Ideas may start running low when having to write names for NPCs, especially when they start to reach numbers of over 100, as they do in many of the mainline Pokemon games.
After exhausting the names of friends, family, and pets, maybe you’d start looking for outside inspiration. Or maybe you were such a big fan of a TV show you just had to name this character after the protagonist. That certainly seems the case for the teams involved with the production of our favorite monster-catching megahit.
10 Shocking
Elesa is the Gym Leader for Nimbasa City in both Black & White and their sequels — in the latter, she has moved gyms and hired some new staff members, three of which are wonderfully apt references to a group of incredibly influential figures.
Just before fighting Elesa, the player will be pitched against Beauty Tesla (a reference to engineer Nikola Tesla), Beauty Fleming (representing microbiologist Alexander Fleming), and Beauty Ampère (an homage to physicist André-Marie Ampère). As a bonus piece of trivia, Mareep is an anagram of Ampère — likely due to Ampère’s contributions to electrodynamics.
9 Mr. Crowley
A recent reference in the Pokemon series is the Shield-exclusive Gym Leader Allister. Allister is a mask-wearing Ghost-type user who can see dead Pokemon, which is why his namesake is so fitting.
Allister is very likely a reference to Aleister Crowley. Crowley was a late 19th-century poet, occultist, and practitioner of magic, drawing much controversy for his interest in the paranormal and his extravagant lifestyle. The supernatural nature of both of these characters coupled with the fact that both are from the U.K. (Galar is based on the U.K. so close enough!) makes Crowley a fitting choice to name a Ghost-type Gym Leader after.
8 Master Bruce
While a divisive entry in the series, Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee did add a couple of interesting extras to the game on which they were based: Pokemon Yellow. One notable addition was that of Master Trainers. These powerful opponents are a group of trainers that the player can encounter throughout the game after beating the Champion, each using one Pokemon exclusively.
The Master Trainers of Zubat and Golbat are Scientists West and Keaton, respectively. This is a nod to two of the actors that have played DC Comics’ Batman — Adam West and Michael Keaton, two fan-favorites. In addition to this, the Pikachu Master Trainer is named Ikue, after Pikachu’s anime voice actor, Ikue Ohtani.
7 Gotta Catch ’em All
Pokemon Crystal was the first appearance of the Battle Tower, which has now become a staple in most mainline Pokemon games. Crystal’s Battle Tower would pit the player against seven tough NPC trainers in a row, rewarding them if they could manage to emerge victorious.
One NPC, in particular, is named Bug Catcher Tajiri. This is widely believed to be a reference to series creator Satoshi Tajiri. One of the main inspirations for Pokemon was Tajiri’s love of bug collecting, hence Bug Catcher Tajiri. It is also likely that fellow Battle Tower NPC Guitarist Masuda is a reference to the music director for Crystal, Junichi Masuda.
6 Smell Ya Later
One of the first references to real people in the games occurs within the first few minutes of Red & Green. When the player is prompted to choose a name, they are given a list of default names to choose from or the option of typing a new name.
The default names given vary by game and language, but within Red & Green, two of the potential choices are Shigeru and Satoshi, a reference to Nintendo hit-maker Shigeru Miyamoto and the aforementioned Satoshi Tajiri. This reference carries over to the anime, where Ash and Gary’s Japanese names are Satoshi and Shigeru, respectively.
5 The Sundance Kids
Many may remember Team Rocket’s Butch and Cassidy as counterparts to series mainstays Jessie and James. Butch and Cassidy didn’t make appearances in too many episodes, serving primarily to illustrate just how incompetent Jessie and James were by being generally better than them at everything.
In the name of this duo lies a reference — a very apt one, considering their line of work — Butch Cassidy is the name of one of the most infamous train robbers of the 19th century and as Butch and Cassidy are in the profession of stealing, it’s no wonder these names were chosen.
4 Life Is Unfair
The year 2002 gave us Ruby & Sapphire, the third pair of mainline Pokemon games. Two years earlier, we were hit with cult classic TV series Malcolm In The Middle. In the year 2014, the two giants crossed over in the form of a double-battle in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire’s Young Couple from Sea Mauville.
For anyone who didn’t manage to catch the show, the names of Malcolm’s parents are Lois and Hal, and as they had a significant portion of screentime per episode, with some episodes entirely based around them, it isn’t a stretch to assume this is a little nod to the often dysfunctional family.
3 Palette Town
Pokemon X & Y’s Kalos is a fictionalized version of France — with Lumiose Tower, a reference to the Eiffel Tower and the Glittering Cave, based on the Paris Catacombs, to name a few notable bits of evidence. When one thinks of France, several things may come to mind — haute cuisine, the Musée du Louvre, fine art — which makes it no surprise that some of the translation team managed to sneak in a few little references to the latter in the form of Kalos NPCs.
Four Trainers exist in Kalos that pay tribute to famous artists — Artists Georgia, Pierre, Vincent, and Salvador — referencing modernist Georgia O’Keeffe, impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, post-impressionist Vincent van Gogh, and surrealist Salvador Dali.
2 Prepare For Trouble
Butch and Cassidy aren’t the only Team Rocket duo that hide a reference to a real person - combining the names of loveable anime antagonists Jessie and James reveals the name of another Western outlaw.
Jesse James, much like Butch Cassidy, was a 19th-century outlaw that robbed trains and banks and would, like Cassidy, become one of the most prolific criminals of the century.
1 Mr. President
Throughout the anime, Ash has had a wide variety of other trainers tag along with him and Pikachu, sometimes for a whole season, sometimes for just an episode or two. One of his earliest tagalongs was Ritchie, a fellow trainer and Pikachu-specialist.
Ritchie is kind, friendly, and generally a lot more level-headed than the more aggressive Ash. Just as well, considering that many believe his Japanese name — Hiroshi — to be a reference to former president of Nintendo, Hiroshi Yamauchi.
NEXT: Pokémon: The 5 Best NPCs In Pokémon Red & Blue (& The 5 Worst)
