# Rename myself to what? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 9, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588 "2005-04-09T20:28:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/1 "2005-04-09T20:28:27Z")
I was thinking of asking to change my id in order to be a bit more “semi-anonymous”, and I know I’m supposed to ask the Administrators nicely for that, but in the absence of a members list, how do I pick something to ask for? Am I allowed to create a temporary guest account for the sole purpose of checking whether an id is taken, and then just 'fess up that I did that when I ask to be renamed? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/2 "2005-04-09T20:57:14Z")
> [@dmartin](#): > > in the absence of a members list, how do I pick something to ask for? You can find which variants of a name are taken by doing a search on a partial user name- Uncheck the “exact name” box under search by user name, type in a few characters from the name you want, and search for threads from any date. The search returns a list of all the names it found at the top of the results page. For example a search for user names with ‘bishop’ in them returned: > [@](#): > > Search: Posts Made By: Bishop or thebishop or Bishop2 or lbishop or arsebishop tutu or Bill Bishop or kingsbishop or MrBishop So the chances are good that you could change your name to JoeyBishop without irritating a pre-existing JBishop. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/3 "2005-04-09T21:13:50Z")
Pick **Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen**! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/4 "2005-04-09T21:24:20Z")
**Squink** , will that return a name which has registered but never posted? There are a great many of those… Last I knew, about a third of our total registered membership had zero posts. You can also tell the Admin what name you want, and she’ll tell you if it’s already taken. Or you could prepare a list of usernames, in order of preference, and give that to the admin. And he can’t choose **Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen** , since that’s 28 characters long. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/5 "2005-04-09T22:01:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Squink** , will that return a name which has registered but never posted? There are a great many of those… Last I knew, about a third of our total registered membership had zero posts. It shouldn’t. That’s why I said “chances are good”. It’ll let you eliminate ~2/3 of the member names. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/6 "2005-04-09T23:00:45Z")
Submit a list of your choices, in order. Search as per **Squink** ’s suggestion, and we’ll go from there. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/7 "2005-04-10T12:00:35Z")
Okly-Dokly. I’ll get my imagination in gear and get back to you by e-mail. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/8 "2005-04-10T17:57:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Squink** , will that return a name which has registered but never posted? There are a great many of those… Last I knew, about a third of our total registered membership had zero posts. “Neha Agarwal” registered as a guest today. I did a search for “water” with a partial user name of “wal”. “Neha Agarwal” showed up on the list of members searched and had zero posts before and after the search. ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/9 "2005-04-10T20:13:51Z")
I’ve also found users with zero posts. ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/10 "2005-04-10T20:48:39Z")
> [@dmartin](#): > > Am I allowed to create a temporary guest account for the sole purpose of checking whether an id is taken, and then just 'fess up that I did that when I ask to be renamed? Having more than one user account is frowned upon at the SDMB. [From the Registration agreement:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=309541) > [@](#): > > Only one screen name is permitted per user. If you wish to change screen names please email an administrator. Use of multiple screen names is grounds for revocation of your right to post under ANY screen name. We reserve the right to refuse postings from screen names we find objectionable. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/11 "2005-04-10T21:35:14Z")
I knew that. That’s why I asked the specific question about creating one for the sole purpose of figuring out what I wanted to rename myself to. However, others have indicated the better way to check names. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/12 "2005-04-10T23:48:22Z")
Cool! Thanks CK! Didn’t realize that the rename would automagically affect all my old posts, but that’s even better. PS In case it’s not obvious to someone just stumbling onto the thread, CK Dexter Haven renamed me as I asked, and all the posts fom me in this thread (as well as everywhere else I guess) reflect the new name. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/13 "2005-04-11T03:35:33Z")
Interestingly, the forum page also lists the new name for thread starter. I don’t think that used to be the case. ---
**Author:** ![MizQuirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@MizQuirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizQuirk)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/14 "2005-04-11T19:47:25Z")
Is it okay to ask what your former name was? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/15 "2005-04-11T20:12:58Z")
**dmartin** … I still prefer **Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen** …if that’s too long, why not just **Schnackenpfefferhausen**? ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/16 "2005-04-12T00:45:54Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And he can’t choose **Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen** , since that’s 28 characters long. It looks like [somebody](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?userid=20837) already has it anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/17 "2005-04-14T01:12:33Z")
> [@MizQuirk](#): > > Is it okay to ask what your former name was? > > Just curious. No, other than the fact that it approximated my real name. I also adjusted my location to my province only and turned off e-mail messages. I’m actually not overly concerned about someone finding out my old id (otherwise I would never have registered than way in the first place); however since I went to the trouble of “semi-anonymizing” 🙂 myself, I might as well be consistent. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rename-myself-to-what/298588/18 "2005-04-14T12:44:30Z")
I think this topic is pretty much used up for ATMB forum – question was asked, answered, and adjusted by Administrators. If you’d like to continue conversation, let us know, and we’ll move it to the MPSIMS forum.