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I made this chart to show that both Ballio and Entermaid are humanoid to some degree. I would argue that Ballio is actually more human-like than Entermaid.
Ballio is based off a clown, and is standing upright in most of his artwork. His flippers have become fingers, and his snout is drastically reduced.
Entermaid may have the human-like hair, but Ballio's red mane is clearly designed to resemble a clown's wig. Now, I wouldn't say that Ballio, or at least a design similar to Ballio, is impossible.
Looking at Popplio's design (his nose, frill, and ability to balance ball-like balloons), it makes sense that he would evolve into a clown or even a strongman, some kind of circus performer. In fact, a strongman design would be logical if Popplio did indeed become part fighting type. However, the secondary fighting type, along with the idea of a circus theme for the starters, isn't actually confirmed. I'm not discounting it, but we do need to remain open to the idea that Popplio may evolve into something we're not expecting (and GameFreak tends to pull the rug out from under us often, especially with starters).
Entermaid's design is a very different approach but that doesn't mean we shouldn't consider it. There is a slight connection between the idea of being a circus performer and a singing mermaid. They both "perform", albeit differently.
What Entermaid has going for it is that while it hasn't been confirmed, it hasn't been disproven either. It's been around since June, and no one has stepped up to claim it. It's art style is very similar to the standard Pokemon style. I know this is debatable, but it is my opinion that Entermaid looks the most legitimate of the two. Some might say that Entermaid's hair is way too human-like for a Pokemon design, but we gotta remember that a good handful of Pokemon have been given long hair in the past, such as Mega Ampharos and Zoroark.
