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Changing your preferred name or mailname through Subscribe

This article provides information to staff, visitors, and students about changing your preferred name and your university mailname on IT systems. Those changes will not amend neither HR records nor the Faculty Office records.

The article also provides direct links if you want to:

  • Request to change your HR or student record
  • Request to change / amend your Post title

Make changes to your IT account

Changing your preferred first or last name

Staff (and visitors) can add or change a preferred first name and a preferred last name to their IT account through Subscribe. Students can add or change only a preferred first name.
Please note: some University systems will use this in preference to your officially recorded name if you set it.

Instructions:

1. Sign in to Subscribe Self-service - section "Your name"

The link should open the page "Your name". If not, you can access that section through the Manage your account drop-down menu by selecting the following options:

  • Your personal details
  • Your preferred name

2. Enter your new preferred first / last name (or both)

3. Select the Save button to save your changes

Please note:  

  • Some (but not all) University systems will use this in preference to your officially recorded name if you set it.
  • Some University systems will only recognise the preferred first name. 
  • Your preferred names will be visible to other people across the University on Outlook, Teams and other Microsoft applications. We recommend choosing accordingly.
  • Staff, visitors, and students might have a profile on the University website, which likely will contain your first name, so it's usually not considered private information. If you still have concerns, you could change your preferred first name to just your initial. Please keep in mind that many University systems would refer to you by your initial and not your name.

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Changing your university mailname

You have several email addresses that are available for use. These addresses might appear in the format of: 

  • username@soton.ac.uk
  • username@southampton.ac.uk 
  • mailname@soton.ac.uk
  • mailname@southampton.ac.uk

You can receive email at any of these addresses, all will deliver email to the same place. Your Primary email address determines what will appear on emails that you send.

Overview of username and mailname

University username

The university username (also called user ID) is a unique identifier assigned to each student or staff/visitor member. You can use it to access various digital platforms and services provided by the university.

The format of the University of Southampton’s username is alphanumeric and looks like ab1c24.
University email addresses based on the username will be something like: 

  • ab1c24@soton.ac.uk 
  • ab1c24@southampton.ac.uk

Unfortunately, you cannot request to change your username at this stage because your username is the unique ID for your university IT account.

Mailname

Your mailname provides an alternative to using your username as an email address. By default, the format of the default mailname shows the first letter of your name, a full stop, and your surname as follows: A.Surname@soton.ac.uk 

University email addresses based on the username will be something like: 

  • ab1c24@soton.ac.uk 
  • ab1c24@southampton.ac.uk

Changing your mailname

You can change your university mailname through Subscribe Self-service.

Instructions:

1. Sign in to Subscribe Self-service - section "Your mailname"

The link should open the page "Your mailname". If not, you can access that section through the Manage your account drop-down menu by selecting the following options:

  • Your university email
  • Change mailname

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2. Enter your new mailname

3. Select Save to save the changes

Changing a primary email address

You have several email addresses that are available for use. You can receive email at any of these addresses (all will deliver email to the same place), but your Primary email address determines what will appear on emails that you send.

You can change your university primary email address through Subscribe Self-service.

Instructions:

1. Sign in to Subscribe Self-service - section "Your primary email address"

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2. Select the option that fits better for you
3. Select Save to save the changes

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Make changes to your HR or student record

Request to change your name in the University record

Your current name is taken from your official University record (either HR record or student record). 

If it is not correct or you want to change it, you can raise your request through the following forms: 

If this name change request is related to gender identity, please take the time to read the "Inclusion and Respectful Behaviour Policy (section 4.9)".

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Request to change / amendments to your Post title

You can request to change your Post title through the "Post Title Change" form.

If you are staff on an Education Research and Enterprise (ERE) pathway, you will need to contact AskHR.

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What happens after making the changes

Only the university systems that are using central data will show your changes. 

If you have signed up for an external service (or a mailing list) before updating your data:

  • The service / mailing list might show your old data
  • You might need to change the service's settings manually.

The change of the preferred first name only applies from the date that it was changed. All emails in your mailbox will still have your (and anyone else's) old name. This means that when you search your email for historical messages, you may need to consider the difference in names.

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Related content

Inclusion and Respectful Behaviour Policy

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Subscribe Self-service - Your computing account

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