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Wikipedia:Username policy

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This policy describes what kinds of usernames are acceptable on the English Wikipedia and how unacceptable or doubtful usernames can be handled. It also specifies that a user account should be used only by one person, and that in most cases one person should use only one account.

You choose your username when creating a user account. All contributions made using that account will then be attributed to the chosen username (contributions made while not logged in to any account are attributed to a temporary account with an automatically generated number as its name). It is also possible to request a change of username, and have your past contributions re-attributed to the new name.

This policy applies to usernames on the English Wikipedia. However, in most cases you will be able to use the same username and password to log in to other language Wikipedias and other Wikimedia Foundation supported projects. See Wikipedia:Unified login.

Introductory clip on usernames

Guidance for new users

English Wikipedia username policy summary

Your username must represent you as an individual person.

Accounts with usernames that meet any of the following criteria are not allowed on Wikipedia:

  • consist only of the name of a company, business, organization, website, musical group, team, club, creative group, or organized event;
  • describe only a particular role, title, or position that can be held by different people, or a department, group, or team within a parent organization or group that includes multiple people;
  • are promotional or show that the user's primary intent is to advertise, promote, sell, gain support for, or increase awareness of any person, company, business, market, product, channel, website, or other good or service; and
  • imply that the user account will be shared between more than one person.

Your username must be truthful, appropriate, and not foster a negative editing environment.

Any and all Wikipedia accounts, regardless of age, with usernames that meet any of the following criteria will be immediately blocked upon discovery:

  • are offensive, profane, violent, threatening, sexually explicit, disruptive, or intended to advocate or encourage such behavior (including criminal or illegal acts);
  • contain statements that are libelous, contentious, or disparaging, or disclose any private or non-public information about another person (either another Wikipedia editor or a notable living person);
  • are deliberately deceptive, confusing, misleading, unnecessarily long, similar to the usernames of other accounts, or intended to impersonate or falsely present themselves as someone or something they are not (another Wikipedia editor, a notable living person, an "official" Wikimedia Foundation account, etc.) in bad faith;
  • imply that the account has explicit ownership of any articles, content, topic areas, or Wikipedia processes; has any kind of "power" or "authority" over other editors; is subject to different standards of accountability under Wikipedia's policies and guidelines than other users (such as implying that certain policies do not apply to them); or has any administrative or "moderator" access levels or user rights;
  • imply the intent to troll, vandalize, or disrupt Wikipedia;
  • imply the intent to personally attack, harass, or threaten other Wikipedia users; and
  • imply that you are not here to build an encyclopedia or will use Wikipedia for purposes that it was not created for.

Note: This box contains a summary of the username policy, and it may not reflect the latest updates to that policy. Please refer to the full text of Wikipedia:Username policy and, in the case of any discrepancy, update this summary if needed.

Your username is a nickname that identifies your account and, by extension, all of your contributions to Wikipedia. You may use your real name as your username if you choose, but choosing a username that discloses your real name or other personal information is not recommended. Regardless, you should be aware of the risks involved in disclosing your real name (or any other personal information) on Wikipedia. Wikipedia usernames are case-sensitive, and if the first character of your username is a letter, that letter will be automatically capitalized. By default, your username appears in your signature on discussion pages. For further details on signatures and how to customize them, see Wikipedia:Signatures.

You will be required to specify a username when creating a new account, and you will use it (together with your password) to log in to that account. Once you have an account, you may create a user page, located at User:XXXX (where "XXXX" is your username), to provide information about yourself to other Wikipedians. You or any other editor may also create a user talk page, located at User talk:XXXX, which people can use to contact you.

Once chosen, a username cannot be easily changed, and changing your username does not hide your previous username from all of the edits that you've made while using it (such as signatures containing your previous username that you left on talk pages). For example, if "Dr. Franz Schröder" is your real name, and you choose this to be your username, your real name and doctorate will be evident in your edits and page histories, and (unless you change your signature) on all messages and replies you make on talk pages. It is highly recommended that you read and understand the section on using your real name as your username before you decide to do so. Using your real name as your username carries risks, and you should proceed only after completely understanding them. Likewise, reusing a name here that you also use on other sites may be as revealing as using your actual name.

The MediaWiki software does not allow you to register a new account with a username that is already taken by an existing account or that is too similar to another account. You can check whether a username is already taken by visiting the global account information page, entering your desired username into the search box, and clicking the "View user information" button. If the page displays the message "There is no global account for 'XXXX'", it means that the desired username is not taken. Please note that the page does not return usernames that are similar to the one that you entered into the search box; it only returns a match if the exact username you entered is already taken by an existing account. You may still be able to obtain a username that is too similar to another account under certain circumstances; see § Similar usernames below.

