From eebe30b037ab59826c940ced4f7b0654a784004c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Michael Meyer <me@entrez.cc>
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2022 23:28:29 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Message for giving unnameable monster blank name

The message for trying to (re)name an unnameable monster was weird when
the player entered a blank name (a name consisting of only spaces), in
an attempt to delete the monster's existing name rather than give it a
new one.  Several of the normal messages looked incomplete due to using
the blank string as the "new name" (e.g., "I'm Feyfer, not ."), and the
one which didn't include the name still seemed a little off ("calling
names" is almost the opposite of what the player is doing).  Add a new
message for attempting to erase the name of one of the special
unnameable monsters, e.g. "Juiblex would rather keep his existing name"
or "The Oracle would rather keep her existing title".

I also noticed that the message for trying to give an unrenameable
monster the name it already has (e.g. trying to name Death "Death") was
revealing the genders of the Riders with personal pronouns.  This is
avoided elsewhere (e.g. using "the way" in mdisplacem, "its" baked
into the message in mhitm_ad_deth), so I also added a slightly rephrased
alternate message for Riders which avoids any pronouns.  For the
unnaming message, on the other hand, I just used "its" for the Riders,
since I couldn't think of a way to phrase it that avoided pronouns
entirely.
---
 src/do_name.c | 51 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------------
 1 file changed, 32 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/do_name.c b/src/do_name.c
index 784273148..6bd3d71e4 100644
--- a/src/do_name.c
+++ b/src/do_name.c
@@ -1162,24 +1162,38 @@ christen_monst(struct monst *mtmp, const char *name)
 }
 
 /* check whether user-supplied name matches or nearly matches an unnameable
-   monster's name; if so, give alternate reject message for do_mgivenname() */
+   monster's name, or is an attempt to delete the monster's name; if so, give
+   alternate reject message for do_mgivenname() */
 static boolean
 alreadynamed(struct monst *mtmp, char *monnambuf, char *usrbuf)
 {
     char pronounbuf[10], *p;
 
-    if (fuzzymatch(usrbuf, monnambuf, " -_", TRUE)
-        /* catch trying to name "the Oracle" as "Oracle" */
-        || (!strncmpi(monnambuf, "the ", 4)
-            && fuzzymatch(usrbuf, monnambuf + 4, " -_", TRUE))
-        /* catch trying to name "invisible Orcus" as "Orcus" */
-        || ((p = strstri(monnambuf, "invisible ")) != 0
-            && fuzzymatch(usrbuf, p + 10, " -_", TRUE))
-        /* catch trying to name "the {priest,Angel} of Crom" as "Crom" */
-        || ((p = strstri(monnambuf, " of ")) != 0
-            && fuzzymatch(usrbuf, p + 4, " -_", TRUE))) {
-        pline("%s is already called %s.",
-              upstart(strcpy(pronounbuf, mhe(mtmp))), monnambuf);
+    if (!*usrbuf) { /* attempt to erase existing name */
+        boolean name_not_title = (has_mgivenname(mtmp)
+                                  || type_is_pname(mtmp->data)
+                                  || mtmp->isshk);
+        pline("%s would rather keep %s existing %s.", upstart(monnambuf),
+              is_rider(mtmp->data) ? "its" : mhis(mtmp),
+              name_not_title ? "name" : "title");
+        return TRUE;
+    } else if (fuzzymatch(usrbuf, monnambuf, " -_", TRUE)
+               /* catch trying to name "the Oracle" as "Oracle" */
+               || (!strncmpi(monnambuf, "the ", 4)
+                   && fuzzymatch(usrbuf, monnambuf + 4, " -_", TRUE))
+               /* catch trying to name "invisible Orcus" as "Orcus" */
+               || ((p = strstri(monnambuf, "invisible ")) != 0
+                   && fuzzymatch(usrbuf, p + 10, " -_", TRUE))
+               /* catch trying to name "the priest of Crom" as "Crom" */
+               || ((p = strstri(monnambuf, " of ")) != 0
+                   && fuzzymatch(usrbuf, p + 4, " -_", TRUE))) {
+        if (is_rider(mtmp->data)) {
+            /* avoid gendered pronoun for riders */
+            pline("%s is already called that.", upstart(monnambuf));
+        } else {
+            pline("%s is already called %s.",
+                  upstart(strcpy(pronounbuf, mhe(mtmp))), monnambuf);
+        }
         return TRUE;
     } else if (mtmp->data == &mons[PM_JUIBLEX]
                && strstri(monnambuf, "Juiblex")
@@ -1249,11 +1263,9 @@ do_mgivenname(void)
      * Shopkeepers, temple priests and other minions use alternate
      * name formatting routines which ignore any user-supplied name.
      *
-     * Don't say the name is being rejected if it happens to match
-     * the existing name.
-     *
-     * TODO: should have an alternate message when the attempt is to
-     * remove existing name without assigning a new one.
+     * Don't say a new name is being rejected if it happens to match
+     * the existing name, or if the player is trying to remove the
+     * monster's existing name without assigning a new one.
      */
     if ((mtmp->data->geno & G_UNIQ) && !mtmp->ispriest) {
         if (!alreadynamed(mtmp, monnambuf, buf))
@@ -1267,8 +1279,9 @@ do_mgivenname(void)
                || mtmp->data == &mons[PM_GHOST]) {
         if (!alreadynamed(mtmp, monnambuf, buf))
             pline("%s will not accept the name %s.", upstart(monnambuf), buf);
-    } else
+    } else {
         (void) christen_monst(mtmp, buf);
+    }
 }
 
 /*