Editing Name

[[File:NameinGameplay.png|thumb|Names appear in small boxes above the character's body in normal gameplay. These tags can temporarily disappear in some circumstances.]]

Players can input a short string of characters as a name to use in gameplay, in which it will appear above the character. Names can be up to four characters long in ''Melee'', up to five in ''Brawl'', and up to ten in ''for Wii U'' and ''Ultimate''.

The [[Records]] menu allows the viewing of separate records for [[knock-out]]s, [[self-destruct]]s, [[damage]] taken, [[pratfall]]s and the like for each name. It is also possible to associate some controller preferences to each name, such as the [[Rumble]] option or - starting with ''Brawl'' - control schemes different from the default; this allows for quick access to preferred configurations without manually adjusting every time.

In ''Ultimate'', names not only appear in the tag floating above the character, but also in their [[damage meter]], replacing the character's name (except when playing online, which instead displays the name of the Nintendo Switch's current user). A player's name tag also appears over any [[Assist Trophy]] or [[Poké Ball]] [[Pokémon]] that fighter has summoned.

In rare cases, names may affect gameplay. For example, in ''Melee'', name tags remain visible even if they are pointing to an invisible character, making it easier to [[punish]] teleportation special moves such as [[Farore's Wind]] and [[Vanish]]. As such, {{SSBM|Sheik}} players will almost never use name tags in competitive matches.

 

In ''For Wii U'' and ''Ultimate'', due to the lack of voice chat when playing any of the [[With Anyone]] and [[Quickplay]] modes online, some players use names as a means of communicating with other players, sending messages such as "good game". However, this also allows opportunities for [[griefing]] by making intentionally offensive and obscene names that the opponent is unable to stop beyond reporting players after the fact. Nintendo combats this by by creating a "banned words list" in the console firmware to prevent players from using words on the list. This creates a game of cat and mouse where players constantly find new words as workarounds and Nintendo frequently has to update the list to add these new words to it.

{{Incomplete|Character sets for SSB4}}

{{main|List of autopick names (SSBU)}}

There is also an option to have the game enter a random name from a curated list. Most of these random names that can appear are names of existing [[Nintendo]] characters alongside normal words, slang phrases and some inside jokes.

The Name Entry will refuse to set names such as "[[CPU]]" and "[[Player|P1]]", likely due to them being tags for players without names. However, variations with lowercase letters, such as "Cpu" and "p1", can be set. In ''for Wii U'', in addition to this, the Name Entry uses the Wii U's native word filter, preventing names with potentially inappropriate jargon from being set. Neither of these restrictions are present in ''Ultimate'', partially due to the absence of a word filter on the [[Nintendo Switch]].

*Coincidentally, one of the autopick names in ''Melee'' is "[[Ike]]", who did not exist at the time, but would become a playable character in ''Brawl''; this continued in ''Brawl'', where one of the autopick names was "[[Robin]]", who also did not exist at the time, but was playable in ''SSB4''. Sora also coincidentally appeared as one of the autopick names in ''SSBU'', though this is likely referring to [[Sora Ltd]], a major developer of the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series since ''Brawl''.

*One of the random names in ''for Wii U'' and ''Ultimate'' is "[[John|NOJOHNS]]".

*Though it lacks customizable names, ''for Nintendo 3DS'' shows the [[Nintendo 3DS]] system's name in human players' damage display in addition to the character's name.

**However, names over 8 characters will be shortened to the first 7 characters with an ellipsis at the end.

*The Japanese version of ''Melee'' contains "[[Banjo]]", "[[Kazooie]]", and "Conker" as autopick names, prior to the first two's playable appearance in ''Ultimate'',<ref>https://x.com/Facts_About_BK/status/1358466829434449920</ref> all 3 being characters strongly associated with Nintendo. Banjo & Kazooie were at one point Nintendo IP, however contrary to popular belief, Conker was never a Nintendo IP, and in fact his games, aside from a promotional cameo in ''Diddy Kong Racing'', were not released in Japan until ''Conker: Live & Reloaded'' on Xbox.