Pokémon is short for the original Japanese title of “Pocket Monsters”.
Pokémon is a media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, a Japanese consortium between Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures. The franchise was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995, and is centered on fictional creatures called “Pokémon”, which humans, known as Pokémon Trainers, catch and train to battle each other for sport. Tajiri first thought of Pokémon around 1989 or 1990, when the Game Boy was first released.