How Do You Nickname Pokémon?

I come with either a thematic team from another story, or just puns based on their names (sometimes both at the same time).

 

Growing up, I never really nicknamed my Pokémon. I just didn't find a use for it.
However, nowadays, I've been naming my main party Pokémon. What nicknames do I use? Well, I use any names that pop in my head. You know like meme, doge, Flowerdog, you know the normal stuff.

 

My names are just something silly usually. Something that fits them usually. Like My Kyogre is named Groudon.

My exceptions to this are the Pokémon that are in my battle teams. Them I'll give them a special name (usually in latin) that sounds cool and is relevant to them. My Gardevoir is named Vita, my gengar is name Peryton (Greek monster that warps it's shadow), and an Aggron named Eisen

 

I only nickname my main team members as well as those for competitive teams. I usually try to make my Pokémon's name some sort of reference (for example, there's Shenron the Rayquaza, McCloud the Ninetales, Nagini the Serperior, Elsa the Weavile, etc.). Once in the blue, I name my Pokémon after my friends, which often causes confusion (for example, Reana the Loudred, Izzy the Giratina, etc.).

 

I tend to name my Pokémon after other game characters (Zelda the Gardevoir, Saria the Bulbasaur, etc.), other anime characters (so if you ever wondered where Lita the wonder chu came from, Lita was Sailor Jupiter's English name), Disney characters (Ariel the Vaporeon, Meeko the Zigzagoon,) American cartoon characters, foreign words that fit the Pokémon (Kitsune the Delphox, Luce the Ampharos), and references to the Pokeworld itself (Misty the Togetic)

 

I've never had a problem naming my starter, I usually always choose water so I call it Waver, ever since my first game I've called my starter waver.
When I joined LV, I started calling all my weedles Endrew (@[member="Endrew Swiftwind"])
I call most my fairy Pokémon thins like pixie and tinker(bell)
I call my grass types lots of different things though. I have AS and OR in Alpha Sapphire, I chose Treeko(OR I chose Mudkip)I called it Razor, that's the only grass type line I call razor, it's because of their razor sharp leaves.
I call my legendaries really stupid names though, my Regigigas is called Max, my Registeel is callled Silvestre and I don't even know why!

I guess I just name them by thinking about their appearance and what would be funny.

 

http://lakevalor.net/uploads/imgs/pre_1459081447__screenshot_2016-03-22-12-57-46.png Well I name those lines that. I name non-shiny Gyarados Aquamarage, and shiny ones Ruby Rage. I name my Poochyena lines Oran now, after accidentally referencing a story i started the first time. I also named an Ursaring "Thief". It used up so many flipping Pokeballs, that no other name was appropriate.

Uniburn- Obvious reason is obvious due to evolution.

El Nido!- My dad suggested this name YEARS ago for a Nidorino. I liked it enough that it stuck.

ByDPwrOSpn- By D Power O Spoon.

DerpyDragon- Dragonite is a derpy Dragon.

Flowr Powr- Obvious reason is obvious

RockPounch- My dad created an accent/spelling where "u" is pronounced as "ow" and spelled as "ou"

 

I didn't nicknamed my Pokémon exept the Pokémons in emerald. It is funny but i gave pokemons my friend's name that suits them better.
For ex-
I got pikachu so i named it by a friend of mine who loves stuff toys and cute stuff.

Then i got weedle and nicknamed it by a friend who hates bug. It was a lot of fun playing and battling with weedle in front of her.

 

I used to never nickname Pokémon but nowadays it's half and half. When I do nickname them, I like to try and make their names references to other video games I've played and enjoyed.

 

I nickname any Pokémon that's going to actually be utilized in battle, even if it's just momentary. Most of the time I nickname them for characters in other media I like, or sometimes just words that relate to their name.

Examples of names taken from media.
Steelix - Sigma (robotic main villain of Mega Man X),
Venusaur - Kronos (Greek god of time and agriculture),
Feraligatr - Gojira (aka Godzilla, since Fera' is a large destructive reptile with aquatic origins)
Crobat - Nightwing (or if it's female, Barbara)
Arbok - Rednammok (I won't explain this one, but you earn cool points if you know why I chose it)
Ariados - Anansi (one of my favorite figures from pan-African folklore)
Roserade - Prospero (from Poe's Masque of the Red Death: the masquerade mask and poison seem to fit)

Names that relate to the style of Pokémon:
Blaziken - Altair (from an Arabic term meaning "the flying chicken eagle", good for such a cool bird)
Gengar - Double (since he's like an evil duplicate of Clefable),
Carbink - Ἀδάμας (greek word for "unbreakable", and a root-word for diamond (that's his name in Showdown, which supports Greek letters, otherwise Adamas)) are examples of the second variety.
Marowak - Orphon (beta official name for the Pokémon that would later be Marowak)
Golem - Cannon Ball (her shape, also one of my favorite songs)

Rarely I do silly names though:
Pikachu - some abbreviated form of "Japanese Mickey Mouse"
Dodrio - Cer-bird-us (like Cerberus, the three-headed demon dog of various Mediterranean cultures)
Gigalith - Giggle (first two syllables of its name have a totally different meaning)

 

I remember a topic just like this before it was archived, and I have to post here again because MY WAYS OF NICKNAMING HAVE CHANGED.

