Apparently it's being thrown around that the Professor's name 'translates' to 'Yew'.
And back on the subject of the region, some are stubbornly speculating that it's based on the Chugoku region of Japan, due to the real-world Chugoku being called the "San'in-San'yō region" (relates to Yin & Yang). Fitting. Though, why would they say the region is far far away from the other regions if they made it in Japan again.
As cool as it is that they base the regions on real Japanese regions, I would love to see a region based somewhere else, particularly if it's the U.S.