Why aren't most anime Pokemon nicknamed?

Yoshi1001

Yoshi1001

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It's a valid question. I don't think a single main character's Pokemon has ever been nicknamed. Even Meowth hasn't come up with a name for itself. It's like the doctor on Star Trek: Voyager.
 
Just like people in real life don't choose to nickname their pogeys, people in the anime just choose not to name theirs. None of the main characters are pogey-namers. And what kind of name would Meowth give itself (besides Giovanni's Loyal Servant, which isn't a name so much as a title)?

....You can rest assured, however, that every owned Pikachu aside from Ash's will always have a name. Sparky/Leon, Pooka, and Sugar. And Ritchie's will always be named too, since the boy just doesn't wanna disappear. XD;
 
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That's a STUPID name.

I'm partial to Jean Luc Pikachu myself.

<8
 
I dislike the nicknames, I'm glad none of the main characters do it.

I also think it may be because of marketing purposes. If a main character calls a Pokemon by a nickname constantly, the little kiddies may get confused as to what the Pokemon's real name is.
 
Now I'm tempted to go to the Video Games forum and post a poll on naming Pokemon.

Either way, I think the reason almost no one in the anime nicknames their Pokemon is very simple.

Name overload.

Really, think about it. If Ash and co. named their Pokemon, we would've had to remember not only the Pokemon's species, but the Pokemon's nickname as well. Part of Pokemon's target audience is children who can barely remember the Pokemon names other than Pikachu. If they can't remember the names of Pokemon they like, like Meowth and Charizard, they're just not going to remember all the nicknames.

So for the anime, it's best to keep it simple. One name for one Pokemon, its species' name, and nothing extra. This way, it's easier to focus on the plot and you don't have to deal with irrelevant information.
 
Sure people in real life often choose not to nickname their Pokémon, but think about it: in their world, Pokémon seem to be like real creatures in this world. Now imagine if almost everyone used their pets' species as the pets' names. That, as far as I know, just doesn't happen, especially in an environment where people become close to their creatures.

However, I'm not sure about little kids getting confused (assuming they understand the concept of naming pets, it shouldn't be a problem), but it might be a slight problem for marketing in that the species' names wouldn't be said that often.

Then there's that they try not to use names twice. Sure, they do use some names twice, but it would be even more difficult not to if they had to find names for Pokémon as well as people.
 
I'm sure little kids would get confused because I work at an elementary school. The 6-to-10-year-olds are all about Pokemon pogs now, and they don't remember a single name other than Pikachu. When I came to school with my Charizard T-shirt, all the kids recognized him and went on about how cool he is, but they called him "the fire dragon". Never Charizard. It's the sixth graders that remember the names, but of course, they won't admit that they ever watched Pokemon.

There's also marketing, yes.
 
Snake Bandage said:
I'm sure little kids would get confused because I work at an elementary school. The 6-to-10-year-olds are all about Pokemon pogs now, and they don't remember a single name other than Pikachu. When I came to school with my Charizard T-shirt, all the kids recognized him and went on about how cool he is, but they called him "the fire dragon". Never Charizard. It's the sixth graders that remember the names, but of course, they won't admit that they ever watched Pokemon.
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Oh wow. o_O

I often hear about giving kids too little credit, but I guess sometimes they receive too much....
 
Not trying to be a jerk or anything here, but does that mean the generation of today is just dumb? Kids were exposed to cartoon upon cartoon in the 80's, most of which who hosted a large library of characters. Did that stop us from remembering most of them though? Um...no.

You list an age range of 6-10, but I remember probably being younger than that and still knowing characters very well. Either those kids just aren't into pokemon or kids of the 80's were more willing to sit and listen. ._.;
 
I'm pretty sure none of the main characters do it is because that wouldn't market the pokemon as well. If a parents in earshot of their child watching pokemon come *insert gift giving holiday* time they'll say, oh i know Pikachu's a popular pokemon i'll buy my kid that a toy of that pokemon. If every time Ash called out Pikachu he said "Lets battle Rick!" I doubt parents would know that it's a Pikachu.

Just a guess.
 
I think they don't do it for commercial reasons. If they say pikachu or meowth every five seconds to talk to the pokemon it is sticking the the kid's/viewer's head more.
 
Sure people in real life often choose not to nickname their Pokémon, but think about it: in their world, Pokémon seem to be like real creatures in this world. Now imagine if almost everyone used their pets' species as the pets' names. That, as far as I know, just doesn't happen, especially in an environment where people become close to their creatures.
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"And the world's greatest Dog Trainer, Ash Ketchum, has just won the Kennel Club's best in show award with his English Sheep Dog, rather cleverly named 'English Sheep Dog'!"
 
Zeta said:
"And the world's greatest Dog Trainer, Ash Ketchum, has just won the Kennel Club's best in show award with his English Sheep Dog, rather cleverly named 'English Sheep Dog'!"
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My sister said that if she got a cat, its name would be Cat. :bawling:
 
Now I think it's simple. Why would they feel the need to nickname every single Pokemon of every single one-time character in which we would never see them again?
 
Maybe Ash and his friends don't want to name them,or maybe it would end a controversy[like if they gave Pikachu a nickname]...I think,there pokemon names are just awesome...Wait,that's just Pikachu..But the other names are just fine the way they are.
 
Now that I think about it, it's more like George of the Jungle-remember his ape named Ape?

Then again, in a world with 493 Pokemon, what are the odds of running into two of one species at the same time?
 
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