Nickname: Difference between revisions

These characters are in turn limited by the character palette of the game's [[Text entry in the Pokémon games|text entry]] system, which varies between game languages. The characters available have expanded over the generations: for example, numbers were not available to be added to nicknames in Generation I, while later generations allow them. Originally, Pokémon games always used a proprietary text encoding system; however, games released on the [[Nintendo Switch]] or mobile use that system's native text-entry system.

In Generation I, a name consisting of only spaces can be used. In subsequent generations, this is treated as exiting without entering a nickname: a newly obtained Pokémon will use its species name, and a Pokémon at the [[Name Rater]] will keep its current name.

Pokémon can only have their nickname changed by their [[Original Trainer]]; if an [[outsider Pokémon]] cannot be moved to its original Trainer's game, it cannot be renamed at all. If an outsider Pokémon is taken to a [[Name Rater]], he will say the name is "perfect" and refuse to change it. The game checks the Original Trainer name, gender (Generation V onward), [[Trainer ID number]], and [[Secret ID]] (Generation III onward). The only exception is Generation IV, in which only the [[Trainer ID]] is checked. In [[Generation VIII]], outsider Pokémon that don't already have a nickname can be given one, but once given a nickname it cannot be changed except by its Original Trainer.

In the 1.0 release of the English versions of {{game|Ruby and Sapphire|s}}, the nickname flag of Japanese Pokémon is not set when they evolve, so the Pokémon's species name will be adjusted accordingly (e.g. {{p|Pichu}}'s Japanese species name is {{j|ピチュー}} and the player nicknames it {{j|ＰＩＣＨＵ}}, then trades it to an English version and evolves it, causing its name to become PIKACHU). However, since the English games still render the name in the Japanese font, an evolved Japanese Pokémon that has a name longer than five characters will cause a crash while attempting to load the [[Party|Pokémon List]] or send it out to battle (in the aforementioned case, the game will try to render it as {{j|ＰＩＫＡＣＨＵ}} instead of PIKACHU). This was fixed in the 1.1 release by adding an additional check to the name function used during [[evolution]] so that the Japanese Pokémon's name is not altered, effectively treating it as if it were a nickname. The European releases and subsequent Generation III games also have this check.

From [[Generation IV]] onward, non-nicknamed Pokémon with a language of origin different to their current game will update their name to their current game's language upon evolution.

From Generation V onward, the game will recognize when a nickname is {{wp|profanity}}, and will not allow the player to use this as a nickname. The Generation V games contain an internal [[List of censored words in Generation V|list of censored words]] which only censors case-insensitive matches. From Generation VI onward, the game system ([[Nintendo 3DS]] or [[Nintendo Switch]]) has its own built-in profanity filter which is used instead; these filters use {{wp|regular expression}}s to censor a wide range of attempts to circumvent it. If a Pokémon transferred via [[Poké Transfer]] has a nickname that would not be permitted to be entered on the Nintendo 3DS system, the Pokémon's nickname is removed and it uses its species name instead.