Japanese Pokemon Names

Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff

If you know that “Pokemon” has three syllables, you're already clued into the unique sound of the Japanese language. Japanese has an “open-syllable sound pattern.” This means that every syllable ends in a vowel. (An exception is that some syllables end with the consonant “N,” as in the third syllable of Pokemon.)

A syllable in Japanese may be simply a vowel sound, or it may be a consonant sound combined with a vowel sound. But two consonant sounds are never pushed together the way they are in English, as in the word drink. When a word is borrowed from English, it must be changed to fit the open-syllable sound pattern of Japanese. In this way, the English word “drink” becomes “dorinku” (doh-rin-ku) in Japanese.

Sometimes sounds change, too. For example, Japanese does not really have an “L” sound. In Japanese, a borrowed word with an “L” sound will have a sort of “R” sound instead.

These changes sometimes make it hard to recognize borrowed words. You can find examples in the Japanese Pokemon names. For instance, the Japanese name for Drowzee, “Suripu,” is actually the English word for “sleep.” The “L” sound has become an “R” sound. And, to make every syllable end with a vowel, there have been vowel sounds added after the “S” and the “P.”

Likewise, the Japanese name for Haunter, “Gosuto”, is really the English word for “Ghost.” The Japanese name for Chansey, “Raki,” is actually the English word for “Lucky.” Skim through this list to find other examples!

NumberEnglish NameJapanese Name
1 BULBASAURFUSHIGIDANE
2 IVYSAURFUSHIGISOU
3VENUSAURFUSHIGIBANA
4CHARMANDERHITOKAGE
5CHARMELEONRIZADO
6CHARIZARDRIZADON
7SQUIRTLEZENIGAME
8WARTORTLEKAMEIRU
9BLASTOISEKAMEKUSU
10CATERPIECATAPI
11METAPODTORASERU
12BUTTERFREEBUTEFIRU
13WEEDLEBEEDORU
14KAKUNAKOKOON
15BEEDRILLSUPIA
16PIDGEYPOPO
17PIDGEOTTOPIJON
18PIDGEOTPIJOTO
19RATTATAKORATA
20RATICATERATA
21SPEAROWONISUZUME
22FEAROWONIDORIRU
23EKANSAABO
24ARBOKAABOKU
25PIKACHUPIKACHU
26RAICHURAICHU
27SANDSHREWSANDO
28SANDSLASHSANDOPAN
29NIDORANNIDORAN
30NIDORINANIDORINO
31NIDOQUEENNIDOKUINO
32NIDORANNIDORAN
33NIDORINONIDORINO
34NIDOKINGNIDOKINGU
35CLEFAIRYPIPI
36CLEFABLEPIKUSHI
37VULPIXROKON
38NINETALESKYUKON
39JIGGLYPUFFPURIN
40WIGGLYTUFFPUKURIN
41ZUBATZUBATO
42GOLBATGORUBATO
43ODDISHNAZONOKUSA
44GLOOMKUSAIHANA
45VILEPLUMERAFURESIA
46PARASPARASU
47PARASECTPARASEKUTO
48VENONATKONPAN
49VENOMOTHMORUFON
50DIGLETTDIGUDA
51DUGTRIODAGUTORIO
52MEOWTHNYAASU
53PERSIANPERUSIAN
54PSYDUCKKODAKU
55GOLDUCKGORUDAKU
56MANKEYMANKI
57PRIMEAPEOKORIZARU
58GROWLITHEGAADIE
59ARCANINEUINDIE
60POLIWAGNYOROMO
61POLIWHIRLNYOROZO
62POLIWRATHNYOROBON
63ABRAKISHI
64KADABRAYUNGERA
65ALAKAZAMFOODIN
66MACHOPWANRIKI
67MACHOKEGORIKI
68MACHAMPKAIRIKI
69BELLSPROUTMADATSUBOMI
70WEEPINBELLUTSUDON
71VICTREEBELUTSUBOTO
72TENTACOOLMENOKURAGE
73TENTACRUELDOKUKURAGE
74GEODUDEISITSUBUTE
75GRAVELERGORON
76GOLEMGORONYA
77PONYTAPONIITA
78RAPIDASHGYAROPU
79SLOWPOKEYADON
80SLOWBROYADORAN
81MAGNEMITEKOIRU
82MAGNETONREAKOIRU
83FARFETCH'DKAMONEGI
84DODUODODO
85DODRIODODORIO
86SEELPAWOU
87DEWGONGJUGON
88GRIMERBETOBETA
89MUKBETOBETON
90SHELLDERSHERUDA
91CLOYSTERPARUSHEN
92GASTLYGOSU
93HAUNTERGOSUTO
94GENGARGENGA
95ONIXIWAKU
96DROWZEESURIPU
97HYPNOSURIPA
98KRABBYCURABU
99KINGLERKINGURA
100VOLTROBBIRIRIDAMA
101ELECTRODEMARUMINE
102EXEGGCUTETAMATAMA
103EXEGGUTORNASHI
104CUBONEKARAKARA
105MAROWAKGARAGARA
106HITMONLEESAWAMURA
107HITMONCHANEBIWARA
108LICKITUNGBERORINGA
109KOFFINGDOGASU
110WEEZINGMATADOGASU
111RHYHORNSAIHON
112RHYDONSAIDON
113CHANSEYRAKKI
114TANGELAMONJARA
115KANGASKHANGARURA
116HORSEATATSU
117SEADRASEADORA
118GOLDEENTOSAKINTO
119SEAKINGAZUMAO
120STARYUHITODEMAN
121STARMIESUTAMI
122MR.MIMEBARIYAADO
123SCYTHERSUTORAIKU
124JYNXRUJURA
125ELECTABUZZEREBU
126MAGMARBUUBA
127PINSIRKAIROSU
128TAUROSKENTAROSU
129MAGIKARPKOIKINGU
130GYARADOSGYARADOSU
131LAPRASRAPURASU
132DITTOMETAMON
133EEVEEIIBUI
134VAPOREONSHAWAZUU
135JOLTEONSANDAASU
136FLAREONBUUSUTA
137PORYGONPORIGON
138OMANYTEOMUNAITO
139OMASTAROMUSUTA
140KABUTOKABUTO
141KABUTOPSKABUTOPUSU
142AERODACTYLPUTERA
143SNORLAXKABIGON
144ARTICUNOFURIIZA
145ZAPDOSSANDAA
146MOLTRESFAIYAA
147DRATINIMINIRYU
148DRAGONAIRHAKURYU
149DRAGONITEKAIRYU
150MEWTWOMYUUTSU
151MEW MYUU
Sources +