Reddit is the world’s largest social news aggregation community with more than 430 million active monthly users. It has always been fun to spend time on Reddit and it always will be. The best thing about Reddit is that you can join communities of your interest, also known as subreddits, and share the related stuff, read news about that, watch and share interesting photos and videos, and join discussions.
Another thing that makes Reddit more lovable is that whatever you share or discuss on Reddit will be seen by people from all over the world. And you never know when your content becomes viral and people start to imagine by your username that who is the person behind this post. But when you don’t have a cool Reddit username, it is not fun to come into the limelight.
An account that was created years ago with a stupid username now displeases you and you want to change your Reddit username somehow. Is it possible? If yes then what sacrifices do you need to make, if not possible then what options do you have, everything will be discussed in detail today in this article.
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Is it possible to change the Reddit username?
In one word the answer is, NO. As of now, it is not at all possible to change the Reddit username once you have set it while creating your account. And that is the reason why a huge number of people ask this question. However, if you have signed up on Reddit with your Google account or Apple ID, then a randomly generated username is assigned to you which can changed once within a time period of 30 days. This is entirely different case which we will discuss at the end of this article.
Now let’s discuss why Reddit doesn’t allow its users to alter their username. The reason is that your username is directly associated with your account and other verification details. Hence if cybercrime is done with a particular username, it is easy to pinpoint the user. If Reddit would have allowed users to change usernames then this could have created confusion and someone else might also get blamed for a cybercrime done by someone else. Moreover, this could also create other problems such as fake accounts, impersonation, usernames conflict, etc. So these are some issues which Reddit might not want to deal with.
Username vs display name: Difference
Your Reddit username is the one that you set while creating your Reddit account. Username is a compulsion to add while setting up your account as it is the unique identifier that separates your account from other users. Once the username is set, you cannot change it. Moreover, two Reddit users cannot have same username.
As for the display name, it is optional to add and you can add it even after creating your account. Two users can also have the same display name unlike username as it does not work as a unique identifier for your account. The display name will only be seen to others when they reach your profile. It is possible to change the display name as many times as you like.
To better understand this, let’s take an example of Twitter. The name that appears on your Twitter profile is what can be referred to as display name. You can change it to whatever you want even different from your real name. On the other hand, you also have a unique username on Twitter which people use to tag you and find your profile. Not just that but it also appears in your profile link.
How to change Reddit display name on PC
It’s quite amusing but more people use Reddit on PC than on their smartphone. Most social apps have more smartphone users but it is an exception for Reddit as 51% of the users use Reddit on PC. Follow these steps to add or change your Reddit display name on PC.
- Open the official Reddit website using any browser on your PC and sign in to your account if not already.
- On the home page, click on the drop-down menu given at the top-right side adjact to your name and select the User Settings option from the list.
- You will be on the user settings page now. From the Account heading you need to switch to the Profile option next.
- You can clearly see the Display name option under Customize profile heading, use it to change or add your display name. The name you want to set should not be more than 30 words and you can use upper case, lower case, numbers, special characters, or anything you want.
How to change Reddit display name on phone
The remaining 49% of the Reddit users who use the app on their smartphones can follow these steps to add or change their Reddit display name.
- Open the Reddit app on your smartphone and login to your account for which you want to change the display name.
- On the homepage of the app, tap on the profile icon given at the top left side.
- From the list of options that appear, tap on the My profile option.
- On the next page you need to select the Edit option adjacent to your username.
- Here you will see an option to add or change your display name under the Edit Profile option.
What option do I have for changing Reddit username?
As told in the starting of the article, it is not possible to change the username once you have set it. But still if you are looking for some workaround, your only way to get your desired username is by creating a new Reddit account with that name. But deleting the old account will result in loss of all the posts that you have shared along with your comments. You will also lose all the karma points and subreddits that you have joined over the time.
Basically everything related to that account including your account itself will be gone forever and there is no way you can transfer your data. But if you want you can always run multiple Reddit accounts. You can keep the one that you have right now till the time you build up the new one exactly like your old account and after that, use the new one as your primary Reddit account and the old one can be kept as secondary or you can just delete it.
How to delete Reddit account
If you choose to delete your old account, you can do that from the account settings page. Head over to the Reddit website and click the user icon at the top. Next, select User Settings from the drop-down menu and this will take you to the account settings page. Scroll down to the bottom and then click on the “Deactivate account” option which is in red colour.
Please note that deactivation on Reddit doesn’t mean that your account will be temporarily disabled but it will be deleted permanently. To verify your identity, Reddit will ask you to provide your login details. Once after that, tick mark the I Understand consent button and then click Deactivate again to finally delete your Reddit account. This action can’t be undone.
Change Reddit username on new account created with Google or Apple ID
There are different ways to sign up and create your account on Reddit. If you have used your Google account or Apple ID for this, Reddit will automatically assign you a randomly generated username. You can change this username within 30 days of creating your account. To do this on desktop, simply log in to your Reddit and click on the username in the top-right corner of the screen.
If you are using Reddit through its mobile app on Android or iOS, then you need to tap on the profile icon at the top left corner and then go to My Profile. From there, you can either keep the current username or create your own custom one. If you don’t see this option, then maybe you have selected to keep your current username previously or you have crossed the 30 days time period limit.
Useful tips to choose the best Reddit username
Getting the best Reddit username is a tricky business. You can’t always think of something catchy. But there are a few tips that you can always use to create the best Reddit username.
- Keep the name short and easy to understand. A short username always comes into attention as compared to the bigger ones. And try to use the language or slangs that are popular and known to people.
- It is always suggested to use the underscore and dash to separate words as the two words when combined together will be hard to understand. For instance, justacouchpotato should be written as just-a-couch-potato.
- Try to add your hobbies, your likes and dislikes, your habbits, or anything that describes you in the username. Let’s say, if you are an Anime fan, your username can be amine-in-my-veins
- You can always use Reddit username generator tools for getting username suggestions. They will ask for your nickname, hobbies, likes, important works, numbers and letters and create a beautiful username for you. Make sure to add the word that you want in your username and the tool will smartly generate plenty of words for you.
Wrapping up
Username is a very important thing on the internet which gives a unique identity to your account and make you stand out of the crowd. Everyone of us has made this mistake of choosing a wrong username that we later regret to have. Unfortunately, Reddit is very strict for usernames and it only gives you one chance to choose it at the time of creating your account.
What has been done in the past can’t be changed by us now but there are few things which you can do. One of them is to give a unique display name to your Reddit profile. If you no longer want to associate yourself with your old and ugly username, then another solution is to create a new account. We have discussed all the downsides of doing this. Now it’s up to you to go with whatever suits you best. Have something to ask? Share it in the comments!
