How to Change Your Real Name on Xbox Live

Evan Gower November 14, 2019

Maintaining your privacy online is getting harder and harder to do. That’s why a lot of people opt to use an alias for many of their accounts. If you want to maintain some anonymity then it’s worth considering changing the name on your account to something else. Or perhaps you chose a joke name and are tired of seeing “Hi, Bananaface!” every time you sign in.

How to Change Your Real Name on Xbox Live

Whatever your reason, we’ve put together a guide to help you change both the real name associated with your Xbox account, as well as your Gamertag. That way, you can stay on top of who knows what about you, and what they call you when you are murderdeathkilling them in Call of Duty.

Change Your Real Name on Your Xbox Account

If you want to change the personal name associated with your Xbox account, you’ll need to go online to do so. Here are the steps you’ll need to take to make it happen:

Open your computer’s web browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, etc.).
Type live.com into the address bar and hit enter, or click on the provided link here.
Sign in to the Microsoft account that you use on your Xbox.
Click on “Your info” at the top of the window.
Under the current name that your account is registered, click on the “Edit name” link.
Type your first name into the text box under First Name.
Type your surname into the text box under Last Name.
Enter the letters and numbers of the Captcha image in the Text box labeled “Enter the characters that you see”.
Click on the blue Save button.

How to Change Your Xbox Gamertag

If you want to change the name that most people see when you’re playing games or sending messages, then you’ll need a new Gamertag. This is your handle most of the time, and if you didn’t choose one when you first signed up for an Xbox account it will be something generic and a bit weird like CrunchyToast1.

If you didn’t pick your Gamertag for yourself and have one of those automatic ones, then you can change it once for free. If you created one for yourself on signup, or have already changed it before, then you will be charged if you want to change it to something new. If you do change it, you don’t need to tell your friends as your details will automatically be updated for them (although you might want to let them know anyway so they know what you’re called now).

Change Your Xbox Gamertag on a Computer

Here’s how you can change your Gamertag on your computer or mobile device:

Open your web browser on your computer or smart device (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, etc.).
Navigate to xbox.com/ChangeGamertag in the address bar or click on our link here.
Type the new Gamertag that you would like to use into the text box labeled “Enter your new gamertag”.
Click or tap on the green Check Availability button.
The website will show you a message under the text box telling you it’s unavailable if the Gamertag is already being used by someone else. If this is the case, try entering a new one and hit Check Availability again.
Once you’ve found a new Gamertag that is available and that you want to use, the box will turn green and will have a green tick in it. To choose this Gamertag, click or tap on the green “Claim It!” button.

Change Your Xbox Gamer Tag on Xbox One

Here are the steps you’ll need to take if you want to change your Gamertag from an Xbox One:

Press the Xbox button in the middle of your controller to open the guide.
Highlight your Gamerpic at the top left of the screen, and press the A button.
Select My profile, and press A.
Select Customize profile, and press A.
Select your current Gamertag, and press A.
Enter the new Gamertag that you want into the text box, then press A when you’re done. If it’s already taken, you’ll see a message saying “That name isn’t available”, and you’ll have to try a different gamertag, or add some numbers to the end of it.
Once you have one that is available, press A to confirm the change.

Change Your Xbox Gamer Tag on Xbox 360

Start up your Xbox 360 and sign in to the account that you want to change the gamertag for.
Go to the My Xbox channel.
Highlight your gamercard at the top right of the screen and press the A button.
Select Edit Profile and press A.
Select Gamertag and press A.
Select Enter New Gamertag and press A.
Type in the new gamertag that you want to use, select Done, and press A. If the gamertag is already in use, it will let you know and tell you to try another one.
Once you’ve found an available gamertag that you want to use, select Yes, use this gamertag and press A.

Keep in mind that if you change the gamertag on an account associated with your Xbox 360, you’ll need to recover the account on the console before it’ll let you log in again. Click on this link to find out how to recover your account.

Who? Never Heard of ‘Em…

And now you have a new name associated with your Xbox account. It’s worth remembering that your Xbox account is also a Microsoft account, so if that’s the same account that you use to log in to your Windows PC, it will also change the name there.

If you’ve found another way of changing your real name on your Xbox, or found any other related tips and tricks you’d like to share, let us know in the comments section below.