Leaf's official name in the games and anime? What do you think GameFreak will canonically name her?

[shoz999]

Did you know Leaf's first major official appearance wasn't actually in the FireRed and LeafGreen games but was instead in the Pokemon Adventures manga in 1997?

Keypoints

• Leaf isn't her official name. It's a name created by fans because GameFreak never actually gave "Leaf" an official name.
  
• If we go by Red's, the Protagonist and Green's, the Rival, names themed around the Pokemon versions and their clothing colors, it makes a lot of sense for "Leaf" to be called Blue in Japan, based on the third version Blue and her blue Top, and Green in the West, since Blue is already taken in the West. By extant in the manga, Pokemon Adventures, Red, Green, and Blue's respective eye colors are Red, Green and Blue. The manga is not to be taken lightly as it is based on a ton of insane research into the Gen 1 games, in fact this is where Leaf made her first major appearance as Blue in Japan.
  
• The name Leaf doesn't actually make a lot of sense as it breaks the color/version/clothing-themed names of the games. It's only real link to the games is that the female protagonists first official appearance in the games was Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen version. In other words, Leaf is nearly 100% a fan name.
  
• GameFreak does not listen to fan input for game development so the name "Leaf" has an extremely low chance of being canon.
• Just because "Leaf" could be called Blue or Green in the games does not mean she will be called that in the anime if she makes an appearance.
• Ash and Gary's Japanese names, Satoshi and Shigeru, are named after Game Developers. If "Leaf" does makes an appearance, do you think it's possible for her to get a name after a female Game Developer from Nintendo in the Japanese version?
• What do you think? Do you think GameFreak should just officially call "Leaf", Leaf for the fan's favor? Or do you think it just makes a lot of sense to call "Leaf", Blue/Green to complete the Red, Green Blue version trifecta theme! IF you think "Leaf" Should be called Blue/Green, what do you think her more human-sounded name should be called in the Japan and Western take on the Pokemon anime names? Do you think "Leaf" should be named after a female Game Developer from Nintendo for the Japan version similar to how Ash and Gary's Japanese names come from Satoshi, the creator of Pokemon and Shigeru, the creator of Mario.

So some of you may not know this but the female protagonist of FireRed and LeafGreen, Leaf isn't actually her real name. Leaf is a made up name coined by Pokemon fans because GameFreak didn't officially gave her a name. What you may not also know is that "Leaf" made her first official appearance, not in the games, but in the manga, Pokemon Adventures as Blue in Japan and Green in America. This fact goes along with the fact that Red's rival, some of you may know as Gary, is known as Green in Japan and Blue in the West. However we are talking mainly about "Leaf" from the games and what her official name could be. Some of you could probably think that GameFreak will officially call her Leaf in the game canon later on, if they ever give her a name, but we have to remember that GameFreak doesn't let fan input in the way of game development, quite common actually among the Japanese video game industry. Not to mention, the name "Leaf" doesn't actually make a lot of sense. Basically there is a nearly 0% chance of the name Leaf being considered for canon. However for the time being, let's refer to her as Leaf or Blue/Green as a placeholder name.

So what could Leaf be canonically called by GameFreak? It's actually really easy, Blue in Japan or Green in the West. This actually makes a lot of sense in two major ways. It follows the tradition of the first two characters, Red and Green, being named after primary colors and the game versions itself, Blue representing Blastoise, the mascot of Pokemon Blue Version, in Japan. You may think the three colors don't have much importance but they actually do in the form of many many hidden Easter Eggs as a callback to Pokemon Red, Green and Blue versions. Most noticeably the Professors having different colors in their equipment or clothing. This also goes hand-in-hand with the Adventures manga, the writer, Kusaka, after doing a lot of heavy research from Gen 1's development to what Satoshi's favorite Pokemon is, deciding that the unused female protagonist that would later be called Leaf by Fans, should be named Blue after Pokemon Blue Version. Also unlike future games using more human-sounding names, Red and Green canonically retain their version-inspired names. From this point of view, it just makes a lot of sense to call "Leaf" Blue.

