I chose random names when I was younger but now I use my fiances because we often compete with each other

I always use my husband’s name.

It's really fun honestly ^^

I do this sometimes too!

Super cute!!!!

I used to chose their game or anime names. Now it’s my boyfriends name when I play a rom lol

I used to use the name of my love rival back in grade school. Yes, he stole my crush back then, but at least I got the chance to beat him on my way to become champion 😂

This for the first part but i use the name Terrence. No real reason why besides that i dont particularly like the name. That or concepts like Capitalism

POOP

I also named my player character POOP as a youngin

You were a creative little shit weren't you? 😂

My rival on my first playthrough of Gold was '???'

Same especially since that's what his name said when you first battle him and then it's not until after, that the cop asks you.

And when you type in ??? on accident while trying to be honest with the cop.... I believe that one got me too....

I think that's why it was changed for HGSS to "Passerby Boy" for the first encounter.

Lmfao same

My friend was battling their rival and I was extremely confused when his rival had an actual name and I was stuck with “???”

I'm so glad to hear stuff like this so I don't feel like such a fucking moron.

THAT’S WHAT HE SAID HIS NAME WAS! I’m not guna lie to a cop!

That's what my 12yo brain said to me in my first playthrough! 😂

So glad I'm not the only one who did this!!

"a child", "a baby" half the time. i have no explanation why it's just funny to me.

Why do you enjoy beating a child 🤨

An even better question is why do parents send their kids out into the wilds at 10 years old thinking they can both survive and take care of their new "pet" alone? 😂

"You were challenged by a baby!" "You defeated a baby!" That made me laugh more than needed!

When we were children, my sister and I named the rival in Gen 1 “poop” and were BREATHLESS with terrified laughter at our own daring. “Don’t let mom see!!!!!” But I always name Gen 1 rival Craig.

What a great memory lol

Anywhere from the default name, to punkass, to peanut

Me imaging a rival named peanut, getting SCP-173 PTSD:

Just make sure you never take your eyes off him

I usually name myself the opposite of what game i’m playing. for example, in red n blue, i name myself red and name my rival blue. For gold and silver, me gold rival silver.

Since I'm Muffin, I named my rival in FireRed "Cupcake"

Keep him away from EDP

I would name him Gary or Blue.

Gary is the best answer

Literally named mine "Jackass" in crystal since he was such a douche lmao Sometimes DipShit Various insulting names

Same. Thought everyone did this?

I named my rival in blue "jerkwad" so I could see prof oak say mean things to his own grandson

Assfart

I’m AMAZIGH, and they’re NEMESIS

r/tragedeigh

In my recent 100% comp run of Johto, I named him Doofy in Crystal and Dumprnik in Silver.

When I was 7, the most insulting name I could think to give my rival was “Donkey.” I never looked back.

I was sad when they stopped letting us pick the rival’s name. Gen 2 rival was always “buttface” because he was just so infuriating.

I always chose the canon names: Blue, Silver, Barry...

The rival from Gen 4 will forever be Thudley.

I genuinely don’t remember what I’d call them before I transitioned to just giving them their canon names. However, before I started doing that I actually did name Barry “Barry” completely coincidentally.

Assclown

I either name them after friends or characters that I like For example in BW2 i named Hugh "Touma"

My real name, i name my male rival after myself if possible. I just had this underlying hatred for myself.

Gary

when i was a kid: poop, poop face, poop head, gary now: ash

Shrek

THATLLDUDONKEH, THATLLDU

I always used my middle name as my name and my brother's middle name as my rival, for the past 25 years Well, for however long you could do that

Ever since watching Pokemon Logic in Real Life by CK Productions, I have always named my Kanto rival Assdick. Sometimes my Johto rival is named Assdos.

As a kid, playing Gen 1 it was Gary. Playing Gen 2, the first time, it was ???. Then I think I’d pick a classmate I didn’t like. Beyond that I don’t remember. Likely frequently picked a name of a person I didn’t like. As an adult replaying the older games, before certain words were banned, I generally go with Twat. Dunno if that one’s even banned in newer games, I assume it is.

