• Our friends from the Johto Times are hosting a favorite Pokémon poll - and we'd love for you to participate! Click here for information on how to vote for your favorites!
  • Welcome to PokéCommunity! Register now and join one of the best fan communities on the 'net to talk Pokémon and more! We are not affiliated with The Pokémon Company or Nintendo.
    Register

Are Pokémon named after their cries? Or vice versa?

What do you think?

  • Pokémon are named after their cries.

    Votes: 20 52.6%

  • Pokémon cries are after what Human's named them.

    Votes: 10 26.3%

  • I have no idea...

    Votes: 8 21.1%
  • Total voters
    38

Bluerang1

pin pin
    • 2,542
    Posts
    15
    Years
    I was just wondering while watching the Anime one time.

    I was like, "What stupid creatures, they don't even speak English like Digimon. They keep saying their own names, how odd. But how do they know what their names are? Are they saying what the Humans named them, or did the Humans name them after what they say?"

    So what do you think. based on the fact that the Game cries are different from the Anime, I'm going with, they say what Human's named them.

    EDIT: To Mods, I think this should be moved to the Anime section, I think I may have posted this in the wrong place as my question is closer regarding the Anime than General Pokemon. Thank you :)
     
    Last edited:
    Probably they name them by combinating words that mean something etc.
     
    I think they were named after their cries.

    It's kind of like how back in Egypt they called cats, Mau, because that the sounds cats make.
     
    Most of the monsters talk like humans in some older manga, but the ones that don't tend to say their name. Pikachu was the only (I think) example of this at the time and the concept was since used in the anime, out of the two, for whatever reason. I think animal cries (since the games came about after the other two kinds of 'PokeSpeak' were already about) may well have simply come out of the fact that voice recordings on a Gameboy sound like crap, evidenced by Yellow Version's Pikachu.
     
    Last edited:
    isnt this all getting a bit weird, like, does it matter:)lol
     
    lionrt60 said:
    isnt this all getting a bit weird, like, does it matter:)lol
    Click to expand...
    The whole point of forums is often to discuss stuff like this. Ultimately, no, it indeed doesn't matter; but as far as we modest people go, anything could be interesting to look at.
     
    coconutberry said:
    They're probably named after their cries... It would be pretty odd if a scientist was like "Hey! I'm going to call you Pikachu!" and the entire species of Pokemon learns the word "Pikachu" and says it continuously.
    Click to expand...

    ^^^ This.

    It would be pretty epic if someone decided to name a Pokemon, and the Pokemon thought "Ok, I'm called this... therefore I must tell everyone, all the time and nothing else! Bwahaha!"

    So really, the Pokemon are just telling us what they're called. And when people can understand them, they're making it up. Like in Lassie:

    Growlithe: Growlithe! Growlithe! Growlithe!
    Youngster: What's that, Lassie? There's a fire at the old mill?!
    Growlithe: Growlithe? Growlithe... Growlithe?
    Youngster: And Mr Jackson is trapped inside?! Oh no, Lassie! We have to save him! Let's go!
    Growlithe: Growl...ithe... -.-''
     
    It... makes no sense that they'd make noises based on their name. That implies that they spoke a general language (English or otherwise) until some scientist came along and gave them an official name. Then that name was told to the whole species and they all came to the agreement to only use their name from there on out. That's just... ridiculous. :s

    The only logical explanation is that scientists found the Pokemon speaking only their name (as it sounds to humans, anyway) and named them based on that. For Pokemon that only roar and whatnot, maybe there was a bit more leeway in name creation though.
     
    Didn't it say in one episode. A slopoke was used as an example. Something about how slowpoke is the name we humans gave it due to what it says.
     
