vethica | (no subject)

I continue to be caught up with most of my responsibilities. It is a ridiculous feeling. I am taking this chance while I still have some homework for tomorrow to procrastinate and LJ post. Can't let myself get too complacent.

So now I will talk about a topic very near and dear to my heart: gym leader names. As many of you know, the English names of the Gen V gym leaders (and a couple other characters) were recently released and confirmed by several reputable sources. Although Bulbapedia, the be all and end all, has not yet confirmed them, they're looking pretty official. Personally, I have mixed feelings, but mainly negative ones, which I will elaborate upon in this very journal!

	Dent, Pod, Corn/Cilan, Chili, Cress: I love these names so much. They're a triple pun - plants (Japanese theme (dent and pod are types of corn)), foods (waiter theme), and type references (gym leader theme). All while being five letters long and starting with C. Definitely my favorite English names of the generation (so far). Too bad the rest didn't all live up to them.
	Aloe/Lenora: She looked like an Aloe, but she looks like a Lenora too. I like how the pun on "normal" doesn't smack you in the face. I'm okay with this one.
	Arti/Burgh: This is where they start getting eurgh (rhymes with Burgh). Okay, I get that "Arti" didn't fit the bug theme (though it fit the artist theme and was cute), but come on, I don't think Burgh is even a name. Seriously, are bug puns so difficult to come up with that all you could give us were Bugsy and Burgh? :\|\|\|
	Kamitsure/Elesa: Let's take the first few letters of "electric", slap on a girly suffix and call it a day! :D ...Nope, still not a name. I'm not sure how you even pronounce that. Admittedly, I'm a little biased because I was rooting for "Joules", but seriously, does she look like an Elesa to you?
	Yacon/Clay: This one I'm fond of. It's a cowboy name and a Ground-type name! Even better than "Cliff", which I'd seen someone suggest. I approve.
	Fuuro/Skyla: Come on. This one is just lazy. Might as well have just called her Birdy and had done with it; they look enough alike anyway.
	Hachiku/Brycen: Okay, I think I'm in the minority here, but I like this one. He looks enough like a Brycen, and I don't think it's all that close to Pryce's name. I do agree that it's somewhat out of place with his very Japanese/ninja style, though.
	Shaga/Drayden: The more I look at this one, the less I like it. I think it's that it strikes me as too "trendy" a name for an old guy like that. Plus his Japanese name meant "iris", which I thought was nice. Drayden doesn't even sound that much like dragon. :\
	Iris/Iris: No change here, which I'm fine with. Don't fix what ain't broke. Wish some of the others would have adhered to this.

And, as a bonus.

	Touya/Blair: I can buy this. It's gender-neutral enough for his poofy girly hair. :P Not sure what exactly was wrong with "Blake", but whatever.
	Touko/Whitlea: Not. A. Name. And not tomboyish enough (though that's personal preference). Besides, the characters' names haven't been color puns since Kris - why start now? :\|
	Geechisu/Ghetsis: No.

In conclusion, stupid new translation company.

Speaking of Pokémon, I'm almost done with the requests from last post. Sure were a lot of Electric Pokémon. :B Requests are still open if anyone wants one! Just putting that out there.

Okay now I will do homework. Or eat, or something.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh okay, I hadn't heard of that name. 1/3 "not a name" complaints retracted! (Any help on the pronunciation front?)

I think Skyler is technically a unisex name, though I've mostly seen it used for guys. I would have definitely preferred it to Skyla, though. Maybe they didn't want people to confuse her with Schuyler from the third movie, but they had no business naming Bel "Bianca" then. :P

Ugh, yes, the Pokémon. I didn't think Smugleaf and Wotter had a chance of becoming canon, mainly because they were fan names and also "Wotter" would sound exactly like "water" when spoken. Absolutely hate a lot of the names they went with, though. Gurdurr? Throh and Sawk? Foongus and Amoonguss? Really?

UGH the Pokemon names. I just looked through them and AUGH. I don't think they care about names sounding like other words when spoken though.

Yeah, Ellesse isn't a very common name. Most people know it as an Italian sports brand. But as for pronunciation, my friend always pronounced "Ellesse" as "eh-lees", but looking it up has it reading the same as "Alessa" as well. So I'd imagine pronouncing it similar to "Alessa" probably wouldn't be too far off.