Now what is the second major reason for why I believe she'll be called Blue? It has to do with the character's color scheme. This not only makes a lot of sense why "Leaf" should be called Blue but why it makes a lot of sense for Red's Rival to be called Green, not Blue. When I say color scheme, what I mean is the clothing and eye colors. Red is often portrayed wearing red clothing. Green, the rival, is also often portrayed wearing green clothing, usually a green jacket and later on in SM, green pants. Not only that but in almost every one of Green/Gary's appearances, even the anime, he is shown almost never wearing anything blue. It's because of this simple fact it's actually very easy to remember Gary as Green, not Blue. In fact the only reason he was called Blue to begin with was really just because Pokemon was first marketed in the West as Pokemon Red and Blue version, not Pokemon Red and Green version from Japan. Then there is Blue, the female protagonist. Blue is often portrayed wearing a blue top. To add more to this, Pokemon Adventures, which does a ton of crazy amounts of research into the games, often portray Red, Green and Blue respectively having Red, Green and Blue eye colors. Similarly to Adventures, Blue will most likely be called Green in the West since the name Blue is already taken in the west by Red's rival.

Then there is also her name Leaf. This name... doesn't really make a lot of sense. It's only connection to the female protagonist is that her first game appearance was in FireRed and LeafGreen and that's about it. She's almost never shown wearing green clothing, the name breaks the color-themed pattern and theme of the games. I suppose if she does make an appearance in the anime, she will most likely get Venusaur since Ash has Charizard and Gary has Blastoise but even then that's not really a good enough reason. Based on these reasons alone, Leaf truly is just a fan-made name based on LeafGreen's release.

So easy right! We just call her Blue in Japan and Green in the West? Nope! This is where things get a little difficult to be determined. There is also the anime. The anime does not employ the names Red and Green but instead employs more human-sound names of two different cultures over primary colors. Satoshi and Shigeru in Japan and Ash and Gary in the West. Unlike the canonically game names where it follows a pattern and a theme, the more human sounding names don't follow a pattern or theme other than the fact that Ash and Gary's Japanese names are named after Game Developers and that's just the Japanese names. You could say Leaf for the English version but once again, Leaf is 100% a fan term and 0% game canon.

So with that being said? What do you think? Do you think GameFreak should just officially call "Leaf", Leaf for the fan's favor? Or do you think it just makes a lot of sense to call "Leaf", Blue/Green to complete the Red, Green Blue version trifecta theme! IF you think "Leaf" Should be called Blue/Green, what do you think her more human-sounded name should be called in the Japan and Western take on the Pokemon anime names? Do you think "Leaf" should be named after a female Game Developer from Nintendo for the Japan version similar to how Ash and Gary's Japanese names come from Satoshi, the creator of Pokemon and Shigeru, the creator of Mario.

 

[Satoshi & Touko]

To me, Leaf from the games and Blue from the manga are NOT the same person. I mean, unless I have my facts messed up, isn’t Leaf only 11 while Blue is 17?

 

[Jersey Jimmy]

Yeah, Leaf isn't Blue. Just as Barry from the anime isn't Pearl from the manga. Leaf doesn't have an official name; it's just from the internal game data. I think out of everything, Leaf (Fuguri in Japanese) is the best available option and should be what they go with if they ever settle on a canon name.

 

[shoz999]

You are both absolutely correct and absolute wrong at the same time lol. Leaf isn't Blue however you have ot remember Leaf is Blue. Do you get what I'm saying lol?

