Help:Moving Accounts to New Names

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Never create a new profile for yourself and never close an account unless you want to permanently end your participation on WikiTree. Here is how to change the name on an account.

See also:

Changing the Last Name in Your WikiTree ID

WikiTree IDs combine a person's Last Name at Birth with a number, e.g. Franklin-1.

To change your ID, change your Last Name at Birth. Select "Edit" on the pull-down menu that starts with your WikiTree ID at the top of this page and then click the "edit" link by your Last Name at Birth.

Use this to:

  1. correct a mistake, or
  2. increase your privacy by changing to an initial or "Anonymous" instead of a last name (this is not generally necessary or recommended, see Help:Anonymous Placeholder).

Note that when you change your Last Name at Birth, a new account profile will be created and your existing one will be merged into it. This will reset your account activation date, contribution count, and G2G forum profile.

Accounts Under Other People's Names

What if you registered in someone else's name, or merged someone else's profile into your own?

For example, let's say Joe Schmoe created his account in the name of George Washington and proceeded to start entering George Washington's family tree. Joe may have even posted comments and messages, which now appear as if they were posted by George Washington.

To correct this, simply:

  1. Change the information on the profile to your own information. You may need to edit almost everything except the e-mail address, including the family relationships. This shifts all the contributions to your name. Edits, additions, messages, etc., will now properly appear to have come from you instead of the other person.
  2. Create a new profile for the other person.

It is important to follow the two steps above. Do not create a new profile for yourself.

E-mail us at info@wikitree.com if you need help.



This page was last modified 21:40, 1 April 2024. This page has been accessed 5,036 times.