Display name

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  outofbodytraveling · Member · Mar 10, 2020 at 11:49 pm

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  When I originally signed up to WordPress, I was provided the display name, greg1927
  Is that Display name still in use and how does the Display name differ from the user name?

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  kokkieh · Staff · Mar 11, 2020 at 10:53 am

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  Hi there,

  Your username is the unique identifier for your account – no two accounts can have the same username. You’re currently posting in this forum as the username, outofbodytraveling. It’s possible to change a username, but once you do the previous username is discarded and cannot be used again – it’s not possible to reverse a username change. WordPress.com usernames can only contain lowercase letters and numbers.

  A public display name is the name that will actually be visible on posts and comments you write as the author. By default the display name is the same as the account’s username, but you can change that to anything you want, as often as you want. Display names do not have to be unique, and can contain spaces and special characters, unlike usernames. The display name for the outofbodytraveling account you’re using to post here is also outofbodytraveling at the moment.

  greg1927 is not a display name, but the username of a completely different WordPress.com account. To change the display name of that account you’ll need to be logged in as that user first.