I need to add the name of a kubernetes pod as a label to that pod when I create a pod using a replication controller. Is there a way to do that or should I do a patch once the pod is created?
There is no way to auto-promote the pod name into a label. You'll have to do that manually. Sorry.
Depending on what you're trying to do, a headless service may work for you: http://kubernetes.io/v1.1/docs/user-guide/services.html#headless-services
Specify spec.clusterIP=None
DNS is ten configured to return multiple A records (addresses) for the Service name, which point directly to the Pods backing the Service.
Otherwise, you may want to follow progress on the PetSet proposal: https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/18016