Pokemon Names in Japanese: 15 Real Meanings Explained

Pikachu is the same in every language. Almost nothing else is. Bulbasaur is フシギダネ, Charmander is ヒトカゲ, Squirtle is ゼニガメ — and each of those Japanese names is a piece of wordplay that the English localisation had to throw away and rebuild. I’m a Japanese teacher, and here are Pokémon names in Japanese with their real meanings: the katakana, the kanji hiding underneath, and the puns you’ve been missing for twenty-five years.

Can-you-use-it legend: ◎ = ordinary Japanese you’ll meet again · △ = playful or childish · ✗ = a made-up creature name.

Pokémon names in Japanese and what they mean

English	Japanese	Rōmaji	What it’s built from
Pikachu	ピカチュウ	Pikachū	ピカピカ (sparkling) + チュウ (a mouse’s squeak)
Bulbasaur	フシギダネ	Fushigidane	不思議 (strange) + 種 (seed) — and 不思議だね, “strange, isn’t it?”
Charmander	ヒトカゲ	Hitokage	火 (fire) + トカゲ (lizard); also 人影, “a human silhouette”
Squirtle	ゼニガメ	Zenigame	銭亀 — a real word for a baby pond turtle
Charizard	リザードン	Rizādon	Lizard + ドン, the “-don” of dinosaur names
Jigglypuff	プリン	Purin	プリン — literally “pudding” (crème caramel)
Meowth	ニャース	Nyāsu	ニャー (the Japanese “meow”) + ス
Psyduck	コダック	Kodakku	子 (child) + duck
Snorlax	カビゴン	Kabigon	カビ (mould) + ゴン, a heavy-creature suffix
Magikarp	コイキング	Koikingu	鯉 (carp) + king
Ditto	メタモン	Metamon	Metamorphose + モン (monster)
Eevee	イーブイ	Ībui	The letters “E” and “V” — as in evolution
Gengar	ゲンガー	Gengā	From 幻 (illusion) and German Doppelgänger
Onix	イワーク	Iwāku	岩 (rock) + a stretched vowel for size
Mewtwo	ミュウツー	Myūtsū	Mew + ツー, the English “two”

フシギダネ is a joke that can’t be translated

Read it as a compound and you get 不思議 (fushigi, mysterious) + 種 (tane, seed): “mystery seed.” Read it as a sentence and you get 不思議だね (fushigi da ne) — “strange, isn’t it?”

Both readings are live at the same time. And the evolutions keep the gag running: フシギソウ is 不思議そう (“looks strange”) and フシギバナ is 不思議花 (“mystery flower”) while also sounding like 不思議話, a strange tale. Three names, one sustained pun. “Bulbasaur / Ivysaur / Venusaur” is a perfectly good solution to an impossible problem, but it’s a different joke entirely.

Teacher’s note — だね is worth stealing: The ね on the end of 不思議だね is a sentence-final particle that invites agreement, roughly “…isn’t it?” It’s one of the first things that makes a learner’s Japanese sound natural rather than robotic. きれいだね (“pretty, isn’t it”), 寒いね (“cold, isn’t it”). Japanese conversation runs on these small confirmations, and English speakers tend to leave them out entirely.

ゼニガメ isn’t a pun at all — it’s a real animal

銭亀 (zenigame) is an ordinary Japanese word. 銭 (zeni) is old-fashioned money — coins with square holes — and 亀 (kame) is a turtle. A 銭亀 is a baby pond turtle, so named because its shell is about the size of a coin. Japanese children have known that word for generations.

So where an English-speaking child meets an invented word, “Squirtle,” a Japanese child meets a real one. That happens repeatedly across the roster, and it’s one of the quiet reasons the games work so well as reading practice for young learners in Japan.

Why every name is in katakana

Japanese has three scripts. Hiragana for grammar, kanji for meaning, katakana for foreign words, sound effects, scientific names — and creature names. Every single Pokémon is written in katakana, which is why the series is the most effective katakana drill ever accidentally invented.

Katakana	Sound	Trap for English speakers
ー	lengthens the vowel	リザードン is ri-zā-don, not “rizadon”
ッ	doubles the next consonant	コダック is ko-dak-ku, with a pause
ャュョ	glides — one syllable	ミュウ is myū, not “mi-yu”
ン	a full beat on its own	ゲンガー is four beats: ge-n-gā

Teacher’s note — this is exactly how Japanese children practise: Katakana is usually taught second, after hiragana, and it’s the harder of the two to retain because it turns up less often in ordinary sentences. Japanese schools use lists of familiar loanwords for drilling. A learner who already knows 150 creature names has effectively done that drill for fun — they just need someone to check that the long vowels and doubled consonants are landing, because those two features are where English speakers’ katakana quietly falls apart.

Words you can actually use from this

Japanese	Rōmaji	English	Use it?
不思議	fushigi	Strange, mysterious, wonderful	◎ Very common
亀	kame	Turtle	◎ Everyday
鯉	koi	Carp	◎ Also the streamers on Children’s Day
岩	iwa	Rock	◎ Everyday
ピカピカ	pika pika	Sparkling, shiny, brand new	◎ Real onomatopoeia
プリン	purin	Crème caramel pudding	◎ Order it in a café
子	ko	Child — a prefix for young animals	◎ 子犬, 子猫
幻	maboroshi	Illusion, phantom	△ Literary but common

ピカピカ deserves a note of its own. Japanese has hundreds of these doubled sound-words, and they’re not baby talk — adults use them constantly. ピカピカ is shiny, キラキラ is glittering, ドキドキ is a racing heart, ワクワク is excitement. You cannot sound natural in Japanese without them, and Pikachu’s name is one.

From names to sentences

Knowing 150 katakana names is a genuinely good starting position — better than most beginners have. What it isn’t yet is Japanese, because names are nouns and conversation is verbs, particles and the constant judgement of how polite to be.

At TOMODACHI JAPAN, qualified Japanese teachers currently working in Japanese schools run small group classes alongside children in Japan. Games are where a lot of our students start; the teacher’s job is to turn that vocabulary into sentences someone will answer.

Frequently asked questions

Why are Pokémon names different in Japanese?

Because almost every original name is Japanese wordplay that doesn’t survive translation. フシギダネ is simultaneously “mystery seed” and the sentence “strange, isn’t it?” — no English name can do both, so localisers built new puns instead. Pikachu kept its name because it’s pure sound: ピカピカ (sparkle) plus チュウ (squeak).

What does ピカチュウ mean?

ピカピカ (pika pika) is the onomatopoeia for sparkling or flashing, and チュウ (chū) is the sound a mouse makes in Japanese — the equivalent of “squeak.” So the name is roughly “sparkle-squeak.” Both halves are real, everyday Japanese sound-words.

Is ゼニガメ a real Japanese word?

Yes. 銭亀 (zenigame) means a baby pond turtle — 銭 is old coin-money and 亀 is turtle, because the hatchling’s shell is coin-sized. It’s an ordinary word Japanese children already know, unlike the invented “Squirtle.”

Is Pokémon good for learning katakana?

It’s one of the best drills there is, because every name is written in katakana and there are hundreds of them. The two things to check with a teacher are long vowels (ー) and doubled consonants (ッ), which English speakers routinely flatten — リザードン is ri-zā-don, not “rizadon.”

How does my child go from game vocabulary to real Japanese?

By using it with people. TOMODACHI JAPAN runs small online classes with qualified Japanese teachers and peers in Japan — see our plans and pricing. Our Learn Japanese with Pokémon guide and our guide to writing your name in katakana are good next steps.