Gym Leader name origins?

[Miss Doronjo]

What would you say to be the gym leader name origins, or where the gym leader's names to be derived from?

For example, you might say that Misty comes from "Mist" and Mist, referring to water.

To give you a list of all gym leaders:

Kanto:

Brock
Misty
Lt. Surge
Erika
Koga
Janine
Sabrina
Blaine
Giovanni

Johto:

Falkner
Bugsy
Whitney
Morty
Chuck
Jasmine
Pyrce
Clair

Hoenn:

Roxanne
Brawly
Wattson
Flannery
Norman
Winona
Tate and Liza
Wallace
Juan

Sinnoh:

Roark
Gardenia
Maylene
Crasher Wake
Fantina
Byron
Candice
Volkner

Unova

Cilan
Chili
Cress
Lenora
Burgh
Elesa
Clay
Skyla
Brycen
Draydon
Iris

 

[Seeds Horizon]

Brock - A variation of "Rock" Which is mainly his Pokemons types. By adding a "B" to the front of it, it can become a name.
Misty - You have already said what I would think, "Mist" referring to water, which is the type of Pokemon Misty uses
Lt. Surge Quite obvious really, Lt. "Surge" as in, an electrical surge, since he uses electric types.
Erika -
Koga
Janine
Sabrina
Blaine
Giovanni - I believe it to be an.. Italian? Name, for like mob bosses and whatnot. So it would refer to him being a sort of "Mob boss" of Team Rocket

Johto:

Falkner - Ah..Cant really remember..But I know it has something to do with birds or flying.. If I remember ill edit.
Bugsy - Quite obvious really, "Bug"sy, referring to the type of Pokemon he uses. Also a sort of childish name, which would show that he is sort of a child.
Whitney - A sort of..Flashy? name, or like, elegant, signifying her as a sort of..Higher society member, in which she is XD.
Morty - The only thing I can think of is a sort of shortened version of "Mortality", meaning death, and since he uses Ghost type Pokemon, it would make sense, since ghosts have always signified death...
Chuck -A tough name for a touch guy. Nuff said.
Jasmine - Sort of going with the elegant name like Whitney, you can just tell shes one of the rich people, so it does make sense she has a graceful name.
Pyrce - Perhaps it means, whenever you speak with the trainers in his gym they speak how he trains on the mountains and in the cold, so it would mean..The "Price" of greatness..
Clair - Clair..A sort of name with a lot of Flair, and arrogance perhaps. Which pretty much is Clair in a nutshell right? :P

Hoenn:

Roxanne Roxanneeee oh roxannneeeee... *shrugs*
Brawly - "Brawl"y, he uses Fighting types right? There ya go! Brawl, also termed as fighting :P.
Wattson - "Watt"son, which is a way of..classifying? Electricity or something like that, and he uses Electric types right?
Flannery
Norman - "Norm"an, he uses Normal types.
Winona - "Win"ona, like "Wing". Since she uses Flying types, it makes sense right?
Tate and Liza -
Wallace
Juan

Sinnoh:

Roark
Gardenia
Maylene
Crasher Wake
Fantina
Byron
Candice
Volkner

Unova

Cilan - Cilan..Its a type of flower or incense or spice right? SInce he uses Grass types..
Chili - Chili is hootttt.. Fire types, nuff said.
Cress Cress, like a "Crest" of a wave. He uses Water types.
Lenora
Burgh BLEURGGHH. His Bug types are nastayyyy
Elesa - So cute...Marry me? Ah no I mean *mumble grumble* "Ele"sa, signifying she uses Electric types.
Clay - Clay, a type of dirt or earth or whatever, he uses Rock.. or Ground? types.
Skyla - "Sky"la, Flying types.
Brycen
Draydon "Dra"ydon, he uses Dragon types, there ya go!
Iris


I know most may seem as if im just grasping at straws :P. The ones I left blank means I have no idea >_>.

