Pokemon Go Guide: How to Change Your Name

At the beginning of your time with Pokemon Go you were presented with a few choices. What your character looked like, and what they would be called were among these, and for being such important choices they were presented very casually. Let’s say you breezed through them, tossing in xXPokeSlayer85Xx or something equally terrible. You might look back on this with remorse, wishing you could go back and change your decision. You can do it, but only in very select circumstances. So, here’s our quick guide on how to change your name in Pokemon Go.

There is no way to change your name in Pokemon Go via the app itself. Instead you have to go here and fill out a help desk ticket with Niantic directly. Here you can request a name change, but you need to keep in mind that there are certain criteria. “Nickname changes are only allowed for players that accidentally input their real name or other personally identifiable information as their nickname,” reads the Niantic website.

They also stipulate that due to the overwhelming demand for the game, which translates into likely many thousands or millions of help desk tickets for their team, they are only promising results after “several weeks”. Even if you do fit the criteria, having put identifying info in as your Pokemon Go nickname, you will still have to wait a very long time before it gets changed in the game.

That’s it for now, though there could be changes in the future. Pokemon Go is very much in an early state, and with its mass adoption around the world, the team has likely put many planned changes lower on their priority list. Trading is coming, for example, but likely will take a long time. Name changes could also make their way to Pokemon Go, but for now this is the only method available.