What was the original Japanese name for the Pokémon franchise?

The original Japanese name for the Pokémon franchise was Pocket Monsters. In Japanese, the brand is known as Poketto Monsutā, written as ポケットモンスター.

The shortened form Pokémon became the internationally recognized name. It is a contraction of “Pocket Monsters,” with the accent mark helping distinguish the brand and indicate the pronunciation.

The original game titles were Pocket Monsters Red and Green. When the franchise was localized, Nintendo used Pokémon as the global title, while retaining different paired versions and regional naming conventions. The phrase “Gotta catch ’em all” then became closely associated with the English-language marketing campaign.