How to change your Gmail address: Some Google users now able to alter account

The option to change Gmail addresses is now available for some Google Account users.

Kelvin Chan
AP
No more embarrassing Gmail addresses, with Google announcing users can change them. (Dan Peled/AAP PHOTOS)
No more embarrassing Gmail addresses, with Google announcing users can change them. (Dan Peled/AAP PHOTOS) Credit: AAP

Good news for people who regret the Gmail address they came up with when they registered for an account.

Google is now letting users change it.

The company started quietly rolling out the change late in 2025 in India and said this week in a blog post that it is now available for all Google Account users in the United States.

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There were no details on when it would be available to users in other countries.

Google’s CEO suggested the update will be welcomed by people who want to keep their accounts but have outgrown the awkward, embarrassing or nonsensical Gmail handles they created after the service launched 22 years ago.

“2004 was a good year, but your Gmail address doesn’t need to be stuck in it,” Sundar Pichai wrote on X, adding that the policy change means users could “say goodbye to v0t3f0rp3dr02004@gmail.com or mrbrightside416@gmail.com (or whatever you were into at the time).”

The company also updated a help page to reflect the new policy.

But what if you still like your old Gmail address? Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to access it because Google is effectively creating a second Gmail address.

The old address will remain as an alternate email address and messages sent to either your old or new Google Account addresses will appear in your Gmail inbox.

You can switch back to the old address by changing the settings in your Google account.

If you don’t like the new Gmail address you’ve created, unfortunately you’re out of luck - at least for the next year.

Google won’t let you create another Gmail address for your account until 12 months have passed. And you can only do so three times in total.

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