Hotmail automatically fills in the “From:” address in the mail you send with your email address, and your name.
Changing your name is actually fairly simple, but getting exactly what you want? Not so much.
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To change your user name, sign in to Hotmail, and then click the Options link in the upper right:
Then click on Personal on the list that shows up on the far left, and then click on My Profile.
On the resulting page you’ll find places to put your First name and Last name. Those are combined to become the name that is displayed with your email address on the “From:” line in your sent email.
So change those, click save, and you’re done. Right?
Not quite. There are two potential issues.
First, you might need to sign out and sign back in again for the changes to “take”. The change took immediately for me when I tried it out for this article, but I’ve also read of people experiencing delays.
Another problem I did experience is that I was unable to erase my name. The erase “took” – my name showed up as “Leo” with no last name, but the test emails I sent still said “Leo Notenboom”.
My assumption, then, is that the first and last name cannot be blank – they need to be set to something. Setting the last name to a period, for example, worked. So if your email address is “example@hotmail.com” you might consider setting your “First name” to “example”, and your last name to “@hotmail.com”, which would simply duplicate the email address information your recipient already sees.
How do i verify my MSN Account so it will let me change my screen name instead of it just being my email address up there?
How do I Verify my MSN Account when i forgot to do it when i first got MSN, I want to verify so That I can change my screen name on MSN instead of it just being my email address?
i want to change my name like when u are talkinng to someone it say
mohsen
i forgot my password can u tell me it
My nic changed in the group I am in to a name I used along time ago, with no help from me.How did this happen?It marked all my posts in the same nic (old one).I go to Msn and change name back to the current, and it works.But when I go to group, the old one is still there.How can I fix this? Thanks!! Desilita
thanx u helpd alot
My nickname changed automatically…my email address is still correct but my nickname shows Carlee…i do not know how this happened…how do I get my nickname back to Linda?
how do i change my email account name
how do i change my user name at msn messenger
how do i verify my hotmail account so i can change my name
how do i verify my e-mail address?
it comes up every time i go on msn.
my e-mail is with aol.
thank you
Look i looked everywhere and i asked everyone i know but know one answered me. How the hell i can verify my email address? :'( I have msn if that helps and my email address is: evilkidbuu@dbzultimateforce.com Please someone help me. You can also email me to CHRIS03_01@hotmail.com
Thanks.
It depends on who you’re verifying it WITH. Most places verify your email address by sending you a message on that address, to which you must reply. Once you’ve replied, that verifies that you own the email address.
I didn’t recieve that verification email.
how do i verify my msn address cuz i wana change my msn display name but it wont let me n its reli pissin me off :(
Well you could try having your second name blank by using an alt code, such as Alt + 1060 (on the numpad). I think hotmail will think it is a word. I will try it and post back!
PS add me on MSN if you want any hlep with these things on MSN:
Changing the font of your SCREENAME!
Stealing other peoples display pics!
Changing the COLOUR of your SCREENAME!
And lots, lots more!
Happy Hackin’ – Fizziwig 2006
how do I verify my msn email address it keeps coming up in () Brackets that I have to verify my email address but nothing seems to work when I try to do it??
It seems that many people have the same problem with me and noone is helping…
Hi Leo,
I’m tearing my hair out at the moment, trying to stop my Hotmail name appearing in capitals in the recipient’s inbox. It is in lower case in My Profile on Hotmail, so why does it come through in capitals on every machine I send to? Any help much appreciated,
Jim
how do i verify my email adress
i am also tryin to get my email adress verified ive got msn messenger but up da top of da screen it says email address not verified so plz help me
hi..i am also trying to verify my email address. everytime i click it, it takes me to microsoft passport sign in. once i sign in, there is no place to click to send a verification email. please help!!
my friend jamie has a problem with his msn its not verified so, i was wondering if you can contact him because his nick on msn drives me crazy!
do you have to pay for an custom email adress such as hitman.ca
Or it will only work if you change your adress to hotmail.com
or msn.. i was wondering if it was possible to keep
your adress and always type your nick.top bottom
how do u get the old msn
i just want to change my name for new name as prince Asante but not the email address
hi..i am also trying to verify my email address. everytime i click it, it takes me to microsoft passport sign in. now tell my how can i verifiy my id.
how can i change my msn name coz i just cant seem to no what to go into?
how do i changemy msn nickname?