Your username can be almost any string of characters (subject to a few technical limitations); you can see this list for some examples of usernames that other editors have chosen. However, it should be a name that other users will be comfortable with, complies with all applicable policies and requirements set forth on this page, and does not interfere with the project. A controversial username may create a negative impression among other users; avoiding such usernames is in your interest. This page describes certain types of usernames that are specifically disallowed, primarily because they may be offensive, misleading, promotional, or suggest that the account does not belong to an individual.

Inappropriate usernames

This section lists the types of usernames that are considered inappropriate. The same criteria also apply to signatures.

These lists are not necessarily exhaustive. Use common sense in applying these rules; a username containing a word that may seem offensive in one context may have a very different, more benign meaning in another. For guidance on how to handle inappropriate usernames, see § Handling inappropriate usernames below.

Disruptive or offensive usernames

Any and all Wikipedia accounts, regardless of age, with usernames that meet any of the following criteria are not allowed and will be immediately blocked upon discovery:

  • Usernames that are likely to offend other contributors, disrupt productive Wikipedia processes or discussions, or make harmonious editing difficult or impossible, e.g. by containing profanities or referencing highly contentious events or controversies.[1]
  • Usernames that are profane, violent, threatening, or sexually explicit, or that advocate or encourage any such behavior (including acts that are deemed by most societies to be either extremely immoral, criminal, or illegal).
  • Usernames that deliberately offend, dehumanize, attack, demean, disparage, or discriminate against any race/color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, political affiliation, social group, identity, or status; that support or advocate such behavior; or that imply an intent to do so. Examples include:
    • Usernames that contain discriminatory attacks, racial slurs, or pejorative terms.
    • Usernames that praise highly contentious people, groups (also known as "hate groups"), or events—past, present, or future—associated with efforts intended to cause discriminatory, social, physical, emotional, or psychological harm to members of these groups.
  • Usernames that contain or imply personal attacks, or imply an intent to personally attack, harass, or threaten other Wikipedia editors.
  • Usernames that appear intended to disrupt legitimate Wikipedia discussions and processes by provoking negative emotional reactions from other editors (also known as "trolling").
  • Usernames that show or imply the intent to vandalize, disrupt, or engage in bad-faith editing or other disruptive behaviors that are clearly not intended to help build or improve Wikipedia in a positive or collaborative manner.

These accounts should be immediately blocked by administrators upon discovery. Administrators should also consider whether the usernames should be redacted from logs or edit revisions—especially if they are grossly offensive, destructive, or violent, are likely to offend many editors, or make threats of harm or imply an intent to cause harm. Usernames may still be considered inappropriate if they are offensive or disruptive in another language, satisfy one of the criteria above through misspellings or substitutions, or convey such meanings indirectly.

Usernames involving libelous, contentious, or non-public information

Any and all Wikipedia accounts, regardless of age, with usernames that meet any of the following criteria are not allowed and will be immediately blocked upon discovery:

  • Usernames that contain contentious or disparaging statements about another person (whether the person is another Wikipedia editor, a notable living or recently deceased person, or someone else).
  • Usernames that are clearly libelous, contain blatantly false or disparaging statements or accusations about another person, or constitute blatant violations of Wikipedia's policy on biographies of living people.
  • Usernames that contain any non-public or personally identifiable information about another person,[2] or contain any other information that would be deemed appropriate for suppression by an oversighter, e.g. usernames that state what the password to the account (apparently) is.

These accounts should be immediately blocked by administrators upon discovery. If such usernames are libelous or contain information that is usually suppressed (such as disclosure of non-public personally identifiable information about another editor, or blatantly libelous statements made about a notable living person), the username should be suppressed from all logs by an oversighter to protect Wikipedia and the subjects involved from any kind of negative fallout or harm as a result of the account creation. Requests for removing attack usernames from logs should be reported to the global stewards team for evaluation and private removal from all Wikimedia Foundation projects. This can be done either via IRC in the #wikimedia-stewards connect channel or via email to the stewards VRT queue at stewards-oversight@wikimedia.org.

