Using a Certificate of Ownership allows us to name any pets having issues, but they might be slightly expensive on the AH at the moment depending on your server.
I just made a new Hunter and came across this issue when taming my first wolf in Exile’s Reach. I couldn’t rename it for the life of me and ended up here looking for help. I believe I found a fix for it.
Dismiss your pet and summon it again immediately.
I don’t recall anyone saying they tried that specific thing, though I think it’d be natural to try. It worked for me at any rate.
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Found the IT guy.
“Have you tried turning it off and on again?”
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I got the named hippo with the spears sticking out of it. I wasn’t able to rename it at first but I could when I used the Certificate of Ownership. I’m always running around with Dependa the Dependapotamus.
This bug is pretty annoying, I don’t enjoying wasting 800g+ for a cert to rename a pet I never even named yet on my little alt.
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I know this is an old thread. But thought I would add this in case it helps someone. I couldn’t rename one of my pets until I realized as a Beastmaster the second pet from our talent “Animal Companion” is added from the first slot in our stables. I was trying to rename the “stabled” pet. Once I took the pet out of the stable I was able to name it.
That may not be your issue but I thought it might still help someone. 
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THANK YOU! This worked!
So I just got the new dragon expansion. Haven’t played since I finished the Jailer story line. I noticed that I don’t have as many hunter pets as I remember. Could be possible I made room. BUT there was 1 specifically I always have that isn’t there. I know I didn’t get rid of him. But no matter, I went out and tamed him again. But I can’t rename him. This is an old thread but does this bug keep coming back?
If it’s a rare pet that you’re talking about, most likely that pet retains its original name once tamed. Any pet which you’ve given a name to, by using the ‘rename’ function or any pet that retains their original names cannot be renamed unless you use a ‘Certificate of Ownership’ on it. You can buy these off of the AH or get them from someone with Inscription.
If the above isn’t the case for you, but it is just a regular beast you’ve tamed, and you still don’t have the option to rename it, most likely it is a bug yes.
This bug still persists as of 3/14/2023. Just tamed 2 pets on a fresh alt and no matter how many times I Dismiss & re-Summon, Relog, or Stable them and take them back out I still cannot rename either. Both are Classic pets from Eastern Kingdoms.
According to the help article (https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/10340) the first rename for Classic pets is still supposed to be free. I have tamed other Classic pets since DF launched on characters that I had already created prior to DF and this bug does not seem to be there for those toons. For me, so far, it’s only on fresh characters created post DF launch.
Quick question.
What pets did you tame?
Obviously there could ofc be a bug, but in case the pets you’ve tamed are ‘special’, then that might be the reason for why you can’t rename them by default once you’ve tamed them. With that, I mean that certain beasts in the game retain their original names once tamed(rare beasts and certain beasts with special names).
Again, if the above isn’t the case, then it’s probably a bug indeed.
Both were rares on the fresh Hunter (created after DF launch). I’ve tamed numerous rares on various NON-fresh Hunters on different realms (created prior to DF) after DF launch and I was able to rename them with no issues.
Certificate of Ownership, made by Inscription, has been required for at least several expansions to rename pets. As for pets with special abilities mentioned in previous posts here, those are removed once a Hunter tames the animal. Doesn’t matter how special or rare it is, Hunter pets don’t get abilities special or different than any other pet of the same type/class. Just like the certificate of ownership, pets not retaining unique abilities has also been a thing for several expansions.
AFAIK, the change that allowed most Rare “named” pets to retain their unique name when tamed, counts as already being given a unique name by the hunter. As a result, for these pets, you do need a Certificate of Ownership to rename them upon being freshly tamed.
As have been mentioned by others, any rare or special pet that retain their original name after being tamed, require you to use a Certificate of Ownership on them, if you want to change their name.
If you tame a regular, common beast of any family type, they should be given a common name suiting of their family, such as Boar, Cat, Wolf, etc. These pets, once tamed, you should be able to right click on their portrait and change their names from the get-go, no Certificate necessary.
If it doesn’t work this way for you, then either they’ve changed something with naming restrictions/functions, or there is indeed a bug precent.
Again, this is not true for characters created prior to DF. I’ve done it 4 times already, once just yesterday. The bug is on characters created POST DF launch.
Sure, I did say as much.
Had the same problem. I was trying to rename my pet while having it targeted. It kept giving me the contains invalid characters error. Once i untargeted my pet I was able to rename it.
They just need to make it where hunters can rename at any time, I got a Certificate of Ownership for my hunter and she still wasn’t able to rename her pet, maybe if enough people complain to bliz they might update the hunters so they can but who knows…
Edited: Found out awhile ago they updated the stables where hunters can now rename there hunter pets at any time.