cool
thanks lo
how do i change my man name
i cant change my msn nickname. in the place of it, it reads my address and then in brackets (email address not verified). why does it say this? how do i change it?
hello leo,
Do you know how to change the name from ….@hotmail.com to @myname.com ???? so many peoples start having that and i dont know how to do it. if u know can u plz tell me how? thank you very much…. :)
i have a password change
I chat on msn and it keeps on coming up with my entire email address and email not verified, i have tryed the help option to give me a clue on how to change it but im still stumped, can you help?
hi my name is jenny i dont like my msn address name how do i change it ???? plz tell me !!!
hi, ineed to change my address in msn hotmail please remind me how,thank you
How do verify your email adress
how do i change my user name in msn hotmail?”:
do u no wen im on msn all me concacts email address cum up nt der nickname ow do i change it :(
how do i change my name from ryfitzy@msn.com to another one
Help?????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i want to cchange my e-mail name from hotie505 to joey!!!
I WANT TO CHANGE MY EMAIL NAME AND IM NOT UNDERSTANDING WHAT TO DO PLEASE HELP
Thank you for your service. Being somewhat computer illiterate, I am very grateful for your help. Respectfully, Nikki
Yeah I don’t understand where the “From” thing comes from? I just want to SIMPLY know how to change my email address on hotmail.com
Please read this article: http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_change_my_hotmail_name_or_address.html
I followed your instructions and changed my from name in hotmail, which worked when I email from hotmail, but I use my msn all the time and I can’t figure out how to change it in msn
how do i change my user name on msn
I recentally became divorced and I changed my name
back to my name back to my maiden name. How do I change may e-mail to reflect the change ?
how do I drop my last name from showing up on my emails
i made my gmail adress as a passport to log on to msn messenger with, the problem is when i go to change my display name on msn it wont let me. How do i change my display name on a gmail passport?
i made my gmail adress as a passport to log on to msn messenger with, the problem is when i go to change my display name on msn it wont let me. How do i change my display name on a gmail passport?
it is confusing changing my “From” user name in MSN Hotmail?”:
CHANGE MY NAME FROM STUDMAN_USA to Mike ? HELP
please help
HEY,
Okay I have a question why can’t I change my last name on my hotmail thinggy?
I don’t want people knowing what my name is, and I have tried many times to change it but it doesn’t work. I went to personal and did what your article tells me to..it just doesn’t work..Can you help?
i tryed what ya said but no change it is still showin up my email address when i am talkin to someone
WOW THIS WAS REALLY USEFUL, THAAANKS!!
I made my sign in name an iinet address and it contains my last name. Now the sign in name appears as my identity and the options box won’t let me change it.
i don’t want my real name to appear to others.
thanks for everything
i like to know if there is any way to change the address,for example instead of @hotmail.com i like to have @anything.com but i still use hotmail.
Thanks for your help. I made sure to have a name showing in both first and last name under profile and then signed out of hotmail and closed the browser. Reopened and signed back into hotmail and did a test message and it worked perfectly. I really appreciate the detail you put into your answer. Maybe others still having problems didn’t read ALL of your reply. Happy Holidays!
Iam happy this page
my email address is keesey 61@hotmail. com in my title it say i am a male i am a Female in Cheektowaga NY could you please change this for me thanks
Worked for me…I just repeated my email addy as sugested, signed out and in and no problem.Thanks!
It worked great for me. After spending hours trying to find an answer via MSN, I finally did an MSN search and your answer appeared. Filling in both first and last names plus signing out and back in, are the key tricks…thanks again
i want to change my from name like it is basra zaraeiwhen i send to some one msg everyone do it but i don’t know how to do it??and i want to hack this boy ide he hack miens too but i don’t know how to hack this is his ide jaanjaan420@hotmail.com thank you
I would like to change my home adress please.The new adress is [NEVER POST YOUR ADDRESS IN A PUBLIC FORUM – Leo].THANK YOU.
I had change the last name long time ago … and made the text box blank but still apearing the last name as before so i need my email to be apeared this way feghzawi only when i send any emails
I’d like to change my return address – to completely hide the fact that email is sent via Hotmail – and just looks like my normal work email. Is that possible? Yahoo MailPlus allows different email identities for a small premium (which I’d pay if Hotmail offered the same). Appreciate your help.
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Hash: SHA1
I don’t believe you can do that in Hotmail.
