Changing username
The name users of Wikimedia projects choose for themselves is not set in stone. Any steward or global renamer can change your username. You can only be renamed to an account that does not exist. Contact any global renamer and ask for instructions.
You can leave a request to change your username at Steward requests/Username changes.
How to change names
- Please do not request name changes on this page.
- Do not create the new account you want to change names to.
Add a request to Special:GlobalRenameRequest, or to Steward requests/Username changes.
How it works
On request, stewards or global renamers can change user account settings and article histories such that all previous edits of a given user are attributed to the new name. This has been done several times in the past, either voluntarily, or forced according to the policy on offensive usernames on the English Wikipedia. Account deletion is not carried out on Wikimedia projects, so if you wish to become anonymous after making edits with your account, the way to achieve this is to change username.
When a name is changed, the previous account ceases to exist, and the user may immediately log in with the same password under the new name. Signatures in talk pages can be changed manually if desired.
See Archive1 and Archive2 for details of requests made before bureaucrats were able to carry out this task.
See also
- Account vanishing
- Manual:Renameuser
- Help:Renaming users – tutorial for Special:RenameUser tool
- Help:Unified login