List of Polish Pokémon names

This is a list of my own ideas for Polish Pokémon names.

Alphabet

The Polish alphabet extends the Latin alphabet, and has 32 letters. The letters Q, V, and X may be used in below names, but are never used in native words.

A Ą B C Ć D E Ę F G H I J K L Ł M N Ń O Ó P R S Ś T U W Y Z Ź Ż
a ą b c ć d e ę f g h i j k l ł m n ń o ó p r s ś t u w y z ź ż

Quick pronunciation guide

This mainly applies to contexts where there are native words.

All vowel sounds are constant, short, and never distinguished by length:
- A - as in back
- E - as in left
- I - as Y in very
- O - as in wrong
- Ó/U - as OO in boot
- Y - as I in thin
- Ą and Ę are just O and E, but pronounced nasally, like in French chanson (song) or italien (Italian).
All letters are pronounced, but if there is a difficult cluster of 3 or more consonants, the middle letter can be skipped: kostka (dice) → kos-ka, sześćset (six hundred) → sześ-set OR szej-set.
S is always devoiced, so it’s pronounced like in sock.
T never becomes a tongue flap, so it’s pronounced like in the word tap!
C is pronounced like TS in parts.
J is pronounced like Y in yen.
Ł is pronounced like W in week.
W is pronounced like V in vine.
Ń is pronounced like NY in canyon.
Ć, Ś, Ź, DŹ are pronounced like CH in chip, SH in ship, G in regime, and J in jinn, respectively. Those are iotized. The same applies to CI, SI, ZI, and DZI in most cases.
CZ, SZ, Ż, DŻ are pronounced like CH in chop, SH in show, S in vision, and J in jar, respectively. Those are not iotized.
Most words are stressed on the penultimate syllable.

Rules for making names

They all shall be family-friendly.
They must fit within 12 characters. I don’t care if the older games only permit 10. It was a limit placed out of necessity to fit on a Game Boy screen, but later games obviously have more space.

Generation I
Generation II
Generation III
Generation IV
Generation V
Generation VI
Generation VII
Generation VIII
Generation IX

Pokémon	New name	Etymology	Notes
Generation I
#0009 Blastoise	Żółwierz	From żółw “turtle, tortoise” and żołnierz “soldier”	In Polish, the same word żółw is used for all species of the Testudines order. Although it is less common, a classifier can be used to distinguish a sea turtle (żółw morski) from a tortoise (żółw lądowy). The terrapin has its own word as well (terapena).
#0023 Ekans	Zołop	From a part of Połozowate “Colubridae” backwards	Partially inspired by the German name, “Rettan”.
#0024 Arbok	Arbok	From kobra “cobra” backwards. Same as original
#0025 Pikachu	Pikachu	Same as original
#0026 Raichu	Raichu	Same as original
#0027 Sandshrew	Sandomysz	From sand and mysz “mouse”
#0028 Sandslash	Sancernik	From sand and pancernik “armadillo”	I was originally going with “Sandolin” (from sand and pangolin), but that sounded too similar to a brand name.
#0130 Gyarados	Garados	Same as the German name	A lot of Polish Pokémon fans mispronounce “Gyarados” as “Guyardos” due to inconsistencies early on in Pokémon the Series’ Polish dub. So I decided to change it to the almost identical German name.
#0133 Eevee	Eevee	Same as original
Generation II
#0185 Sudowoodo	Łżewo	From łże “he/she/it lies” (inflected form of łgać “to lie”) and drzewo “tree”	Not coined by me! It comes from Dark Archon’s Polish Pokémon Crystal patch.
#0201 Unown	Icognito	From incognito, Latin for “unknown”. Same as the German name
#0205 Forretress	Fortyszka	From forteca “fortress” and szyszka “pinecone”
#0248 Tyranitar	Tyranitar	Same as original	A lot of Polish Pokémon fans call this one “Tyrek”. Yes, much like one of the Poznań Goats. I think it makes me keep the original name.
Generation III
#0299 Nosepass	Kompanos	From kompas “compass”, nos “nose”, and kompan “companion, comrade”
#0321 Wailord	Wielord	From wieloryb “whale” and lord	Fun fact: wieloryb comes from Proto-Slavic velьrybъ, so it is also reflected in other Slavic languages. By surface anaylsis, it comes from wiele ryb*, meaning “many fish”. It’s one of the reasons I thought whales are fish when I was little, but they’re in fact mammals.
#0324 Torkoal	Żółwęgiel	From żółw “turtle, tortoise” and węgiel “coal”
#0345 Lileep	Lilip	From lilia “lily” and polip “polyp”. Similar to the English name
#0363 Spheal	Fokula	From foka “seal” and kula “ball”
#0374 Beldum	Lahant	From rearranging the syllables of hantla “dumbbell”
Generation IV
#0455 Carnivine	Venuliana	From Venus flytrap and liana (climbing woody vine, usually tropical)
#0472 Gliscor	Skorpioszyb	From szybować “to glide” and skorpion “scorpion”	I considered Szyborpion from the same words.
#0476 Probopass	Nosagnes	From nos “nose” and magnes “magnet”	This almost makes it Nosepass’s German name “Nasgnet”, but I came up with Nosepass’s Polish name first.
Generation V
#0534 Conkeldurr	Starbeton	From stary “old” and beton “concrete (building material)”	I had this idea for the longest time, and I feel like it rolls off the tongue really well.
#0627 Rufflet	Korzeł	From karzeł “dwarf” and orzeł “eagle”
#0629 Vullaby	Sępisklę	From sęp “vulture” and pisklę “chick”
Generation VII
#0739 Crabrawler	Kraboks	From krab “crab” and boks “boxing”. Similar to the German name Krabbox
Generation VIII
#0852 Clobbopus	Oktoks	From octopus and boks “boxing”
#0873 Frosmoth	Ciemróz	From ciem, inflected form of ćma “moth”, and mróz “frost”
Generation IX
#0924 Tandemaus	Myszpół	From mysz “mouse” and zespół “team”
#0925 Maushold	Rodzimyszy	From rodzina “family”, rodzić “to give birth”, and myszy “mice”
#0985 Scream Tail	Krzykogon	From krzyk “scream” and ogon “tail”
#0990 Iron Treads	Żelazopona	From żelazo “iron” and opona “tyre”
#0992 Iron Hands	Żelazodłonie	From żelazo “iron” and dłoń “palm (part of a hand)“
#???? Iron Boulder	Żelazogłaz	From żelazo “iron” and głaz “boulder”
#1024 Terapagos	Terapagos	Same as original