How to Change the Name of Foreign Pokémon in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will hardly be remembered as glitch-free games, but this isn’t a problem for most players, as some of these glitches can be used for feats not normally possible, such as duplicating Pokemon.

Among the many things not normally possible to do is renaming Pokemon that you have received via trades. Here’s how to do it.

How to Change the Name of Foreign Pokémon in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

In Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, it is possible to rename Pokemon you have caught yourself, but not those that you have received via trades. If you go to Eterna City and head over to the name rater, then let him evaluate the nickname of the Pokemon you haven’t caught yourself, he will say that the nickname is impeccable, preventing you from renaming it. There is a way, however, to use one of the game’s most infamous glitches, the menu glitch, to rename these Pokemon.

To change the name of any Pokemon received via a trade, you will need to put it in your party and have a Pokemon you caught yourself ready in the box. Then, you will have to activate the menu glitch by using the following procedure.

1. Place the Fly ability in the top right corner of Hidden Moves in your Poketch.
2. Head to any Pokemon Center and stop right in front of it without entering.
3. Press R and A at the same time to access the Fly menu and enter the Pokemon Center at the same time. You may need to do this multiple times to open the Fly menu.
4. While in the Fly menu, press up two times on the directional pad and then right six times. This will make you go down the escalator in the Pokemon Center while in the Fly menu.
5. Go back up the escalator by pressing right once, left five times, and then down two on the directional pad. This will bring you out of the Pokemon Center while you are still in the Fly menu.
6. In the Fly menu, choose Eterna City, then press A. Wait for a very short while, then press X and A again. Make sure to time your button presses right, as the game will freeze if you do things wrong.

Once you have managed to activate the glitch successfully, head over to the name rater and position yourself to his left without touching anything, as the game will crash if you try to navigate the menu and press A with an interactable object nearby.

After having positioned yourself properly, select the Pokemon option on the main menu, highlight the Pokemon you want to rename, and then move to the left to get close to the name rater. Press A, B, and R to go to your boxes. Press A twice and then replace your Pokemon with the one you want to change the name of. Continue pressing the A button until you can use the on-screen keyboard.

Rename the Pokemon any way you wish, and due to the glitch, the monster that gets renamed is the one that you received via trade and that was swapped with your own in the box.

While this Pokemon renaming glitch has been discovered in an earlier version of the game, it still works in version 1.1.3, so make sure to take advantage of it before the menu glitch gets patched!