 

[Timbjerr]

Kanto:

Brock - sounds like 'Rock'
Misty - water mist
Lt. Surge - electrical surge
Erika - carried over from Japanese, but may refer to a genus of flower
Koga - kouga-ryu school of ninjitsu
Janine - anagram of 'ninja' with an added e
Sabrina - similar to 'brain' phonetically
Blaine - similar to 'blaze' and 'flame' phonetically
Giovanni - first two syllables sound like 'geo-' prefix meaning earth

Johto:

Falkner - similar to falconer, a falcon tamer
Bugsy - has the word 'bug' in it
Whitney - similar to the word 'white' expressing plainness
Morty - latin root word 'mort' meaning death
Chuck - slang term for throwing
Jasmine - has the word 'mine' in it
Pyrce - has the word 'ice' in it
Clair - has the word 'lair' in it, mythical hiding place of dragons

Hoenn:

Roxanne - has the word 'rocks' in it
Brawly - 'brawl' is synonymous with fight or tussle
Wattson - from 'watt' a measure of electrical energy
Flannery - similar to 'flame' phonetically
Norman - similar to 'normal' phonetically
Winona - similar to 'wind' phonetically
Tate and Liza - play on the word 'levitate'
Wallace - similar to 'water' phonetically
Juan - see Wallace

Sinnoh:

Roark - similar to 'rock' phonetically
Gardenia - has the word 'garden' in it
Maylene - similar to 'melee' phonetically
Crasher Wake - a wake is the wave made by a boat cutting through the water as it moves.
Fantina - similar to 'phantom' phonetically
Byron - has the word 'iron' in it
Candice - has the word 'ice' in it
Volkner - similar to 'volt' phonetically

Unova

Cilan - from cilantro, a type of herb
Chili - from a family of spicy berries
Cress - from 'crest' referencing waves
Lenora - last two syllables are derived from 'normal'
Burgh - corruption of the word 'bug'
Elesa - first two syllables come from 'electric'
Clay - literal clay, extracted from the earth
Skyla - has the word sky in it
Brycen - has the word 'ice' in it
Draydon - first syllable comes from 'dragon'
Iris - carried over from Japanese, but may be a reference to a mythical dragon in Japanese mythology

 

[ElectricScyther]

Actually, I can add that "Gardenia" is a genus of flower, and "Iris" was the name of an ancient Greek mythological figure. Not sure if she had anything to do with dragons, but since dragons are mythical creatures...

 

[ZackValentine]

Brock from rocks
Erika from eris, the land goddes
winona, redskin name meaning, winged

 

[Frostik]

"Iris" was the name of an ancient Greek mythological figure. Not sure if she had anything to do with dragons, but since dragons are mythical creatures...

The Iris from Greek mythology had no connection to dragons. She was a messenger goddess, and personification of the rainbow.

It's likely they kept her name, on top of it being western, to compliment the plant names of Cilan, Chili, and Cress (cilantro, chili, and watercress). Couldn't do that with Draydon/Shaga, since Shaga was just another name for 'iris'.

 

[fenyx4]

Why aren't Elite Four, Champions, and Frontier Brains included? :(

What would you say to be the gym leader name origins, or where the gym leader's names to be derived from?

For example, you might say that Misty comes from "Mist" and Mist, referring to water.

To give you a list of all gym leaders:

Interesting...let's have at it! ORIGINS:


Kanto:

Brock: "Boy-obsessed-with-girls" Rock

Misty: Mist

Lt. Surge: Electrical surge, and sarge/sergeant to reference the military. "The sea and the surge."

Erika: I just thought it sounded nice. XD The Erica genus (heathers) makes much more sense, though. I was kind of hoping that we would have a different Gym Leader named "Heather", though.

Koga: Sounded Japanese. Koga-ryu ninja clan makes more sense, though.

Janine: sounded like a generic female child name, but being a corruption of ninja makes it so much more awesome.

