Change your Username/Help

On Fandom, you are allowed to **change your username**. This can be done **once** and only once. Therefore, it is very important to be sure your new name is the one you want to be called, and that the username is not already taken.

Once you have decided to change your name, you can trigger your username change by filling out the form at Special:UserRenameTool.

Note: renaming an account does **not** free up the original name for reuse.

## Choosing a new name

Fandom allows names that are made up of normal alphabet characters found in common languages. Furthermore, be aware that you may not be renamed to:

* a name that another person has already registered
* an offensive name
* a blocked name
* a name that attempts to impersonate another Fandom user
* a name that contains non-alphabetic characters, for example, card suit symbols or trademark signs, or starts with an uncapitalized letter

## Checking if the name is available

In order to check to see if your chosen name has not already been taken, you can do a search on Community Central. Simply type in the user name you're interested in renaming your account to at:

```
https://community.fandom.com/wiki/User:
```

For example, if I wanted to rename my account to "`IWantThisAccountPlease`", I would end the URL with `User:IWantThisAccountPlease`.

File:Rename account name not taken.png
If the name is available, you should see an error message reading: "The user account "NAME" does not exist".

## Renaming your account

To make an account rename request, you have to fill the form located at Special:UserRenameTool with your current username, your desired new name (twice - to ensure the spelling and punctuation is correct), and your password\*, after which you can check the box indicating you are aware of the consequences described in the page.

 File:URT.png
**Make sure that there are no typos (e.g. that uppercase and lowercase letters are written as you intend them to be)** as the tool doesn't know if you meant something else. Bear in mind that usernames cannot begin with a lowercase letter.

If your request is allowed to proceed, the tool will begin the process after you confirm the request. If you made thousands of edits or have edited across various communities, the rename can take several minutes. You may receive a confirmation email once the rename is complete. It's possible to edit while the process runs - any new edits will be properly attributed to your new account name.

\* If you have no Fandom account password because you signed up using a social media account, you can use https://www.fandom.com/forgot-password to obtain one. This can be used as an alternative to Google/Facebook/Twitch login.

## After the rename

The rename will attribute your contributions on all communities to your new name, as well as moving your user pages and any user subpages. Your password, email account and preferences will remain the same.

If you used a custom signature to display your previous account name, note that this will not be changed automatically; you may visit your preferences to update it with the new name. Any prior instances where the you had linked to your username on pages (such as signing in talk pages) will still display the previous name, and would need to be edited manually if you want to change these.

Following the rename, your old username will remain reserved and cannot be used again.

Also note: if your account does not have a local password set up (e.g. you only log in using a Google account), you'll need to use https://www.fandom.com/forgot-password to set one up. This will not affect your ability to log in via Google, Facebook, etc.

## Alternatives

An alternative way to change your username is to create a new account with your new name. After doing so, you can redirect your old userpage to your new one by typing `#REDIRECT[[User:New name]]` on the page. If you've already renamed your account, this is a good alternative. Just be sure to tell your community that you're changing accounts, lest they think you're an impostor!

## See also

* Help:Create an account
* Help:Close my account