5th Gen English Name Discussion

[Ho-Oh]

The other thread was getting old and had pretty much no direction other than pretty much being "English names gogogo discuss". Either way, remaking it now with some questions to guide discussion upon. :) Remember though, the rivals name discussion has a thread for it, but you're free to discuss any other names.

Please note that if you're playing a game in a language other than English, you're free to answer these questions in the context of whichever language you want. It's just primarily English names because this is an English forum.

1. Which is your favourite Pokémon, Trainer or City/Location name in Black and White? Why? Did you know its Japanese name - do you prefer that? And which is your least favourite?

2. How do you feel about features being renamed, which are the PokéShifter to the PokéTransfer, the Live Caster to the Xtransciever and High Link (Hilink) to the Entralink? (May have possibly missed some)

3. Do you think that as a whole in this generation, the meanings of the names were more creative than in other generations? For example, Tepig, as in Tepid + Pig. Are there any you favour, but aren't necessarily your favourites?

4. How do you feel about the name change from Isshu to Unova (varies depending on language)? Was it needed?

5. If you had the power to rename some English names, what would you rename them to and why? Any special reason behind those names?

6. Touya & Touko... better in Japanese or English?

Those are just a few questions to start you guys off, you can discuss as many of those questions as you want, and because this is a discussion thread, you are free to discuss other people's points of view on the English names.~

 

[Maple Meganium]

I don't know very many of the Japanese names because I avoided spoilers.
Shelmet has a nice ring to it.

 

[Gymnotide]

Hilbert and Hilda are really stupid and dumb names. New York? More like Germany.

 

[TheMarkCrafter]

1. Which is your favourite Pokémon, Trainer or City/Location name in Black and White? Why? Did you know its Japanese name - do you prefer that? And which is your least favourite?
Favorite Pokemon= Klink, because i thought it is a gear..
Trainer= Cilan, xD good question Dent/Dento was a funny Name
Location= Castelia City, cuz it was Huin like Hawaii.. not same/Nacrene City, its old name was Shippou City, which that means a Ship sails at the next town.. xD TOO MUCH FUNNY JAPANESE NAMES!

2. How do you feel about features being renamed, which are the PokéShifter to the PokéTransfer, the Live Caster to the Xtransciever and High Link (Hilink) to the Extralink? (May have possibly missed some)
Nintendo to Game Freak..
3. Do you think that as a whole in this generation, the meanings of the names were more creative than in other generations? For example, Tepig, as in Tepid + Pig. Are there any you favour, but aren't necessarily your favourites?

4. How do you feel about the name change from Isshu to Unova (varies depending on language)? Was it needed?
Umm.. Yeah, it is.
5. If you had the power to rename some English names, what would you rename them to and why? Any special reason behind those names?
Uh.. i won't do that.
6. Touya & Touko... better in Japanese or English?
I say Touko..

 

[Taemin]

Hilbert and Hilda are really stupid and dumb names. New York? More like Germany.

My thoughts, exactly. D:

Some of the Pokemon name's might've taken me some getting used to, but the new trainers have, hands down, the worst character names in the entire franchise.

Of course that's my opinion, so agree or disagree, but wow.

I usually call them either Black and White, or Touya and Touko.
Totally refuse to call them by their English names. xD;


Also, I'm not understanding why they made the Isshu > Unova change. Since it's the first time ever than a regions name has been completely revamped. To be honest, I was disappointed. Not in the name itself, but just in the fact that there really was no reason to change it. 'Isshu' isn't really hard to say, and it could be no worse than the typical mispronunciation of Kanto (Kahn-tow, not Can-tow =w=).

 

[Sarcastic Prince]

Hilbert and Hilda are really stupid and dumb names. New York? More like Germany.

Tell ya what. I disagree. They're not dumb, but they're not good either.
Moderate names, I'd say.

By the way, I don't know ANY of the Japanese names, but I like
Castelia City (Name), because the name "fits".

My thoughts, exactly. D:

Some of the Pokemon name's might've taken me some getting used to, but the new trainers have, hands down, the worst character names in the entire franchise.

Of course that's my opinion, so agree or disagree, but wow.

I usually call them either Black and White, or Touya and Touko.
Totally refuse to call them by their English names. xD;


Also, I'm not understanding why they made the Isshu > Unova change. Since it's the first time ever than a regions name has been completely revamped. To be honest, I was disappointed. Not in the name itself, but just in the fact that there really was no reason to change it. 'Isshu' isn't really hard to say, and it could be no worse than the typical mispronunciation of Kanto (Kahn-tow, not Can-tow =w=).

