How to Change Your Minecraft Name (All Platforms, 2026)

To change your Minecraft name on Java, sign in at minecraft.net, open your profile, and edit your username. It's free, once every 30 days. On Bedrock (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, mobile), your in-game name is just your Microsoft/Xbox gamertag, so you change it in your Microsoft account. Heads up: leaving a name starts its ~37-day drop clock.

How do I change my Minecraft name?

It depends on which version you play. Java has its own username. Bedrock just uses your Xbox gamertag.

On PC with the launcher, owning Minecraft: Java Edition? You change the name in your Microsoft profile.

On Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, or your phone? That's Bedrock. Your name there is your gamertag, so you change it in your Microsoft account instead.

Both versions share one catch. The second you drop a name, a clock starts ticking on it. More on that at the bottom.

Java: step-by-step

Changing a Java name is free and takes about two minutes. Here's the order that works:

1. Go to minecraft.net and sign in with the Microsoft account that owns the game.
2. Open your account or profile page. Your username usually sits near the top.
3. Find the username section and pick the option to change it.
4. Type the name you want. If it's taken or locked, you'll get an error.
5. Confirm. The new name shows up in-game shortly after.

Want to know if a name is even grabbable before you try? You can check availability first, or look up its value range on the estimate page.

Quick note on the name itself: Java usernames are 3 to 16 characters, with only letters, numbers, and underscores. The full breakdown is in our username rules guide.

Bedrock: it's your Xbox gamertag

On Bedrock, there's no separate Minecraft name. Your in-game name is your Microsoft/Xbox gamertag. Change the gamertag and your Minecraft name changes right along with it.

This holds on every Bedrock device: Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Windows, iOS, and Android. They all sign in with one Microsoft account.

To change it:

1. Sign in to your Microsoft/Xbox account, on console, in the Xbox app, or at xbox.com.
2. Open your profile and choose to change your gamertag.
3. Pick a new one. Microsoft gives you one free gamertag change, and after that it usually costs money.

So the "free once every 30 days" rule is a Java thing. Bedrock plays by Microsoft's gamertag rules, which work differently.

How often can you change it?

On Java, you can change your name once every 30 days. After each change, that 30-day cooldown locks you out until it runs down.

There's also a separate technical cap from Mojang. Their systems rate limit name changes to roughly 3 per account per minute. That mostly matters for tools and rapid repeat tries, not a normal one-off rename.

Bedrock runs on Microsoft's clock, not the 30-day Java rule. Your first gamertag change is free, then extra ones generally cost.

If you're timing a change around a name that's about to drop, those cooldowns matter a lot. We walk through the timing in the rules guide above.

Is changing your name free?

On Java, yes, name changes are completely free, once every 30 days. You don't pay Mojang a cent to rename your account.

On Bedrock it's free the first time only. Microsoft hands every account one free gamertag change, and after that a new gamertag typically carries a fee.

What's never an official cost: paying someone to "get" or "transfer" a name for you. Selling and trading names breaks Mojang and Microsoft rules, and buyers can get clawed back with no refund and a possible ban.

Curious what names actually go for? The honest answer is that most public numbers are asking prices, not confirmed sales. You can see real floors, trends, and logged sales on the market index.

What happens to your old name after?

The second you change away from a name, its ~37-day drop clock starts. Your old name doesn't free up instantly, and it doesn't free up forever either. It runs a set schedule.

Here's the timeline once you leave a name:

Stage	What happens
Days 0-30	Old name is locked. Nobody can take it.
Days 30-37	A 7-day window where only you, the original owner, can reclaim it.
Around day 37	If you don't reclaim it, the name drops and opens up to everyone.

So if you change your mind, you've got until about day 37 to grab your old name back. Miss that window and it's fair game.

One honest warning: people expect drops to hit at an exact second. They don't anymore. Real drop times are fuzzy, hours to days, not a clean countdown. We explain why in our 37-day rule guide.

Two related reads if you're worried: what happened to the name history API, and how to recover a hacked account if your name changed without your say-so.