Get entity name: entity_name

The entity_name template function returns the name of an entityAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] given its entity ID, without the name of its deviceA device is a model representing a physical or logical unit that contains entities.. For example, for a temperature sensor of the device Living room sensor, it returns Temperature. It looks up the name in the entityAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] registry first, and falls back to the friendly name of the state object if the entity is not registered. If the entity does not exist at all, it returns None.

This is helpful whenever you want to display a human-readable name instead of a raw entity ID. For example, you might want to build a notificationYou can use notifications to send messages, pictures, and more, to devices. [Learn more] that says “Temperature is 21 °C” instead of “sensor.living_room_temperature is 21 °C”. It is also useful when looping over a list of entity IDs and you need to present their names to a user in a readable format.

Usage

Here’s how to use this template function. Copy any example and adjust it to your setup.

{{ entity_name("sensor.living_room_temperature") }}

Temperature

{{ "sensor.living_room_temperature" | entity_name }}

Temperature

Function signature

The signature is a technical summary of this template function. It shows the name of the function, the values (called parameters) it accepts, and what type of data each parameter expects (for example, a piece of text or a number).

Function parameters that have a = with a value after them are optional. If you leave them out, the default value shown is used automatically.

Function parameters without a = are usually required. A few optional parameters have no default value, so the signature shows them without a = as well. To check whether a parameter is required, look at the parameter list below the signature. Each parameter is marked as Required or Optional.

The most common optional parameter without a default value is default. The default parameter sets the value a function returns when the function can’t produce a result, for example, when float gets text that isn’t a number. If you leave out default, there is no fallback value, so most functions raise an error and the template fails. The parameter list of each function says what happens. If you set default, the function returns your value instead.

round(
    value: Any,
    precision: int = 0,
    method: str = "common",
    default: Any,
) -> float | int | Any

entity_name(
    entity_id: str,
) -> str | None

Function parameters

The following parameters can be provided to this function.

Good to know

• Returns None when the entity does not exist. Chain with | default(value) for a fallback.
• Uses the name from the entity registry first, without the device name, then falls back to the friendly name of the state object.
• An entity without a name of its own returns an empty string.
• Pass an entity ID, not a state object.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Settings > Tools > Template, paste the example into the Template editor, and watch the result update on the right. Edit the values to see how the function adapts to your own entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more].

More examples

Real scenarios where this function comes up in automations and templates. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Use entity names in a notification

Send a notificationYou can use notifications to send messages, pictures, and more, to devices. [Learn more] with the friendly name of a sensorSensors return information about a thing, for instance the level of water in a tank. [Learn more] instead of its entity ID.

action:
  - action: notify.mobile
    data:
      message: >
        {{ entity_name("binary_sensor.front_door") }} is
        {{ states("binary_sensor.front_door") }}

List names of all lights that are on

Loop through all light entities and display the friendly name of each one that is currently on.

{% for light in states.light | selectattr("state", "eq", "on") %}
  {{ entity_name(light.entity_id) }}
{% endfor %}

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with your template and expected result, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related template functions

These functions work well alongside this one:

• Get entity state: states - Returns the state value of an entity, or lets you iterate over all entity states.

• Test if entity is hidden: is_hidden_entity - Tests if an entity is hidden in the entity registry.

• Get area name: area_name - Returns the friendly name of an area from its ID, entity ID, or device ID.