RE: Names
Apparently Alomomola is a derivation of
Mola mola, the scientific name for the ocean sunfish, after which the Pokémon is based (sunfish have the characteristic vertical wing-like fins, even though they have a much less, er…feminine demeanor than Alomomola's design). What always confused me for ages though were berry names, a lot of them seem to make obvious sense – yes, I did figure out where the
Tomato Berry came from
– but there were a few that were just like, "wha…? *drool*." Turns out there is actually a Phillipine-native fruit named "star fruit" (
Carambola) that looks like a 5-edged star when you cut it open, hence Starf Berry. I don't know if I've been living under a rock forever, or if I dropped out of fruit school in Kindergarten, but I legitimately had no idea half this stuff even existed in real life, haha (please tell me Starf wasn't an obvious one – aside from "star," duh. Or I'm hoping it's a duh anyway…).
Check these out, they're pretty cool:
Magost –
Purple mangosteen
Yache –
Cherimoya (it grows high up in the Andes, hence the Ice-type connection)
Lansat –
Langsat
Rowap –
Water Apples (they come in a variety of colors, but unfortunately blue isn't one of them… Often used in salads, sauteed dishes, and Arceus events)
Babiri –
Biriba (essentially a cross between an apple and a banana, with the addition of deadly-looking spikes)
A lot of berries' names are just the names of their real-life counterparts with the letters bumped up a few spaces in order, like "Babiri" (Ganlon=Longan, Payapa=Papaya, Wiki=
Wikipedia Kiwi, etc.), and of course there're the infamous backwards names. I feel like I'm late to the revelation now, haha, but fascinating nonetheless (even though I'm kind of freaked out by Southeast Asian cuisine now
).
@MrGatr: Moltres' name is literally "Fire" in Japanese (ファイヤー). I don't know what English education was like in Japan during the '90's, but I have a feeling the mysteries of a lot those 1st Gen names are wearing off over there with a good many facepalms
and feelings of abuse/hatemail to Game Freak… Granted, the same things are being done vice versa around the world all the time – that's why no one knows what Mawile and Castform are supposed to be, and why Hariyama is called Hariyama in English instead of Hari
teyama (kind of a weird/convoluted story I guess…).