A Pokémon name is usually a small puzzle. Two words get squashed together, a sound is borrowed, or a word from another language gets twisted. This page explains 40 well-known names from all nine generations, sorted by the trick behind them. Click Hear it to listen.
One honest note first. The people who named Pokémon rarely explain their choices, so many meanings below are careful guesses. A plain verb ("comes from") means the meaning is well backed up. Words like "may" and "likely" mean it is an informed guess. Where Game Freak or a designer has said something, we say so.
Two words squashed together
The easiest trick is to glue two words into one. In many of them, one word names the animal and the other adds a clue about it.
| Pokémon | Gen | The name... | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squirtle | 1 | is 'squirt' plus 'turtle'. | Hear it |
| Psyduck | 1 | probably 'psychic' plus 'duck'. | Hear it |
| Snorlax | 1 | likely 'snore' plus 'lax', as in relaxed. | Hear it |
| Cyndaquil | 2 | may be 'cinder' plus 'quill', a porcupine's spine. | Hear it |
| Totodile | 2 | may be 'tot', a small child, plus 'crocodile'. | Hear it |
| Treecko | 3 | is 'tree' plus 'gecko'. | Hear it |
| Mudkip | 3 | may be 'mud' plus 'skip', and also nods to the mudskipper, a fish that hops over mud. | Hear it |
| Bidoof | 4 | may be 'beaver' plus 'doofus', slang for a silly person. | Hear it |
| Tepig | 5 | may be 'tepid', meaning lukewarm, plus 'pig'. | Hear it |
| Skwovet | 8 | seems to be 'squirrel' plus 'covet', which means to want something badly. | Hear it |
Look at Squirtle and Treecko. You can read the name out loud and spot both halves. Snorlax likely joins 'snore' and 'lax', which suits a Pokémon that spends so much time asleep.
Japanese words
Some English names are the Japanese name unchanged. Japanese has many sound words, and the creators used them for names.
| Pokémon | Gen | The name... | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pikachu | 1 | is pikapika, a sparkling flash, plus chūchū, a mouse's squeak. Its Japanese name is the same. | Hear it |
| Suicune | 2 | may use sui (water), suishō (crystal) and kun, a word for a lord. | Hear it |
| Rayquaza | 3 | may come from rekkū, 'sky-rending', and za, 'seat', as in the word for a constellation. | Hear it |
| Reshiram | 5 | comes from shiro, 'white'. The 'Re' was picked as a softer sound than Zekrom's 'Ze'. | Hear it |
| Zekrom | 5 | comes from kuro, 'black'. The 'Ze' was picked as a harder, stronger sound. | Hear it |
Reshiram and Zekrom are a pair. Ken Sugimori has said the "Re" and the "Ze" were picked on purpose, one soft and one hard. If you want to see the Japanese names of other Pokémon, Pokémon names in other languages lists them.
Sounds and letters
A few names are just noises, or even letters.
| Pokémon | Gen | The name... | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eevee | 1 | is just the sound of the letters E and V, the first two letters of 'Evolution'. | Hear it |
| Drowzee | 1 | may be 'drowsy' plus 'zzz', the sound of snoring. | Hear it |
| Piplup | 4 | likely echoes 'plop', the sound of a pebble landing in water. | Hear it |
| Mimikyu | 7 | may be 'mimic' plus kyūkyū, a squeaking sound like Pikachu's. | Hear it |
| Quaxly | 9 | may mix 'quack', 'wax' and 'duckling'. | Hear it |
Eevee has the simplest story. The name is just how you say "E V". The Japanese name is the same sound.
Names from other languages
Several names borrow words from French, Spanish, Latin and more. The meanings below are all informed guesses.
| Pokémon | Gen | The name... | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machop | 1 | is 'macho', Spanish and Portuguese for male, plus 'chop'. | Hear it |
| Umbreon | 2 | may be 'umbra', Latin for shadow, plus 'eon', the ending all the Eevee evolutions share. | Hear it |
| Glaceon | 4 | may be 'glacier' or the French glace, meaning ice, plus 'eon'. | Hear it |
| Gardevoir | 3 | may blend French words: garde (to guard), devoir (duty) and voir (to see). | Hear it |
| Zorua | 5 | may be zorro, Spanish for fox, plus rua, Irish for red. | Hear it |
| Greninja | 6 | may be grenouille, French for frog, plus 'ninja'. | Hear it |
| Sprigatito | 9 | may be 'sprig' plus gatito, Spanish for kitten. | Hear it |
| Fuecoco | 9 | may be fuego, Spanish for fire, plus cocodrilo, crocodile. | Hear it |
The "eon" at the end of Umbreon and Glaceon is shared by all the Eevee evolutions, which is why those names look related. For a Pokémon from the newer games, Sprigatito and Fuecoco use Spanish.
Food and drink
Several newer Pokémon have food or drink hiding in their names.
| Pokémon | Gen | The name... | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applin | 8 | may be 'apple' plus 'in'. | Hear it |
| Sinistea | 8 | may be 'sinister' plus 'tea'. | Hear it |
| Smoliv | 9 | may be 'small' (or the cute spelling 'smol') plus 'olive'. | Hear it |
| Scovillain | 9 | may be Scoville, the scale that measures how hot a chilli is, plus 'villain'. | Hear it |
| Tatsugiri | 9 | may be tatsu, Japanese for dragon, plus nigirizushi, the hand-pressed sushi. | Hear it |
| Pecharunt | 9 | may be 'peach' (or the Pecha Berry) plus 'runt'. | Hear it |
Famous words and stories
Last, some names point to something famous, like a magic word, a statue or a saying.
| Pokémon | Gen | The name... | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abra | 1 | may come from 'abracadabra', a stage magician's magic word. | Hear it |
| Farfetch'd | 1 | probably plays on 'far-fetched', meaning hard to believe. Its Japanese name is built from kamo (duck) and negi (spring onion). | Hear it |
| Sudowoodo | 2 | is a twisted 'pseudo', meaning false, plus 'wood'. It pretends to be a tree. | Hear it |
| Mewtwo | 1 | is 'Mew' plus 'two', the Pokémon it was cloned from. | Hear it |
| Milotic | 3 | may combine the Venus de Milo, a famous statue of beauty, with 'aquatic'. | Hear it |
| Arceus | 4 | may combine the Ancient Greek arkhē, 'origin', with Zeus. | Hear it |
Farfetch'd hides a pun in two languages. Its English name probably plays on "far-fetched". The Japanese name, Kamonegi, comes from the words for duck and spring onion, which is part of an old proverb about an easy target.
What the names show
Across the 40 names, the biggest group is two English words squashed together, with 10. Eight borrow from French, Spanish, Latin or Irish, six hide food or drink, and five are Japanese words. Some meanings are plain, and others stay guesses.
Next time you meet a new Pokémon, try to guess the two halves before you look it up. You can also practise saying the names with the pronunciation guide.