Add a friendly name template to the new template sensor format. It’s the only thing missing from the legacy format.
I believe your wish is already granted (with one hitch).
If I do this:
- name: "testing_{{ now().ctime()[:3] }}"
unique_id: 'just_a_test'
state: "{{ now().ctime() }}"
I get this:
However the hitch is I have lost control of the entity’s object_id. It has been automatically set to template_just_a_test (a concatenation of “template_” and the unique_id).
To regain control of it, I can modify it via the UI (not via its configuration).
From this:
to this:
and now it appears with my preferred object_id and templated friendly_name.
The only thing that remains to be seen is if its friendly_name will change to “testing_Thu” tomorrow. 
EDIT
Confirmed; it works (testing_Thu).
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Will this work to create unique_id for devices that don’t get one in their ‘native’ integration?
thank you
- This topic is about dynamically defining a friendly_name for a Template Sensor.
- Your question (I think) is about how to assign a unique_id to any entity (device?) generated by an integration that doesn’t normally assign a unique_id.
Where’s the connection between the two?
Surprised to see people continue to vote for this Feature Request when it’s already possible. 
