How To Change your Kik Display Username

Jamie Read more June 27, 2021

While usernames and display names are essential in social media platforms, changing them has its restrictions and limitations based on the platform being used. This tutorial shows you how to change your Kik display name and provides helpful information on setting up a username, so you get it right the first time—or the second if you close your account and reopen a new one. While you can change your display name as many times as you like on Kik, you cannot change the username at all, which is why it is so important to choose wisely.

Why Change Your Kik Display Name?

Changing your Kik display name helps you evolve while using the platform, provides changeable anonymity, and lets you appear as different people in different situations. This can be useful for everything from reputational change and investigative journalism to public defamation and illicit meetings.

Changing Your Kik Display Name

Your display name is the name you give people to contact you using the app, and it also provides a way to find your profile in a Kik search or even a search engine. It is this name that you can change.

To change your Kik display name, do the following:

Open Kik and log in.
Select the “cog” icon in the top-right section of the main page to access settings.
Select “Your Account” from the options.
Tap on “Name.”
Change your display name to something else, then click on “SAVE” in the top-right section.
The screen returns to the “Your Account” page. Confirm the name change for “Name” is correct, then exit the settings menu.

On the main Kik page, your new name should now get displayed at the top along with your profile image.

Selecting a Kik Display Name

The act of changing your display name is the easy part. Coming up with a good name is the part that takes time. You could use a name generator like Jimpix username generator, SpinXO username generator, or the Namestation Kik name generator.

You could also come up with something yourself.

Name generation websites create random name ideas from an algorithm or ask a couple of questions about your personality to provide better choices. Not all generated name possibilities are great options, but you may get better ideas using some of the words or phrases suggested.

How much effort you put into your Kik display name depends on your intended use of the app. Some people conduct interviews using the app. Some like it because it offers anonymity to question freely. Interviewees also like it because they can remain anonymous until the time is right to go public. However, most people use Kik for far less serious reasons, such as hanging out, chatting, sharing, and getting to know someone before releasing personal or private information to them.

Changing Display Name If You Don’t Want to Be Recognized on Kik

If anonymity is your priority when using Kik, you need a display name that doesn’t relate to you or has at least one degree of separation. For example, say you’re a dark-haired cycling fan who hates football in real life. Using a display name like ‘Blond49er’ or something similar is the complete opposite, while ‘TekNerd22’ has no association with your identity and personality. Perhaps the first option is best since you don’t want others to think you are hiding from everyone or up to something illegitimate, like spamming or hacking accounts.

Changing Display Name If You Want to be Anonymous on Kik

You can use the degree of separation principle if you’d like to for anonymity on Kik, but you don’t need to if you want a display name that isn’t your own. You can also utilize the same rules for all your social media usernames or gaming names. Come up with a few words that you like the sound of and go with them.

Unlike games or other social networks, display names on Kik are disposable, but your username will stay constant between you and the Kik servers. As previously mentioned, you can set your display name to whatever you like and change it at will.

Just remember, inappropriate, childish, racist, offensive, dumb, or just plain stupid names will have the same effect as they do on other social networks. If you want to get taken seriously or want people to interact with you, choose your display name wisely.