What do NPCs nickname their Pokemon?

[voidcritter]

Because it's bothered me for a while. A lot of pets and other domestic animals have names in the real world, so it doesn't make much sense for the player character to be the only one who nicknames theirs. (Okay, it makes sense from a development/programming perspective, but that's beyond the point.)

For example, what would Lance name his Dragonite? He can't just be feeding or playing with/training them or giving them medicine and be all "come here, Dragonite...no, the other Dragonite..."

 

[Alex800]

Well, in musicals and contests and stuff all the pokemon are nicknamed... very lame nicknames too.

 

[FireMeowth]

There are some great nicknames featured in one of the B/W TV shows. Such as...
...okay, I can't remember too many. There was a Swoobat named Amour, which is a decent nickname, and... Chow the Zweilous, I think? A bit unoriginal, perhaps, but fitting.
Also, there was the Darumaka... Gance(?), and the Crustle Amine, Meg the Purrloin...

Also, Bianca supposedly nicknamed her Munna "Munny". That's what she calls it, at least.

 

[bas_saarebas]

If you remember, the pokemon in the Hoenn contests were nicknamed, too. Dunno about Sinnoh contests, though, I never played them.

I also like to think the NPCs nickname their pokemon if it suits their personality. Like, Lasses and Campers would, but I doubt Grunts (of any team) or even like Super Nerds would.

 

[Princess of Lumas]

poochy the poochyena was kinda lame. Because they don't care. Their pokemon are like attack dogs

 

[Fletcher.]

Also, Bianca supposedly nicknamed her Munna "Munny". That's what she calls it, at least.

I think that might've been a typo, since she called it Munny once.

 

[Drakon]

I doubt Grunts or admins of evil teams give names to their pokémon. At most they may just give them a serial number like you would number a gun or radio.

As for the other trainers, I can see them giving their pokémon names...even Super Nerds.

 

[--root--]

...even Super Nerds.

Especially Super Nerds...

 

[Zekurom]

Apparently, in one of the older games, there was an Aerodacryl named Aeroy.

 

[Merov]

Since pokémon contests and some in-game trades presented us with pokémon with nicknames (and the haunted TVs of Unova - with paparazzi EVERYWHERE), one could think that gym leaders and Elite 4 would also nickname their pokémon. Or just because they are very bonded together, with just a look of their eyes or a certain tone in their voices, the exact pokémon would answer, even if it is a Dragonite in the middle of a swarm of them.

At least is what I think...

Lance would totally call his Dragonites as Beryllinthranox and Malystryx, if they could fit in the game hahaha.

 

[Faye Scarlet]

Hah, I made a similar thread, like, ages ago.

In my story, I have Gym Leaders, E4 members, Frontier Brains, and the Stat Trainers nickname their Pokemon Stadium-2 style.

Let's take the snazzy Riley for example, his team that he uses at the Battle Ground. I take random syllables from the Pokemon's name, and add "-ryo", as in "kyouryoku". Picking random words out of a Japanese dictionary for the win. 8D But anyway. The results are:

Absol -> Solryo
Lucario -> Rioryo
Ursaring -> Ursaryo
Metagross -> Metaryo
Salamence -> Lamenryo

Other trainers, like players and rivals, have "normal" nicknames. D: Very few trainers in my story won't have any nicknames.

 

[Cyber Jet]

The NPCs who trade you Pokemon give them nicknames, just not very good ones.

 

[voidcritter]

Well, Doris was an okay nickname for that Dodrio, and Billy is something I can live with...

but Rocky and Muscle are dumb names, yeah.

 

[bas_saarebas]

Oh, best traded pokemon name: CH'DING

I mean, really?

 

[Giovanni Sakaki]

Dux, Speary, Kenya (great name IMO), Gesundheit?

Also there's an unused in-game trade in Pokemon Red and Blue: A Mew, for a Mew nicknamed 'BART'.

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

I think most trainers really WOULD name their Pokémon, its just for simplicity's sake that they dont use them, since 500+ creature species name plus an unlimited number of different individual trainers giving each of their Pokémon a different nickname, little kids (and parents) would get confused easily I'm sure.