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This wikiHow teaches you how to name an animal or a creature (also known as "mobs") in Minecraft by using a name tag.

Part 1
Part 1 of 2:

Acquiring a Name Tag

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  1. You'll need an anvil to customize your name tag later. To craft an anvil, you will need the following:
    • Three iron blocks - Each iron block requires nine iron ingots, for a total of twenty-seven iron ingots needed.
    • Four iron ingots - These bars bring the iron total to thirty-one.
    • You can create iron ingots by adding iron ore, which is the grey stone with orange-brown spots, into a furnace that has coal in it.
  2. It will open to a three-by-three grid.
    • If you haven't yet crafted a crafting table, you can do so by placing a plank of wood in each of your inventory's four crafting slots.
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  3. To do so, you'll place the three iron blocks in the top row of the crafting table grid, three of the four iron ingots along the bottom row of the grid, and the final iron ingots in the center of the grid. Take the completed anvil from the slot on the left.
    • On the PE version of Minecraft, tap the black anvil icon on the left side of the screen.
    • On the console version of Minecraft, select the anvil icon in the "Structures" tab.
  4. You can only gather name tags in one of three ways: fishing, trading, and looting chests. [1]
  5. You'll need three sticks and two pieces of string to do so.
    • You can also combine two damaged fishing poles to craft a working pole.
  6. To fish, you'll cast out a line by right-clicking (or tapping, or pressing the left trigger) while facing a body of water with your fishing pole equipped. When your pole's bobber dips below the surface of the water and you hear a splashing noise, you'll press the "Cast" button again.
    • You'll likely catch a lot of fish and other junk before you reel in a name tag, since name tags are fairly rare.
    • The Luck of the Sea enchantment can help.
  7. Villages are randomly generated structures situated around Minecraft's world. If you know of a village's location and you have plenty of emeralds, it may be faster for you to purchase a name tag than it is to fish for one.
    • To speak to a villager, face them and then right-click, tap, or press the left trigger.
  8. Chests inside of these areas have a reasonably high chance of producing a name tag. Since these structures are randomly generated, this method of acquiring name tags is incredibly inefficient (and dangerous.
    • You can cheat by using the locate command to search for structures.
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Part 2
Part 2 of 2:

Creating a Custom Tag

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  1. Your experience level, which is the green number near the bottom of your screen, must be at least one in order for you to craft a custom name tag.
  2. It will make a loud "clank" noise when you do so.
  3. To do so, open your inventory and move the tag to your character's hotbar, then select it. The tag will appear in your character's hand.
  4. This will open the anvil's crafting window with your name tag in place.
  5. You'll do this in the "Name" field at the top of the anvil's window.
    • On console editions, you'll first have to select the "Name" field and press A or X' .
  6. Doing so will place it in your inventory.
  7. Once you see it in your hand, you're ready to assign a name to a mob.
    • On console editions of Minecraft, you can simply select the tag and press Y or Δ .
  8. You'll want to take care whilst naming a hostile mob (e.g., a zombie), but naming animals like sheep or cows is a harmless task.
  9. As long as the name tag is in your hand, doing so will place a text box with your name tag's phrase in it above the mob's head.
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Community Q&A

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  • Question
    How do I get name tags?
    Community Answer
    Librarian villagers trade name tags for 20–22 emeralds a piece as part of their tier 6 trades. Name tags can be caught from fishing as part of the treasure category. Name tags can be found in 29.0% of dungeon chests and 42.3% of chest minecarts in abandoned mine shafts in stacks of one.
  • Question
    How do I name a mob in Minecraft Pocket Edition?
    Gabby
    Community Answer
    Get a name tag, put a name on it in the anvil, then go up to the mob and a 'name' button should appear.
  • Question
    How do I name a villager?
    Community Answer
    Rename a spawn villager egg (this can be obtained in creative mode) with an anvil, then spawn the villager.
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