How to change your name on Facebook

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• You can change your name on Facebook in about a minute, but there are several restrictions to mind. 
• Facebook prohibits the use of pseudonyms, but it does allow you to use common nicknames, such as Bill in place of William.
• Changing your Facebook name will not alter anything else about your account, and it will not remove the tags applied to your previous name.

There are any number of good reasons to change the name on your Facebook account.

Maybe you’re taking on a new spouse’s surname and want your profile to reflect your new name. Or maybe you’ve outgrown your childhood nickname — Billy, let’s say — and want to start going by William instead. Or maybe you just need some change to spice things up.

Why you want to change your name on Facebook is your business, but how you do it is like this:

How to change your name on Facebook

Head to Facebook and make sure you’re logged in.

1. Click on the dark downward facing triangle at the top right of the page.

2. On the dropdown menu that appears, click “Settings.”

3. You should now be on the General Account Settings Page. Next to your name, click the word “Edit.”

 4. In the boxes at the top of the page, type in the new name you wish to use.

5. Click “Review Change.”

6. In the popup, check the new name to make sure you’re satisfied, then type in your password and click “Save Changes.”

You now have a brand new name on Facebook with an otherwise unaffected account.

What to know about changing your name on Facebook

Some social media platforms let you change your name as often as you want. Not so much with Facebook: they only allow for one name change in a 60-day period. And if you change your name too often, that can extend to 120 days.

Also, unlike other platforms, Facebook wants you to use your real name. They allow for common derivative names, like Bob for Robert, Liz for Elizabeth, and Larry for Lawrence, but they don’t want pseudonyms or nonsense names.

If you use a fake name, you risk being banned from Facebook. The company’s own stated policy on the matter reads, in part: “Facebook is a community where everyone uses the name they go by in everyday life. This makes it so that you always know who you’re connecting with.”

The good news is that as long as your name change complies with Facebook’s policies, it won’t have any negative impact on your account. Your friends will still be able to interact with you in all the same ways, no new connections needed, and any pictures or posts in which your former name was tagged will now show your new name.

SEE ALSO: Facebook secretly explored building bird-size drones to ferry data to people with bad internet connections

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