There’s a long list of reasons to change a YouTube channel name. Maybe you’ve woken up with fresh channel name ideas, or perhaps you feel that your current name isn’t allowing your channel to grow and get the attention it deserves.
Whatever the reason, there’s good news – changing YouTube channel names is definitely possible! But don’t start jumping for joy just yet. The process isn’t as straightforward as you might think, and it can be confusing and time-consuming if you don’t know what you’re doing.
That’s why we’ve decided to create this complete guide on how to change YouTube channel names.
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In this guide, we’ll cover the full process step-by-step to minimize the headaches that typically come along with YouTube name changes.
Personal vs Brand Account on YouTube: What’s the Difference?
Before getting into the actual process for how to change a YouTube channel name, it’s important that you understand the difference between the two types of YouTube accounts.
A personal YouTube account is linked to an individual email address, whereas a brand account allows for multiple managers (and multiple linked email addresses). The exact steps to change a YouTube name depend on which type of account you have.
How to Find Out Which Type of Account You Have
To determine the type of account you’re working with, start by logging in to your YouTube channel and confirm that you’re signed in to the right account. Select YouTube Studio from the dropdown menu and click on Settings in the bottom left corner.
Once in your account settings, select the Channel tab, choose Advanced Settings, and scroll all the way to the bottom where you’ll find a Manage YouTube account button.
If you have a brand account, you’ll immediately see the option to add or remove channel managers, like this:
If your account is personal, there’s no mention of channel managers at all. Your personal account settings will look like this:
Now that you know which type of account you have, it’s time to get to the actual process of changing your channel name.
We’ve covered the steps for both types of accounts below, so refer to the one that applies to your YouTube channel.
Personal Account: How to Change Your YouTube Channel Name
First, let’s talk about how to change the name of a personal YouTube account. To start, head to the account’s Settings page – you’ll see the settings button on the bottom left-hand side of the screen.
From there, select the Channel option, and right away you’ll see a button to make name changes where it says “To edit channel name, visit your Google account.”
Click on the Google account link to be taken to your personal Google account. This is where you’ll be able to make the changes to your name by editing the First Name/Last Name options.
Unfortunately, personal accounts only allow you to use a first and last name; it’s a personal account, so the name of the channel has to be, well, personal.
How to Switch a Personal Account to a Brand Account
The name limitations for a personal account and the fact that there can only be one channel manager are both big reasons to make the switch to a brand account.
Luckily, this is possible, and you can create a brand account that absorbs all of the current content and subscribers of the previous personal account in 10 steps. Here’s what you do:
***In the steps below, we’ll be referring to the new brand account as Justin’s Super Awesome Channel (classy, right?!) and the old personal account simply as Justin Brown.
- Step 1: Visit your account Settings (bottom left corner of the screen) and click on the Advanced Settings
- Step 2: Within the advanced settings, scroll to the bottom and select Manage YouTube account.
- Step 3: In order to make the switch from a personal to brand account, you first need to create a brand channel. To do this, click on Add or manage your channel(s).
- Step 4: Select Create a new channel – don’t worry, you’ll still be able to convert the original channel to a brand channel – and type in your desired Brand Account name. Once you’ve selected your name, click Create.
- Step 5: Next, switch the account back to the personal account you’re wanting to change. To do this, select your profile icon at the top right hand corner of the screen, click on Switch Account, and select the right channel.
- Step 6: Once in the right account, click the channel’s YouTube Studio dashboard in the profile dropdown, then visit the Settings page followed by Advanced Settings and select Manage YouTube account.
- Step 7: Click on View advanced settings. Towards the bottom of the advanced settings page, you’ll see an option to Move channel to a brand account. Click on that link.
- Step 8: Click on the brand account name you just created. YouTube will then inform you that this channel is “already connected to another YouTube channel” and it will ask you if you’d like to delete that channel.
Note: Since it’s brand new and contains no content (just confirm that it has 0 subscribers, no videos, and no playlist) you can go ahead and click on Delete Channel.
- Step 9: Next, you’ll be taken to a screen with details of the channel move. Confirm that everything looks the way it should and you are in fact moving the correct personal channel to the right brand channel name.
- Step 10: Lastly, click on Move Channel to officially make the switch. YouTube will notify you of the updates that will be made and what to expect for the content transfer (see the photo below for these details).
There’s one more thing to be aware of when switching from a personal to a branded account. If you’re using a custom URL because you’ve already surpassed 100 subscribers, this URL won’t transfer over, even after completing the steps above.
The only way to transfer an existing, custom URL to the new brand account is to get in touch with YouTube Support.
To recap the process for switching a Personal Account:
You will need to create a new brand account, then switch your current personal account to take over the account you just created. It’s a bit more complicated than it needs to be, but hopefully, these 10 steps have cleared everything up.
Brand Account: How to Change Your Channel Name
Now that we’ve covered all the details on switching from a personal account, it’s time to learn how to change a YouTube channel name for brand accounts.
The good news is that you’ve gotten through the hard part (switching between account types), so from here on out, it’s smooth sailing.
Start by logging into your YouTube account and confirming you’re logged in to the right channel. Then head to the account settings from your profile dropdown and select the link that says Edit on Google.
You’ll then be taken to a screen with your current channel name listed under Basic Info, so click on that, hit the Edit icon to make your changes.
Before making your edits, Google will most likely ask you to input your password to verify your account. Once you’re verified, type in your new channel name and hit the Save button.
That’s it!
How to Get a Customized URL
Whether you’re using a personal or brand account, you have the chance to get a customized channel URL once your verified account hits over 100 subscribers.
Not every account is eligible for this, so to check if yours is, head to your channel’s Advanced Settings dashboard and select Manage YouTube account. From here, click on the View advanced settings link.
On this page, there’s an option for Custom URL which will tell you whether or not you’re eligible to use one.
If you are eligible, the Custom URL option will be clickable and you can go through the steps to get it/change it (YouTube allows you to change it up to 3x per year).
Want to Change YouTube Channel Name? Now You Can!
There you have it – the complete guide on how to change a YouTube channel name.
As you can see, changing a channel name isn’t the easiest thing to do, but at least you now have access to this step-by-step guide to help you through the process.
If you want to learn more about how to correctly set up and optimize your YouTube channel, check out our full tutorial here. You can also download our free YouTube Ranking Guide where we cover the 3 most powerful tools and ranking strategies to increase your YouTube traffic by 10x!
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