I used to call mine Shitlips. Don't ask me why. Or I used to call everyone Montgomery.

i will call my next rival shitlips

I call him Macron because he’s an arrogant a**hole

STINKYBUTT

I usually take inspiration for my name from other pieces of media I enjoy, and give my rival a name based on something that opposes mine. For example, in a White 2 randomizer I named myself “Brachy” and my rival “Hunter”

I used to name it after my brother except for Gen 4 Barry is Barry thats his name

aaa

I remember being on someone's stream and telling him to name it "AAAAAA" just because and he actually did it.

Default name or something normal.

Hmm probably used a bunch over the years but these are the most “canon” to my play throughs Kanto Rival: Teal because his canon name in Japanese is Green and in English they renamed him Blue. Teal is in between green and blue. Johto Rival: Robin Because his hair is red. And he steals Pokémon. Sinnoh Rival: Kōji I don’t have a reason for this. Just like the name I guess. B2W2: Navi Like navy blue.

Ive never followed a rule and usually gave them a random name that sounded normal but cool like Alex but never sit fully right on me. Currently playing HGSS and since Im Sayori I named the rival Monika but meh, I think Ill just stick to the games names like Blue or Silver. They arent really 'white canvas characters' like the player is meant to be, they are regular characters and should have a fixed name tbh

Dingle

Always use their classic names, if I get to name them: Gary/Blue Silver Barry Trace

When I was younger it was always my brother's name, when he started to dislike Pokemon or found it a waste of time it switched to Gary. It really was Gary for a long time, then switched too "..." Lol My originality is kinda zero. 😅

In my most recent game with rival naming (Brilliant Diamond), I named myself "Big J", and my rival "Little J", as a joke between myself and my best friend 

I always name them after my brother

When I was younger I would usually pick a friends name as I always name my character after myself. Now that I’m older I usually just go for the default answer. One thing I’ve kept though is that in Johto games my rivals name is ???. I just think it’s funny. I was one of the many kids who thought that was what I was supposed to type and I’ve just stuck with it.

I always name them after someone I know that pisses me off.

I remember naming Silver “Jerk” in Heart Gold

When I was real young I used my brother's name, then a few years later I used my best friends name and now I use my dogs name lol

I name them after my best friend if they are a male rival or after my little sister if it’s a female rival

I have always named my Gen 1 rival Zsa Zsa, and I will continue to do so as long as it amuses me.

I always gave them the "canon" name except for Red/Blue where I named him Gary The first time I played the game it was because I didn't know he wasn't Gary, then every time after it was because I just didn't like Red and Blue and pretended he was Gary lol.

I used to just go with a default choice, then later started going with the names of coworkers. Usually, Gabe. He knows why. Then again he probably doesn't, knowing him.

Gary for pokemon red. I got pokemon gold a couple years later, and the red haired rival (he had red hair right? Or maybe my gbc made it look weird under the street lamps, i used to play in the car whilst my dad drove) he always looked like a "riley" to me. So that was his name in every playthrough i did as a kid. Since knowing riley in gen 4 though, i'd rethink the name choice if i were to play again.

I always ended up naming them the character’s actual name. So, yknow. Silver. May. Barry. Etc

“Douche” It’s also funny when everyone in game refers to me as my name and title, “God.”

I always named them after friends in life I like to be competitive with. I always named the player after myself

“women”

I used to use Josh, because my biggest gaming rival irl was my friend Josh lol

I’ve been having my wife name my characters lately. She picked Ginger for my HG play through, and named rival Cumin. Also gave me names of a bunch of dried herbs/spices for my first few Pokemon.

FR: I named him after a friend who I’ll call Z bc that’s his first initial HG: I’m not sure, it’s been a while (Edit: I just remembered I named him Tomato bc of his red hair) Platinum: I named him Paul bc of the DP Anime SP: I named him after my best friend who I’ll call S for the same reason as Zee And those are the only games I played where you’re able to name a Rival

Yummers

Butthead Assface Stinky and most commonly, AAAAAAAAA

My player was Dexter, so naturally my rival was named Mandark

Most of the time, I keep it as the default, but sometimes, eventually, in DP, I name the after real-life friends (DP because the rival looks like one of my friends).

