Pokémon Do you nickname your Pokémon in the games?

[-Apples-]

Yes, I nickname my Pokémon. However, some Pokémon species, I never nickname. These are typically legendary and mythical Pokémon (and in case of my Pokémon Project, the starters). That’s because I may regret naming my legendary Pokémon some name in an area I can never change its nickname. That, and they’re hard to think of a good nickname for.

 

[VernalLapin]

Not every single one. But I try to think of names for each of them, especially if they’re going to be on my team.

 

[deana]

Sometimes yes if I feel inspired with a good name idea. If I can't come up with anything at the time then I'll just leave it.

 

[Yoshi155]

I do it, but not really to create a bond. I just like doing it. Sometimes I name them something that I think is funny, or sometimes it’s something that references something else that I like.

 

[Foreverfox]

I don’t, otherwise how on earth will I ever know its name? Back when there was only 150 it was easy. Not now.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I nickname Pokémon quite often. My favorites that I include in every game that the Pokémon is in are Xerox the Ditto, Cuddles the Jigglypuff, F. [stands for Furious] George the Mankey/Primeape, Cassandra the Absol, Calle Marie the Inkay/Malamar, and Mia the Fearow.

 

[Coach]

I nickname some of them! Normally my starter, and then maybe a few others. When I used to play my sister's copy of Diamond, she had called them all names ending with Y (Sparky, Bunny, Chimpy for Chimchar ect) which i continued on that save.

 

[skarmoury]

I nickname all my shinies! I find them very special so I give them names no matter what.
It's a little personal for me but I keep naming my shiny clefairy Lucky Star. I have a pair of shiny Minun named Minty and Fresh! (with an exclamation point yes). All my shiny Dunsparce are numbered, and the ninth one of the pack I actually caught as a Dudunsparce so I named it Nine? (with a question mark yes).

Here's my DLC team, all shinies whom I've all nicknamed Celeste is my most beloved, I named her after I caught her as a hatenna back in Feb 2023. Couldn't think of a name back then but I saw the Celeste chick plush in my room and that's been her name since.
The rest of the team names aren't really that deep, just thought the name fitted them.

Spoiler: indigo disk spoilers i guess

 

[Romaki]

As a kid I would, but I find it kinda odd. Probably because I gave them people names.

 

[AlexSilverpen]

Yes, I usually do themed nicknames for my teams. Example, one Scarlet file has Pokemon named after Newsies characters! Jack Kelly the Quaquaval, Davey the Armarouge, Les the Pawmot, Katherine the Tsareena, Medda Larkin the Goodra, and Brooklyn the shiny Dachsbun. Brooklyn is more named after the location than a person in the musical, but I found a shiny Fidough and was like "well, I can't not use her!" She wasn't in the og plan, I can't remember anymore who was, but she's here now. My Platinum Mono-electric team were all named after Warframe characters- Biz the Pachirisu, Ordis the Magnezone, Tenno the Jolteon, Limbo the Rotom, Eudico the Luxray and Thursby the Electevire. To date, that was one of my favorite teams I've ever used.
I've also done teams with names based on other hyperfixations of mine. I've done 2- technically 3- teams named after characters from Beauty and the Beast, all in Scarlet. First it was a main team for Paldea + Kitikami, then I made a new team for Blueberry Academy. I then recreated the first main team as shinies in a different playthrough [having saved the og ones in Home] and am now working on remaking the Blueberry Academy team as shinies. I've done teams with Animal Crossing character names, teams with Palia character names [though I have long since fallen out of Palia and those teams have been wiped], teams with names from the Redwall book series... a more recent team of mine is a mono-ghost run, where almost all the Pokemon are named after fictional ghosts. Except for Sandygast and Rotom. Those were named by my stream chat as Mordor and Optimus Prime, respectively. I've done a ton of teams over the years, and basically all of them have been nicknamed.
My first ever Pokemon was a Chikorita in HeartGold that I named Chick. I don't remember who else I used on that team, and Chick is long gone, but I will always remember him. rip Chick.

 

[oliv]

I used to not give nicknames to the Pokémon I catch, but I do it very often now. It gives them a little more personality and an excuse for me to make niche references to the people and things I love and enjoy. For example, in my Scarlet team, I have an Ogerpon whose nickname (Jankenpyon) comes from the Japanese hand game in PaRappa the Rapper and both Snooky the Mimikyu and Henri the Bellibolt were named after characters from the Woobles (a crochet kit company)! BTW, everyone in my team except Orthworm has nicknames.

