Devolution of pony names

[Mana Minori]

I saw this great post on my Tumblr feed, courtesy of Paradise Esate, that I want to talk about.

pony names in 1983: minty, blossom, snuzzle

pony names in 1997: sky skimmer, moon shadow, light heart

pony names in 2003: wysteria, sunny daze, amberlocks

pony names in 2011: dewdrop dazzle, lulu luck, lily blossom

pony names in 2020: dishwater slog

Also, let’s not forget Spoiled Millk and Stinky Bottom (from Stinky Bottom’s Hat Emporium)

How do you feel about these very non pony-like names that are borderline cruel on whatever pony parent these guys had to name their child like this?

[Mewtwofan1]

I like a lot of the pony names, don’t get me wrong. But some of them are a bit...questionable at best. Hayseed turnip truck is a long name that doesn’t have the same ring as “lulu luck” or “minty”, but I feel it’s a bit better than dishwater slog or spoiled milk. Both of these sound like the pony equivalent of whatever the mean girl or bully was named when you went to elementary school. At least spoiled had the chance to change her legal last name to rich when she married filthy rich. There is no saving dishwater slog, I’m sorry. No last name or first name change can fix it.

[Mrs. Prospector]

I hate how starting in G4, some ponies have such ugly names. Sure, there's been your Tootie Tails, and your Glittery Studies, and your Tink-A-Tink-A-Toos, but they've really scraped the bottom of the barrel with names like Filthy Rich, Spoiled Milk, and of course, the lovely Dishwater Slog. What little girl would buy a pony with that name? Also, can we talk  about the later Blind Bags, and how many of them have human names mixed with bad horse puns? I hate it!
We've got...
Don Neigh
Joan Pommelway
Mare E Lynn
Pegasus Olsen
Janine Manewitz
Roger Silvermane

Slightly unrelated, but look at this sweet little crystal pony:
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

What do you think her official name is?
That's right, it's ELBOW GREASE!!

[tailrustedtealeaf]

To equate Pony Life names to other names feels a little silly as a serious conversation. Also the influx of less ideal names from FiM is natural with a cartoon that doesn't have to take itself seriously all the time.
Elbow Grease making it into official merchandise is kind of super offensive though.

[LadyAmalthea]

I'm probably in the minority, but I think names like Dishwater Slog are kind of funny, and I would be more likely to buy that pony, either because I felt sorry for it or because I feel like I could make a good personality for it.

I used to make characters like that when I was a kid; I drew these paper dolls and laminated them for my sister and myself. The bad guys all had funny names, like Flatulent Flo and Large Marge. I dunno, it was the 80's, maybe they were inspired by Garbage Pail Kids or something.

My sister and I were also not very nice to our younger sister, because she would always come and tear down our play areas we would make. We renamed her ponies because we needed bad guys, but didn't want to sacrifice our own characters and she was too young to know  the difference. I don't remember them all, but one was Fart Throb.   

[Leave a Whisper]

Fart Throb!

[otocolobus_manul]

Eh, I think a lot of g1 names are boring. I’ll generally take weird, nonsensical or even cruel names over one-word names like Lofty or Fizzy, or straightforward conceptual names like Heart Throb or Cotton Candy.

Also, I never minded Spoiled Milk because it fits her character, what with how sour she is.

[Taffeta]

FIM names are likely to be more silly because most of them are not going to be marketed as a toy. Thus they can name as they see fit.

I don't really like these kinds of comparisons because obv. G1-3 were dictated by being toylines and the names would have always kept that in mind. As far as I know the only G4 stupid name marketed was Cheese Sandwich, for reasons. This makes it an academic comparison unless you want to bring in instead the names of characters in G1 animated specials as well as those of the toys.

I get kind of sick of threads forcibly comparing things between generations, though, because the thing about the generations, what makes them 'generations' and not just a continuation, is that they're different.