"Kanto" is actually pronounced as "Can-toe". That's how the PKMN anime dub pronounced it. Black and White are ridiculous names. I mean, who would name their kids with colors? Nobody would. Touya and Touko are worse. Japanese names are damn hard to pronounce. (Although Japanese sound like Chinese, I still find it hard to pronounce) Hilda and Hilbert are not good names either, but I don't see what's wrong with them.

Also, the Isshu > Unova change is made because "Isshu" is quite hard to pronounce compared to Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. (Actually, Sinnoh had a name change too. It was "Shinno" in Japanese, I think.)
They made a name change because "Unova" is much easier to pronounce.

 

[PlatinumDude]

1. I liked Daikenki's renaming into Samurott because its English name suits its role (samurai otter) best. My least favorite renaming is Arti to Burgh because I didn' think that "Burgh" doesn't suit the type he uses.
2. Pokeshifter to Poketransfer: didn't care
Live Caster to Xtranceiver: good, but instead of saying "cross," I would've liked "X" to be said instead.
High Link to Entralink: didn't care
3. The Deino line's English names are very creative. Using the German words for 1, 2 and 3 as a reference to the number of heads they have is genius.
4. I was annoyed, but I grew into it.
5. I'd keep Braviary as Wargle because Wargle is a good enough English name already.
6. touya and Touko need better names.

 

[Zeffy]

The only problem I have with the English names are the names of the main characters. I liked Touya and Touko better. Hilbert and Hilda? Eww.

 

[Sarcastic Prince]

The only problem I have with the English names are the names of the main characters. I liked Touya and Touko better. Hilbert and Hilda? Eww.

Touya and Touko? Bleeeeaahhhh. Japanese names.
Hilda and Hilbert? *Zap* Much better.

 

[Zeffy]

Touya and Touko? Bleeeeaahhhh. Japanese names.
Hilda and Hilbert? *Zap* Much better.

Tell you what, Hilda and Hilbert aren't that great names. And no-one is forced to agree with your opinion anyways. Everyone has their own.

I forgot to mention the Xtransceiver. I agree with PlatinumDude here. If only it wasn't pronounced 'cross transceiver', then I would be happy.

 

[Thingula]

I miss deciphering the names. They've become less creative in Blake and White. Example: Squirtle = Squirt + Turlte :D Awesome!
Timburr..... = Timber.... The thing is holding a friggen tree!

 

[Ho-Oh]

I'll answer my own questions!

1. Which is your favourite Pokémon, Trainer or City/Location name in Black and White? Why? Did you know its Japanese name - do you prefer that? And which is your least favourite?
Favourite Pokemon name by far is Emboar. I love the pun and I think it's probably the best pun of the bunch, tbh. Then again, that was the romanisation of the Japanese name apparently, so that was expected. Though on the other hand, Lillipup, being one of the Pokemon names... completely suck. Well, I mean I understand it and all, but I preferred Yorterrie a lot more and it's not as hard to typo. Ohhh and Alomomola was also creative too. :D Timburr, Conkeldurr and Gurdurr (wrong order) make me just lol though, cause they just seem so random. Same for Sawk and Throh, the former of which I named my Sawk "Sock" due to how people acted when it was announced. XD Ohohohoh! And Cinccino + Minccino sound amazing. Same for Excadrill too! Ducklett and Deerling were boring, though >__>;

As for favourite city names, when I first heard Castelia, I thought it was amazing. It sounds so mystical, or something. I dunno, it makes the city sound like it has prestige. :) Hiun, or Huin, which I keep typoing, didn't sound nice at all to me (well mainly cause I didn't know how to pronounce it, nor what it meant, lol. :x

And in regards to trainers, I'll discuss gym leaders first. To be honest, I pretty much hate Elesa. I can... barely remember her Japanese name, though. Idk, Elesa had so much potential and it's pretty much a boring name to me. Skyla, though, is amazing. :D I even liked her Japanese name, and I would've been fine if it was the English name, despite not understanding! Oh, and Lenora. Ugh, I don't really like Lenora and I would've preferred Aloe. I don't see why it had to change from Aloe tbh, other than because she's not a grass gym leader and the name "Aloe" would imply she would be, oh well. None of the other gym leaders really stand out to me though, but I'm glad Iris stayed the same. Oh, and on the trainers note... I noticed in the Tower on Route 7 which I forgot the name of at the moment, there's a nurse called Sachiko or something, either way, it sounds Japanese and not really English. Kinda strange tbh they'd not really make it sound English, considering it's just random she's placed there.

