How to Change the Display Name in Outlook (Step-by-Step)

If you have ever sent an email and realized your name showed up wrong on the other end, you know how annoying that is. Maybe it shows your old name, a nickname, or just something that does not look professional. It is a small thing, but it does leave an impression on whoever receives your email.

Outlook lets you change that display name without much trouble. The display name is basically what people see in their inbox when you send them something. It is not your email address. It is just the name that appears next to it. People change it for different reasons. Some just set it up wrong the first time. Others changed their name and need to update it. Some want to switch from a casual name to a more professional one for work emails. 

What Is a Display Name in Outlook?

A display name in Outlook is simply the name that shows up when you send or receive an email. It is not your email address. It is the name attached to it. This shows up in a few different places. When you send an email, the recipient sees it in the “From” field. When someone adds you to their contacts, your display name is what gets saved. It also appears in group emails and meeting invites wherever your name is listed.

Most people do not think about it until something looks off. Maybe your name shows up as an old nickname, or it was never set properly, and your email address is showing instead of your actual name. That is when you need to change email display name in Outlook.

For personal use, it might not matter much. But for work, it does. If you are emailing clients, colleagues, or anyone outside your company, your display name is basically your first impression. A wrong or unprofessional name in someone’s inbox does not look great. It is a small detail, but it is worth getting right. And the good news is, it is not hard to fix once you know where to look.

Reasons to Change the Display Name in Outlook

There are quite a few situations where people end up needing to update their display name. Here are the most common ones.

• If your legal name changed, you want your emails to reflect that. Having your old name still showing up in every email you send can get confusing for people you work with regularly.
• Some people set up their Outlook account casually at first. Maybe they used a nickname or just their first name. Once they start using it for work, that name does not fit anymore. Updating it to a full professional name just makes more sense.
• Someone sets up the account quickly and does not notice a spelling mistake until later. Or the name got auto-filled incorrectly during setup. Either way, it needs to be fixed before more emails go out with the wrong name on them.
• If your job title changed or your company went through a rebrand, your display name might need updating, too. 

How to Change Outlook Display Name?

If you want to update the display name that appears when you send emails in Outlook, you can do it directly from the account settings. The process is simple and only takes a few minutes in the recent versions of Outlook. 

Steps to Change Display Name in the New Outlook

1. Open Outlook and click on File.
2. Go to Account Settings and select Account Settings again from the dropdown.
3. Choose the email account whose display name you want to change.
4. Click on Change.
5. Update your name in the Your Name field.
6. Click Next, then select Close to save the changes.

Steps to Change the Display Name in Outlook 2007

1. Open Outlook 2007 on your system.
2. Click on Tools and select Account Settings.
3. Under the E-mail tab, select your email account and click Change.
4. In the Your Name field, enter the name you want email recipients to see.
5. Click Next and then select Finish to save the changes.

Quick Note: If your Outlook PST files are corrupted, and you want to repair those files securely. You can use the Cigati PST Repair Tool to recover your damaged and corrupted PST file.

Conclusion

To conclude, the process to change the display name in Outlook is not complicated. It just depends on which Outlook version you are using and knowing where to look. Most people get stuck because the steps are slightly different across the classic desktop version and the new Outlook. But in this blog, we covered both the outlook of the recent one and the old one.

Frequently Asked Questions

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