Makematra Janumna: Creation Guide
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A guide for those who want to make one in your conlang.
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 20 Jan 2017, 00:50.
[comments] tutorialpokemonlistnames
[top]Introduction
Lately, I've seen people starting to create their own Makematra Janumna, like,
Mesyar [article link] and 
Mopezer [article link]. Now, I want to help people make a good Makematra Janumna in their own language. For those who don't know, Makematra Janumna is an invented term that refers to a list of translated (not transliterated!) Pokemon names in one's own conlang. The name itself is derived from 
Lithian-0, which translates to "Pokemon Names". This is not to be confused with a Pokedex, with all the descriptions of each and every Pokemon.The caveat of this project is that there are 802 Pokemons to name, all of which include etymologies. But, if you have the determination and the time to do it, you can!
One thing is, I am here to (perhaps) help you on how to make your own Makematra Janumna. Some resources you might probably need:
- Lithian Makematra Janumna [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6], for reference and as an example.
- Bulbapedia's Pokemon List (by National Dex number), where you can look on each and every Pokemon's characteristics as well as etymologies in multiple different (natural) languages. Also: for pixel sprite images for each Pokemon.
- Pokemondb's Name Origins, a brief etymologies list, this time in a single page. (Does not include Gen 7 etymologies yet.)
[top]Naming
The first thing to do is to make the names for the Pokemons. All Pokemons have etymologies, so don't go full random. Pokemons are usually named from the Pokemon's characteristics, like in Charizard "Char-lizard, Fire lizard". This is the most common way of naming Pokemons. Another way is to take word(s) from something related to the said Pokemon, like in Lapras "Loch Ness". Some are figuratively named in a some way, like in Farfetch'd "Far-fetched". Some are named from something that isn't of English, like in Yanma "large dragonfly (Japanese Yanma)" and in Articuno "Arctic-One (Spanish Uno)".
There is also another way to name Pokemons. Palindromes, or a word that is exactly that word even when read right-to-left, like in Girafarig "giraffe (palindrome)". Another is to reverse the order of letters, like in Ekans "snake (reversed)". There is also anagrams, or words broke up into individual letters and then rearranged, like in Ralts "astral (anagram, partial)".
When there is only one root word (a word that makes a name), the root word is often corrupted, which is a fancy way of saying "take a word, morph the word, make it sound like what it based" (Hehe, rhymes.), like in Kakuna "cocoon (corrupted)", although in rare cases the sole root word is retained, like in Golem "golem". When there is more than a single root word, the word is compounded. Here, two or three (or even four) words are compounded into a single word - by taking a part of each word, and then combining them into a single word in a some way. This compounding pretty much always happens in all Pokemon names. For example, Wartortle is made out of 3 root words: "War", "Tortoise", and "Turtle". In this case, you don't need to worry about the root placement - it can be placed anywhere within the compound as you like. The previous example can be possibly something like Torwatur, Wartloise, Turtowa, and so on.
In some cases, it is best to start being creative. This is where the figurative part gets to be used. Remember, you don't need to name the Pokemon literally exact to its looks. In Lithian, for example, Charizard is named as Liziafthe. It is based from the words Lizia "ruby" and Lafthe "dragon". The fact is, Charizard is not literally made out of ruby - but is ruby-ish (or, some sort of red) in color. This part is rather difficult, though - not everyone has the brainpower to make Pokemon names like that.
The best is, try distancing away from the original Pokemon names as much as you can.
