Is Ash Ketchum's surname based on "Catch 'em"?

Question

The first slogan of Pokemon was "Gotta Catch 'Em All!", so is Ash's last name Ketchum based on it?

Comments

Actually... it was based on a brand of ketchup.
http://pokemondb.net/pokebase/user/Heinz_Ketchum

Come back, Heinz!

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What the heck?

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He might be joking xD

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... Heinz Ketchum was an awesome user on the site... then he left...

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Yeah, but linking Pokemon to a brand of ketchup is rather strange, no? And Ash wasn't based on it either xD

Answer 1

Yup,you said it.

Source:My father had read the history of how Pokemon began and he told that "ketchum" was realted to "gotta catch'em all".Its also mentioned in bulbapedia

Comments

Whoa, I'm slow.

Answer 2

Yes, it is actually.

He shares his Japanese name—which can be taken to mean "wisdom" or "reason" (智)—with the creator of the Pokémon franchise, Satoshi Tajiri. His English surname is a pun of the original English motto, "Gotta catch 'em all!."

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Ash_Ketchum