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Welp, the Bulbasaur I received in the trade with him a different nickname: はる.

He swears that is means "Spring".

I'm not really familiar with Japanese, do you mind explaining it to me?

According to Google Translate 来たる means something along the lines of "upcoming, forthcoming".

But the actual nickname はる indeed means "Spring".

The person you got it from is correct. はる means "Spring" (the season). 来たる CAN mean "spring", but it means "spring" like "to spring up" (like a jump).

Hope that helps clear it up :)

And also 来たる uses "kanji", a Chinese character, which you cannot use as a nickname right now. Probably next generation when they add support for the Chinese games, you can use them. So if you wanted it as a nickname it would be "きたる".