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Capitalization Rules for Pokemon? (Discussion Topic)

Which convention?


  • Total voters
    53
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

I use the common noun method except for the fact that I always capitalize the word "Pokémon"
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

I don't write fanfics, but I use The Bulbapedia method. The only two that really make sense to me are The Bulbapedia method and The Pokemon-only method (the first being preferable... the second seems a bit odd at times)...
The Context-dependent Bulbapedia method just looks inconsistent, and The Common Noun method looks incorrect.

The only difference I use is MissingNo. .. . I call him "MissingNo.", the Bulbapedia spelling is "Missingno."

Besides capitalizing Pokémon species names because it's official (therefore, correct), I do think that it makes sense because in real life we capitalize the "scientific name" of any species... and Pokémon are only ever shown to have a single name whether it's in common use or scientific use so it might very well be correct capitalized.
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

Besides capitalizing Pokémon species names because it's official (therefore, correct), I do think that it makes sense because in real life we capitalize the "scientific name" of any species... and Pokémon are only ever shown to have a single name whether it's in common use or scientific use so it might very well be correct capitalized.

The thing is, though, we don't exactly. A housecat is a Felis domesticus, we are Homo sapiens, and a Western gorilla is a Gorilla gorilla (yes, really. There's even a subspecies called Gorilla gorilla gorilla). While the genus is capitalised, the actual species name of the creature itself is not. So we're kind of back where we started on that count.

I just use the 'Bulbapedia method', if you will, because it looks weird to me seeing them put forward as common nouns. One, because I'm used to the other way. Two, because I kind of feel that it takes some of the significance and specialness away from these fantastical creatures. But hey, that's just how I feel.
 
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Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

I use context dependent with the exception of move names. No matter what, I always capitalize those.
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

Besides capitalizing Pokémon species names because it's official (therefore, correct), I do think that it makes sense because in real life we capitalize the "scientific name" of any species... and Pokémon are only ever shown to have a single name whether it's in common use or scientific use so it might very well be correct capitalized.

The thing is, though, we don't exactly. A housecat is a Felis domesticus, we are Homo sapiens, and a Western gorilla is a Gorilla gorilla (yes, really. There's even a subspecies called Gorilla gorilla gorilla). While the genus is capitalised, the actual species name of the creature itself is not. So we're kind of back where we started on that count.

Well that's what I meant, the "scientific name" is a 2-worded name consisting of the genus and the species.
Pokémon, while referred to in the context of the games and anime as "species", may not literally be "species" by our definition. So they wouldn't necesarily need to be lowercase. Although they might... we don't exactly know what they are. I'm just saying that in real life if a scientist is talking about a cat in a scientific setting, he uses "Felis domesticus" (with a capital "F"). If a scientist, in the Pokémon world, refers to a Meowth, he calls it "Meowth" (or, at least it's never been shown to be alled anything different).
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

The second one I guess, but I tend to use a difference between Pokémon Trainer and a trainer.
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

Always. There's this person on ff.net who says you don't capitalize the names of Pokémon, but you do, so whenever I see that very harsh critic review, it makes me go 'Dammit, you ARE supposed to capitalize them!'
Basically, I write like this:
'Kris barely hid a smirk. This Youngster Joey kid obviously hadn't heard of the existence of base stats.
...Well, all things considered, she'd only heard of them because of the many, many times Gold dragged herself and Lyra into his house just to watch Trainer's Today on the TV at 5.00 PM sharp.
"Heh. We'll see that. C'mon out, Megan!"
"Chikoriiiii!"
The two gave a quick Trainer's glare to each other and began to order their Pokémon.
"Rattata, use Growl!"
"Megan, Razor Leaf!" '
 
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Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

Always. There's this person on ff.net who says you don't capitalize the names of Pokémon, but you do, so whenever I see that very harsh critic review, it makes me go 'Dammit, you ARE supposed to capitalize them!'
Farla has a point, you know. You can't say that you ARE supposed to capitalise them because the only thing we have for precedent is the Pokemon series itself, which capitalises them because they're trademarked names. In-universe, they're not trademarked at all, so whether to capitalise them or not is really up to the individual authors. Just because someone doesn't subscribe to the same system you do isn't a reason to slag them off.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of Farla either, but it's got nothing to do with her view on capitalisation.
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

Oh no, I don't SAY anything. That's just what I think. I've never actually said anything like that.
I'll change my post to reflect that or something.
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

If you're going for a hard realistic fic, though, it'd be proper not to, because animal species names are not proper names, and thus are not capitalized.

If you're going hard realistic, you'd make up your own common names for the creatures based on already-existing nouns that then wouldn't be capitalized. Just sayin' :p

e.g. Skarmory = "steel-winged bird".
 
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Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

If you're going for a hard realistic fic, though, it'd be proper not to, because animal species names are not proper names, and thus are not capitalized.

If you're going hard realistic, you'd make up your own common names for the creatures based on already-existing nouns that then wouldn't be capitalized. Just sayin' :p

e.g. Skarmory = "steel-winged bird".
Well, some allowances have to be made to establish that, yes, this is in fact a Pokemon story. In any case, some real-life species, like the hoatzin, have names that are quite fantastic.
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

I prefer not establishing Pokémon in the setting a priori if that's the case, like I'm doing in The Rise of Silph (which I'm still rewriting heavily). In any case, if you do want to use names like "the hoatzin", at least make an effort to create your own words for such animals.
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

I prefer not establishing Pokémon in the setting a priori if that's the case, like I'm doing in The Rise of Silph (which I'm still rewriting heavily). In any case, if you do want to use names like "the hoatzin", at least make an effort to create your own words for such animals.
I'm not sure what you mean. The hoatzin is an actual species of bird; I was using its name as an example of a fantastic name in the real world. My point was, it isn't always necessary for a common name to be a description of the animal. Therefore, using the series names of Pokemon doesn't break realism too heavily.
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

Meh, it's just personal preference.

