I usually give them French-ish names, many times in some way derived from their official French name. In Pokémon Blue, my team was:
![Charizard {charizard}](./images/smilies/006.gif)
- Dracau, from its French name Dracaufeu (Fire Dragon) - ♂
![Victreebel {victreebel}](./images/smilies/071.gif)
- Bella, which is more Italian than French, but this was because of there being a 'bell' sound in all its evolutions' names. - ♀
![Dugtrio {dugtrio}](./images/smilies/051.gif)
- Piko, from its French name Triopikeur (Three Miners, I believe) - ♂
![Ninetales {ninetales}](./images/smilies/038.gif)
- Renée, from its French name Feunard, which means Fire Fox. Renard is fox in French, and Renée sounds like that, so... - ♀
![Flareon {flareon}](./images/smilies/136.gif)
- Roli, from its French name Pyroli. - ♂
![Magmar {magmar}](./images/smilies/126.gif)
- Colvert, which means 'mallard', because for some reason 'mar' reminds me of the word 'mallard'. - ♂
And then my other guys that I didn't really use on my team. Like, ever.
![Hitmonchan {hitmonchan}](./images/smilies/107.gif)
- Jackie. Guess where that's from! Roseanne... - ♂
![Lapras {lapras}](./images/smilies/131.gif)
- Lukas, from its French name Lokhlass. - ♂
![Kabuto {kabuto}](./images/smilies/140.gif)
- Trilo. According to Bulbapedia, these dudes are based on trilobites. So, Trilo. - ♂
![Aerodactyl {aerodactyl}](./images/smilies/142.gif)
- Terry. Its French name is Ptéra, and I was going to call it Terra, but in LeafGreen (which is where I got all these dudes' genders) it was a dude, so I changed it to Terry. - ♂
![Moltres {moltres}](./images/smilies/146.gif)
- I was going to call it Moltrois, but in the end I decided not to give Moltres a nickname. I don't really think it makes sense to give a unique Pokémon a nickname. It's not like you'll mix it up with someone else's Moltres... I did, however, rewrite it so it wasn't all capitalized.
Something I just noticed: all these names are disyllabic. Totally not on purpose. And also, Lukas and Moltres are the only ones I used (for Surf and Fly, respectively) aside from my main team, and they're the only ones whose names end in a hard sound. Colvert ends in a soft sound, like Stephen Colbert from the Colbert Report. Parce qu'il est français.
Oh, I might as well share the names of my other two teams (a water one and a grass one).
![Blastoise {blastoise}](./images/smilies/009.gif)
- Cara ♀
![Beedrill {beedrill}](./images/smilies/015.gif)
- Dardeur ♂
![Raichu {raichu}](./images/smilies/026.gif)
- Surri ♀
![Vaporeon {vaporeon}](./images/smilies/134.gif)
- Kali ♀
![Tentacruel {tentacruel}](./images/smilies/073.gif)
- Firos ♂
![Starmie {starmie}](./images/smilies/121.gif)
- Staros
![Articuno {articuno}](./images/smilies/144.gif)
- Cuno (to keep up with the disyllable thing goin' on)
![Venusaur {venusaur}](./images/smilies/003.gif)
- Rizar ♂
![Victreebel {victreebel}](./images/smilies/071.gif)
- Victor ♂
![Graveler {graveler}](./images/smilies/075.gif)
- Kailu ♀
![Parasect {parasect}](./images/smilies/047.gif)
- Neo ♂
![Jolteon {jolteon}](./images/smilies/135.gif)
- Tali ♀
![Exeggutor {exeggutor}](./images/smilies/103.gif)
- Koko ♀
![Zapdos {zapdos}](./images/smilies/145.gif)
- Zapdos (just made it not all capitalized)
_________________If you were offended by my post, just know that I was probably kidding. Probably...
![Image](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UGt5bG6T7Lc/UmHv1n7A-NI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/39qVarcTc3I/s1600/08.png)