The naming of Pokémon is often a creative mix of different elements. Have you ever wondered what they would look like if you took their names literally? A humorous Pokémon fan offers you the answer.
There's probably a lot of creativity involved in naming the many Pokémon, but there is some derivations from the Japanese and English languages. For example, Pikachu was derived from “pikapika,” a Japanese onomatopoeia for a sparkling sound, and “chu,” a Japanese word for a squeaking sound. Another example is the Pokémon Charmander (Charmander), whose English name is reminiscent of the appearance of the pocket monster: “char” means to burn or scorch, while “mander” stands for salamander, a lizard-like amphibian. The Japanese name Hitokage can be broken down in a similar way: “hi” means fire and “tokage” means lizard.
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Enough talking shop, because Reddit user Kaltzer had some fun and painted the Pokémon like this, as her literal name would suggest and really funny things came out of it. Let's go!
Bulbasaur, known in Japan as Fushigidane (フシギダネ), is called Bulbasaur in our country. The reptile-like Pokémon does not have its seed on its back as usual and is green, but is equipped with many colorful bulbs.
Butterfree, taken from Japanese (バタフリー), is a combination of the words “butterfly” and “free”, but we have a completely different name: Smettbo. You are freeeeeeei.
Charmander, known in Japan as Hitokage (ヒトカゲ), is called Charmander in our country and is one of the first generation Pokémon. What went wrong with the experiment?
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Dewgong, known in Japan as Jugon (ジュゴン), is called Jugong in our country and is actually a snow-white seal that loves to take a nap on ice floes. In this case, Dewgong probably doesn't have such an easy life.
Flygon (フライゴン) is composed of the words “Fly” and “Dragon” – an anagram of Dragonfly. Our little monster is called Libelldra. In any case, this fly’s partner is “gone” for now.
Greninja is a combination of “grenouille” (frog) and “ninja”. In Japan the Pokémon is called Gekkouga (ゲッコウガ), in this country we call it Quajutsu. Even though it's cute, I certainly don't want this pocket monster to be my enemy.
Houndoom, called Hellgar (ヘルガー) in Japan, is called Hundemon in our country. Well, I think this picture needs no further words.
Magikarp, called Koiking (コイキング) in Japan, is called Magikarp in our country. Kaltzer really nailed the mix of “magic” and “carp” here, or what do you think?
Ninetales, called Kyukon (キュウコン) in Japan, gets its name from its nine tails – but it also works quite well as a storybook.
Noctowl, called Yorunozuku (ヨルノズク) in Japan, is called Noctuh in this country. A gamer owl – probably looks familiar to one or two of us.
Psyduck, called Koduck (コダック) in Japan, is what we affectionately call Psyduck. The cute duck who constantly suffers from headaches. But this Pokémon prefers to predict the future.
Samurott, known in Japan as Daikenki (ダイケンキ), is called Admurai in our country. While Japan grabbed the first part of the word “Samu”, in the German version we make do with the second part “rai”. Admurai also cuts a good figure as an otter.
Seel goes by the name Pawou (パウワウ) in Japan and is known here as Jurob. Jurob is the basic form of Jugong, so I give you “letter and soul” on it.
Venomoth, in Japanese Morphon (モルフォン), we call Omot for short in this country. This Pokémon likes to hunt in places like streetlights because there is a lot of prey there. But this example could have come from a horror film.
Wartortle, called Kameil (カメール) in Japan, is called Schillok in our country. Schillok is the evolution of Squirtle and is obviously always ready to fight for his trainer.
These were 15 Pokémon as they might look if you take their names literally. My favorites are Butterfree and Flygon and you probably had to smile a few times too.
Have you already played Pokémon Sword and Shield? If not, you can still do it again. Both games are also available in a practical double pack.
Maybe you didn't have enough Pokémon for today. If that's the case, we recommend another series of pictures: 15 Pokémon tattoos that should be hidden under Poké balls.