#shoutout to the gsc odd egg. i got a shiny cleffa from it which is like an ideal result

[sandygastle]

I like to think there's an important distinction between a starter pokemon and a first partner pokemon, though they can be one and the same.

A first partner pokemon is the first pokemon that an individual has, from whatever means (a gift from family, an adopted stray, a wild-caught pokemon, a starter given from a professor, etc). Relatively few trainers receive a true starter pokemon.

A starter pokemon is a specific class of pokemon given to young trainers by professors and other individuals registered to distribute pokemon and trainer licenses. These pokemon are usually selected for by easy-to-raise personalities and flexible needs, and the people responsible for their distribution generally give them a basic level of training to prime them for inexperienced trainers. While there's typically a pattern for the typing, relative strength, and number of evolutions a starter has, even an Alolan meowth can be a starter (as seen when Nanu offers children a choice between the meowths in his station). For those who receive them, starters are often but not always one's first partner pokemon.

To use my version of the Johto protags as an example, since that's what prompted me to think about this today: chikorita, cyndaquil, and totodile are starters, given by Professor Elm. Gold and Kris both received a starter from Elm, which also counted as their first partners as they'd never had a pokemon of their own before. Meanwhile, although Lyra also received a starter, chikorita, when Gold did, it wasn't her first partner pokemon. She, as the grandchild of the daycare couple south of Goldenrod City, had received the GSC Odd Egg from them to hatch a few years before, yielding a shiny azurill. The azurill is her first partner, while the chikorita is her starter.