Leo
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IeuGixdNnN/Q8oPBlrSS1Z8=
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aye thanx 4 the help it realy did help alot im guna try and send an e-mail and see if its worked but thanks its better coz i actualy undertud sumthin !! x
How can I change my e-mail address
how do i paste an msn name into messenger it doesnt allow me to do it??:S
I would like to say THANK YOU SO MUCH! I tried for about 3 weeks to change my ‘from’ name and got advice from everyone that didn’t work. This advice finally worked! THANKS!
hi. i don’t know if you can help but i would like to have my msn name as ” ” ie nothing there. have been on net looking and everyone says hold down alt and type in 0160. this does not seem to be wrking for me.i have windows live messenger and dnt know if maybe this method is for older versions.have u got any ideas on how to do it or if im doing anything wrong?please.cheers.
Thank you very much, i just started my Hotmail address after moving to Yahoo years ago. The GUI is almost unrecognizable compared what i remember about Hotmail, so this is very helpful to guide me through all menus.
I changed my name also on the profile. honestangel1@hotmail.com. I put my first name: honestangel1. Then my last name I put: .
I saved it. Then I emailed myself it did not worked. Its still the way it was. What do I do now?
Worked perfectly! I did have to sign out and back on again, but then it worked. Thanks!!
When I send my email it worked to some others and some others still send as full name. Confused here.
ok i do NOT want to change my email address i want to change my name like from Bob to Gorge can you please help me
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Hash: SHA1
Please read the article you just commented on. That’s exactly what it’s about.
Thanks,
Leo
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leo you are wrong wen i go to msn hot mail its a very diferent page. is not the same as the grafic you show THERE IS NI OPTION ON THE UPER RIGT
wow ask leo really helped me. thisi s a great information site
thanksssssssssss
WOOW THANX MAN I’VE CHANGED MY USER NAME FAINLLY I BEEN SEARCHING FOR THE RIGHT INFORMATIONS FROM A VERY LONG TIME THANK GOD I FOUND THIS SITE, ITS THE BEST..;)
Got married, trying to change my name on outgoing e-mail. My page does not show the personal/options you refer to. Any help would be appreciated!
I did all the steps you said. I’ve tried doing that a million times in the past month…it never works. I want to change my name :(
I think there is the issue of the version of the messenger you are using as to the “options” or “preferrences”. All versions have 1 of these options. Check them both to find these fields.
I have a Mac and the Profile does NOT have a place to change your name under the Account summary (reached after hitting Options, and then Personal Information under Manage Your Account)…only a place to change passwords and such. I really need to change the name. Please help me.
I cant change or update any of my personal information of my windows life hotmail. they keep downloading but never being able to reach them.what to do??
Mac users, use Firefox to do this. Safari doesn’t let it work the way Leo describes. You just can’t do it in Safari. In Firefox, it is slightly different too, but you will figure it out. I was going nuts in Safari.
For some reason my computer doesn’t want to down load the pages you are refering to to be able to change my display name. I keep having to ctrl + Alt + Delete to get out of the computer freezing! help!!!
Hi leo..
My from name keeps appearing in all capitals, no matter what I do.. Ive tried these steps and it wont work. What can I do?
i am on meebo and thats how i get to msn how do i change my name {the msn meebo name}?
Hi Leo!! So I’ve been goin’ crazy trying to change my display name, and tried all the things on this site from you and other’s comments, but I don’t have a “Personal” option anywhere- not on Safari OR Firefox!! I use an iBookG4 . . . what am I doing wrong? Please help!!! Thank you!!!!!
As usual Microsoft is being a bunch of putz in not allowing Safari users to use their site. I despise Microsoft and their crappy products.
Hmmm I’m using Firefox. Simply wish to change the name displayed next to my email address when I send out an email. Following all the steps mentioned here nothing changes. Is there some refresh period required to see the change? Is there a customer service email address where you can write for assistance? Thank you for any help on this one Leo. Its really important my full name NOT display on my outgoing emails (as it is doing right now). Thanks!
I’m also unable to change any information. I am using MSN (Qwest) Live Hotmail and there is no place under “options” that is titled “personal” and then “my profile”. I have searched all entries under “options” and there is no option that I see to change my displayed name. I KNOW that before this was “Windows Live”, I was able to very easily change my name.
Do you have any suggestions?
I have tried this from Explorer and MSN browsers.
Thanks.
