Home Assistant 2026.11 will assemble displayed names from separate pieces, including the device, entity and area, adding context where needed. The release also introduces child devices, allowing individual parts of a larger device, such as power strip sockets, to receive their own names and areas.
Dashboard cards, badges and rows will use the updated naming when no manual name is set. Names already entered on cards will stay unchanged. Built-in cards will let owners arrange naming components, including the floor and parent device, or enter a custom label. The Android and iOS apps will follow the same naming rules.
Child device support arrives for Z-Wave, MQTT and ESPHome, plus some Tuya products and other integrations. A power strip can retain its parent device while its sockets become separately organized children. Each socket can then carry a name such as Kettle and have an area assigned independently.
Existing entity IDs will stay unchanged, preserving references used by automations, scripts, scenes and dashboards. For entities shared with Assist, Alexa or Google Assistant, Home Assistant will retain the previous name as an alias to preserve voice commands.
The update will also migrate previously renamed entities. When an entity name begins with its device name, the migration removes that repeated device portion. Other names stay intact, but the added context can produce a label such as Smart plug 3 Coffee machine. Renaming that device Coffee machine and enabling the switch’s main entity setting produces the shorter Coffee machine label.
Friendly names remain available for compatibility. Custom cards that still read that attribute can display names differently from built-in cards, and templates relying on it can also show different names. The official post recommends entity_name(), device_name() and area_name() for templates that need particular naming components.