To sum things up, here are the examples of Pokemon names by its naming methods, here with its existing English and Lithian examples.
| Naming method | English example | Lithian example |
|---|---|---|
| Root retained | #076 Golem "Golem" | #093 Wiedur (Haunter) "Wiedur, haunt" |
| Corruption | #014 Kakuna "Cocoon" | #014 Mairem (Kakuna) "Mairom, cocoon" |
| Compound | #134 Vaporeon "Vapor" "Eon" | #134 Nevaila (Vaporeon) "Nevir, evolve" "Waila, water" |
| Related | #115 Kangaskhan "Kangaroo" "Genghis Khan" | #475 Wilwatikta (Gallade) "Wilwatikta*Also a compound: Wilwa, brave - Tikta, sword., a Delia" |
| Figurative | #083 Farfetch'd "Far-fetched" | #009 Liziafthe (Charizard) "Lizia, ruby" "Lafthe, dragon" |
| Palindrome | #203 Girafarig "Giraffe" | |
| Reversed | #023 Ekans "Snake" | |
| Anagram | #280 Ralts "Astral*Actually a partial anagram, but it's the only practical example." | |
| Other language | #193 Yanma "large dragonfly Japanese" | #694 Dianteza (Helioptile) "Diant, Sun Teknite" "Razeta, reptile" |
[top]Article-ing
So that I have finished explaining the art of Pokemon naming, now into article-ing. (This is mostly for those who want to make a Makematra Janumna in CWS.)
Article data
In the article data, when you want to make a Makematra Janumna, give the article title "Pokemon Names", but in your own conlang, and give the title's English translation in the summary bar. In Lithian for example, it's, Makematra Janumna. Then, follow it with the list range - which is what Pokemons are listed in the said article. Preferably, it says something like "Gen 1" (by Generation) or "001-151" (by National Dex number). Remember that in your Makematra Janumna, always sort the Pokemons by the National Dex number. (You can find it in the Bulbapedia Pokedex.)
When it comes to titles, it is best not to make the title extraordinarily big, like more than about ten times big (downscaled for space). Preferably, the title says "Pokemon names", but in your conlang, with the subtitle stating the list range. Perhaps with a conscript if you have one.
Now, into article tags. The simplest set of tags in an article should be "[your language code]" and "pokemon" (not pokémon! Most people can't practically type accented letters). Lithian Makematra Janumna uses five tags: "lhn" (the language code), "pokemon", "names", "list", and "gen [number]". You can add more article tags after the two basic ones as you wish.
Tabling
A row of completed Makematra Janumna table look something like this:
| Pokémon (Generation 1 | #001-#151) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pokémon makemaеa | Lithian liдeserna | Etymology fetkataŋ | ||
 | #001 | Bulbasaur | lifenдu Lifenthu | life Life, green lafeŋ Lafent, dinosaur зun Khun, little |
▼ A little piece of template
Here, the first three columns display the sprite image (from Bulbapedia), the National Pokedex number, and the English Pokemon name. Then, the next columns display the conlang's Pokemon name (in this case, Lithian), followed by a list of etymologies. One important part is that when incorporating etymologies, always include both the root word in the conlang and in English - this is to prevent etymological ambiguity. Here, because Lithian has a conscript, the conscript is included with the names and the etymologies. (It's fine if you don't have one but it's preferable.) You can create your own style, though, as long as it doesn't make the readers confused. (I can't think of another style...)
This part is article space-consuming - which is the reason the list should be split among generations. Essentially, that is how you table a Makematra Janumna. (Use that small template, if you want to, unless you want to make another style.)
Table pre-addition
One way to save time adding Pokemon names is by adding the table data first. Here, fill all the data in the table, except the "name in your conlang" and "etymology" field. These (not-known-yet) fields may be added with a WIP placeholder, like in Makematra Janumna, a placeholder bracket. A Makematra Janumna placeholder row look like this:
| #001 | Bulbasaur | [] [] | [] [] [] [] |
|---|
Here, as you can see, the English Pokemon name, National Dex number, and the sprite image is already added, but it's in-conlang name is pending. When you came up with a name for the said Pokemon, you can add it later, thus perhaps saving more of your time to make a Makematra Janumna. (I said that because you might end up spending more time thinking of the in-conlang name.)
Preferably, when you have finished adding the table for that list, focus on giving them in-conlang names. When you finish one list (which is usually one list per generation), you can continue to the next list (next generation). This is so that your lists aren't devoid of in-conlang names.
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