So This funky named dude was in the AC and I couldn't help but pick him up.

smashed keys

After I picked him up I remembered symbols aren't allowed in names anymore. Am I able to still keep him? Or do I have to change his name?

You can probably keep him, I think the rule is just enforced on newly created pets

Why is it not allowed to create pets with symbol names?

it has a lot to do with the coding. for instant smashed keys can't be looked up as a pet name. You have to use the pet ID otherwise you come up with some odd lil' error message.

There's nothing wrong with having the pet. And symbols aren't even totally disallowed in pet creation. I made "-" (yep, just a dash)

a space, a dash a period yeah, this is smashed keys name $&^%#(^ it's a lil' over the top for symbols. I think it might even need its mouth rinsed out with soap. LOL

it's not against the rules or anything; it's just not possible to make pets with special characters anymore due to programming reasons. but it's not that it isn't allowed, it's just not an option anymore.