(1) Isshu Starter's English Names Revealed! [11/22]

I just realized something.

Unova.
United States of America​
Before you go all, "OF HAS AN F IN IT LERN 2 SPEL", say the word. It sounds like a V.
 
But the word "states" isn't even referenced. Plus you totally realised something that was realised on the front page news for the past several hours
 
Well, actually, that was mentioned on the front page, but it is rather funny. It might be a coincidence, or it might truly be their reasoning.

Also previously mentioned was that the name might have been inspired by 2 of the 3 Latin phrases on the Great Seal of the United States.

E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one)
Novus Ordo Seclorum (new order of the ages)

Thus, the region's name roughly translates as "New One."
 
Okaaay I think we're stretching it now... next someone's going to find a relation between unova and uno the card game
 
Yeah States wasn't mentioned so it's like saying United of America, with Italian word Nuovo, which means new, and the latin or spanish words people translated it basically means New.
 
Okaaay I think we're stretching it now... next someone's going to find a relation between unova and uno the card game

It's not stretching it in the least. Those two phrases are incredibly well known in the US because they are on the Great Seal of the United States. Probably the most well known location is from the reverse side of the dollar bill (below the pyramid and in the beak of the eagle).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/2007_US_$1_Bill_Reverse.jpg

Not only that, but the translation just makes sense. "New One" indicates that they were trying to make a fresh start with this region, and they kinda did.
 
PokéMontage said:
It's not stretching it in the least. Those two phrases are incredibly well known in the US because they are on the Great Seal of the United States. Probably the most well known location is from the reverse side of the dollar bill (below the pyramid and in the beak of the eagle).

I'm saying you just took the word Unova and tried to find a vague correlation to something american and called it a link.

FYI there is an online UK store called unova
http://www.unova.co.uk/index.asp

And there is a Russian venture capital site called unova
http://unova.ru/

Both have direct name matches.

I'm just saying don't read too hard into the name. Maybe it has some implicit meaning, maybe not. No need to go all Robert Langdon on the region name. Assuming it does draw from the root latin masculne nominative 'unus' and feminine nominative 'nova', latin does not equal american. For instance the word nova is also found in "terra nova", the latin name for newfoundland in canada.
 
That's just daft, a three-letter word could no way be seen in such way: 'uno' is also 'one' in Spanish, but the Spanish government aint gonna sue.

It annoys me how many people think they have the right to criticise everything nintendo comes up with, if you had all predicted Tsutaja be called Snivy, and it was announced as Smugleaf all the resident critics would still complain, give it a rest.

I'm thoroughly impressed with everything, I like Unova - whoever it was said it's a bit like Unown, I think it's pronounced You-Know-Va :), kinda like United States of America like it says on the home page. Good job Nintendo a vast improvement on GenIV already :D!!
 
I'm not reading too hard into it. Contrary to what many believe, sometimes you have to think for a second to figure out the meaning of something. Such is the case with many Pokemon being based off of myths and legends. Point being, there's got to be some sort of reason behind the name. It doesn't necessarily have to be obvious. There's a lot of things pointing to the use of Latin words to create the name Unova, and a store in the UK and a Russian website and the gender indicated by the words doesn't affect that.
 
No no I meant that the idea of not stopping at the latin part and going on to hunt for American phrases containing said latin words (or derivatives thereof) to insist on how "americanised" the name is, constitutes reading too hard into it. I can believe the latin basis, but the american basis I cannot believe. Anyway this is a trivial issue (especially since Isshu seems to have different names in the various european languages)

I found the "canadian minjumaru" more amusing to debate on
 
I have no idea why you can't believe the American basis considering the region is based off of the US.

And as I said, I didn't have to hunt for American phrases - I knew them. They're very well-known.
 
I have no idea why you can't believe the American basis considering the region is based off of the US.

It's because the Latin words aren't exclusive only to those american mottos. Furthermore, when you detach the word "Novus" from "Novus ordo seculorum", the american context is lost. It becomes just plain Latin "Novus"

Put simply, there is no way of explicitly showing that Novus comes from "Novus ordo seclorum". Nor is there any way you can show that the Un is derived from "E Pluribus Unum".

In fact if you had wanted to be so specific why not go find Latin phrases more relevant to New York City, which is the place Isshu is REALLY based on (it is not based on the US per se or Isshu map would be a mini USA). But really this debate has run dry. Let's just acknowledge that we see the same thing in different ways.
 
Well, I highly doubt it was a coincidence that both of those Latin words also appear in the seal of the US, so I'll stick by what I've been saying.

it is not based on the US per se or Isshu map would be a mini USA

Unova's shape is mostly based off of Manhattan with parts of the surrounding boroughs and some of New Jersey, and Hiun City is based on the Financial District, but the New York metropolitan area doesn't have rural areas or deserts, so it may very well have been inspired by many different parts of the US, thereby making it a "mini-USA."
 
Does it have to have a specific meaning? I don't think Unova was made with, or has to have, one specific meaning in mind. It probably encompasses everything we've bought up; the impression of "newness", sounding vaguely like United States of America, the "unity" pun from the Japanese name, etc. Lots of other Pokémon names have several potential meanings.
 
Yes, it probably does encompass many different things. I was just explaining that I really don't think they picked those two Latin words without realizing the connection they have to the US. I think they used the seal directly for inspiration.
 
PokéMontage said:
doesn't have rural areas or deserts

Of course only the shape of the place (and maybe Hiun City to a small extent) is based on Manhattan, not the internal stuff. The older regions were based (shape-wise) on islands of japan that had no deserts either... that didn't make them mini-Japans.



Mangriff said:
Does it have to have a specific meaning? I don't think Unova was made with, or has to have, one specific meaning in mind.

Where the meaning comes from is anyone's guess since there's no explicit word from NOA. I particularly still find that UNited states Ov A interpretation very funny.
 
Unova is honestly a interesting name. It makes since and is catchy. I wonder what they willcall hiun city?
 
My opinions seem to be similar to others'. Sinvy has been around for a while so I was already used to it, while Tepig and (especially) Oshawott are completely unexpected. Oshawott is quite original, and perhaps my favorite of the new names.

Like others have already said, give it time and the names will grow on you...I remember thinking how awkward Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup were when first revealed. Honestly, I think it's the two-syllable names that are disliked at first -- I can remember loving the G/S starter names (and now Oshawott), while the R/S and D/P starter names took a while to grow on me.
 
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