In Soul Silver I had all my pokémon named after characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Zuko the Typhlosion, Sokka the Ampharos, Iroh the Hypno, Appa the Tauros, Katara the Lapras and Aang the Dragonite. Even the slaves had Avatar names: Toph the Farfetch'd, Momo the Sentret and Azula the Pidgey.
In Black I decided to continue the tradition but now with the names of the sages from LoZ: OOT. Ruto the Samurott, Rauru the Zebstrika, Nabooru the Excadrill, Darunia the Scrafty, Saria the Vanilluxe and Impa the Chandelure. This time, I named the slaves after the HM they were used for: FLY the Tranquill, CUT the Simisear and DIVE/WFALL the Mantyke.
EDIT: I got platinum for Christmas, and I have a team with nicknames there too now. here they are:
- Empoleon: Nautilus (named after the submarine that discovered Atlantis, if memory serves me right)
- Luxray: Tonner (Tonnerre is the French word for thunder. At first I wanted to name him Thundercat, but that name was already taken by a friend)
- Golem: Tektite (an enemy from a series that we all have close to the heart.
- Gengar: Lavenda (named after Lavender Town)
- Houndoom: Diablos (Spanish for hell)
- Altaria: Kina (pronounce K-e-n-French a; Just a name I stumbled upon and thought was awesome)