DeviantART has been around for almost twelve years, and in that time, we've seen artists grow from hobbyists to students to professionals. As a member of any community, your identity can change and grow over time.





For years, we've been getting requests from the community asking for the ability to change usernames. We realize that as an artist, it's important to give you the ability to change your personal brand, just as you change your interests, skills, and art types.





How It Works







Deviants can now change their username in their Settings . To change your username, you must have an active Premium Membership . (The reason there is a "fee" associated with the change is because switching usernames is a complex technical process that can create confusions for fellow deviants.) Once changed, your previous username will redirect to your new profile. You can only change your username once per six months and you are not able to change back to the original username.





What Happens When You Change Usernames





Once you change your username, you will be logged out and asked to login again using your new username and existing password.







Everything will be transferred

Your deviations (artwork), favourites, watchers, messages, stats, settings, etc., will all be transferred to the new username. The only thing that doesn’t transfer are the places where people mentioned your old username in comments, journals, artwork descriptions, etc. However, those links will redirect to your new username.







Your watchers will be notified

Your watchers will get a notification in their Message Center informing them that you have changed your username. Also, "(formerly [username])" will display on your new username’s Profile Page and next to your username for one month. This notice will always display (even after the one month) if someone visits your old profile and is redirected to the new one.











Further Details

Username changes are available to anyone with an active Premium Membership -- whether you bought it yourself or it was gifted to you.



You cannot change your username to one that is taken even if you are the owner of both. You cannot claim a deactivated account.



You can simply change the capitalization of your username.

No one will be able to claim your old username.

Group username changes are not supported at this time.









Want to change your username? Upgrade to a Premium Membership.

Username changes have been one of our most requested features, and we're excited to offer this option. We understand the desire to adapt as you progress as an artist and it is our hope that username changes will facilitate this growth. As always, we're eager to hear your feedback!