isn't something they'd go for since it sounds a lot like it ends with "eww"... Or because Budew already exists! I do like Spiver though.
Goloom is also a good name, and it sounds funny! Definitely just not picked because Gloom is already a thing.
I've always liked Oddish since it's a walking Radish, which is Odd. It's clearly a silly name, but that just fits the simple and goody design. I think wacky names like it speak to one of the strengths of how they name Pokémon, which is that they go for variety in how they come up with the names. A lot of yours for example try to combine their base animal/plant origin with their elemental gimmick, which if you use them too much does start to become samey.
Gloom just feels lazy, even if there's stuff like bloom and glue that sound similar it's still just a word. Same with Golem, which isn't even remotely anything like a mythical Golem to begin with!!
Rattack really is just the better name here, though I rather like Rattattak as a name, combining both.
Koing definitely is a better name here! Fun fact, there's actually a random NPC trainer in Kanto in the Gold/Silver games who uses a bunch of 'King' Pokémon and has a comically overleveled Magikarp due to its Japanese name. They actually changed it to a Slowking or such for the original GBC release to match the new translated names, but then forgot to do that in HGSS. Very fascinating!!
Gyarados however I think is a case where the name actually does just sound mystical and powerful. "Gya" sounds like "gyaaaah" which certainly sounds fierce. Sometimes a name's just about having the right vibes, which a simple fierce+serpent doesn't convey as much, that could as much be the name of Ekans if it had an angrier sprite!
Foalare is a name I could see getting really badly mispronounced! While Rapidash is one of those names where they brazenly ignore the fact that this horse is clearly on fire and instead focus the name on how it's incredible fast. Fieryquine? That's certainly not going to be a confusing name for a 5 year old!
I do like Puppyro, that's a cute name. It's also very easy to say as roe, as you point out.
For Herbasaur, I wouldn't be surprised if they chose to not go with it because the word "herb" can be pronounced so differently with whether the H is spoken or silent, a herb vs an herb.
I do like Florasaur though!
Palamander is a cute name, but Pala- makes me think of Paladin more than anything else. A paladin salamander would be a neat design!
Salamanger sounds like it's some mangy creature! A name like Dandermander is also funny and would be viable now, but wouldn't've been back before they increased the character limit! (We still have "Feraligatr" due to that...)
I always assumed Wartortle was like War + Turtle, and it was named after war because... Uh, it gets cannons when it evolves? It was always a weird name to me!
Speaking of Blastoise, it's named Blast because it has huge cannons on its back! This is a case where just naming it a generic water word is much less iconic that the waterblasts it makes from the cannons coming out of its shell! It's also very odd that it has those cannons, are those natural? They seem like such a holdover from the oldest generation where their original plans for the series seemed much more warlike!
Dynamorbillion.
Thanks for commenting! I wondered if you might, since this one's probably easier to have something to actually reply to than most of my others these past few months or years. I appreciate that you're still reading these!
I wanted to include Talonflame since it's one I found very irritating when I first saw it - I had one on my team in X, and I think I wondered why they'd gone with such a horrible name several times during my playthrough - but I couldn't actually think of anything better that I liked!
I prefer Phantomb, and didn't know that!
I forgot Mimikyu and Togedemaru were in the same generation! And that Togedemaru existed, actually. I don't like any of the Pika clones, or the convention of sticking with the Japanese names that make no sense in English.
I was thinking myself while coming up with these that there is something to be said for the unique names like Oddish and Gyarados that aren't just combinations of traits; I mentioned it in the Bulbasaur description here. I do like the wordplay of portmanteaus and the creative process of coming up with them, though.
I vaguely remember the king-based Pokemon trainer, but didn't know they changed their party in only the translated version but not its remake!
I'd say Fieryquine would be about as confusing to a child as Arcanine?
'Torrent' means "A violent flow, as of water, lava, etc", "a strong and fast-moving stream of water or other liquid", so it's more appropriate than 'blast' for a stream of water from a cannon/hose/etc. I'd probably actually change Torrentle to five stars since it feels like a perfect fit!