Rayquaza has been a fan favorite legendary since Pokémon Emerald introduced the Hoenn region. The dragon’s cool design and role in the story have kept it memorable, but apparently, many players have been saying its name wrong for two decades. The Pokémon Company finally cleared things up at the Pokémon World Championships 2025.
During the event, a note was shared with attendees and posted on the official Pokémon Twitter, emphasizing that the correct pronunciation is ray-kway-zuh, not ray-kwah-zuh. They even highlighted the “kway” part in all caps to make sure it sticks.
👏ray
👏KWAY
👏zuh#PokemonWorlds https://t.co/CY7xsSIkWU pic.twitter.com/Lz99uzliUW— Pokémon @ #PokemonWorlds (@Pokemon) August 17, 2025
If you’re like me and stopped following the Pokémon anime after the Celebi movie, this might come as a surprise. The anime has been saying “ray-kway-zuh” all along, but I guess not everyone kept up. Honestly, after staring at that tweet for a while, I can’t even remember how I used to say it. Guess that’s how powerful the official word is.
It’s not the worst mistake out there, at least you’re not calling every Pokémon a Pikachu, right? But Pokémon HQ wants everyone on the same page now. Did you say it right all along? Or have you been in the “ray-kwah-zuh” camp? Either way, speak yourself below, and let’s chat about those legendary names that trip us up.
