How to Change the Name Associated with a Gmail Account

For users with a Gmail Account, if you are interested in changing the name that appears associated with your email address, follow these instructions for two different methods for accomplishing this task.

 

Method 1 (Permanent Change, Affects all Google products that use this account)

  1. In the top right corner, click the photo of you (or your initials) and then choose "Google Account"
  2. Click "Personal Info" in the left column
  3. Under Profile, you'll see your name listed. Click on that
  4. You may be prompted to enter your password. Do that.
  5. Click on the Pencil to edit the name field.

Method 2 (Overrides Permanent Settings for Gmail only)

  1. In the top right corner, click the gear BELOW your photo (or your initials) and choose "Settings"
  2. Click the "Accounts and Import" tab
  3. Where it says "Send mail as:", click "edit info"
  4. Here you can change the name that appears and also add a "reply-to" address if you want people to reply to someone different than metadmin@ (probably not, but sometimes this feature is useful)

Note

Since Google expects accounts to be associated with a real person, with Method 1, you are prompted to enter a First and Last name. With Method 2, you are prompted with a blank field where you can enter multiple words (i.e. "Department of Internet Ministries")