2. How do you feel about features being renamed, which are the PokéShifter to the PokéTransfer, the Live Caster to the Xtransciever and High Link (Hilink) to the Entralink? (May have possibly missed some)
I keep forgetting it's named the PokeTransfer, really. I know when I've posted in here and merged threads I'm like "PokeShifter--oh wait PokeTransfer". XD; Xtransciever I don't mind, since it sounds pretty awesome, 'cept I call it "extransciever". And Entralink... which I originally typed as Extralink, I don't care about the name. XD

3. Do you think that as a whole in this generation, the meanings of the names were more creative than in other generations? For example, Tepig, as in Tepid + Pig. Are there any you favour, but aren't necessarily your favourites?
I... think they are, I mean, after in the original thread where everyone typed their interpretations, the names sounded really creative. One name I still don't get, nor remember getting was Bouffalant, which I can't even remember if I typed it right. First ones I figured the meaning of though was probably Solosis' line. It's pretty creative, since anyone that takes year 10 science class could probably figure it out. XD Sawsbuck is also creative, too, because Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring all just fit in, and creating a name from that is pretty good.

4. How do you feel about the name change from Isshu to Unova (varies depending on language)? Was it needed?
God no, I mean, I don't hate Unova, but Isshu was the first region we came into. ;__; Well, I never went into Isshu back then but still lol. It's only good for nostalgia reasons I guess.

5. If you had the power to rename some English names, what would you rename them to and why? Any special reason behind those names?
As figured earlier... Lillipup > Yorterrie. :x

6. Touya & Touko... better in Japanese or English?
I still don't know their official names, I mean, I know what has been said as the official names (Hilda, Hilbert) but I'd like to believe it's Blair and Whitlea as originally seen. :3 Yes, I defy actual knowledge.

 

[Sarcastic Prince]

Tell you what, Hilda and Hilbert aren't that great names. And no-one is forced to agree with your opinion anyways. Everyone has their own.

Zeffy, allow me to kindly tell you that I'm not forcing to agree to my opinions, as I'm only expressing my own opinions regarding that Touko and Touya are not great names.

Although that might be true, I agree that Hilda and Hilbert are not great names either. But what I think is: English names > Japanese names

6. Touya & Touko... better in Japanese or English?
I still don't know their official names, I mean, I know what has been said as the official names (Hilda, Hilbert) but I'd like to believe it's Blair and Whitlea as originally seen. :3 Yes, I defy actual knowledge

Their official names are Hilda and Hilbert.
It has already been confirmed because these names are
used in Battle Subway for the male and female protagonists respectively.
Allow me to kindly tell you, Forever, that defying actual knowledge is
not a smart act; especially for a moderator.

And in regards to trainers, I'll discuss gym leaders first. To be honest, I pretty much hate Elesa. I can... barely remember her Japanese name, though. Idk, Elesa had so much potential and it's pretty much a boring name to me. Skyla, though, is amazing. :D I even liked her Japanese name, and I would've been fine if it was the English name, despite not understanding! Oh, and Lenora. Ugh, I don't really like Lenora and I would've preferred Aloe. I don't see why it had to change from Aloe tbh, other than because she's not a grass gym leader and the name "Aloe" would imply she would be, oh well. None of the other gym leaders really stand out to me though, but I'm glad Iris stayed the same. Oh, and on the trainers note... I noticed in the Tower on Route 7 which I forgot the name of at the moment, there's a nurse called Sachiko or something, either way, it sounds Japanese and not really English.

Elesa's Japanese name is Kamitsure (カミツレ), which I'm not really
fond of; because I think that English names > Japanese names.
Skyla's Japanese name is Fuuro (フウロ), another name that I'm not
really fond of. How in the world do you pronounce that name?!

The name "Aloe" ( アロエ) is only OK if the leader itself is a Grass type Gym Leader. Which in this case, a Normal type Gym Leader instead.
To be honest though, the name "Iris" is originally an English name.
I don't know how the Japanese managed to translate that into Japanese.
Iris = アイリス

Anyways, did you say that there is a nurse in Celestial Tower named "Sachiko"? Ironically, her Japanese name is Sachiko too. (サチコ)

 

[Spherical Ice]

I miss deciphering the names. They've become less creative in Blake and White. Example: Squirtle = Squirt + Turlte :D Awesome!
Timburr..... = Timber.... The thing is holding a friggen tree!

"Galvantula = Galvanise + Tarantula :D Awesome!
Muk... = Muck... The thing is a friggen pile of sludge!"

Please take off the nostalgia goggles for a moment, and then rethink.

Anyway, I didn't even know it's crosstranceiver, but I prefer that over Extranceiver. Hilbert and Hilda make me think of Germany, but in the context of America I think southern America, not NYC. Then again, all I have to go by are the stereotypes I'm exposed to, so yeah. :D

 

[Hikamaru]

I actually like the English names, some are very creative!

I think Hilbert and Hilda are great names. They contain "hild" meaning battle.