[Carrehz]

you know, I never liked how G4 treats pony names the same as real names. Especially since it's pretty inconsistent. (If Spoiled Milk became Spoiled Rich after marrying, then doesn't that make her daughter's name "Diamond Tiara Rich"?)

and don't even get me started on how bad the blind bag names got near the end. I mean, look, I get it, it's easier to trademark names like "Scootaloo" than "Ivy", "Medley", etc. I get it. But some of them... Especially the weird human names, like Mrs. Prospector mentioned. Oh god, and "Dane Tee Dove", who on earth came up with that gem?

Also, let’s not forget Spoiled Millk and Stinky Bottom (from Stinky Bottom’s Hat Emporium)

Okay the second one has to be a joke, right? Right???? D8

[Ponyfan]

The G4 name that always gets me is Steven Magnet.  It makes no sense in a world full of magical creatures.   



Ponyfan

[LadyMoondancer]

I think it's incredibly forgiving to use Wysteria, Sunny Daze, and Amberlocks as the G3 examples.  When I think of G3 I think of "Adjective + Alliterative-Noun" names.

Cute Curtsey
Sweet Sparkle
Morning Monarch
Zippy Zinnia

etc.

Of course there were exceptions, some of which were good (Rarity, Shenanigans) and some of which were bad (Blushie, Romperooni, Orange Flower).  But overall I would say names like Wysteria were atypical.  To me G3 was the start of the Bad Names and they basically never ended after that.

I think a big cause of that is Hasbro started trying hard to use names that were easy to trademark.  Someone else might use the name Zinnia, but they are unlikely to use ZIPPY Zinnia.

[otocolobus_manul]

I think it's incredibly forgiving to use Wysteria, Sunny Daze, and Amberlocks as the G3 examples.  When I think of G3 I think of "Adjective + Alliterative-Noun" names.

Cute Curtsey
Sweet Sparkle
Morning Monarch
Zippy Zinnia

etc.

Of course there were exceptions, some of which were good (Rarity, Shenanigans) and some of which were bad (Blushie, Romperooni, Orange Flower).  But overall I would say names like Wysteria were atypical.  To me G3 was the start of the Bad Names and they basically never ended after that.

I think a big cause of that is Hasbro started trying hard to use names that were easy to trademark.  Someone else might use the name Zinnia, but they are unlikely to use ZIPPY Zinnia.

Excellent point, G3 gave us Razz Matazz, Tinka Tinka Too, and Razzaroo, among other such gems. I’m sick of people acting like MLP’s problems started with G4.

[StillandSilent]

G1 also gave us a new born named Big Top and her twin Toppy.  There are plenty of really dumb names in all the generations. 

[otocolobus_manul]

G1 also gave us a new born named Big Top and her twin Toppy.  There are plenty of really dumb names in all the generations.

Let's not forget Floater, Whizzer, Pillow Talk, Sticky and Sniffles.

G2 had Medicin and Mimosa, and probably more I'm forgetting.

[Ragamuffin]

Hey it's my post. Like most things I post on Tumblr, it's an over-simplified joke. Of course in 2020 (or, 2019) we also got Potion Nova. I know people don't like that name but I like it!

Names like Spoiled Milk as well as Dishwater Slog aren't so bad. I mean, they're ugly names, but they're fitting for an antagonistic character. I'll defend "Dishwater Slog" all day because it's funny.

Blind bag names got terrible. I stand by that! I hate the human names and horse puns! They started off strong with names like "Royal Riff" and "Lovestruck", I guess they couldn't think of anymore and had to resort to names like "Wolfgang Canter" and "Golden Hooves".

The G4 name that always gets me is Steven Magnet.  It makes no sense in a world full of magical creatures. 
Ponyfan

To be fair, "Steven Magnet" is a brony-given name. It originated from Youtube's automatically-generated closed captions, and it became a meme, people started to call him Steven Magnet.

Speaking of... brony/fan names sometimes end up being better than what Hasbro/FiM writers give the ponies... "Vinyl Scratch" is WAY better of a name than "DJ-P0N-3". How are you even supposed to pronounce that? It's a stylized version of "DJ Pony" which is as unoriginal as you can get, but you can't just call her "DJ P-zero-N-three" or "DJ PON-three" like they did in that one promo...

