Everybody who grew up enjoying text-based video games has some correct noun they mispronounced till they heard it stated out loud. I nonetheless get in arguments about whether or not Tidus, the identify of the principle character in Ultimate Fantasy X which is rarely spoken in dialogue as a result of you may change it, is pronounced “Tee-dus” or “Tide-us” (it’s “Tee-dus,” by the way in which). One of many earliest examples of this phenomenon I encountered as a child involved the pronunciation of Rayquaza, the sky-ruling dragon from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. As American youngsters with out the web, it might be months or years earlier than my pals and I’d hear a Pokémon’s identify spoken within the anime, and that was simply lengthy sufficient for some mispronounced names to sneak their manner into our speech like an Ekans. Nicely, after over 20 years, The Pokémon Firm has heard the mispronounced model of the dragon’s identify so many occasions, they determined to place folks on blast for it at Pokémon Worlds in Anaheim.
Rayquaza’s identify is pronounced “Ray-kway-zah.” The “qua” syllable makes use of the lengthy vowel to make an “ay” sound, however lots of people didn’t know that 20 years in the past when Ruby and Sapphire initially launched. Nevertheless, the proper pronunciation has been long-established, because the dragon has proven up within the anime, voiced games, and official pronunciation guides. Breakdowns of its name’s origin even hint the “qua” syllable to the quasar phenomenon, given its capacity to fly and breathe in outer area. Nonetheless, folks like to say the lengthy boy’s identify unsuitable, and it’s a little bit of a working joke inside the Pokémon neighborhood.
Nicely, The Pokémon Firm is bored with it, and made positive everybody on the World Championships in Anaheim knew the fitting solution to say Rayquaza’s identify. As noticed by IGN, match attendees had been known as out for mispronouncing the chief of the climate trio’s identify with a graphic on the massive display screen on the occasion.
👏ray
👏KWAY
👏zuh#PokemonWorlds https://t.co/CY7xsSIkWU pic.twitter.com/Lz99uzliUW— Pokémon @ #PokemonWorlds (@Pokemon) August 17, 2025
This data may not be new for each Pokémon fan, but it surely positive was for some. One commenter astutely compared it to the GIF debate, by which folks nonetheless haven’t agreed on easy methods to pronounce the identify for shifting pictures on the web, regardless of Steve Wilhite, the inventor of the picture format, saying it was pronounced like the peanut butter brand. However even with the proper pronunciation staring them proper within the face, brief vowel truthers won’t yield.
Ray-kwah-zuh and I cannot bend the knee. https://t.co/9bWE2Sc1fL
— Choctopus 🐙 (@ChoctopusYT) August 17, 2025
FINALLY! Been saying it this manner for years in my movies. https://t.co/y7wNREOBOy
— Leonhart (@LeonhartYT) August 17, 2025
I’m anticipating THOUSANDS of apologies from the years of rage feedback please and thanks https://t.co/PRcfNKPlAK
— Gily (@JTGily) August 17, 2025
https://t.co/mPWBhgne9f pic.twitter.com/Isr8eQqQ9b
— SubPar (Isaac) (@foreversubpar) August 17, 2025
https://t.co/9wdJrwj7cU pic.twitter.com/Ypwp9GaPLR
— Scrumpey (@HanleyFinnegan) August 17, 2025
Dang for actual?
Anywho, Ray-KWAH-zah 🙃
— Reign 151 (@reign_151) August 17, 2025
That is absolutely AI. It’s Ray Kwah Zuh.
— HTB ♨️ (@HenryTheBlasian) August 17, 2025
Odds are we’ll be listening to extra about Rayquaza within the coming months, as Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Champions are bringing again Mega Evolutions, and the dragon is one in all a handful of legendary Pokémon able to present process this transformation. If Pokémon Champions has an announcer just like the Wii’s Pokémon Battle Revolution, we’d hear them say Rayquaza’s identify with an extended “A” sound time and again. Sorry to those that are nonetheless caught in your previous phonetic methods. Take pleasure in your psychic injury.
