As any Pokémon fan already knows, Pokémon games allow them to give nicknames to their Pokémon. Whether it's because the nicknames have sentimental values, are an inside joke, or any other reason, they provide a personal touch to the Pokémon and make the name have more meaning.
But in a strange turn of events, some players have found out that giving certain nicknames to Pokémon in Pokémon GO results in them getting censored or not approved.
The report comes from a Reddit post in which a user has uploaded a screenshot of themselves attempting to give a nickname to their Ho-Oh Pokémon. However, what makes the entire situation so strange is that nickname for Ho-Oh also happens to be Ho-Oh. It appears as if nicknaming a Pokémon "Ho-Oh" triggers some kind of a censorship alert that simply does not allow a user to confirm the nickname. In an ironic twist, another Reddit user suggested to rename the Pokémon as Hoe-Oh because the censorship program allows for that instead.
Other Reddit users have also chimed in on the situation and provided additional details regarding the inappropriate nicknames. Specifically, some have stated that Lickitung and Lickilicky are also considered to be inappropriate nicknames because they have the word "lick" in them. Strangely enough, Lick is an actual Pokémon move, so with it being censored when giving a Pokémon a nickname is illogical. Another example deals with Shroomish. Because Shroomish has "shroom" in its name, the game assumes that a player is talking about hallucinogenic drugs, thus prohibiting them from entering the full name as a nickname.
Luckily, there is a solution to the problem. If a players happens to give their Pokémon an inappropriate nickname that Pokémon GO thinks needs to be censored, they simply need to delete all text and hit OK. It's worth to note that such action will not allow for the nickname to exist and that it's best to come up with a different nickname instead.
Whether this is considered some kind of glitch or error remains unclear, but given players' creativity and imagination, they are certain to find various workarounds in the meantime.
Source: VG247