As for one-word names VS. more silly names for ponies, I like them both. Personally I tend to lean to more simple names for my OCs, though.

I think it's incredibly forgiving to use Wysteria, Sunny Daze, and Amberlocks as the G3 examples.  When I think of G3 I think of "Adjective + Alliterative-Noun" names.

Cute Curtsey
Sweet Sparkle
Morning Monarch
Zippy Zinnia

etc.

Of course there were exceptions, some of which were good (Rarity, Shenanigans) and some of which were bad (Blushie, Romperooni, Orange Flower).  But overall I would say names like Wysteria were atypical.  To me G3 was the start of the Bad Names and they basically never ended after that.

I think a big cause of that is Hasbro started trying hard to use names that were easy to trademark.  Someone else might use the name Zinnia, but they are unlikely to use ZIPPY Zinnia.

Cute Curtsey and Sweet Sparkle are pretty bad, but I think Blushie is cute. Romperooni is weird, and Orange Flower is terrible. Zippy Zinnia is okay. I like a majority of G3 names, I don't take them seriously.

"Trixie Lulamoon". Trixie, because of "tricks"? I still don't like the human name, but okay. But what about "Lulamoon"? What's a lulamoon? What does that have to do with her magician persona? Pixel Pizzazz? I LOVE that name but it has nothing to do with her character. She's lolita goth with an eyeball motif, where do the pixels come into play? "Cozy Glow" is a nice name, it makes me think of a fireplace, but it has nothing to do with her character, or even her colour scheme. And there are definitely many more weird "making it trademark-able" names in G4 but I can't really think of any.

Reminds me, I hate all the "Belle" names! I know it started off in G2 with Sugar Belle, then we got a couple more in G3, namely Sweetie Belle. In G4 that was their go-to naming scheme for a while. Buttonbelle, Sugar Belle, Sweetie Belle, Honeybelle, *sighs* Mare E Belle... I think there was a So-Soft baby with a Belle name too, but I don't remember what it was.

What are some other bad names in other generations? Floater, Glittery Study, etc? I'm trying to think of G3 names myself but I don't know if anything tops Orange Flower. Most G3 names I wouldn't call bad or lazy, more like... "weird" or "too-cute"? I love Guava Lava's design but her name is very "eh", the "lava" part is solely there to make it rhyme. "Scooter Sprite" doesn't make much sense either. "Silver Song" isn't a terrible name but it doesn't match the pony it was given to. G3 got lazier in its later years (I made a post about that too, how "girly" it became, how it was so heavily "princess glitter pink sparkles" and the boring designs that came out of it), which is where names like Sweet Sparkle and Cute Curtsey come from, along with Darling Dayflower, Royal Twist, Twirlerina... ugh how could I forget STAR SURPRISE! I even own her! That's a terrible name for sure. Not a fan of "Chocolate Chipper" but it's not as bad as "Pegasus Olsen".

I'm typing this too slow, people are adding more comments. I'm going to be here all day! I started typing this four or so posts ago!

G1 also gave us a new born named Big Top and her twin Toppy.  There are plenty of really dumb names in all the generations.

Let's not forget Floater, Whizzer, Pillow Talk, Sticky and Sniffles.

G2 had Medicin and Mimosa, and probably more I'm forgetting.

Sticky and Sniffles are gross, I mentioned Floater before, Whizzer I don't think much of, and I think Pillow Talk is hilarious. Mimosa isn't so bad, but Medicin... oof. Nosy and Click are cute names imo but I can imagine people not like them. Talking about G1 babies, that reminds me of some of least favourite names: Little Tabby, and Little Whiskers. Clearly both names good for ponies with cat symbols, but nope!

I need to post this now, I can't keep going back fixing errors!

(EDIT, lol: I looked over at my shelf, Glittering Gem! Not a bad name, but it's a very G3-y name for a G1 pony, no?)