I am saying you are taking some of these facts quite lightly. Yes in terms of characters, they are two different characters but we cannot ignore the fact that Blue, although she came first, is an adaptation of Leaf, an unused female protagonist long before the fan name or the Gen 1 remakes came out. So again, you are both absolutely correct and you are absolutely wrong at the same time. Try to see it from GameFreak's Point of View, not yours. One does not simply ignore that the name Blue, for Japan, or Green, for the West, is practically the perfect and most obvious game candidate for a canonical name for "Leaf" for the same reasons why Pokemon Adventures did it and the fact that the Gen 1 games kept it's version-themed names as opposed to it's future generations who used more human-focused names. Gen 7 does not count as Sun and Moon are not canon. I'm not necessarily saying Blue or Leaf are the same characters, I'm saying that from the earliest interpretation of Leaf, Pokemon Adventures a manga that does a lot of research into GameFreak's development time of Red, Green and Blue versions, we can have an easier guess of what Leaf's canonical name could likely be if GameFreak ever decides to do it. Also you have to remember that Leaf's name isn't canon, GameFreak can easily choose an entirely new name for her and Blue/Green is the most likely candidate. Again. You may see the female protagonist as Leaf but GameFreak may not see it that way, they may see her as Blue or Green since not FireRed and LeafGreen but since before Generation 1 was even completed, during it's development where much of Pokemon Adventures research is based on. Actually that's another cool interesting fact, "Leaf" was supposed to be in the original Gen 1 games.

As for the ages, I honestly do not consider that much of a factor to consider in either name inspiration or how their two different characters. That's like trying to say Red who is 21 to 29 years old from the games is very different from Red who is 20 based on age alone. Kind of see how that doesn't really work? Maybe the anime because Ash is an immortal 10 year old but in the games and manga, they both progress in age, there is not really much to show how different characters are from the games and manga from age alone, if any.

Actually now that I think about it, considering where all arrows point to, Blue/Green is probably the only likely candidate for a canonical name for "Leaf" that I can think of. Unless GameFreak decides to give her a more human-sounding name like Sarah or Sakura, Blue/Green is probably the top contender for the spot of likely names, in some ways by default. Starting to think their might not be a much of a discussion here considering the strong lack of possible names for Leaf.

One last edit. Do you know what Fuguri means in Japanese? I could be wrong, if so someone correct me, but... you might not want to call her that lol. Look it up, it's kind of funny.

 

[NovaBrunswick]

I think the reason she isn't called Green is because there's a different character in the manga with that name. They're also total opposites in design and personality, with manga Green being a mischievous witch-like character.

 

[Darthlord7]

Well, I always consider Blue to be Blue in the manga while in FRLG onwards she is just wearing Leaf's outfit. If you think about it, yeah Blue was intended to be in the RGB games yet she was unused and ended up appearing under the name 'Leaf' according to English fans and 'Fuguri' for the Japanese in the remakes but then what about Kris? I mean her own name is also not official and she was replaced by Lyra in HGSS but in the manga, her manga counterapart named Crystal is still around wearing Lyra's outfit instead of having a new girl. I think it's better to just claim that Blue is the official name for the manga counterpart of both the unused game character and Leaf even if the name 'Leaf' isn't really official or just Fuguri while Crystal who I used as an example is the official name for the manga counterpart for both Kris which is also not official and Lyra and nothing more to avoid any possible confusion.

 

[shoz999]

I think the reason she isn't called Green is because there's a different character in the manga with that name. They're also total opposites in design and personality, with manga Green being a mischievous witch-like character.

That's the thing however. She doesn't have a canonical name. This thread asks what canon name GameFreak will likely give to Leaf and I think the most likely and seemingly obvious answer is Blue/Green which is why it really doesn't matter if their consider two different characters, what matters if they are cut from the same cloth, the original unused female trainer meant to appear in Gen 1. Leaf is an unoffociial name. To the other person, Darthlord 7, the difference between Krys and Green/Blue is that the name Green/Blue heavily follows the pattern of Red and his rival, Green/Blue, names, that they symbolize versions/colors.

I think some of you may have misread what I said. It's not what I'm asking what you or prefer to call Leaf. I'm saying what do you think GameFreak will canonically call "Leaf", especially since the name "Leaf" just seems unlikely to be canon. For me, I believe it will be Blue from a game development point of view. It fits "Leaf's" blue top like Red has a red jacket and Green has a green jacket, it completes the version/color trifecta that has contained many colored easter eggs throughout the series, it's also based on the fact that the Pokemon Adventures manga who went this route is based on heavy amounts of research into not only the games but how it was developed, pre-concept art, possibly interviewing the staff themselves.

