Change Username

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  jmndotme · Member · Apr 14, 2015 at 7:18 am

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  The Change Username facility within Account settings will not allow that to happen.

  I wish to change it to my Display Name, but I get message saying that “Sorry that username already exists!”

  Of course, it does, it’s mine! Why can’t I use it?

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  kokkieh · Staff · Apr 14, 2015 at 1:01 pm

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  Hi there. What are you trying to change your username to?

  If you’re trying to change it to a previous username it won’t work. Once you change a username, the old username is deleted and can never be used again by anyone, including you.

  Display names, however, are not reserved and multiple users could potentially have the same display name. This also means someone else could have registered the same name you use as display name for their username, meaning you won’t be able to register it.

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  jmndotme · Member · Apr 16, 2015 at 8:46 am

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  Hi kokkieh, Thanks for that information.

  I did a search within all these WP Forums to see if my Display Name came up. There were only four results, and they were all mine, relating to topics I had started when in various earlier incarnations on WordPress and go back as far as 2007.

  I appreciate and understand what you say in your last paragraph.
  I guess I’ll just have to think up another Username? ;O)

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  kokkieh · Staff · Apr 16, 2015 at 8:53 am

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  I did a search within all these WP Forums to see if my Display Name came up.

  You won’t see the display name in a forum search. The forum only shows actual usernames. Display names are only used on blogs, as post, page and comment authors.

  Do you really need to change the username? All it is used for is logging in to your account and when posting in the forum.

  You can check if the username you want is already registered by substituting my username in this link: http://en.gravatar.com/kokkieh

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  jmndotme · Member · Apr 16, 2015 at 1:49 pm

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  You can check if the username you want is already registered by substituting my username in this link: http://en.gravatar.com/kokkieh

  Sorry, kokkieh, but am not sure how that works?
  As I said, I’ll just think up something else and try it in my settings. Thanks for your advices, much appreciated! :O)

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  kokkieh · Staff · Apr 16, 2015 at 2:00 pm

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  No problem. If you need any more help, just ask :)