Sabrina: From Sabrina The Teenage Witch, referencing extraordinary abilities. >_> And the fact that both of them are quite hot. :3

Spoiler:

Blaine: uh...sounded fiery, with its resemblance to blaze. Also reminded me of something like Burning Plains.

Giovanni: sounded foreign/uncommon, befitting for the boss of Team Rocket. Took me many years until I realized the geo- (Earth) prefix. XD Became a much cooler name once I realized that.

Lorelei: sounded enthralling. Very fitting for a freaking hot girl like her. :) As for "Prima", it sounds ladylike, and could reference prime/primary, with Lorelei being the first Elite 4 Trainer encountered in the Generation 1/3 Indigo League.

Bruno: BRAWN! Plus, it makes me think of pit bulls, who you do not want to mess with, what with their fangs and ferocity and all. #_#

Agatha: sounds like an old-lady name. Also conveys ghastly, gothic to fit the Ghost-type themes.

Lance: generic-sounding cool boy name. Could be taken from Lancelot, Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legends. And his team assaults you like a lance can massively damage anyone/anything it impales. Named after a weapon? BA.

Gary: Generic boy name. Could be taken from Shigeru Miyamoto.


Johto:

Falkner : fowl, foul play (when he one-shots your pokeymanz with his birds), and the author William Faulkner..

Bugsy: BUGZZZ.

Whitney: White, conveying a bland, plain, standard color to evoke the Normal-type. Also, it sounds hawt.

Morty: mortified; truncation of Mortimer (also the Spanish word morir, to die)

Chuck: chucking wood? As in, all those karate experts who chop through stacks of wood. In retrospect, it's perfect as a homage to Chuck Norris. XD

Jasmine: Well, since Jasmine of the Aladdin series is hot, why not give the same name to yet another freaking hot girl? :3 Can be derived from mine/mineral.

Pryce: Ice, Ice, maybe.

Clair: thought this was a generic lady name. Dragon's lair, claw, and air/aerial make sense, as well.

Will: "Well, this is a story all about how my life got flipped; turned upside-down..."
Will. As in, a mental will or a fortified will/resolve. Also, ill will. Could also derive from the "will" associated with bequeathing, as Psychic-types are likely to KO you quickly...

Karen: partial anagram of darken. A nice-sounding female name.


Hoenn:

Roxanne: Nice-sounding lady name. And she ROCKS!

Brawly: SUPER! SMASH! BROTHERS! BRAWL! (totally not a DragonBall Z reference in retrospect).

Wattson: Watt's with Watson? Hm? What is it?

Flannery: Similar to flame. And let me say it now, this girl is freaking HOT! My gosh, how she rocks that denim well. :3 :cer_love:

Norman: A Normal Gym Leader who's a MAN! He actually has a family to raise! Plus: May, Max, Norman. Eh? Eh? Also, SLAKING IZ MANLY!

Winona: Wind. Her hotness could be the equivalent of a gale! Also, the artist Wynona.

Tate and Liza: random twin names? A corruption of levitate sounds good, though.

Wallace: Water Style, Water Wall Jutsu! Grand Waterfall! And he is an ace - when he's a Gym Leader, that is. >_> Also, to make me mad when I compare it with the diminutive Wally, the name of another Pokemon Trainer.

Juan: Um...because he looks Spanish/French? :< Don Juan and water are also nice origins.

Sidney: honestly, I just thought it was because the name sounded cool for him. Sadness, sinister, and insidious are very nice origins to reference his Dark-type motif, though.

Phoebe: sounded somewhat foreign/uncommon? In retrospect, phobia is quite plausible.

Glacia: Err...GLACIER? I mean, it's not like the localizers totally just chopped off an -er and added an feminine -a suffix.

Drake: The DRAGON master! I can't believe that the name was stolen from yet another Dragon-type specialist. The name fits Hoenn Drake much more than Yuji/Orange Islands Drake. Seems "old wise acquaintance"-ish and "tough guy"-ish.

