What was the first name of the Pokémon franchise in Japan?

The Pokémon franchise was first known in Japan as Pocket Monsters.

The Japanese title is Poketto Monsutā, commonly rendered in English as Pocket Monsters. The original Game Boy games were released under that name as Pocket Monsters Red and Green in 1996. The shortened international brand “Pokémon” was used for overseas releases and became the franchise’s global name.

The word Pokémon is a contraction of Pocket Monsters. Its accent mark comes from the acute accent in the franchise’s stylized international spelling and helps distinguish the pronunciation from the ordinary English word “pokemon,” although the brand is generally pronounced “POH-kay-mon.”

This naming history explains why early Japanese materials, game titles, and anime references can look different from English-language releases. Pocket Monsters is not a separate franchise from Pokémon; it is the original Japanese branding that preceded the international name used today.