Misleading usernames

Wikipedia accounts with usernames that meet any of the following criteria are not allowed because they may be misleading in a way that disrupts the project:

  • Usernames that impersonate other people (see § Real names and § Similar usernames below).
  • Usernames that give the impression that the account has permissions that it does not have; e.g. by containing the terms administrator, bureaucrat, steward, checkuser, oversight, or similar terms, such as admin, sysop, or moderator.
  • Usernames that imply that the account has explicit ownership of any Wikipedia articles, content, topic areas, or internal processes; has any kind of "power", "command", "control", or "authority" over other editors; or is subject to different standards of accountability under Wikipedia's policies and guidelines than other users (such as implying that certain policies do not apply to them).
  • Usernames that could easily be misunderstood as identifying a bot or script account, unless the account is of that type; such as ABC Bot, XYZ script.
  • Usernames that give the incorrect impression that the account is officially affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation; e.g. Foo (WMF), Bar (Wikimedia Foundation), Qux-WMF
  • Usernames that resemble temporary account serial numbers (e.g. ~2026-68474-41), IP addresses (historically used to designate non-logged-in users), timestamps (e.g. 00:40, 5 November 2026 (UTC)), or other names which would be confusing within the Wikipedia signature format.
  • Usernames that appear similar to naming conventions used by community administrative processes, such as those starting with Renamed user or Vanished user (see Wikipedia:Courtesy vanishing).

For accounts with usernames that are in this category, you should assume good faith in cases where the username could be interpreted ambiguously. For example, a new user who has a career as a systems operator (or sysop) might include that in their username, unaware of the policy prohibiting it. Before considering further action, attempts should typically be made to discuss the username policy and the specific concerns with the user, and to request that they change their username. In cases where the violation of policy or the user's intent is clear, or likely created in bad faith, you should exhibit the use of common sense and fair and level-headed judgment when determining the appropriate action to take. Accounts with usernames that are blatant and unambiguous violations and are clearly acting in bad faith should be reported by following the instructions on Wikipedia:Usernames for administrator attention.

Promotional usernames

Wikipedia accounts with usernames that meet any of the following criteria are not allowed because they are considered promotional:

  • Usernames that consist only of the name of a company, business, organization, website, product, musical group or band, team, club, creative group, or organized event (e.g. TownvilleWidgets, MyWidgetsUSA.com, TrammelMuseumofArt, OktoberfestBandConcert2019).
  • Usernames that consist only of email addresses or URLs to domains or websites (especially if they promote a commercial web page) and don't simply identify a person (e.g. sales@example.com).
    • This includes websites that are intended to generate revenue for their owner. Examples include Patreon pages, pages requesting donations, and revenue-generating affiliate links to vendors. Any page designed for one or more of these purposes should be treated as a commercial webpage and is therefore inappropriate for use in a username.
    • Usernames that only contain plain domain names on their own (those that do not include the top-level domain, such as .com, .net, .co.kr, etc. at the end) are sometimes acceptable (such as when the domain is a common word or phrase or the purpose is simply to identify the user as a person).
  • Usernames that are promotional or show that the user's primary intent is to advertise, promote, sell, gain support for, or increase awareness of any person, company, business, market, product, channel, website, or other good or service.

Users who both adopt a promotional username and engage in inappropriate advertising or promotional edits or behaviors – especially when made to their own user space or to articles about the company, business, group, or product – may be immediately blocked from editing Wikipedia and are usually blocked much sooner than users who engage in only one of the two behaviors. In such cases, administrators should examine the user's edits to decide whether to allow them to continue editing under a different username. If there is evidence that the user would continue to edit inappropriately under a new username, the administrator should enable the "autoblock any IP addresses used" and "block account creation" options when blocking the account. If there is no evidence—or if any available evidence is inconclusive—that the user would continue to edit inappropriately under a new username, these block options should be left disabled so that the user can create a new account with an appropriate username or have their current username changed. Before taking action, any disagreements about whether an account's username is acceptable should be discussed at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/User names first. Users who adopt promotional usernames but are not editing problematically in related articles should not be blocked. Instead, efforts should be made to contact the user and request that they change their username.

Usernames implying shared use

Wikipedia accounts with usernames that meet any of the following criteria are not allowed because they imply shared use under Wikipedia's policy regarding shared accounts:

  • Usernames that unambiguously represent companies or groups (these also fall under § Promotional usernames above). For example, ABC Inc, XYZ Foundation, or Foo University.
  • Usernames that imply shared access between two or more people, such as Jack and Jill.
  • Usernames that consist only of the name of a particular role, title, post, or position that can be transferred or held by different people at different times, such as Secretary of the XYZ Foundation or XYZ Club President.
  • Usernames that consist only of the name of a department, group, or team within a parent organization or group whose membership may include multiple people, such as Accounting Department at Company XYZ or XYZ Foundation Social Media Group.
    However, usernames are acceptable if they contain a company or group name but are clearly intended to denote an individual person, such as Mark at WidgetFactory, Jack Smith at the XYZ Foundation, or FacebookFanatic87.