How to Craft Name Tag in Minecraft

Name Tag in Minecraft, drawn from the game's own item texture. Naming mobs to prevent despawning. The recipe first appears in the game's files in Minecraft 26.1.

The recipe wants 1 Paper and 1 Iron Nugget, and a Crafting Table to run it on. Place them as a single Iron Nugget in the top-right cell and a single Paper in the bottom-left cell. Done once, that is 1 Name Tag.

Name Tag Item ID and Give Command

The item ID for Name Tag is minecraft:name_tag. In commands the namespace may be left off, so name_tag works too. Checked against Minecraft Java 26.2.

Give yourself one: /give @p name_tag
Give a full stack of 64: /give @p name_tag 64
Give it to a named player: /give Steve name_tag 1

Cheats have to be on for Name Tag to appear this way, and the same command works on Bedrock Edition, where the name is written the same.

Overview

Name Tags are crafted from paper and a metal nugget, and are also found in dungeon, mineshaft and woodland mansion chests or while fishing. Use an anvil to write a name, then right-click a mob to apply it. Named mobs never despawn. Name Tag uses a shaped recipe: the ingredients only work in the pattern shown.

This recipe first appears in the game's own data files in Minecraft 26.1, and not in the release before it.

The materials come together from a few sources: you will be working with paper (craft from sugar cane) and iron nugget (craft from an iron ingot, or smelt iron items).

Stack Maths

Per craft 1 iron nugget buys 1 name tag; per stack 64 buys 64. On top of that: 64 paper. Nothing is wasted: craft 64 takes the rest.

Materials Needed

Item	Amount	Where to Find
PaperPaper	1x	Craft from sugar cane
Iron NuggetIron Nugget	1x	Craft from an iron ingot, or smelt iron items

Name Tag needs Paper (craft from sugar cane) and Iron Nugget (craft from an iron ingot, or smelt iron items), worked together at a Crafting Table.

The Full Chain

4 crafts deep: Iron Ingot, Iron Nugget, Paper, then the Name Tag. All in: 3 Sugar Cane and 1 Iron Ore.

1
Iron IngotIron IngotFurnace
2
Iron IngotIron Nugget9Iron Nugget
3
Sugar Cane3Paper3Paper
4
Name TagName Tagthis page

Gather this first

3Sugar CaneIron Ore

Step-by-Step Instructions

1
Iron NuggetIron Nugget
2
PaperPaper
3
Name Tag

Minecraft crafting recipe for Name Tag: 1 x Iron Nugget, 1 x Paper in a crafting table, making 1 Name Tag.

Tips & Notes

Caught out without a Crafting Table? Name Tag fits the 2x2 inventory grid, so you can make it anywhere.
One craft costs 1x Paper and 1x Iron Nugget. Start with the Paper: craft from sugar cane.

Uses for Name Tag

Naming mobs to prevent despawning
Custom mob names

View detailed item stats, durability and properties for Name Tag on the Astroworld Items Database.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to craft a Name Tag in Minecraft?

Bring 1 Paper and 1 Iron Nugget to a Crafting Table and you can make a Name Tag. Copy the grid above cell for cell, and one craft produces one Name Tag.

What do you need to make a Name Tag from scratch?

Counting all the way down, a Name Tag comes to 3 Sugar Canes and 1 Iron Ore, spread over 4 crafts.

Can you craft a Name Tag without a crafting table?

You can, and without a table: the 2x2 grid in your inventory is enough for a Name Tag. It is laid out as a single Iron Nugget in the top-right cell and a single Paper in the bottom-left cell, which never leaves a 2x2 area.

Where do you find the materials for a Name Tag?

A Name Tag draws its parts from several different places. Paper: craft from sugar cane. Iron Nugget: craft from an iron ingot, or smelt iron items.

How many Name Tags do you get from one craft?

The Name Tag recipe makes one Name Tag per craft.

What is the item ID for Name Tag in Minecraft?

The Name Tag item ID is minecraft:name_tag, and in a command you can drop the namespace and write name_tag on its own. Checked against Java 26.2.

Can you farm everything you need for a Name Tag?

Name Tag needs nothing you have to go find: paper from sugar cane and iron nugget from iron ingots. Set those up once and you can keep making name tag.

What is the give command for Name Tag?

Use /give @p name_tag to put a Name Tag in your own inventory, or /give @p name_tag 64 for a full stack of 64. Cheats have to be on.

Is the Name Tag recipe the same in Java and Bedrock Edition?

A Name Tag works the same on both: 1 Paper and 1 Iron Nugget at a Crafting Table, the same pattern, one at a time, whether you are on Java or Bedrock.

How many crafting steps does a Name Tag take?

A Name Tag takes 4 crafts once you count the parts: Iron Ingot, Iron Nugget and Paper, and then the Name Tag. The chain section above walks through them in order.

What version of Minecraft added the Name Tag?

The recipe for name tag ships in Minecraft 26.1 and in none of the releases before it. The Name Tag recipe above matches the current release.

Sources

Grid, ingredients and yield: 1 Paper and 1 Iron Nugget in, 1 Name Tag out, Crafting Table. Java 26.2, 17 August 2026.
That Bedrock agrees: Bedrock 1.26.40.05, same 2 ingredients.
How far back it goes: Present in Minecraft Java 26.1, missing from the release immediately before. From all 163 released Java clients, rd-132211 to 26.2.
That the ingredients come back: What drops, what villagers trade and what farms regrow in Minecraft Java, followed through the recipes to see what those ingredients can be turned into.
Stack size: The Astroworld Items Database, built from the same jar.
The recipe book unlock: What unlocks it in the recipe book. Java 26.2.
The stack sum: Counted, not played: 1 Name Tag per craft against the stack size.

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