And what I meant is, although you say "the hoatzin" is a real word, I mean, don't use words like "diglett", which exist only in the franchise, to describe those animals, unless you can somehow manage to come up with such a word a posteriori (i.e. from some property of Diglett itself), if you're trying to do hard, detailed realism.

Otherwise, don't bother with naming conventions altogether. Unless you're going for cultural and linguistic realism (in which case simply leaving names uncapitalized would not be enough), I don't see why you'd have to leave the names uncapitalized at all to do "hard realism". As you say, some allowances have to be made.
 
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Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

I find it grates a little to see attacks or items capitalised; it simply doesn't make sense to me. I prefer not to capitalise species names unless they're the actual names of the pokémon, but I can bear it, seeing as the precedent - for whatever reasons - is so clear.

I don't even capitalise 'pokémon', though I go out of my way to add that little accent to the e. There's no grammatical justification for it that I know of, providing that one assumes the word 'pokémon' is not trademarked in-universe as it is here. Pokéverse denizens may even find it grating in the same way we might find the capitalisation of animal species grating. Actually, that could be amusing:

"Go, Electric Mouse! Attack that Bird! Come back; I choose you, Turtle!"

Makes sense in Germany, I suppose.

(Someone quickly tell me what a bad idea it is to write a drabble about pokéverse authors arguing over the capitalisation of the fictional race of Animals.)
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

I find it grates a little to see attacks or items capitalised.

"Pikachu, use tackle!" I used to do this too, until I realized that tackle wasn't being used as a verb, and certainly not as a common noun.

Similarly, a Potion isn't quite what you'd call a potion.
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

I tend to get around that by not really specifying which attacks are being used, sometimes. While most of the time it's just 'Magmar, use Flamethrower' etc, I tend to give the Pokemon a bit more freedom and realism with generic commands like 'Crush it!' or 'Tear that Zangoose to bits!'. While not strictly related to capitalisation, I find it avoids having awkwardly-capitalised attack names everywhere. While I don't exactly go out of my way to avoid them, I will skirt around them if I can. That said, the vast majority of moves in my fic do get named.

I did write a full battle scene once in which only one move got named, iirc, and it seemed to work okay. I think move names should, on the whole, stay capitalised and properly named to avoid confusion between similar attacks. The way some techniques are described, they could be using Ember, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Will-o-wisp, or any other similar move.

this post is not coherent what am i doing
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

I find it grates a little to see attacks or items capitalised.

"Pikachu, use tackle!" I used to do this too, until I realized that tackle wasn't being used as a verb, and certainly not as a common noun.

Similarly, a Potion isn't quite what you'd call a potion.

That's a fair point regarding moves being proper nouns. You're certainl right that in that context, they should be capitalised. The thing is, must they be proper nouns in the first place? I've always treated them as common nouns, i.e. "used a thunderbolt". I also like the technique Misheard Whisper has drawn attention to, where the attack is not explicitly named; I find it does give a greater sense of realism, and is more dynamic than formulaic, inflexible moves. Treating attacks as proper nouns seems artificial, and I prefer to find way around needing to do so.

I'm not quite sure I follow your logic on potions/Potions. Is it not just a word for 'medicine'? I wouldn't say "I need to use a Painkiller" or anything. Care to elaborate?
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

I'm not quite sure I follow your logic on potions/Potions. Is it not just a word for 'medicine'? I wouldn't say "I need to use a Painkiller" or anything. Care to elaborate?
I think it's more like a brand-name... like how you say "I need to use the Advil" and not "I need to use the advil."
"Potion" (capitalised) is completely different from a "potion" (which is usually a drink, a lot of times magical, whereas Potions are spray-on medicine manufactured by Silph Co. / other companies). My guess is that they took the name from Final Fantasy / similar RPGs who call the healing items "Potions".
However, it could just be an alternate definition which doesn't correspond to the real-world definition (like how "evolution" isn't talking about the concept we know in real life as "evolution"). In that case it'd be okay to keep it lowercase.
 
Re: Capitalisation of Pokemon names

That's a fair point regarding moves being proper nouns. You're certainly right that in that context, they should be capitalised. The thing is, must they be proper nouns in the first place? I've always treated them as common nouns, i.e. "used a thunderbolt". I also like the technique Misheard Whisper has drawn attention to, where the attack is not explicitly named; I find it does give a greater sense of realism, and is more dynamic than formulaic, inflexible moves. Treating attacks as proper nouns seems artificial, and I prefer to find way around needing to do so.

Same here. I don't like using those proper nouns either, and I'll often go and do "Squirtle, tackle the Pidgey!", because tackle is an actual tackling motion, and not just the name of an attack.

I'm not quite sure I follow your logic on potions/Potions. Is it not just a word for 'medicine'? I wouldn't say "I need to use a Painkiller" or anything. Care to elaborate?

Essentially what Dˁnyḏnnw said. Something like "Parlyz Heal", I would simply call a paralysis healer. No caps needed. And things like Poké Ball are brand names even in the Pokémon world. Kind of like how there's a bit of a dispute between "photoshopped" and "Photoshopped", or "kleenex" and "Kleenex". Do you decapitalize the genericized brand or not?
 
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