A break down of a few names, from discussions with my friends in chat.
Cofagrigus
Coffin + Egregious
egregious |iˈgrējəs|
adjective
1 outstandingly bad; shocking : egregious abuses of copyright.
2 archaic remarkably good.
Galvantula
Galvanize + Tarantula
galvanize |ˈgalvəˌnīz|
verb [ trans. ]
1 shock or excite (someone), typically into taking action : the urgency of his voice galvanized them into action.
2 [often as adj. ] ( galvanized) coat (iron or steel) with a protective layer of zinc : an old galvanized bucket.
Larvesta
Larva + Vesta
larva |ˈlärvə|
noun ( pl. -vae |-vē; -ˌvī|)
the active immature form of an insect, esp. one that differs greatly from the adult and forms the stage between egg and pupa, e.g., a caterpillar or grub. Compare with nymph (sense 2).
• an immature form of other animals that undergo some metamorphosis, e.g., a tadpole.
vesta |ˈvestə|
noun chiefly historical
a short wooden or wax match.
ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from the name of the goddess Vesta .
Vesta |ˈvestə| Roman Mythology
the goddess of the hearth and household. Her temple in Rome contained no image but a fire that was kept constantly burning and was tended by the Vestal Virgins.
Volcarona
Volcano + Corona
corona 1 |kəˈrōnə|
noun ( pl. -nae |-nē; -nī|)
1 Astronomy the rarefied gaseous envelope of the sun and other stars. The sun's corona is normally visible only during a total solar eclipse when it is seen as an irregularly shaped pearly glow surrounding the darkened disk of the moon.
• (also corona discharge) Physics the glow around a conductor at high potential.
• a small circle of light seen around the sun or moon, due to diffraction by water droplets.
2 Anatomy a crown or crownlike structure.
• Botany the cup-shaped or trumpet-shaped outgrowth at the center of a daffodil or narcissus flower.
3 a circular chandelier in a church.
4 Architecture a part of a cornice having a broad vertical face.
ORIGIN mid 16th cent. (sense 4) : from Latin, ‘wreath, crown.’
Larvesta and Volcarona are amazing plays on words, probably the best of the bunch to be honest. I still don't get why we're using Japan's own bad mis-spelling of Zoroa. I also don't get why they changed Borutorosu. This marks the second time in game generation history that TPCi have changed a Japanese legendary name from the original. The first was Agunomu being changed into Azelf and Emuritto into Mespirit back in DP.
I'm still pretty upset about the bird names:
Pidove makes me think of 3.14(etc)+ Dove, rather than Pigeon + Dove (cute combo, given they're the same family, but Dovely would have been better.) Tranquill is a cute play on words, but the bird can't go from being tranquil to unpleasant, especially since stage 1 is busy growing spurs and looks perpetually grumpy. At least they acknowledged that final stage is a Pheasant. Being more phonetic and using 'fez' was a nice twist, but only applicable when considering the male version.
Ducklett is wrong, to me, since Ducklett is... well it's really a cygnet. At least they kept Swanna.
Rufflet (Ruffle + Eaglet) is adorable, probably the best of the bird-bunch. Braviary (Bravery + Aviary) is hilarious, honestly. Good job, TPCi. I suppose we couldn't have War + Eagle, even though they managed to create Cofagrigus.
Vullaby (Vulture/or/Vulgar + Lullaby) I don't mind. It's a cute play on words, and could be so much worse (to be honest, the PokeBeach romanization of Barujina was pretty shocking for this family) but not great. Mandibuzz (Mandible + Buzz) sounds like a Donkey Kong boss.
Archen and Archeops are probably the best of the bunch, out of the birds (they count!)