Before it was typically something of German origin, simply because I liked the way words flowed in the language, and each Pokémon's name held meaning.

HOWEVER... nowadays I literally name them after whatever first comes to mind. Literally. Be it "Noodles" or "Distraction" or "Tile" and "Snowy" to name a few. While it may seem like I don't put much thought into the names, for some reason it makes them feel all the more special to me, as if their name can hold any meaning I choose. Plus, it is kind of funny when people look through my PC box.

 

I nickname Pokémon using my gut feeling, just like how I do many more things with my gut feeling.
In the past, I used to nickname my Pokémon by their appearance or cute nicknames because I thought they were cute ("Schaapje" -> Little Sheep for my Ampharos in W2 because I caught it as a Mareep and back then, it was, well, a little sheep. Yay for creativity).
Nowadays, I stare at a Pokèmon's image until a nickname comes to mind. I still tend to play with the Pokémon's original name though (I can't seem to stop naming Lucario Luca, for example).

 

I actually don't have a certain style when it comes to nicknaming my Pokémon, as I've seen from doing a Nuzlocke of Platinum. There are various reasons I give the Pokémon the nicknames I do.

Lucario - The Main (He's my main in Smash Bros, and it's the whole reason I like him so much)

Steelix - F Trading (I caught him as a Steelix in Iron Island, when I would've normally had to trade... which would otherwise be impossible for me)

Togekiss - HaxGoddess (I've used/faced this thing enough to know this is true)

Golduck - HLPCANTSWM (Referencing Misty's Psyduck)

Houndoom - Fajita (Like the Heatah Fajita's various PokeTubers do)

Zubat - Dickball (Literally the Zubat's nickname from Nate&Dookie's SoulSilver Nuzlocke)

Pachirisu - 2014 Hype (Se Jun Park won in 2014 with Pachirisu)

Roselia - Wonderbud (Pretty much the first thing I thought of off the top of my head)

Graveler - Geopult (Was supposed to be a reference to how it launched Geodudes in it's Pokédex entry... then I realized I mistook it for Rhyperior's Dex Entry :/ )

Gastrodon - Sqwoosh (It's squishy )

Turtwig - Paul (I asked my friend to name it.)

Rapidash - NobleSteed (I was watching Shrek at the time at the part where Fiona called Donkey a Noble Steed)

Snover - NIIIIIIICE (I couldn't think of anything at the time, so I was just like "ok, uncreative as heck name time" )

Unown - USELESS (You could guess why)

Magikarp - Khrp (I name all of my Magikarps/Gyarados Khrp now because Nate&Dookie once did a wondertrade of nothing but Magikarps)

Haunter - Licker (The toungue)

Kirlia - Erika (Because she seems similar to Erika, right?)

Staravia - Edgy Kid (You can't just sit there and tell me Staravia/Staraptor DOESN'T look like some kind of edgy kid/teenager)

Onix - Bronzor (I REEEEALLY wanted to get a Bronzor...)

Bibarel - Yo Mama (Take a guess)

Meditite - DKD (Literally only because of it's knees and because of High Jump Kick)

Chingling - Choro (I dunno, it was the first thing I thought and it was similar sounding to Chorus)

Abra - Foo foo (I have no idea why)

Leafeon - Synth (For the future Leafeon I knew I would have)

Now if SOMEONE can find any sort of pattern in these names, I'd love to know.

 

I mostly use a "poetic" touch when nicknaming my Pokémon.
Or borrow from Diablo games.

Those names are always awesome.
Except I don't make them nearly as full on, as that game implies.

 

I don't generally nickname my Pokémon, except in things like Nuzlockes.

When I do, I usually leave my nicknames as the general name, then take it to the Name Rater. I check it's personality and Characteristics and then decide on a name for it from that, it's gender and the species of Pokémon that it is.

Or, as in my current AS Nuzlocke, I've named them after RWBY Characters, Roman Torchic (OMG I just realised that), and Coco the Zigzagoon. Feel free to question me why I called them as such.

 

I nickname Pokémon by the feeling I get from them
for example staraptor seems like it could fly at blazing speeds and it has that red hair thing so I name it blaze
tyrannitar looks like a colossal beast of a reptile so I name it godzilla

 

The names I give to Pokémon are ones that I think suit them for example...

Celsius for Fennekin
Thunder for Pikachu
Gekk for Treeko-Septile
Spitfire for Latias (named after the World War II British fighter plane.)
Kenobi for Lucario (yeah. I named him. After a Jedi. Because come on, the aura and the force are pretty much the same.)

 

I name them after characters in the popular manga series: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.
Really I just name them after Jojo chars I'm lame.