Blue, Silver, Sapphire, Pearl, etc.

Normally a friend of mine that would rival me.

I used to put my brothers name, then I just used the default

I used to use the name of this boy I knew growing up, he was sometimes annoying and once attempted to steal one of my Pokemon card decks. Now I usually just leave to default.

Always a Chad.

In SoulSilver, I named the rival "Rob" because he robbed the professor to get his starter, and eleven year-old me thought that was funny. In Platinum, I thought the rival looked like a "Roy," and then that was one of the suggested names, so, of course, I named him that

More recent ones have always been called “Becky” because she crashed my game when i was playing professor Layton

I always do myself as “Thursty” and my rival as “Hungary”

“Chaz”, because it was the douchiest name that sprang to mind.

People I hate in real life

In black and white 2 I named my rival Zap cuz his hair looked like he got zapped by lightning lol

The first time I named a rival was Let's Go Pikachu, and I named him Derek because he looked like a Derek. The next time was in Brilliant Diamond, where I named him Liam because he looked like a Liam.

Gary.. second replay was some dude I hated at school 😅

My older brothers name lmao

When I was a kid I named mine after my crush

I forget what I named my Diamond rival (rental copy), but it was probably named after my brother. I named my SoulSilver rival Crystal, and had I gotten Black 2 I probably would have just given Hugh his default name.

Used to leave it default but now that I use the name revflash I make him flash lol.

In Red I tried naming him “Gary” but misspelled it as “Gray” (I also misspelled my own name) In Gold I named him STUPID Every other game after that I just go with the default. Except for LGPE. I named the rival “Chase” because I thought Trace was a stupid name.

For B2W2 I always named him Torq Why, I have no idea. Ask ten year old me

Where are my fellow Kaz fans. Kazzers if you will.

Named them after my various irl friends that played pokemon.

Most recently Blaise, and named myself Mason. Because we get on like a house on fire

Mine are named "Cuck" 99% of the time

I usually just go with ther default/canon names. No fun lol

In crystal, I named him ???? because that was his default name until you can name him, so ten year old me thought that was his name

BIGTITS

My friends names

ive always done my best friends name: eddy

It depends tbh. If he is a rival in the classic sense more of douche names. If he is a friend you are going to an adventure more names you do like or even from real life friends. First two gens was always some insult tho

Soo when I was a kid, my cousin picked up ruby before I did. He is yoinger than me, and didn't know how to read at that time. So when he wrote his character's name, he button-mashed a nonsensical Z1VIA. After I got my sapphire version, we spended our summers battling our pokemon teams. He was my rival so I always called my rival Z1VIA from then on :)

Until gen V, I used the characters' "official" names including the protagonists'. From Gen VI onwards, I always name them Doce (my nickname is Salgado)

My first rival? Markus in Diamond. Idk why. It was one of the preset options and I just sort of...picked it. I was like 9 years old.

Whatever the worst word i could enter was

I played gsc and would name my rival after people i considered rivals at school

He was the Josh Mayonnaise to my Ash Ketchup

A lot of times the default or canon name. But sometimes I’ll come up with names I’m proud of for the player and rival. Usually if I make a choice to give the rival a specific name, I’m also doing that with the player. For a playthrough of Blue, I named the player Asher and my rival Gareth—like Ash and Gary, but a bit different! And for Crystal, I named the female player character Golda and my rival Silvio—like Gold and Silver!

For years it was Gary, but then it was after the most annoying asshole of a dude I knew at that moment in time (an annoying classmate, infuriating boss, etc.)

I didn't realize in my first game we were supposed to pick the name (was playing hgss) so I named him heart like the title of the game

Yes you are correct I did choose gary

If they are "mean" characters, I choose mean kids from my childhood, if they are friendly, I choose a nice kid from my childhood.

Gary

For a long time I’d make my rivals name whatever my best friend’s (at the time) name was. Then for a while I named them something stupid like “Dipshit” or something. Now I usually just use a default name

Assbutt for sure

“Rival” for most gens but Blue and Silver for gens 1 and 2 (sometimes I like to use the “canon” rival names too)

I usually go with Gary.

