Name the fallen human.
Naming prompt
At the beginning of Undertale, the player is given the choice of naming the fallen human.
Normally, the game asks "Is this name correct?" when asking for confirmation of the name, but some names trigger a unique response, and some of these names (mainly those of major characters in the story) cannot be used. Other names do not trigger any particular message but have a different impact on the gameplay. There is a six-character limit, but this can be bypassed using the renaming process as seen below.
Although this is depicted as the player naming the protagonist, it is, in fact, naming the first human to have fallen into the Underground. This name is mentioned by Flowey/Asriel, Asgore in the game over screen, the dream sequences in Toriel's Home and Waterfall, the mirrors in Toriel's and Asgore's homes on the Genocide Route, Alphys's console on the Genocide Route, the video recordings in the True Lab, and the first human's coffin. Notably, none of the characters ever speak the protagonist's name until they learn about it in the True Pacifist Route ending.
All names (except "Frisk") cannot be changed without performing a True Reset or completing a Genocide Route. Otherwise, when resetting, the message "A name has already been chosen" appears and the player is unable to change the name. "Frisk" is the only exception, as changing the name is required to leave Hard Mode.
Names with custom response
Below are listed names that give a custom response, replacing the default one. Alphabetic characters are case-insensitive and kana are script-insensitive. When played in Japanese, due to being able to enter both kana and alphabetic characters, the same response occurs regardless of whether the English or Japanese name was entered.
Forbidden
| English | Japanese | Response |
|---|---|---|
| (Blank name) | — | "You must choose a name." |
| Alphys | アルフィー | "D-don't do that." |
| Asgore | アズゴア | "You cannot." |
| Asriel | アズリエル | "..." |
| Flowey | フラウィ | "I already CHOSE that name." |
| Sans | サンズ | "nope." |
| Toriel | トリエル | "I think you should think of your own name, my child." |
| Undyne | アンダイン | "Get your OWN name!" |
Allowed
| English | Japanese | Response |
|---|---|---|
| Frisk | フリスク | "WARNING: This name will make your life hell. Proceed anyway?" |
| Murder | ころす | "That's a little on-the-nose, isn't it...?" |
| Mercy | みのがす | |
| AAAAAA | ああああああ | "Not very creative...?" |
| Aaron | アーロン | "Is this name correct? ;)" |
| Alphy | アルっち | "Uh.... OK?" |
| Catty | キャッティ | "Bratty! Bratty! That's MY name!" |
| Bratty | アリゲッティ | "Like, OK I guess." |
| Bpants | バガパン | "You are really scraping the bottom of the barrel." |
| Chara | キャラ | "The true name." |
| Gerson | ガーソン | "Wah ha ha! Why not?" |
| Jerry | ジェリー | "Jerry." |
| Metta | メタトン | "OOOOH!!! ARE YOU PROMOTING MY BRAND?" |
| Mett | メタ | |
| Mtt | ||
| Napsta | ナプスタ | "............ (They are powerless to stop you.)" |
| Blooky | ブルっち | |
| Papyru | パピルス | "I'LL ALLOW IT!!!!" |
| Shyren | シャイレーン | "...?" |
| Temmie | テミー | "hOI!" |
| Woshua | ウォッシュア | "Clean name." |
Names with other effects
- Drak or Gigi or Gugu - The Steak in the Shape of Mettaton's Face shows up as "FSteak" instead of "FaceSteak" (the name does not change in v1.01). This name is a reference to Gigidigi's Persona 4 comic, "Hiimdaisy". Notably, Gigidigi has also helped work on the game.
- Gaster or ガスター - In the original PC versions, the game reloads the title sequence after pressing the confirm button; in the latest version, the game reloads as soon as the last character of "Gaster" is entered. In the original, PlayStation 4, Vita and Nintendo Switch versions, the game crashed and displayed an error message when entering "Gaster"; in the latest version, it simply reloads the title screen.
- Frisk or フリスク - In addition to having a custom response, this name activates Hard Mode.
Changing the name in the SAVE files
Normally, the name cannot be changed except after a True Reset or after a Genocide Route. However, it is possible to change the name during gameplay by modifying the game data.
- Go into "%LOCALAPPDATA%\UNDERTALE" on Windows (e.g. "C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\UNDERTALE") or "~/Library/Application Support/com.tobyfox.undertale/" on Mac.
- Open the file named
file0with a text editor of choice. - The name is stored on the first line. Replace it with a new name. Numbers and symbols can be added to this new name, but if it is longer than six characters, it covers surrounding text. Using a forbidden name has no effect.
- The name is also stored in
undertale.iniand is displayed when loading a SAVE file, but it is overwritten with thefile0name when the game is saved if they are different. If the game is reset instead of loading a SAVE, theundertale.ininame overwrites thefile0name instead.
If the game detects that the name has been edited (for example, if it is longer than six characters), the text "Easy to change, huh?" appears in the Stats menu. Oddly enough, this does not occur if a forbidden name is used.
Trivia
- All forbidden names can be used in the Undertale Demo.
- If the protagonist's name is changed to "Gaster" through the SAVE files, the ability to reset is unavailable as the game restarts upon clicking the Reset button.