The 3 in my signature I named for my 3 favorite Harry Potter characters because I like those names, and they suit the pokémon. Severus is the black serpent "Sev"iper. Bellatrix is the dark and beautiful Umbreon. And Narcissa is the glamorous, proud, *blonde* Ninetales. x3
Aha! I do almost the same thing--I've gotten into a habit of naming some of my Pokemon after Harry Potter characters. In fact, I would have named my Seviper "Severus" as well if it had been the right gender.
Anyways, I name Pokemon a bunch of different ways. I usually have a few types of names I give them:
A handful of my Pokemon are named after famous people:
Kirlia: Sigmund (after the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud)
Mr. Mime: Marceau (after a mime named Marcel Marceau)
Meditite: Mahatma (after Mahatma Gandhi)
Espeon: Merlin (after the wizard from King Arthur's time)
And my two English monarchs...
Vespiquen: Elizabeth
Roselia: William (besides, his stats describe him as "strong willed"--get it?)
And the tradition of naming Pokemon after Greek goddesses:
Mightyena: Artemis
Milotic: Venus (Actually, that's her Roman name, but...)
Murkrow: Persephone
Umbreon: Hades (No wait--he's a god...)
Some are kind of silly but make sense anyways:
Combusken: Sunny Dee
Quagsire: Phishie
Kingler: Snippety
Swampert: Skippy (Also happens to be a brand of peanut butter)
Whiscash: Quaker (Hmm... could I also be talking about the religion... or the oats?)
Magmar: Duckfire (because its mouth looks like a duck bill)
Pinsir: Pindoe (A female Pinsir can't be a stag beetle--she must be a doe beetle!)
And those that aren't as silly yet still go with their characteristics:
Kyogre: Orca (It looks like a killer whale, doesn't it?)
Blissey: Florentine (Which I believe is a way to cook eggs)
Lapras: Plesio (Because Lapras looks like a plesiosaur)
Numel: Magmus (Just a little spin on "magma")
Koffing: Cigarette
Swablu: Cumulus (a kind of cloud)
Gyarados: Serpentina
Some of them are taken from another language:
Cherrim: Shigatsu (Japanese for April, the month when cherry blossoms bloom)
Noctowl: Frau Nacht (In German, it sort of means "Lady of the Night")
Aron: Haganiwa (Japanese compilation of its type--"hagani" for Steel and "iwa" for Rock)
Pichu: Ringo (Japanese for apple; Pichu loves apples)
Moltres: Hinou (Another Japanese compilation--this time meaning "fire phoenix")
Lombre: Fresa (Spanish for strawberry, not that that makes much sense...)
Haunter: Seirei (Japanese for spirit)
Makuhita: Luchadora (Spanish for wrestler; the last A is there because it's a female Makuhita)
Raichu: Kazuminari (Japanese compilation meaning "thunder mouse")
Solrock: Domingo (Spanish for Sunday--because "Sol" is already part of its name)
Lunatone: Yue (Chinese for moon)
Bellossom: Benito (which I believe is Italian for beautiful?)
Vespiquen: Regina (which I believe is Italian for queen)
Heracross: Tsunoko (Another Japanese name; "tsuno" means horn and the "ko" is usually added to a girl's name--and since this is a female Heracross...)
Relicanth: Baaransu (Its Japanese name is Jiiransu, but the Jii part refers to an old man. Since this Relicanth is female, I had to change that word to "old woman".)
Castform: Warutenki (Japanese for "bad weather")
Delcatty: Kawaine (Japanese compilation meaning "cute huh?")
Kadabra: Neko (Japanese for cat--its ears look sort of like cat ears)
Alakazam: Zorra (Spanish for fox--specifically a female fox--Alakazam's ears resemble fox ears)
Blissey: Shiawase (Japanese for happiness)
I dedicated some names of my Pokemon in Diamond and Pearl to some dubbed names I gave to the Sinnoh Pokemon before their English names came out:
Grotle: Pangaia (actually the name I gave to Torterra)
Drifloon: Ballimp
Drifblim: Inflotion
Stunky: Stinkum
Staravia: Silverling
Kricketot: Criminy
Uxie: Gemwise
Then I give some Pokemon names that are usually given to people. But at the same time, these names go with one of their characteristics:
Bibarel: Beatrice (
beaver)
Roserade: Pierre (I had to give him a French name, because if a Roserade holds its flowers up to its head, it looks like the French flag from above)
Chimecho: Belle (because she evolved from a bell)
Skitty: Tom-Tom (A male cat is sometimes called a "tom cat"--I have no idea why I put Tom twice)
Volbeat: Hikaru (because "hikari" means light--which Volbeat has on his tail)
Azumarill: Bob (its tail bobs up and down in the water)
Drifblim: Wendy (sounds a lot like "windy")
Roselia: Rosemary (pretty obvious)
Octillery: Octavian
Ponyta: Cinderella (emphasis on the cinder, which has to do with fire)
Then I name some after fictional characters, whether from books, movies, or video games:
Nuzleaf: Pikmin (Looks sort of like one, doesn't it?)
Ninjask: Arya (the elf from Eragon)
Salamence: Saphira (the dragon from Eragon)
Dratini: Elliot (the dragon from Pete's Dragon--I think that's what it was called)
Lopunny: Peter (from Peter Rabbit)
Buneary: Flopsy (Peter Rabbit's sister)
Sableye: Gollum (the cave-dwelling creature from Lord of the Rings)
Dusclops: Nosferatu
Prinplup: Brucey (after the Neopet Bruce, which looks like a penguin)
Golbat: Gotham (the city Batman is from)
Wailmer: Moby Dick
Sharpedo: Jaws
Xatu: Natsume (from Pokemon--Sabrina's Japanese name)
Wobbuffet: Jessie (from Pokemon)
Chimecho: James (from Pokemon)
Cacturne: Harley (from Pokemon)
I dedicate a large part of the above to the Harry Potter series:
Stantler: Prongs (Nickname of James Potter, but James is taken by my Chimecho and refers to a different James)
Sneasel: Ginny (with the last name of Weasley)
Slugma: Horace (with the last name of Slughorn)
Luxray: Godric (with the last name of Gryffindor)
Glameow: Minerva (with the last name of McGonagall, who can transform into a cat)
Purugly: Norris (the Mrs. doesn't fit in there)
Seviper: Nagini
Absol: Sirius (would have been more appropriate for a Mightyena, but unfortunately my only Mightyena is female)
Kecleon: Nymphadora (Both can change their appearance at will--or at least their colours)
Spinda: Confundus (Named after a spell that confuses people--remind you of Teeter Dance?)
Azelf: Dobby
Banette: Bellatrix and Lucius (Lucius was originally named Deatheater)
Ah yes, ever since the days of Gold/Silver/Crystal, I've been nicknaming every single one of my Pokemon... which totals to a whole lot of Pokemon.