#higher ranking Rockets sometimes have odd or even western names like Sgt. Viper and Domino and Vicious

[runawaycarouselhorse]

The fun part about characters' names being written in katakana is obscuring the meaning or being able to be interprered many different ways. For example, Brock's Japanese name Takeshi, could be written as bamboo-will or rock-mountain depending on which kanji you use.

We know that Bashou and Buson take their names from haiku masters and we know Buson's named for his loyalty and devotion to Bashou, but Buson's high rank, design, and military aesthetics suggest a different possible meaning and kanji spelling, which might also explain the dub's choice of Attila and Hun...

Poet Bashou took his pen name from the banana tree, gifted to him by a pupil. His hermitage at the temple was shaded by the banana tree, so it became known as the basho-an.

it fell into disrepair by Buson's time. Buson spent money restoring it and built a monument to Bashou there, even asking to be buried next to it, a request that was honoured, and his own disciples were buried around him.

Poet Buson's name is written with the characters for turnip-village. He was also calked Yosa no Buson, Yosa taken from the name of his mother's birthplace. Buson was born in Tennoji, which was then known for its turnips, so Buson is turnip-village.

Another way to write Buson is with these kanji:

武尊

Meaning:

武 Strong and courageous. Strong-willed. warrior. soldier. Battle. War. Military. War potential. Weapons. Overcome. Surpass.

尊 Respect. A high value or rank. A word expressing respect. A title of respect attached to the name of a deity or noble person.

So, that's 武 (bu, same as in bushidou) meaning “martial, military, warrior, arms” and 尊 (son) which is a mark of respect and used for nobility and deities.

Attila the Hun, a famous warlord, dubbed the Scourge of God, therefore feels fitting.

'Attila (pronounced: “atilla”) is a modern transcript of the name of the Hunnic ruler of the 5th century AD. Its origin is debated, either a Germanic exonym (meaning “respectful father”), or Turkish (in this case it means “father of the earth”) or Mongol (it can mean simply “ruler”).'

Both names are war-like, befitting a warrior, soldier... and a weapon. They also suggest lofty rank, fitting a high ranking agent who tries to capture a Legendary Pokemon (and later succeeds at capturing another!)

... this one is probably simply serendipity, but Buson being based on the tanuki archtype (contrasting with Bashou's kitsune archtype*), tanuki having a weakness for wine and women, and Attila the Hun's mysterious and shady death on his wedding night to a woman who asked for his help to be freed from an unwanted marriage (she sent him a letter and a gift and he either misunderstood or willfully misinterpreted it as a proposal to him, so went to war ostensibly for her sake) was either assassinated/somehow poisoned by his wife or the bleeding was caused by his drinking problem.