As for those who think Leaf and Blue are two separate characters. It's understandable if you said it personality wise but design-wise, they are the same character based on their interesting history. We know that Leaf and Blue are technically, key-word technically, the same character because we've seen "Leaf" in her classic black dress shown up as the third of the Red, Green, Blue trifecta featured in a Red and Green strategy guide. We've even seen her in one other adaptation of Pokemon outside of the manga. Later FireRed and LeafGreen comes out obviously featuring this same character in updated clothing, which coincidentally the same manga, Pokemon Adventures who first introduced Blue to Pokemon fans in her iconic black dress, have also given her this same exact update with the same white hat and blue top she has but with the same consistent hair-style she's has since the strategy guide up to the remakes. From this, we know that Blue isn't originally a manga character but is a character that was originally supposed to appear in Gen 1. We know that "Leaf" from FireRed and LeafGreen, who looks very similar to the female protagonist, is in fact an update on that unused female protagonist featured in the manga. In terms of personality, they are very different characters but in terms of design and technicality, they are the same character.

 

[Darthlord7]

I think some of you may have misread what I said. It's not what I'm asking what you or prefer to call Leaf. I'm saying what do you think GameFreak will canonically call "Leaf", especially since the name "Leaf" just seems unlikely to be canon. For me, I believe it will be Blue from a game development point of view. It fits "Leaf's" blue top like Red has a red jacket and Green has a green jacket, it completes the version/color trifecta that has contained many colored easter eggs throughout the series, it's also based on the fact that the Pokemon Adventures manga who went this route is based on heavy amounts of research into not only the games but how it was developed, pre-concept art, possibly interviewing the staff themselves. We know that Leaf and Blue are technically, key-word technically, the same character because we've seen "Leaf" in her classic black dress shown up in other official pictures, concept art and even other, albeit very little, adaptations of Pokemon.

Well, in that case if I have to choose then I would say 'Blue' too since it just sounds more fitting with the other names and this is how it should be if GF actually gave her a canon name. 'Leaf' would fit more if the names of the other characters were named after elements instead of colours. Also, it's interesting to add that Pokespe has their first main characters' eye colours based on their names. Red, Blue and Green actually have red, blue and green eyes respectively.

 

[shoz999]

Also I'm curious. Has anyone looked up what Fuguri means in Japanese and got a big laugh out of it. I won't spoil the surprise but if it really does mean that, someone correct me if I'm wrong, I am absolutely 100% sure that GameFreak will not give her that name lol based on internal game files alone.

 

[Darthlord7]

It's actually coming from the japanese accent for the game's title LeafGreen (Rifugurin - リーフグリーン) and they gave her the name Fuguri(フグリ) based on that. I think the other thing you are referring to is a hilarious coincidence

 

[shoz999]

It's actually coming from the japanese accent for the game's title LeafGreen (Rifugurin - リーフグリーン) and they gave her the name Fuguri(フグリ) based on that. I think the other thing you are referring to is a hilarious coincidence

Thank you for the correction. A coincidence yes but a funny coincidence nevertheless. The funny thing is, I looked up elsewhere on the internet and most people had the same confused funny reaction as me asking themselves, why?

 

[e9310103838]

This is very coincidental, Leaf is announced that will be released as a figure in today XD

And I am still waiting for Bulbapedia to admit Selene and Elio as the official name to SM/USUM protagonists.

 

[shoz999]

This is very coincidental, Leaf is announced that will be released as a figure in today XD

And I am still waiting for Bulbapedia to admit Selene and Elio as the official name to SM/USUM protagonists.

Even though I still think the name Leaf feels out-of-tune, if what you say is true that is potentially strong evidence that the name Leaf is a strong candidate for her canon name. May I have the link please? I've never heard of official merchandise of Leaf, especially these days other than a few celebratory pictures. That's really neat. As for Selene and Elio, I don't think just because they have merchandise featuring those names makes it canon in the same way Pokemon Adventures has the name Blue despite the ridiculous amount of research and how it feels in-place with the official theme of Red, Green and Blue versions in the games. It hints heavily towards that direction, even most likely to the point it seems obvious, but doesn't really confirm it. For all we know, we could all end up with another Satoshi to Red or Krys to Lyra change again.

