Change your YouTube channel handle (@name)

Prepare your new handle and note where you share your channel link, such as your website or another social profile. Then open YouTube Studio, your channel dashboard. You can check whether the handle is available before confirming the change.

Change your handle in YouTube Studio

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio with the account that manages the channel.
2. In the left menu, open Customization and select Profile.
3. Under Handle, enter the new @handle.
4. Check that it is available, then select Publish to confirm the change.

YouTube lets you change your handle up to twice within a 14-day period. It holds your old handle for 14 days in case you want to switch back. During that time, both the old and new URLs work. Afterward, the old handle may become available to another channel.

Check the naming rules first

As a general rule, a handle is 3 to 30 characters, though YouTube lists different limits for some writing systems. It can use letters or numbers from supported languages. Allowed separators are underscores (_), hyphens (-), periods (.) and Latin middle dots (·); these cannot go at the start or end. It cannot look like a URL or phone number, already be in use, or violate YouTube’s Community Guidelines. Supported characters depend on language and script.

If your preferred handle is unavailable, YouTube suggests trying periods, numbers, or underscores. It may still be unavailable because another channel uses it or it does not meet the naming guidelines. Do not confuse a handle change with a channel name change: the channel name has its own limit and changing it can remove a verification badge.

Confirm the new link

After publishing, return to the profile and copy the URL shown with your updated handle. Try it in a new browser window and check external links you control. Existing custom YouTube URLs continue to work, though some apps may not display handles with non-Latin characters correctly.

See YouTube’s help for changing a handle and handle naming guidelines. If you meant the channel’s public title, edit Name in the same profile and follow its separate rules.

To update how your channel appears, see how to change your YouTube channel name and description and check the conditions before changing the name.