There are a couple of places on your Mac where your name - or some other proper noun - might announced: the account proper noun and Home folder. The name that appears is based on the Full Name you gave when yous (or the ambassador) first prepare the account.

But what if you lot want to change your username as it appears in these locations? It's possible that y'all have since married and at present accept a new proper noun (or you just divorced). Maybe Information technology misspelt your name when they set up your Mac. Maybe your initial and surname spell something offensive, or it might be fourth dimension to change what was one time an amusing username for something more formal. Perchance your current brusque proper name isn't really curt and is a hurting to blazon every fourth dimension you lot're prompted for your username. Perhaps y'all've got ii or more than Macs and you lot want to apply the same curt username on all of them. Or maybe yous inherited a Mac and would prefer to just change the name of the existing business relationship rather than create a new one.

Luckily, since Mac Bone 10 Leopard launched in 2007, Apple has made it reasonably unproblematic to change the short username and Dwelling folder name from within System Preferences. Prior to Leopard, irresolute your short username was a complicated, risky procedure.

There are even so a few limitations though:

  • The Brusk Proper noun and Dwelling house binder name must match - so if you were hoping to requite your Home directory a comedy name but keen the short proper noun as something more than formal, you are out of luck.
  • Despite what nosotros said about it being a less risky process, it is the kind of alter that could result in data loss if you do something wrong. So make sure yous support get-go!
  • Yous will besides need to log in to a different (administrator) account to do this, so you may need to create that first.

If you demand to create a new ambassador business relationship follow these steps:

  1. Open Arrangement Preferences > Users & Groups.
  2. Click the lock icon and enter your password.
  3. Click on the + sign.
  4. Change New Account to Administrator.

set up admin account

If y'all have forgotten your password read: How to recover a forgotten Mac password.

How to change Mac username

Irresolute the username for your account is simple - assuming y'all take ambassador rights. But you lot will meet a pretty stark warning that irresolute the settings might damage the business relationship and preclude you from logging in.

User name change warning

You demand only follow these steps to modify the username:

  1. Open up Arrangement Preferences.
  2. Users & Groups.
  3. Click unlock and enter your password.
  4. Now Command-click or right-click the user that you desire to rename.
  5. Choose Avant-garde. Advanced Options user
  6. Change the name in the full proper noun field.
  7. Restart the estimator for the changes to take issue.

This will only alter the username - not the Home directory proper noun, or your Curt Name. And, every bit the warning states, it may damage the account and forbid you lot from logging in!

We did it without any bug, although in that location were a few hair-raising seconds when the login process took slightly longer than usual.

How to change Dwelling house binder name

Home folder Mac

Changing your Home folder name (and your business relationship name, which is linked) is more complicated.

  1. Click on the Apple logo in the menu and Log Out of the business relationship you want to change the name for.
  2. Log in with a different administrator account (you accept to be logged out of an account to rename it) you may demand to create a new administrator business relationship (we testify you how to do that above). Log in to that account.
  3. Go to the Users binder on the startup drive (to find information technology open up the Finder and click on Go > Calculator > Macintosh HD. Where is Mac Home folder
  4. Open the Users folder - inside you will find the Home directory for the account you're renaming. (Write this downwards as you will need it later)
  5. Click on the folder and rename it (notation the onetime and new name considering you will demand it again)
  6. Enter the password for the admin account y'all are using when prompted.

How to change your Username

Having changed your Abode folder name yous now need to change your Username - of you don't there volition be problems considering the two need the same name. You likewise need to alter the proper name in the field what shows the location of the Home directory.

  1. Open Arrangement Preferences > Users & Groups.
  2. Click unlock and enter the password for the admin account you simply logged in with.
  3. From the listing of users, Command-click or right-click the user that you want to rename.
  4. Select Advanced Options.
  5. Modify Account Proper name field to the new name you just gave the Dwelling house folder for that user. Change user name Mac
  6. Next modify the Abode directory field to match the new proper noun you gave the Home binder.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Close System Preferences.
  9. Restart the Mac.
  10. Log on to the renamed account

If you have any problems logging in check that the business relationship and one directory names are the same.

Need to change your admin countersign? Here'southward How to change the admin password on a Mac.

You may likewise want to make logging onto your Mac even easier - did you know if you lot have an Apple Watch you tin can use that to log on automatically? Here's how to unlock and log on to your Mac with an Apple Lookout.