How to Change Your YouTube Name

Perhaps the personal YouTube name you made when you were 14 isn’t cutting it anymore (I’m looking at you, SoccerLuvr4444). Or maybe you’re striving to create a new brand identity, and you’d like a new YouTube name to reflect that.

Whatever the reason, changing your name on YouTube is an easy three-step process. Before we jump in, it’s important to note that this guide will show you how to change the name displayed on your YouTube channel, and the one seen when you comment on people’s videos -- these steps won’t change your YouTube account’s actual URL.

Also important to mention, changing your YouTube name will change your Google account name, as well. If you’re hoping to create a harmonious brand identity across your YouTube account, email, and website, this might be a good thing.

However, if you only want to change your YouTube name, but don’t want to affect your entire Google account, you’ll need to link your YouTube account to a separate Brand Account -- here’s a tutorial for how to do that.

Now, let’s dive into the three easy steps you need to take to change your YouTube name.

How to Change Your YouTube Name

1. When you’re signed into YouTube, click on your user icon in the top right (I put a red rectangle around mine in the screenshot below). Then, click “Settings”.

2. In your Account Settings, click the “Edit on Google” link.

3. Here, you can change your First and Last name -- for instance, I deleted my last name and replaced it with “Consulting”. It’s important to note this will change your name on all Google accounts. When you’re done, click “OK”.

4. Now, my official YouTube name is “Caroline Consulting”. When I comment on a post, that’s the name that’ll show up, and when someone searches for my channel, they’ll need to search Caroline Consulting.

And that’s it -- you’ve changed your name. Remember, “first” and “last” refers to your first and last name, but you can certainly take creative liberties with those categories, as I did.

The only real challenge with the easiness of changing your YouTube name is the subsequent temptation to change it all the time (at least, that’s how it felt to me).