Name the fallen human.

Naming prompt

At the beginning of Undertale, the player is given the choice of naming the fallen human. While the narrative flow and naming screen is seemingly the player naming the protagonist, it is to name the first human who fell into the Underground.

Normally, the game asks "Is this name correct?" when asking for confirmation of the name. However, some names trigger a unique response, can have a different impact on gameplay, and certain major character names cannot be used. There is a six-character limit, but this can be bypassed using the renaming process as seen below.

Once confirmed, the name is visible on the Start Menu, the SAVE file from SAVE Points, most encounters, the overworld menu, and looking at Stats. Additionally, 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 Home and the Lab console on the Genocide Route, the VHS Tapes in the True Lab, and the first human's coffin. Notably, none of the characters speak the protagonist's name until they learn about it in the True Pacifist Route epilogue.

All names (except "Frisk") cannot be changed without performing a True Reset or completing a Genocide Route. On the Start Menu, the message "A name has already been chosen" appears when "Reset" is selected. "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, 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, Gigi has also helped work on the game.
• Gaster or ガスター — The game reloads to the prologue cutscenes as soon as the last character of "Gaster" is entered.
• 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. The following instructions are only applicable to PC versions.

1. Open the app data directory for Undertale. On Windows, this should be %LOCALAPPDATA%\UNDERTALE (typically resolving to C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\UNDERTALE, where USERNAME is the name of the Windows user). On macOS, this should be ~/Library/Application Support/com.tobyfox.undertale/, and on Linux it should be ~/.config/UNDERTALE/.
2. Open the file named file0 in a text editor.
3. The name is stored on the first line—replace it with a new name.

Numbers and symbols can be added to this new name. If it is longer than six characters, it covers surrounding text, and the text "Easy to change, huh?" appears in the Stats menu. Using a forbidden name has no effect.

The name is also stored in undertale.ini, which is where the name displayed when loading a SAVE file is retrieved from; however, it is overwritten with the name from file0 when the game is saved (if they differ). If the game is reset instead of loading a SAVE, the undertale.ini name overwrites the file0 name instead.

Trivia

• The Stat menu has the name written with quotation marks around it, implying that it is an assumed name for the protagonist.
• The name is absent during the following encounters: the first encounter with Flowey, the story expositions from the Monsters and Flowey in New Home, and versus Photoshop Flowey.
• 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.
  • In PC versions until v1.05, the game reloads the title sequence after pressing the confirm button.^[1]
  • In the PlayStation 4/Vita, and Nintendo Switch versions until v1.03-4, the game crashed and displayed an error message as the last character of "Gaster" is entered.^[2]

References