I figured it out! After reading the article and posting earlier, I went back and messed with it again. This is what I did: from the http://www.hotmail.com page (NOT my MSN hotmail page), click “options”, then “more options”, then “view and edit personal information”. After retyping password, click “registered information” in center column. You MUST enter SOMETHING in BOTH the first AND last name areas. I typed an exclamation point for my last name and it accepted it. So now I show up as “Robyn!”. My mistake was that I had NOT entered anything for my last name, and it automatically entered my last name for me in the “from” column in emails, even though my last name did NOT show up in my registered information section.
Thanks Leo, and good luck everyone else!
Yeah, I have a problem. No matter what I change my nickname to when I sign into msn, as soon as I sign out and then back in again it goes back to “Rebecca”. What’s that all about and how do I fix it :S
hi, leo. it’s unbelievably bugging me. no matter how i change my user name, the change doesn’t seem to ‘take’ at all. oh my godness
I’m also unable to change any information. I am using Windows Live Hotmail and there is no place under “options” that is titled “personal” and then “my profile”. I was def able to do this before!!!
Do you have any suggestions? all help appreciated x thanx
Thanks Robyn! She is right… however make sure you are signed into the “Full” version of Hotmail, not “classic.” You can switch once you’re inside at any time. Otherwise you won’t be able to change your registered information for some reason.
If you are using Windows Live Hotmail here’s what to do:
1. On the top right corner click ‘Options”
2.Then click ‘More options’
(you will be directed to another page)
3. Under ‘Manage your account’ click ‘View and edit your personal information’
(you will then be directed to another page and might need to type in your password)
4.In your account summary page, under all your personal information, you’ll see a link that says ‘Registered information’ – click on it
5. In the name and lastname fiels type in the name you wish to appear as a sender. *This cant be left blank.
6. click on ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page
7. click on ‘sign out’ at top of page
hi,
i just cant change my display name…when i log in to option and than to more option my account summary keeps on downloading and result in nothing
please tell me how to change my display name thanx
and regards
bilal
hi,
i just cant change my display name…when i log in to option and than to more option my account summary keeps on downloading and result in nothing
please tell me how to change my display name thanx
and regards
hamza
when i change my msn nickname it doesnt come up on my conversations in comes up the name used on windows live how do i change this?
i cant seem to change my display name to cool writing cuz it won’t let me copy &+ paste…i hav done it before but i have forgot wat to do…all i can remember was tht yu have to open up a convosation on msn and then type ”something” nick but it wont work
it didnt even wrk
ll
I tried Mel’s description and it led me to the correct place.
I changed my name years ago but it was only recently mentioned to me that it still shows an alias/different name than my actual name. When I look at the name, my name is my correct actual name. When I email myself it shows up as the correct name. I’m not sure why it still shows a name from years ago when others recieve my email.
Mel’s direction for changing the user name worked perfectly. THANKS MEL!
Now to change my address….
I keep recieving group emails from my work and i used to have my display name for emails as “King Cobra.” Now I want it to say my name. It is a bit embarrasing seeing that my work contacts can see “King Cobra.” I have looked all over msn and changed it. But it still comes up as my email name. How can I help this?
this is nuts, my sister has an hotmail account, in her personal info her name displays correctly, but when she sends an email, the name is someone elses…someone she commented to on facebook. How did the name swich? we have gone through everything in her hotmail and it is all correct. how can we get her name back?
Hi Sir,
How can I set up my outgoing address in the option (not using outlook etc.) to make it like my business address e.g. Leog@mycompanyname.com
thanks
I need to change my email address because Iam receiving up to or more than 100 junk emails per day.
13-Feb-2011
***July 1st 2011 using Windows Live
1. Look at your top RIGHT corner. Your existing name should be there.
2. Click on it and select “options” in the drop down menu.
3. On the left hand side, there should be three options “general”, “mail”, and “privacy”…….click on “mail”.
4. Under the subheading “managing your account”, click on “Account details (password, aliases, time zone)”
5. Now you’ll have a page that shows all your information. To the LEFT of your existing name should be a “change” option. Click it.
6. Change your name/alias and then click “save”.
7. You’re Done! Email yourself to double check.
I was going to send something to myself , my name is “Nestor Vanessa Jasmin Indeed” but i never put that there nor have i ever used “nestor” or “indeed” in my username for hotmail.. im confused as to how to change it and how it got there in the first place.. help.
I recently changed my username for MSN but it keeps saying that my email does not exist and it something about like i have to wait 3 days but its been more then 3 days.