How to change the name of any Mac account

Your user account and home folder are created when you first setup your Mac, but that doesn’t mean you can’t rename them!

Maybe you purchased a second-hand Mac and the previous owner didn’t do a particularly good job of wiping their personal data; maybe you made a typo in your username and it’s been bugging you ever since, or maybe your work laptop is still registered in the name of a previous employee.

While an incorrect username doesn’t affect the way your Mac functions, it’s one of those niggling annoyances, so in this article I’ll be showing you how to rename any user account and home folder, including those associated with your Mac’s admin account.

But first, a disclaimer: changing the name of any user account can prevent that user from being able to log in correctly. Before implementing any of the steps in this article, make sure you’ve created a full Time Machine backup, just so you have something to restore in the unlikely event that it all goes wrong.

Full Name and Account Name: What’s the difference?

In this article I’ll show you how to change the two names that are associated with each user account: the account name and the full name.

Changing the account name when you thought you were changing the full name can result in you getting locked out of your account, so it’s vital you know the difference between the two:

• Full Name, also commonly referred to as the “username” or “display name.” This is the name that’s displayed on your Mac’s login screen.
• Account Name, also sometimes known as the “short name.” This is the name that’s used to create the ‘Home’ folder in your Mac’s ‘Users’ directory.

Changing the full name

If you want to change the full name/username/display name associated with a regular, non-admin account, then you can make this change from any administrative account.

If you’re running Yosemite or higher, then:

• Make sure you’re logged into an admin account.
• Select the ‘Apple’ logo from your Mac’s menu bar.
• Navigate to ‘System Preferences… > Users & Groups.’
• Click the little padlock in the bottom-left of this menu, and enter your admin username and password when prompted. Click ‘Unlock.’
• In the left-hand menu, control-click the account that you want to change, and select ‘Advanced Options…’ from the context menu.

• Read the onscreen warning, and if you’re happy to proceed then enter the new name in the ‘Full Name’ field. Double-check that you’re changing the contents of the ‘Full Name’ field, and not the ‘Account Name’ field.
• Save your changes by clicking ‘OK.’

You’ll need to restart your computer before the name change comes into effect.

If you’re running Mavericks or earlier, then the process is slightly different:

• Navigate to ‘System Preferences… > Users & Groups.’
• Select the account where you want to make this change.
• Enter a new name in the ‘Full name’ field.

Changing the account name and home folder

In order for an account to work correctly, its account name and ‘Home’ folder must be exactly the same, so you’ll need to change both of these simultaneously, using an account that has admin privileges.

But what if the account you want to change just-so-happens to be your Mac’s only admin account? In this scenario, you’ll need to create a second admin account, and then use this secondary account to update the first. Afterwards, you can delete the second admin account if it’s no longer required.

To create an additional administrative account:

• Navigate to ‘System Preferences… > Users & Groups.’
• Click the padlock icon, enter your admin password, and then click ‘Unlock.’
• Click the little ‘+’ button towards the bottom-left of the menu.
• Open the ‘New Account’ dropdown and select ‘Administrator.’
• Complete the subsequent form, and then click ‘Create User.’

Once you’re logged into an admin account, the first step is to change the name of the ‘Home’ folder:

• Open a new ‘Finder’ window.
• Select ‘Go > Go to Folder…’ from the toolbar.
• Type ‘/Users’ into the popup bar that appears, and then click ‘OK.’
• Find the home folder for the account that you want to rename.
• Make a note of the old name, then control-click the folder and select ‘Rename…’
• Enter the new name that you want to use. This name must not contain any spaces.
• Save your changes by pressing the ‘Enter’ key on your keyboard. Enter your admin username and password when prompted.

Next, you need to change the account name:

• Navigate to ‘System Preferences… > Users & Groups.’
• Click the little padlock icon in the bottom-left of the screen, enter your admin password and then click ‘Unlock.’
• In the left-hand menu, control-click the user account that you want to rename.
• Select ‘Advanced Options’ from the context menu.
• Change the ‘Account name’ field. Make sure the name you enter is exactly the same as the user’s Home folder.
• Save your changes, by clicking ‘OK.’
• Restart your Mac to bring these changes into effect.

Since this is a more involved process than changing the display name, it’s recommended that you check this account is still working correctly, by attempting to log in. If you encounter any problems, then now’s the time to restore your Time Machine backup!

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