Did your McLovin!1976!@gmail.com email address seem funny at the time but less so now you are applying for dozens of jobs?
Google has said it is giving US users a chance to appear more professional by letting them change their Google account username – whatever appears before @gmail.com in an email address – without losing access to their account.
However, the tech company will limit the name changes to one per 12 months. In an example shared online by Google, the email address sk8tergrl123.1986@gmail.com is changed to the more sombre elisa.beckett@gmail.com.
Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, said the company would allow address changes without cutting them off from their inboxes.
Pichai said users could say goodbye to “v0t3f0rp3dr02004@gmail.com or mrbrightside416@gmail.com (or whatever you were into at the time)” by going to their account settings and adopting a more practical address, if they wish.
He wrote on X: “2004 was a good year, but your Gmail address doesn’t need to be stuck in it.”
Previously, Gmail users with a quirky email address had to open a new account. Under the new measures, they can transfer all their emails, data and future traffic to the new address – and still keep open their old address just in case. Users will receive emails to both addresses and historical data such as photos will not be affected.
Google has not indicated whether the new feature, which is for US users only, will be rolled out worldwide.
Users who want to change their name should go to their email settings, click on personal info, then email followed by Google account email. They should then see a change Google account email option, where users can modify their username.
Email addresses had a singular purpose when they first took off at the turn of the century, but are now integral to day-to-day online tasks, such as logging into streaming platforms. They are also highly visible in professional interactions such as job applications.