Naming characters vs. Using default names

[Gabo2oo]

I always name the player characters after me.

The only rival I gave an original name was Hugh because I don't really like that, so I called him "Austin"... As in "odstín", hue in Czech. Kinda elaborated, but I preferred that name.

 

[Jenneta]

I always name my characters. <3 I don't know if anybody can understand this, but for me, the player isn't me or May/Brendan/Dawn/etc, but it's my own character. <3 I always have a character in mind for each PC, so, for example, in White, I have Rose, my Unova queen. o3o. Rivals are kinda the same, too. Barry is River in my Platinum, and Silver is Marcus in HG/SS. ;D But for the rivals I usually don't name them unless I have a better name for them. ;3

 

[GleamingCoral]

I usually name the character after my own name, although sometimes when I just want to play through the story again I name her (or him) the default name for something different.

 

[Aulos]

I just use my name! Except for pre-Crystal, of course. I named the G1 protagonist Ash because you know, all of the anime hype. Lol. G2, I honestly do not even remember...

 

[BlackButterfree]

Usually, I name them Edwin (my name) or James if I'm a boy, Edina if I'm a girl. I've always used May and Brendan's default names, same as Dawn. I did name Leaf "Misty" in my FireRed playthrough as an homage to the anime, however. (Our teams had NOTHING in common, however lol)

I don't even remember what I call the rivals. I named Blue "Gary", obviously. I named Silver "Gio" in SS after his father, can't remember what I called him in Gen. 2 but I thought he was a girl back then, so I know it wasn't anything he'd like lol. And for some reason, I called Barry "Dusk". (Probably because Dawn Stone and Dusk Stone lol) I also named Lucas "Dusk" in Pearl and named Barry "Twilight", as Dawn and Dusk are the twilight (the times of day where day and night transition into each other).

 

[Lucifer Morningstar]

naming em yourself is way better

This. I've never in my life used any of the default names. For my very first game, Yellow I knew I wanted to name my trainer 'Ickis' even before I got the game (same goes for the pidgey which was my first caught Pokemon, I chose it's nickname before I even had the game). I was heavily into the Ickis character in 'Ahhh Real Monsters' back then to the point where I'd actually used it as my middle name.

Naming my trainers after my favorite fictional characters is a trend that I've kept to this day. Back when I was a Twilight fan I'd use the name Edward and then it was Aidan after Being Human syfy, now it's Angel after Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel (yeah other than a few files here and there I'm always the male Trainer).

The only exception is my current Yellow file (assuming my Yellow has actually still survived to this day, I haven't checked in ages and it's easily over ten years old now) I named my trainer Matthew after the name my mother had picked out while pregnant hoping for a boy. Though coincidentally there is a character in one of my favorite novel series named Matthew and I'd themed a lot of my Pokemon nicknames after that series but I chose the trainer name Matthew from my supposed-to-be boy name.

 

[Lyrebird]

I go with foreign common names for my characters because I have no reason at all. I name my rivals after swear or vulgur words (Except Blue) because it is funny, they deserve it and it is so immature which makes it awesome.