    I think the more important question is whether or not Japanese Pikachus say something other than American Pikachus.... (:

    Pokemon are telling us what they are called. Which is why back when they were called 'Magical Creature' they still knew what the say (:
     
    The Girl Once named Tracie said:
    I think the more important question is whether or not Japanese Pikachus say something other than American Pikachus.... (:
    Click to expand...
    Well actually, Pikachu's name is the same in Japanese and in English. Heck, the voice of Pikachu in the Anime is usually the Japanese voice actor.

    In any case if the Pokemon are actually just making sounds rather then actually saying a word then they would be called different names since different cultures recognize sounds differently.

    e.g. In our cultures cats say "Meow." while in Japan they say "Nya" (Meowth's Japanese name is Nyarth).
     
    Interestingly, Porygon seems to be able to make a name-cry using static manipulation (the way Voltorb and Magnemite "speak"), as shown in "Who's that Pokémon?", but when it comes to making sounds using it's actual mouth, Porygon can only make out vague, screechy sounds which can only be understood by other Pokémon. Porygon was made by humans though, so I guess it doesn't count.
     
    I think their cries are based off of what they were named. Like I haven't seen the Japanese version of the anime, but Piplup's name in Japan is Pochama (lov that name too) so I don't think his cry is like the 'piplup...piplup...pip' thing he has here. Pikachu and Pachirisu's cries are probably similar everywhere since they have the same name in all pkmn games around the world.
     
    It doesn't make a lot of sense for all the Pokemon in the world to randomly start saying the name that humans gave them as their only way of talking.

    It also doesn't make sense for Pokemon to just not be smart enough to talk. Keep in mind, Meowth couldn't always talk. Simply teaching himself to talk showed quite a bit of intelligence. And now he can talk just as fine as any human.

    My best bet would be that the Pokemon were just born with their calls being their calls. They've all been around for quite some time, and still none of them but Meowth have taught themselves to talk. Seems to me they'd all be talking, unless their calls are just an instinctual part of their species.

    So...yeah. That's what I think. But who knows?
     
    Kon~ said:
    ^^^ This.

    It would be pretty epic if someone decided to name a Pokemon, and the Pokemon thought [S-HIGHLIGHT]"Ok, I'm called this... therefore I must tell everyone, all the time and nothing else! Bwahaha!"[/S-HIGHLIGHT]

    So really, the Pokemon are just telling us what they're called. And when people can understand them, they're making it up. Like in Lassie:

    Growlithe: Growlithe! Growlithe! Growlithe!
    Youngster: What's that, Lassie? There's a fire at the old mill?!
    Growlithe: Growlithe? Growlithe... Growlithe?
    Youngster: And Mr Jackson is trapped inside?! Oh no, Lassie! We have to save him! Let's go!
    Growlithe: Growl...ithe... -.-''
    Click to expand...

    Now that would be funny, if all Pokemon in the world suddenly switched to saying a certain word just because that's what a random scientist named them. I now anxiously wait for the day where a Pokemon is introduced that automatically starts saying whatever a random Professor/scientist first named them. :)

    What about Rotom's case? I haven't seen the episodes where it is featured, but, IIRC, I learned from the games that Charon Pluto was the one who named it...
     
    See what people dont realize is humans actually learned to speak from Pokemon taking fragments of their names and using them to describe different things and over time developed a language revolving around Pokemon. The reason Pokemon sometimes have specific names is because the language developed with their help involves parts of their names, FOR EXAMPLE, Magmar, upon meeting one humans realized its emense heat and eventually compared it to MAGMA... See wot I did thar? Mind blown.... Not only are Pokemon names after their cries but because of their names influencing our language some names mean more than just a name.
     
    i dont think the creators were thinking about how it was made when they made the show... though if we're gonna talk logic then i would say the pokemon are named after they're cries.
    oh typhlosions cry in the game is his actual name in japanese. BAKUFOOON!!!!
     
    Yeah, this is more anime specific than actually being about Pokemon in general so I'll move it over to Pokemon TV Shows and Movies for you.
     
    You must log in or register to reply here.
    Back
    Top