Random Common Pokemon Name Meanings from Generation 1 (16 items)

(#14) Clefairy & Clefable

If you were in band in high school, you know that a clef is a musical symbol found on sheet music that indicates the pitch of the notes being played. This explains why Clefariy and Clefable use the move "metronome," which in real life is the name of a device that keeps the beat for you while you practice. And here we thought Jigglypuff was the musical one!
(#2) Pikachu
- Fictional Character
The pika is an actual rodent that exists in real life, but Pikachu's name is more based on wordplay than it is an homage to the pika. Pikapika is the Japanese onomatopoeia for "sparkle," and chūchū in Japanese represents a squeaking sound. So Pikachu is a squeaky, sparkly mouse. Makes sense!
(#4) Lapras
- Fictional Character
Lapras is a variation of the word Laplace, which holds several meanings for the Pokemon. Pierre-Simon Laplace was a famous mathematician who studied the sea and the tides, which makes sense given that Lapras is a water Pokemon.
Additionally, la place is French for seat, which makes a lot of sense given that Lapras is one of the only water Pokemon that actually makes sense to ride (and Ash in fact does so in the intro to the cartoon).
(#8) Farfetch'd
- Fictional Character
Farfetch'd is obviously a misspelling of the adjective "far-fetched," which may relate to the rarity of the Pokemon. However, there is more meaning behind the appearance of Farfetch'd. There is an old Japanese proverb that roughly translates to, "the bird won't come to the party leek in hand, ready to cook itself," which explains why this weird duck Pokemon carries around a leek.
(#12) Ekans & Arbok

This one is pretty simple - Ekans is snake spelled backwards, and Arbok is cobra spelled backwards (with a 'k' of course, because Pokemon.) Remember in the cartoon how Arbok would say "charbok?" I have no explanation for that, just thought it was weird when I was 10.
(#9) Hitmonlee & Hitmonchan

If it wasn't already obvious, the kicking Pokemon Hitmonlee is an homage to Bruce Lee, while the punching Pokemon Hitmonchan is an homage to Jackie Chan.