# Is it possible to change your user name? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 20, 2010, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666 "2010-01-20T05:39:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JHE1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@JHE1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JHE1967)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/1 "2010-01-20T05:39:00Z")
Years ago I must have thought my real name was a good idea for a message board. Is there a way a mod can change it for me? If so I’d like JHE1967. thanks! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/2 "2010-01-20T05:46:44Z")
email [tubadiva@aol.com](mailto:tubadiva@aol.com) and ask. You get one name change for free, and, after that, you at least need an explanation. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/3 "2010-01-20T05:59:25Z")
Actually we’re a little more flexible than that, BigT – we recognize that names have power and meaning and we want you to be happy with your name. That doesn’t mean that you can change your user name like This Season’s Hat or anything but we’re not too hardass about it. So Chris, please send me an email with several choices of screen names ranked in the order you like them – we have many thousands of names on the board and we don’t recycle so it’s possible your first or even your second choice is taken already – I’ll run down the list and the first open name is yours. (For some reason I had to stop myself from typing “. . . if the price is right” at the end of that last sentence. [del]But I haven’t been bribed with chocolate in a long time either, you slackers.[/del] It’s obviously too late for me to be up now.) ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/4 "2010-01-20T06:22:57Z")
Actually, I kind of like **This Season’s Hat,** but I’ve already used up my freebie name change\*. - Yes, I changed to this name, AND I still like it. Thanks again, **TubaDiva** ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/5 "2010-01-20T13:27:31Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > we recognize that names have power and meaning and we want you to be happy with your name. A question about name changes, how great will the extent cover? Like, for example, if Tuba changed her name to, I don’t know, **This Season’s Hat** , would the above quote be magically changed to say: > [@This Season's Hat](#): > > we recognize that names have power and meaning and we want you to be happy with your name. ? Would all her previous posts be changed to the new name? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/6 "2010-01-20T13:36:34Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > Would all her previous posts be changed to the new name? Not that I’ve seen in the past, but that was years ago when I last looked to find this out and not the current software or database reincarnation. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/7 "2010-01-20T13:48:10Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > > [@TubaDiva](#): > > > > we recognize that names have power and meaning and we want you to be happy with your name. > > A question about name changes, how great will the extent cover? Like, for example, if Tuba changed her name to, I don’t know, **This Season’s Hat** , would the above quote be magically changed to say: > > [Quote=This Season’s Hat] > we recognize that names have power and meaning and we want you to be happy with your name. ? [/quote] No, at least not as far as I know – the name placed in the quote tag is saved as text rather than as an object reference to a user, which is why you could create the second quote at all… > [@](#): > > Would all her previous posts be changed to the new name? Yes, any posts **by** the name changer would change to reflect the new name. This is sometimes disconcerting when reading old threads 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/8 "2010-01-20T17:08:57Z")
> [@Chris Moise](#): > > Years ago I must have thought my real name was a good idea for a message board. Is there a way a mod can change it for me? If so I’d like JHE1967. > > thanks! Really? JHE1967 is kind of uninspiring. Plus, if it is privacy you are after, broadcasting your year of birth might not be the thing. You only get one free change of name\*. Use it wisely. - It is not written in stone, but it is one of those things everybody believes to be a rule. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/9 "2010-01-20T17:27:08Z")
I was wondering that too. What does JHE1967 mean? It looks like gibberish, and if it’s a reference it flew over my head. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/10 "2010-01-20T17:28:34Z")
Jimi Hendrix Experience 1967, maybe? The band formed in 1966, though. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/11 "2010-01-20T17:48:02Z")
I really need an email from you, sent from the listed email address in your registration, to confirm that this indeed is you, the owner of the screen name, and that you wish to make a change. Just a message board posting is not sufficient. We’ve had people lose control of their screen names before and so are skeptical of board postings asking us to make changes. ---
**Author:** ![JHE1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@JHE1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JHE1967)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/12 "2010-01-20T18:16:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Jimi Hendrix Experience 1967, maybe? The band formed in 1966, though. That’s it. They formed in October 1966 but didn’t really explode until the following year. That and 1967 being the summer of love and all that. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/13 "2010-01-20T18:55:56Z")
The name came out of a purple haze, obviously. Jenny Foxy Lady! ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/14 "2010-01-20T19:08:34Z")
I thought '69 was the summer of love? Actually, I was born in early '69, so the summer of love must have been 1968, at least for my parents. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/15 "2010-01-20T19:37:26Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > So Chris, please send me an email with several choices of screen names ranked in the order you like them – we have many thousands of names on the board and we don’t recycle so it’s possible your first or even your second choice is taken already – I’ll run down the list and the first open name is yours. It’s possible for posters wishing name changes to ascertain for themselves whether their desired new name already exists. Go into Search/Advanced Search/Search by User Name and enter a minimim of 3 characters in the User Name field. The system flags up to 14 existing names beginning with those characters. Further limit the results by entering more of the desired name. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/16 "2010-01-20T20:12:54Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I thought '69 was the summer of love? As most of us who lived through those days know, most of the 60s happened in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/17 "2010-01-20T20:29:52Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > A question about name changes, how great will the extent cover? Like, for example, if Tuba changed her name to, I don’t know, **This Season’s Hat** , would the above quote be magically changed… Quotes don’t change. This is why I changed my name from **InvisibleWombat** to **Gary “Wombat” Robson**. Leaving the wombat in there makes things a little easier to follow. I never thought I’d type the sentence, “Leaving the wombat in there makes things a little easier to follow.” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-change-your-user-name/525666/18 "2010-01-20T20:36:34Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:17, topic:525666”] I never thought I’d type the sentence, “Leaving the wombat in there makes things a little easier to follow.” [/QUOTE] I had a similar moment the other day, when I found myself typing “I’m pretty sure that fucking Smurf is going to do me in.”