How do you pronounce "Vivillon"?

Question

Is it
{vivee-lon}
or
{vivee-yon}?
I've heard it both ways.

Answer 1

Though Pokémon names can sometimes be pronounced multiple ways (Arceus, Rattata...) in the case of Vivillon, I'm sure the designers intended on, at the least, a consistent syllabic sound. And all you need to look at is the Japanese name of the Pokémon.

ビビヨン (bi-bi-yo-n).
The key character here is ヨ(yo)
If the intended pronunciation were an 'L' sound, ロ ('ro'/'lo') would have been used instead.

This is supported by the English anime, which pronounces it vivee-yon

And then there's the obvious name origin, a French word, which is pronounced "pah-pee-yon"

Comments

Vivillon is derived from le papillon, which is French for butterfly. It's pronounced "papeeyon" so yeah, same for Vivillon.

---

Definitely viv-ee-on, most likely a combination of vivid and the French word for butterfly 'papillon', pronounced in a similar fashion. There are a handful of European languages where a double L makes a Y sound. Rattata's name is pronounced with more variation, but according to the good folk at Bulbapedia, the name is most likely a combination of rat, attack and rat-a-tat, which would suggest the first and last syllables are stressed.

God forbid if they start making Pokémon with Welsh names...