Display Names

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What is a display name?
• Allowed characters
• Setting or changing your display name
• Showing or hiding others' display names

What is a display name?

Display names have the following definition and characteristics:

• A name you choose, shown to other avatars in the Second Life virtual world;
• A string of characters, up to 31 characters long, that contains at least one alphanumeric character. It can include spaces, some punctuation, and some Unicodescript characters;

  Unicode characters are not technically supported and many Unicode characters will not be compatible with display names. If you choose to use any that are not, your display name will revert to your username, and you may have to wait the standard seven days to be able to change it again.

• Distinct from the username you use to log in;
• Not necessarily unique; other avatars may have the same display name as you.

You can choose whether or not to show other Residents' display names and usernames inworld. If you choose to view display names or usernames, they appear in the name tags above every avatar and in chat.

Allowed characters

In addition to letters and numbers, you can use the following characters in your display name:

• ' (apostrophe)
• - (hyphen-minus)
• . (full stop)
• : (colon)
• · (middle dot)
• ֊ ֊  (Armenian hyphen)
•  (Hebrew geresh)
• ״ (Hebrew gershayim)
• ་ (Tibetan tsheg)
• - (hyphen)
• ’ (right single quotation mark)
• ‧ (hyphenation point)
• = (katakana-hiragana double hyphen)
• · (katakana middle dot)

Setting or changing your display name

You can change your display name once every seven days, but you can Reset it at any time, which makes it appear as your "classic" Second Life first name and last name, or your username.

To set or change your display name:

1. Log into the Second Life viewer.
2. In the Second Life Viewer, click Me > Profile or  in the toolbar.
3. Click the Actions drop down and select Edit Display Name.
4. Type the desired display name in the field under New Display Name.
5. Type the name again to confirm.
6. Click Save.

Showing or hiding others' display names

To show or hide display names inworld, both in chat and over all avatars:

1. Log into the Second Life viewer.
2. Choose Me > Preferences from the top menu.
3. Click the General tab.
4. Select the View Display Names checkbox. If the box is checked, display names are shown. If the box is unchecked, display names are hidden.
5. Click OK.

Don't see what you need here? Check out our expanded Knowledge Base article!