38 votes

You can finally change the goofy Gmail address you chose years ago

21 comments

  1. [11]
    Jordan117
    Link
    As somebody with a mildly "unprofessional"-looking main Gmail address, I got foolishly excited over this, but turns out that FirstnameLastname, FLastname, and FMLastname are all taken. And both my...

    As somebody with a mildly "unprofessional"-looking main Gmail address, I got foolishly excited over this, but turns out that FirstnameLastname, FLastname, and FMLastname are all taken. And both my abbreviated Lastname and birthyear have some, uh, unwanted implications. (Plus, adding numbers or other cruft just feels like recreating the original problem).

    But maybe I just avoided the annoying problem where you constantly get email intended for someone with your same name.

    16 votes
    1. [5]
      Narry
      Link Parent
      Born in '88? You poor bastard...

      Born in '88? You poor bastard...

      17 votes
      1. [2]
        EnigmaNL
        Link Parent
        I never knew 88 was problematic until I randomly got banned from a game for having it in my username.

        I never knew 88 was problematic until I randomly got banned from a game for having it in my username.

        9 votes
      2. [2]
        JCPhoenix
        Link Parent
        I recently got new license plates for my car. Not custom, just whatever got pulled from the pile at the DMV. but part of the letter and numbers could be construed as something like "...Saxon...

        I recently got new license plates for my car. Not custom, just whatever got pulled from the pile at the DMV. but part of the letter and numbers could be construed as something like "...Saxon 88..."

        Now I'm terminally online, so that's really the only reason I saw it right away. But regardless, wtf...

        6 votes
        1. hamstergeddon
          Link Parent
          One of my vehicle's plates has "KKX" in it, which is a little too close for comfort. X is just a slouching K, after all.

          One of my vehicle's plates has "KKX" in it, which is a little too close for comfort. X is just a slouching K, after all.

          4 votes
    2. [5]
      tomf
      Link Parent
      why not get a domain and host it with zoho or whatever? domains are cheap, zoho is either free or cheap, a total breeze to set up, too. I have a catch-all junk mail domain and in the ~6 years I've...

      why not get a domain and host it with zoho or whatever? domains are cheap, zoho is either free or cheap, a total breeze to set up, too. I have a catch-all junk mail domain and in the ~6 years I've had it running now, no spam. My main domain is just initials [at] firstlast.com -- but you can also have a catch-all for this and have different business cards for different occasions (e.g. hello@ for a site, firstLast for business cards, etc.)

      way classier than gmail. :)

      3 votes
      1. [4]
        bln
        Link Parent
        I've been using initials at firstlast.com as my main address for 15 years too. But when I give it in person I feel it looks pretentious. I've been thinking of getting another random domain that's...

        I've been using initials at firstlast.com as my main address for 15 years too. But when I give it in person I feel it looks pretentious. I've been thinking of getting another random domain that's not my name for this, but it's hard to find an attractive domain nowadays (easy to give, looks normal, looks generic).

        1 vote
        1. [3]
          tomf
          Link Parent
          I've got a bunch of domains -- lastna.me, a few .party, some funny ones. I've thought about having an absolutely meaningless domain that is just x000.com -- e.g. x406.com, x478.com, x480.com,...

          I've got a bunch of domains -- lastna.me, a few .party, some funny ones. I've thought about having an absolutely meaningless domain that is just x000.com -- e.g. x406.com, x478.com, x480.com, x642.com, x712.com, x841.com, x930.com (these are all that is left) or really dazzle everybody with your ooooooooooooooooooooooooo.ooo domain (25 o's + 3 o's -- also available) :)

          1. [2]
            sparksbet
            Link Parent
            I haven't done anything with it yet, but I did manage to snag sparks.bet a while back. Someday I'll spin up a proper personal website there... someday....

            I haven't done anything with it yet, but I did manage to snag sparks.bet a while back. Someday I'll spin up a proper personal website there... someday....

