Naming in Stardew Valley [Explained]: Player, Pet & Secrets

All You Need To Know About Names in Stardew Valley

The type of outlook you create for yourself throughout your journey in Pelican Town is pretty crucial as it ultimately shapes the experience that you have.

Maybe you’d like to be an individual with a great friendship with all the villagers, or perhaps you’d like to stay shut off from the townsfolk and remain on your farm. However you may choose to play, there are certain choices that you’ll have to make which ultimately shape the journey you go through.

Naming is one of these factors. The names you choose for yourself, your farm, and your farm animals/pets are quite significant in the perspective of immersion, as these things will appear in the game now and then.

There are also some secret interactions you can have depending upon the type of name you choose. Today, I’ll be covering all of that and then some!

Setting Up a Name

Setting a name is the first thing you’ll do once the game starts. Excluding yourself – you can also select names for your farm, pet (should you choose to have one), and farm animals!

For Yourself

You can set up your name as soon as the game starts.

Every time you create a new game, you’ll immediately be shown a pop-up box where you can make several decisions. The option at the very top will be labeled “Name .” Be careful what you input here, as the game will remember it as your name and use it whenever you’re referred to.

(This name will also be used during interactions with villagers)

For Your Farm

During the previous selection, right below the “Name” option is a box for “Farm Name .” Here you can input a name for your farm! The one you end up with will be used each time your farm is referred to in any part of the game – so choose wisely!

For Your Pets and Farm Animals

You can also name your farm animals and pets, provided you keep them.

You have the option of fostering a pet cat or dog. This happens during a cutscene that plays on the first sunny Wednesday or Friday of Spring. It features the villager Marnie who brings the animal to you and asks if you’d like to offer the animal a home.

If you choose to keep it, it’ll become your pet, and you’ll have the option of naming it. This will appear as a pop-up once you agree to foster the pet. The name you end up with is used to refer to your pet and will be shown each time you open the interaction window by selecting them!

Can You Change a Name?

Understandably, you might’ve entered something you didn’t intend to when making your name. Maybe you’ve had a change of heart later in the year and don’t like your old name anymore.

Stardew Valley allows you to change your name. This can be done through the Shrine of Illusion found in the Wizard’s basement. Changing your name costs 500g and the name of your farm and pet, once chosen, cannot be altered.

If you accidentally botched up a name, you’ll be pleased to know that you can change it! As mentioned, however, this action cannot be performed for your farm and pet’s name.

Technically, you can change these too by manually altering some of the game files, but that’s not an actual part of Stardew Valley. It also has the danger of corrupting your save file itself, so I won’t be covering it here!

For Yourself

You can change your name through an altar called the “Shrine of Illusions .”

This can be found in the Wizard’s basement. To gain access to the basement, however, you’ll need to reach at least 4 hearts worth of friendship with the Wizard.

If you’re unaware, the Wizard resides in a tower at the bottom left corner of the Cindersap Forest. From your farm, move towards the south exit. You’ll come to the Cindersap Forest. Now, move towards the far left and then go towards the bottom end of the map. You’ll find the Wizard’s tower here. (It’s pretty big, so you won’t miss it!)

Once you’ve found the area and completed the friendship requirement, you can gain access to the basement, which was previously locked. Here, you’ll find a golden monster-themed statue with a cauldron in front of it. This is the Shrine of Illusions.

This interactable altar enables you to change your name in exchange for 500g worth of coins. Right-click it and select the option to change your name. In addition to changing your name, you can also change your appearance, gender, and favorite thing using the Shrine of Illusions!

There’s no limit to the times you can change your name, allowing you to indefinitely re-name yourself. You will, however, have to pay a 500g fee every time you decide to edit this piece of information.

(Note that all changes made through the Shrine of Illusions become active the following day rather than taking immediate effect)

For Your Farm Animals

In addition to changing your name, you also have the option of editing the name of any farm animals you own.

Doing this is a straightforward process that only requires you to interact with the farm animal you want to change the name for. Once you right-click the animal, an information bar regarding it will be displayed. This will contain a box showing the animal’s name. Clicking on this box allows you to edit the name of your farm animal to your liking!

As with changing your name, there’s no limit to editing a farm animal’s name.

Secret Names

An Easter Egg allows you to have secret interactions whenever you re-name yourself with the Shrine of Illusions. An exploit in the PC and Mobile version of Stardew Valley allows you to gain items for free.

If you set your character’s name as an item spawn code and cover it with brackets, the game grants you that item each time an NPC mentions you by name. For example, suppose you set your name to [645]. In that case, you’ll receive an Iridium Sprinkler each time an NPC says your name, as this is the item spawn code for an Iridium Sprinkler.

As such, if you use the Shrine of Illusions to re-name yourself according to an item spawn code, basically cheating the game to give you more items, the game displays a message to indicate that it’s aware of what you’re trying to do!

You can view a detailed list of all the message boxes on the official Stardew Valley Wiki.

These message boxes range from dialogues offered by ConcernedApe, the infamous Mr. Qi, and Grandpa. Most show disappointment towards the players for trying to find shortcuts rather than playing the game fair and square!