Steven: Steel. And the guy loves his stones.

Brandon: A localizer's desire to piss me off because it's essentially the same thing as the weirdly-spelled player name Brendan. Though I prefer the name on the Frontier Brain rather than the player, the latter of WHOSE NAME IS SEAN GOSHDARNIT. (sea/Sapphire/sounds cool)

Tucker: An attempt to further confuse players on the gender of this dude.

All other Frontier Brain names: generic-sounding names, though the fact that each name starts with the initial letter of each Frontier Brain's respective Symbol (i.e, Lucy, Luck Symbol) is just amazing.


Sinnoh:
This generation fit in with the creativity of past generations quite well. ^^

Roark: RukRok Rock! Also, Atlas Shrugged. Nah. Apparently, he actually got pissed and ripped off The Fountainhead.

Gardenia:
--Localizer 3: lol no, Wii ttly dint jus add -ia 2 teh Nd uv garden.

Maylene: SUPER! SMASH! BROTHERS! MEEEEEEEEELEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Also, she's a lean, mean, fighting machine! And also, another localizer's desire to evoke Name's The Same yet again, since May is a diminutive of it.

Crasher Wake: Rule of Cool. Seriously. Anyone named this wins like 1000 awesome points instantly. His actual appearance...wasn't exactly what I was expecting, though. >_> MAXIMUM MAXI!

Fantina: Phantom. And the girly name Tina.

Byron: BYRON LOVES IRON!

Candice: As cool as ice. And her degree of coolness matches her degree of hotness/cuteness. Though the "-ice" part isn't even pronounced like ice. Inadvertently the potential start of an obvious naming trend. Expect to see Alice, Beatrice, Bernice, Bertrice, Cherice, Denice, Janice, Joyce, Latrice, Lenice, Patrice, Sherice, and jaundice SOMETIME down the line for future Ice-type female Gym Leaders. >_>

Volkner: Volt, and the awesome suffix -kner. Doesn't even seem like a name, yet it's so awesome as a name. Also, it means "people's defender". OMG YONDAIME, IS THAT YOU?

Aaron: Arachnid. I keep on thinking it's for iron. Awesome naming nonetheless, despite Sir Arlon claiming it in the English dub of Lucario and the Mystery of Mew.

Bertha: EARTH. It partially sounds like earth, yet still manages to include an anagram of earth. How freaking cool is that? Also, it's old-lady-ish.

Flint: THE TIME DETECTIVE. Um, OK...the flint used to make fire? Also, it starts with "F" like flame.

Lucian: lux, which means "light". Illusion and hallucination further enhance the Psychic-type motif. Sounds gentleman-ish.

Cynthia: a womanly name, and synthesis! So awesome, and it means "moon", which counterparts the "sun" that is Cyrus!

Palmer: sounds "tough guy"-ish? Also, being an anagram of Pearl (one of the paired versions of Generation 4, and a selectable name for the DPPt rival, Barry) makes it more awesome. And green clothes = palm trees!

Dahlia: a beautiful flower. An amazing name for a very fine woman.

Thornton: BOO. I kept on thinking this was actually Norton, named after Norton Antivirus to evoke computers and nerdiness and...yeah. :< I guess his Pokemon are like thorns that terribly afflict the enemy?

Argenta: Silver, apparently. "Kate" was a bit generic, but seemed more fitting/plausible.

Darach: sounds foreign and like a distinguished individual! Apparently, it's Gaelic for "oak". Um, OK.

Caitlin: the intent to rob "Argenta" of her name. Also, the orchid genus Cattleya. And Caitlins/Katherines can be hot, too.