So I've been wondering lately. Do you nickname your Pokémon in the games? Feel free to share some names if you have any! I also included a poll because I felt like it.

Yes I do, but only with my favourite ones. This may sound a little crazy, but it makes me feel like we have a bigger conection, and yes, I also name them using references of things I like! Do you like crochetting??

 

[sakuraa]

i always name my pokémon! ^_^ especially if i’m doing a nuzlocke or sumthin’

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

One of my favorite nicknames I’ve used was for a Shiny Vanillite that I found literally in the center of a hoarde attack during my first X run through. I wasn’t even looking for Vanillite at the time but it just popped up. I caught it and named it Grape Ice. It is now a Vanilluxe in my Shield game.

 

[Snek]

No, their names are fine. I guess I do nickname when I do Nuzlockes but thats a rule of Nuzlocke so I don't count that. In regular playthroughs I never nickname.

 

[nightglow]

Sometimes. As a kid I didn't and I'm not sure why. Maybe because most people in the anime didn't. Either way, because I have a lot of memories with seeing the default on the health bar I sometimes don't nickname them in a run.

 

[Briar]

For the most part, I do give my pokémon nicknames. Although, if it's a duplicate of a species I already caught then I might not nickname it. It depends

 

[Neb]

If I'm playing a new generation for the first time, I avoid giving nicknames to memorize the species' names more easily. Otherwise, I always nickname my pokemon. It makes each Pokemon more memorable to me.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Today in Sleep, I found a Shiny Holiday Pikachu who was also Hungry. I immediately went after him and befriended him and named him Tinsel. This is technically the second Shiny Pikachu I have gotten in the game with the first being a Pichu that I fully evolved into a Raichu.

 

[Awesome Gamer 2009]

I always name my pokemon, I'll give examples from my party and a couple from my boxes.

In my party:

I have a Pidgeot named Brewster. The first ever pokemon I caught, really.
My Greninja is named Froggy. Probably because I'm a good fan of Sonic and Big the Cat is the best character in fiction. Sue me.
I have a Charizard named X, because...well gee I wonder why, maybe because I'm playing FREAKING POKEMON X? AND HE HAS A CHARIZARDITE X??????
There's also my Beedrill named Buzz Buzz, in which...yep the beetle from Earthbound.
Another one is a Talonflame named Mordecai, and you'll never guess what I named my freakin' Linoone. Go ahead, guess.
Finally, the last one in my party is my Sylveon, which has maybe the weirdest name ever: Applemilk. I don't know why, maybe it's because of that Jaiden Animations nuzlocke video, but other than that, WHY DID I NAME MY FIRST EEVEE FREAKING APPLEMILK???? All the other pokemon have names that are SLIGHTLY connected to their attributes, like, yeah, Froggy is a frog pokemon, Mygrane the Psyduck can get a lot of headaches, and Posiedon, Fiery, and DJ Volt (who are all eeveelutions too btw) are named like that because of their types. (also fun fact, DJ Volt is named after a Jolteon i have irl). So WHY did I name him Applemilk?! Eh, doesn't matter, though, he's still my adorable lil' best friend no matter what name I gave him.

Now for the box examples:
I caught all three Panpokemon, and their names are Mario, Zora, and Olimar. I'll leave it to your imagination which ones are which pokemon.
I named the Absol I found Abby, because that might be the best nickname you can give to an absol.
And we're back to weird names again because I named my nosepass after the funny Dr. Robotnik meme. Why?
I named this Stunfisk I recently caught Pancake. That might also be a good nickname, like, he DOES look like one.
I caught once again another Eevee and named her Kumatora. I named her that since I want to collect all the Eeveelutions, and there I go. She'll definitely be an Espeon, for sure. (No I will not rename her to blaze the cat because that dont make no sense other than the design cuz like Espeon isn't even a fire type)
WHY DID I NAME THIS MANTYKE SANS LOLLLLLLLLL
I named this Ralts Marth because I hope to evolve him into a Gallade.
And finally, Excalibrium of Parfum I, the future greatest sword pokemon in Kalos. No, that's not really his nickname, I just wanted him to sound cool. Also, that's way too long for it to be a nickname, so it'll just be his full name. Also, if you couldn't tell, yes, he is a Honedge, and I plan to turn him into a powerful weapon against Diantha's Gardevoir just in case I lose to her at least 5 times.

Anyways, you can tell I love these pokemon.