 

[RedJirachi]

Green seems most likely, considering she game from Pokemon Leafgreen and it would fit the color theme with Red and Blue being taken

 

[shoz999]

This is very coincidental, Leaf is announced that will be released as a figure in today XD

And I am still waiting for Bulbapedia to admit Selene and Elio as the official name to SM/USUM protagonists.

Did you mean this ad? I looked around, looks recent as you said as there weren't many posts about this. Can't read it and I'm not that familiar with how the merchandise side of business works but if what you and the other fans I've seen discussing about it is true and this is really an official Pokemon Company product, the name "Leaf" is the most likely candidate for a canon name over Blue which seemed obvious until this ad showed up.

 

[NovaBrunswick]

This is very coincidental, Leaf is announced that will be released as a figure in today XD

And I am still waiting for Bulbapedia to admit Selene and Elio as the official name to SM/USUM protagonists.

I still call them Elio and Selene. They sound way cooler than Sun and Moon.

When Ruby/Sapphire first came out, I thought Ruby was the boy and Sapphire was the girl. That's correct in the manga at least.

 

[Nightlingbolt]

So they're officially going with Leaf, then? God, that bothers me so much! A: because it totally upsets the theming with Red and Blue (though I understand if the latter's name controversy makes it an issue), and B: they're not giving a character named LEAF the Water-type starter of her generation!

And I am totally on board with Elio and Selene being the Gen 7 canon names. The version naming scheme should just be limited to Kanto. Though I would like to amend that I only use the names Elio and Selene in the context of the original Sun and Moon, as the Ultra games are basically an alternate universe, and Ray and Ailey, their designs there, should just be their alternate selves, much like Trace is turning out to be for Blue.

 

[NovaBrunswick]

So they're officially going with Leaf, then? God, that bothers me so much! A: because it totally upsets the theming with Red and Blue (though I understand if the latter's name controversy makes it an issue), and B: they're not giving a character named LEAF the Water-type starter of her generation!

And I am totally on board with Elio and Selene being the Gen 7 canon names. The version naming scheme should just be limited to Kanto. Though I would like to amend that I only use the names Elio and Selene in the context of the original Sun and Moon, as the Ultra games are basically an alternate universe, and Ray and Ailey, their designs there, should just be their alternate selves, much like Trace is turning out to be for Blue.

They're not. Leaf isn't a 'canon' name as far as the games and manga go. Green is, but that's a totally different character.

I did read something about the US/UM protagonists being called Ray and Ailey, but GF says that they're the same characters as Elio (Sun) and Selene (Moon) in the original S/M, just in different designs.

 

[Mr. RV]

They're not. Leaf isn't a 'canon' name as far as the games and manga go. Green is, but that's a totally different character.

I did read something about the US/UM protagonists being called Ray and Ailey, but GF says that they're the same characters as Elio (Sun) and Selene (Moon) in the original S/M, just in different designs.

No, you were not right.
This is what happens when you are a pseudo-intellectual ... In both Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Pokemon Masters her name is LEAF.

 

[NovaBrunswick]

Well, I always consider Blue to be Blue in the manga while in FRLG onwards she is just wearing Leaf's outfit. If you think about it, yeah Blue was intended to be in the RGB games yet she was unused and ended up appearing under the name 'Leaf' according to English fans and 'Fuguri' for the Japanese in the remakes but then what about Kris? I mean her own name is also not official and she was replaced by Lyra in HGSS but in the manga, her manga counterapart named Crystal is still around wearing Lyra's outfit instead of having a new girl. I think it's better to just claim that Blue is the official name for the manga counterpart of both the unused game character and Leaf even if the name 'Leaf' isn't really official or just Fuguri while Crystal who I used as an example is the official name for the manga counterpart for both Kris which is also not official and Lyra and nothing more to avoid any possible confusion.

I think Lyra is the same person as Kris, just with a different hair colour and style? The manga makes this a bit clearer by having Crystal (Kris) wear Lyra's outfit in the HG/SS chapter.