Searched for an answer in the forums, but didn't find one. I did find a similar problem reported in the gnome forums (https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=646900) that was supposedly fixed in Nautilus 3.2.
I recently installed Linux Mint 12 "Lisa". In my home folder, I can create new folders, but I cannot name them. A new folder is created and the default title ("Untitled Folder") is highlighted as if to allow editing, but nothing I type on the keyboard effects any change to the name. I cannot even exit the rename operation by pressing the ESC key. After creation, I am also unable to rename them. I cannot rename within Nautilus regardless of the method (F2, Right-click->Rename, Right-click->Properties->change Name field). I have tried launching nautilus from the Terminal to see if there are any error messages posted, but there are no messages posted to the terminal when I attempt to rename files/folders.
Here is an example of a file I created just to try and rename it:
$ ls -ls rename-test.txt
0 -rw-rw-r-- 1 kgsnow kgsnow 0 2012-05-15 13:44 rename-test.txt
I can rename the file in the Terminal with a simple "mv" command. I can also rename files/folders if I launch nautilus from the terminal as "sudo nautilus".
$ mv rename-test.txt rename-test2.txt
$ ls -ls rename-test2.txt
0 -rw-rw-r-- 1 kgsnow kgsnow 0 2012-05-15 13:44 rename-test2.txt
I have tried changing the default view in Nautilus preferences from List View to Icon View and Compact View, but it did not have any effect on my inability to rename files/folders.
$ cat /etc/linuxmint/info
RELEASE=12
CODENAME=lisa
EDITION="Gnome 32-bit"
DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint 12 Lisa"
DESKTOP=Gnome
TOOLKIT=GTK
NEW_FEATURES_URL=http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_lisa_whatsnew.php
RELEASE_NOTES_URL=http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_lisa.php
USER_GUIDE_URL=http://www.linuxmint.com/documentation.php
GRUB_TITLE=Linux Mint 12 32-bit