            3 votes
            1. tomf
              Link Parent
              That’s a good one! I just do one-pagers —- I have nothing of value to share via a website. I just have a bunch of different things just for me one these sites. https://our.lady.of.perpetual.faith/ :)

              That’s a good one! I just do one-pagers —- I have nothing of value to share via a website. I just have a bunch of different things just for me one these sites. https://our.lady.of.perpetual.faith/ :)

              3 votes
  2. [2]
    Venko
    Link
    In typical Google fashion this feature applies only for the USA. I don't know why I'm surprised.

    In typical Google fashion this feature applies only for the USA. I don't know why I'm surprised.

    9 votes
    1. AugustusFerdinand
      Link Parent
      It was rolled out to India first actually.

      It was rolled out to India first actually.

      9 votes
  3. [4]
    phoenixrises
    Link
    Kinda wondering if I can just merge accounts together in this way, would make life a lot easier than having multiple tabs open for both my personal and my professional emails.

    Kinda wondering if I can just merge accounts together in this way, would make life a lot easier than having multiple tabs open for both my personal and my professional emails.

    6 votes
    1. [2]
      MimicSquid
      Link Parent
      As someone who ran their own business for a long time, preserve that separation between your work and professional emails. You've got to be able to put the work down at the end of the day, and...

      As someone who ran their own business for a long time, preserve that separation between your work and professional emails. You've got to be able to put the work down at the end of the day, and having work email in your personal email box is a great way to never actually be not working.

      28 votes
      1. phoenixrises
        Link Parent
        To be fair when I say professional I just mean "the email i give out to people nowadays especially resumes" haha. I'm a corpo slave so I always get assigned emails for my work. But I get your point.

        To be fair when I say professional I just mean "the email i give out to people nowadays especially resumes" haha. I'm a corpo slave so I always get assigned emails for my work. But I get your point.

        10 votes
    2. thecakeisalime
      Link Parent
      Google is deprecating the POP3 "pull" access, but you can still forward from one account to the other, and then use the "send as" feature, which is essentially what you want to do here anyway I think.

      Google is deprecating the POP3 "pull" access, but you can still forward from one account to the other, and then use the "send as" feature, which is essentially what you want to do here anyway I think.

      3 votes
  4. sparksbet
    Link
    Welp, gotta wait until I move back to the US to try this. I don't use my gmail for much, but it would be nice for it to at least match my other online stuff.

    Welp, gotta wait until I move back to the US to try this. I don't use my gmail for much, but it would be nice for it to at least match my other online stuff.

    3 votes
  5. hobbes64
    Link
    My current email address is fine but I sometimes get mail intended for other people who apparently have the same name plus some numbers, and the sender forgets to add the numbers. I’ve gotten...

    My current email address is fine but I sometimes get mail intended for other people who apparently have the same name plus some numbers, and the sender forgets to add the numbers. I’ve gotten legal documents and police reports and receipts and other private information in various languages. For a while I tried to warn the senders but that doesn’t help so I just delete the messages now.

    Btw I’m sure your first thought is that everyone gets these things and they’re phishing attacks but this is different.

    3 votes
  6. [2]
    DiggWasCool
    Link
    Great, I've always wanted first.last3465879876124598721@gmail.com I've had my Gmail account since 2004 but I made a mistake of picking my user name as my first name and my last initial. The...

    Great, I've always wanted first.last3465879876124598721@gmail.com

    I've had my Gmail account since 2004 but I made a mistake of picking my user name as my first name and my last initial. The problem with that, the last letter of my first name is the same letter as the first letter of my last name, made up example first name is Eric, Last name is Cruz, Gmail username is ericc. Every single time I have to give my email to someone verbally, over the phone for example, it ends up being a four minute conversation, my email is e r i c c at gmail dot com, and the person on the other end thinks I made a mistake so they enter it as eric at gmail dot com, or we go back and forth where they ask "are there two Cs at the end?" Yes there are. "Are you sure?"

    And now that I can actually change it, because my name is short, the only options I have are eric989878676756454343353479626. This feature is pointless for me.