Oshawott's name was very creative (ocean + water + otter) no wonder I like it!

Xtransceiver = Crosstransceiver. Nice.

I like Gothitelle's name = goth + elle + tell

I was hoping Cheren would keep his name, and I was right!

Bianca is nice, too.

Wasn't expecting the Professor's name to be Juniper.

 

[West the Hardcore Nerd]

Pokemon: My favorite names would have to be those of Throh and Sawk. Their names and designs seem like a throwback (no pun intended) to Generation I, don't know if I'm the only person that noticed that.

Locations: I love how they brought back the theme naming for the cities and towns, too, and this gave a lot of cities some awesome names, specifically "Striaton City" and "Icirrus City". "Opelucid" just sounds awkward and clunky, though. Maybe it's because of my language, but Unova sounds a lot better than Isshu... Dragonspiral Tower's name just seems more, for lack of a better term, complete with "dragon" and "spiral" as one word.

Characters: As far as Hilbert and Hilda are concerned... I really like the name Hilbert (it just sounds so dorky), but Hilda sounds very... Gruff and elderly. When I look at that character, I certainly don't "Hilda". "Hillary" would have been a much better choice, but that sounds a little too girly, and it was already one of Dawn's optional names. I also prefer "Ghetsis" to "Geechisu". "Elesa" sounds nice, as well. I'm surprised that the Rival they chose to rename was Cheren and not Bianca, since I figured they'd find his name too effeminate. Changing "Bel" to "Bianca" seems kind of unnecessary, on the other hand, especially since Bianca was already the English name of a major character in one of the movies. Weird.

Moves: Moves weren't part of the discussion, but I got to say that "Fusion Bolt" has a really nice ring to it, as does "Final Gambit".

 

[dieter57]

Hilbert and Hilda are really stupid and dumb names. New York? More like Germany.

there is a lot of german names in this.
Deino. Ein being the german word for one
Zweilous. Zwei being the german word for two.
and Hydreigon. Drei being the german word for three.

Virizion reminds me of Virizon.

and i like the Foongus Amoonguss pun. it makes me giggle. :)

 

[Ho-Oh]

Moves: Moves weren't part of the discussion, but I got to say that "Fusion Bolt" has a really nice ring to it, as does "Final Gambit".

I forgot about moves! Sorry, you're allowed to discuss them. XD

But yeah, I love Fusion Bolt. :3 Only issue is I don't quite get where Fusion comes from in both the Fusion Flare and Fusion Bolt attacks. :(

 

[Chiar]

1. Which is your favourite Pokémon, Trainer or City/Location name in Black and White? Why? Did you know its Japanese name - do you prefer that? And which is your least favourite?
My favourite name is Driftveil City. The name sounds so pleasant~. My favourite Pokemon name is propably Swadloon.
2. How do you feel about features being renamed, which are the PokéShifter to the PokéTransfer, the Live Caster to the Xtransciever and High Link (Hilink) to the Entralink? (May have possibly missed some)
I don't care.
3. Do you think that as a whole in this generation, the meanings of the names were more creative than in other generations? For example, Tepig, as in Tepid + Pig. Are there any you favour, but aren't necessarily your favourites?
I don't think they were more creative, but they aren't less. I don't think names are actually a big part of the game.
4. How do you feel about the name change from Isshu to Unova (varies depending on language)? Was it needed?
I don't like them both, actually. :< Unova might be a bit better...
5. If you had the power to rename some English names, what would you rename them to and why? Any special reason behind those names?
I wouldn't change them.
6. Touya & Touko... better in Japanese or English?
I don't think it's important at all. You name the characters how you want, you're not forced to see Hilda or Hilbert in the game. ._.

 

[King Gumball]

3. Do you think that as a whole in this generation, the meanings of the names were more creative than in other generations? For example, Tepig, as in Tepid + Pig. Are there any you favour, but aren't necessarily your favourites?

I will only answer this now since I am too tired to make any tl;dr posts. i think they were a lot less creative this time around. Reason being: I don' think Crustle and Sandile and Tepig and Oshawott are creative at all. and wtf Druggidon? Some very uncreatice names. I hate names that are just like a fusion of two words like Sand+Crocodile. It just makes it sound like they didn't really put in the thought you would expect them to. Crustle and Druggidon are just wrong and random, they sound terrible and I hate saying them. HOWEVER there are some good and creative names that roll off the tongue like Alomomola, Churine, Tynamo, Durant.

But overall the naming was terrible and were the hardest to get used to.
Zweilous? mandibuzz? Shelmet? Sawsbuck? Whimsycott? Pawniard? Badbadbadbad names. I am just glad I am used to 90% of them now.