A common question that I have been asked several times is how to change the name on Facebook. This article will go through the step-by-step process of changing your name, what is possible and what is not.
Personal profile page vs. company page
First, we need to clarify where you want to change a name:
Personal profile page: This is where your personal information is stored. These accounts are for individual and personal use. You can make a request to change your name, but Facebook will review each name change.
Facebook Page / Business Page: This is a page to represent a company, brand, public figure, artist or organization. Only an official representative of that entity may create them. Name changes can only be made if the page has fewer than 100 connections.
changing your name
Personal profile page:
1. Go to your account settings by clicking ‘Account’ in the top right corner of your Facebook page. You can find ‘Account Settings’ as an option in the dropdown menu that appears.
2. Click on the first item in the list called ‘Name’: your real name. Click on the blue link to the right called ‘change’ and the options for entering your name will appear.
3. ‘Show full name’ is the name that appears in a search. ‘Alternate Name’, if checked, will also appear on your profile or in search results. ‘Nickname’ will appear between your first and last name.
Remember that Facebook will review each name change before it is approved. Depending on how many requests they have, this can take some time, at least 24 hours.
Your name must appear using characters from only one language and cannot consist of titles, symbols, numbers, unusual capitalization, or punctuation. If you want to use other characters, you can type your name in an alphabet commonly used in Western culture as your alternate name.
Facebook Page / Business Page:
Remember that you can only make changes as long as you have less than 100 connections on your page.
1. Go to your page. Click ‘Edit Page’ under the profile picture.
2. Change the name in the first section called ‘Name’ in the ‘Basic Information’ section.
Facebook encourages people to use their real names. Therefore, they limit the number of times names can be changed. You are not allowed to impersonate anything or anyone; However, Facebook has yet to react when I reported such impersonation of the artists I represent.