Unova

Cilan, Chili, and Cress

Localizer 1: Hmm...the Japanese names of these guys are pretty cool...wish we could make something cooler.
Localizer 2: LET'S DENT the foe! These guys are really THREE PEAS IN A POD! OK, um...about Rainer for the blue guy?
Localizer 1: Eh...too bland. Let's go exotic!
Localizer 2: *researches* CRESS! That's it!
Localizer 1: Like water crest? Perfect!
Localizer 2: *researches plants, clicks link to herbs* Cilantro would be good right about now...HEY! CILANTRO! It's perfect~!
Localizer 1: Cut it short 'cause of the limit...Cilan.
Female Localizer: Ooh...sounds alluring..intriguing! Me likey~
Localizer 2: Now we just gotta do the fire guy, right?
Localizer 1: Yup.
Localizer 2: Hmm...about Corey? As in Earth's core?
Localizer 1: Doesn't seem to click for some reason. I like the "C" alliteration we got going on here, though.
*weeks pass by, Chili still doesn't have an English name*
Localizer 3 (eating sandwich sloppily with chili slapped on it: Hey..you ever finish naming that redhead kid?
Localizer 1: Err..no. You mean Pod, right? Didn't get around to it..
Localizer 3 (continues eating sloppily): Deadline's tomorrow..
*chili falls onto Localizer 3's pants*
Localizer 3: Oops..got some chili on me. I just bought these pants, too.
Localizer 1: AH, let's just run with it. Chili. This guy'll just be the triplet born with the weirdo name.

And that's the origin of the English names of the Striaton Trial Triangle.


Lenora - anagram of Normal; womanly name, and an obvious aversion of Aloe Vera.

Burgh - some drunk dude must have uttered/slurred "bug" near the localizer's office or something. Bug, with two letters added in for good measure. Apparently means "city", and ties in to his artist motif, who are usually featured in New York's city. Or something.

Elesa - a lazy attempt at developing a girl name stemming from the word electric. Change an "I" to an "E" and call it a day. T_T

Clay - clay. The earthy stuff people use to sculpt and stuff. OBVIOUSLY, someone forgot to add the -ton at the end. Silly diminutives.

Skyla - sky. Or someone with a New York City accent muttered Skyler as "Yo, eet's Skylah." And thus the name was born. Could also derive from the trend of Kayla being a name for super-hot girls? Case in point:

Spoiler:

Brycen -

Localizer 2: Hurr durr another ice dude. LET'S RHYME WITH ICE AGAIN, NEVER MIND THE FACT THAT PRYCE OF HGSS IS STILL FRESH IN PLAYER'S MEMORIES. Add an N so it'll look like we put thought in this.

Drayden -

Localizer 3: Dra...dra...ah, screw it. Can't think of anything good. *glances at the name Brycen*. Eh, I'll just copy that name. Change the "C" to a "D", and it's all good, right? I'll tack on an N as well, so it too, shall look like I put deep thought into this.

Iris - iris. Someone realized the amazement of the original name and petitioned to keep it. Thank goodness.

Shauntal - Haunt. But someone thought a bit too hard about this. Rather than using the common spelling of Chantel, "C" got changed to "S" and "E" got changed to "A".

Grimsley - Grim (Reaper). And -sley looks...gentleman-ish?

Marshall - I thought it was from marsh (swampy), and this guy would bring a deluge of power to crush his opponents. Apparently, it's from martial arts, which is also cool. I really want him to own a Swampert with Brick Break, though, just to emulate the "marsh" meaning. T_T

Adler/Alder - seems like a "wise NPC-ish" name. That cool guy you don't talk to much on your journey, yet when you reach his challenge, he'll proceed to relentlessly flatten your tediously-constructed team of Pokemon.

Ingo - In. Go. Ingoing Train. NAO.

Emmet - Same reasons as "Adler". Apparently stems from emit. Go figure.


And those are my origins for Pokemon League Trainer names! ^^ I mean, it's not like I added specified origins derived from Bulbapedia or anything.

All mentions of "localizers" are purely speculative, added in good fun with no intent to disparage the actual localizers for the games.