Other platforms topic
Can You Change Your Gmail Name? Settings Explained
Change your Gmail name and you meet three settings that people all call a name. They are the Google Account name, the name on sent emails and the Gmail address itself. This topic holds one planned explainer on whether you can change your Gmail name. No guide in this topic is published yet. The facts below come from Google Help. We have not tried these steps on an account ourselves.
Three Gmail Name Settings People Mix Up
| Setting | What it changes | Where Google Help puts it |
|---|---|---|
| Google Account name | The name other people who use Google can see. You can change it as many times as you want | Google Account, Personal info, Name |
| Name on sent emails | The name recipients see on your emails. It is not the Google Account name | Gmail on a computer, Settings, Accounts and Import, Send mail as, Edit info |
| Gmail address | The address itself. It can be changed to another gmail.com address on a personal account | Google Account, Personal info, Email |
Your old address becomes an alternate email if you change it. Mail then arrives at both. Google Help says a new gmail.com address can be created once every 12 months and three times in total.
What Stays the Same After a Name Change
Four things keep the old name:
- Emails you already sent keep the name you used at the time.
- Past Chat messages can still show your old name.
- Contacts that other people saved under your old name do not update.
- Your YouTube name does not change on its own.
A change can also take a few days to appear across Google products.
Where This Topic Fits
This topic sits inside our Other Platforms section, next to Instagram Threads and six more topics. A guide appears here the day it goes live and is marked Tested or Checked, as our editorial policy explains. Changes are logged on our change log. Namrata Arora edits this section. To look up a term, use the social media glossary or SMTwist search.
Sources: Google Help on changing your name, Google Help on the name on your Gmail account and Google Help on changing your Google Account email.
FAQ
Can you change your Gmail address?
It depends on the account. An address that ends in gmail.com can be changed to another gmail.com address, according to Google. A work or school address goes through an administrator. If the change option does not appear, the change is not possible.
Does changing my Google Account name change the name on my emails?
No. The name linked to your email is not your Google Account name, so changing one does not change the other.
Can I change my name from the Gmail app?
No. The name on sent emails cannot be changed from the Gmail app, Google says. Use Gmail on a computer.