Changing your display name in Zoom, Meet, Skype and Teams calls

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It’s sometimes helpful to change your displayed name for an online call, here’s how to do it in Zoom and the limitations of Skype, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.

The displayed name can be helpful in both casual and business calls.

Source: Zoom

For a business call, you might prefer to add your team or position to your label. For a more friendly meeting, drop last names.

  • Peter –  HR leader
  • Paul – IT liaison
  • Mary – VP for Marketing
  • Crosby – Ad Agency rep

In a casual group call, change the name to an alias, team name (for quizzes) or just something fun or personal (Grandma)

Zoom

Zoom makes name changes within a call or meeting easy.  Change the displayed name within any call, though the setting isn’t where most people expect it.

In a call, go to the Participants list and choose yourself (‘Me’) then Rename.

In the Zoom mobile apps it’s in the same place under ‘Participants’.

(Most people look under Meeting settings to rename themselves which is understandable but wrong).

Teams

You can’t easily change your name just for Teams calls.  That applies to both Guests and Users.

Only Administrators can change names and that change applies everywhere not just in calls.

Go to Admin Home | Users | choose a user then edit the name in the Identity section.

Skype

Skype accounts are linked to a Microsoft account and there’s no feature to change the label for a single call.

The workaround is to change the name on your Microsoft account – which is way too much trouble for a simple label on a video call.

Google Meet

It’s the same problem with Google Meet (formerly Hangouts). Changing the name label requires a change of name for the linked Google account.

A Modest Proposal …

Microsoft and Google may not have a name change option within a Teams, Skype or Meet call for security reasons.  There’s a legitimate concern that someone might get into a meeting and pretend to be someone else.

There’s a simple answer to that.  Retain the ‘fixed’ name display but allow users to add a label on a per call basis e.g.

  • Harry Secombe (Neddy from The Goon Show)
  • Kenneth Horne (Round the Horne)
  • Kenneth Williams (too many characters to list here).
  • Betty Marsden (Many times. Many, many times)

Clever tricks with Zoom

Adding Virtual Background or blurred video to Teams

Use the Force with your PowerPoint & Zoom backgrounds