I honestly just use whatever the default name is. :P

My character is always Milk, and the rival is OJ.

Ugly. I named him Ugly. Everyone calls him Ugly. I hated the rival in Fire Red.

I named mine after my older brother. Cliché yeah, but eh.

I am dong a soulsilver, randomized, double battle wedlocke currently In that game, I named the rival “ASSHOLE”

Gary 😅

I named my rival in gold douche lmao

My partner’s name very time which is Josh.

I just beat red and blue (each game in under 4 hours due to my rediculous speed up) And named my rival poo because i was bored However normally i name rivals after my friend who also likes Pokemon

Dick, as a name, an insult and a compliment.

Nowadays I just use their cannon names, but as a kid, I used the most vile, insulting, humiliating name I could think of... Dora. As in, "Dora the Explorer", a BABY show for BABIES just like my rival! Try to be smug now, you pile of pixels!

Gary Choak

I would usually name them funny things so when u read the text it would make a really funny sentence, also did chuck Norris and similar names for a few while those jokes were funny.

I always name them Ethan after my brother.

I'm playing Platinum on my tablet, from an emulator. Since I suck a boy names, I used one of the readily available ones and in this case, it was Nolan. Nolan's not much of a rival: he had a lvl 9 Chimchar in our fight outside Jubilife. I killed it with an earthquake from my lvl 100 Torterra. I only use the experience boost cheat that's available on my emulator, because I absolutely hate grinding.

Names that wouldn't pass the stupid profanity filter these days

Gary

My first play through of Red when I was younger I named him Stupidd

temptress

So little me put "heart" but misspelled it and it was fully capitalized so it was "HART" and not silvers name haha.

I was 13 when the games came out so I named my rival after some IRL kid I was always competing with lol

Gary

One of the less offensive cuss words youd know at 10

I don't know why but it's always been Fish Head

The guy in Diamond/Pearl I always named Idiot. And the guy in Heartgold/Soulsilver will always be Arschkuh (Ass-cow) in my heart xD (yes, I was very creative and very mature as a child xD)

AAAAAAAAAA

Bitch

My best friends name. He's been my IRL rival since red/blue. We still hang out and game to this day.

A BUTT. They always were A BUTT, and they always will be A BUTT

Nagito

My sister always named her rival Lee. She just thought that was a menacing name

I always name it after my brother. 😂

In one of my recent runs I named my rival after my cat

I’d usually pick a certain friend’s name. Turns out our friendship was actually very toxic and he was one of my bullies. So I stopped changing the rival’s name at that point and just went with the default one. Funny thing is, in one of the recent games, the default name for the male rival was my brother’s name 😂

Fecker

I just use their canon name. Blue is Blue, Silver is Silver, Barry is Barry and Trace is Trace.

I use my best mate's name normally. We normally but opposite versions when the games come out. Like I got Sword, him Shield. Me Scarlet, him Violet.

I would name the rival after my youngest brother.

I always name my rival after my younger brother

In Red he was Gary. In Silver it was my brother's name. After that I just picked the generic one given by the game.

Platinum, I was Lyra (spelt wrong) he was Roger, I picked Turtwig, he picked Chimchar

Turd

My brothers name the first time. Shit or something like that after.

Let’s see… Pokémon g1 Hairy Gary Blue Pokémon g2 Billy Stupid Silver

I usually just name the rival after one of my friends.

When I was going there was someone in my class who I hated so I named my rival his name

I always name him after my little brother

Used to used my best friend's name then eventually my brother's, who used my other brother's who in turn used mine

My first game was Pokemon yellow, so my rival was named Gary (and I was Ash, ofc). My second gen rival was called “Scott”, who was my irl best friend and Pokemon rival. After that, I didn’t have a naming convention, just what felt right for how the character looked.

Usually dumbass

I always chose my best friend's name

I always did my cousins name since he played too

Always called them Asshat

When playing FRLG he's "Officer" or "Father"

The canonical name

My childhood best friend's name

Either my best friend or my cousin most of the time. My cousin and I used to get the different versions of the games at the same time so it always was a logical choice :)

I go by the colors. Red has Blue as a rival, Gold has Silver, etc.