- What are pronouns on a YouTube channel?
- Where pronouns show up (and where they don't)
- A real example from a client channel
- How to add pronouns to your YouTube channel: step by step
- Should you add them?
- Pronouns and building trust with your audience
- What to write if you're not sure
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources worth reading
The short version: YouTube channel pronouns are a small setting in YouTube Studio that lets you display she/her, he/him, they/them, or a custom pronoun set next to your channel name on your About page. You add them in Customization, under Basic info, in under two minutes, but the feature is far more limited than most creators assume, and I'll tell you exactly where it does and doesn't appear.
What are pronouns on a YouTube channel?
YouTube rolled out channel pronouns in 2021 as a small identity field creators could add to their channel details. It sits alongside your channel name, handle, and description on your About page. You pick from a short preset list (he/him, she/her, they/them) or type a custom option, and you can display up to two pronoun sets at once.
That's it. It's not a badge, it's not a verified tag, and YouTube doesn't check or moderate what you enter beyond basic content filters. It's a self-reported field, the same as your channel description or your links.
I mention this plainly because I've had clients message me thinking pronouns work like a verification checkmark, something that gets reviewed or approved. It doesn't. You type it, you save it, it appears. No gatekeeping either way.
Where pronouns show up (and where they don't)
This is the part most guides skip, and it matters more than the setup steps. Pronouns show up:
- On your channel's About page, next to your name
- In your channel's basic info panel, visible if a viewer clicks "more" under your channel header
Pronouns do not show up:
- On individual video pages under your channel name
- In video descriptions or on thumbnails
- In comments you leave on other channels
- In search results or on the YouTube homepage
- In Shorts, on the creator name tag
I tested this on my own channel and on two client channels back in early 2025. Even after adding pronouns, none of them appeared anywhere except that About tab. A viewer has to actively click into your channel page and then click to expand the details. Most people never do that. If you're adding pronouns hoping for visibility on your content itself, you'll be disappointed. The reach is small, and that's worth knowing before you build any expectation around it.
A real example from a client channel
One of my coaching clients, a non-binary creator running a small business advice channel with around 40,000 subscribers, added their pronouns to the channel in 2024 hoping it would cut down on repeated misgendering in business emails and brand partnership calls. It didn't move the needle much, because brands and viewers were pulling their name and assumed pronoun from the video itself, not from the About page nobody visits.
What worked was adding pronouns directly into the channel description text (the paragraph that does show up more prominently) and in the pinned comment on their most-watched video. That combination got noticed. The Studio pronoun field alone did almost nothing measurable. I share this because it's the kind of detail that separates a feature existing from a feature working, and creators deserve to know the difference before they spend time on it.
How to add pronouns to your YouTube channel: step by step
Here's the exact path, current as of 2026:
- Sign in to YouTube on desktop and go to YouTube Studio
- Click "Customization" in the left-hand menu
- Click the "Basic info" tab
- Scroll down to find the "Pronouns" field
- Choose from the preset options or select "Add custom pronouns" to type your own
- You can add up to two pronoun sets
- Click "Publish" in the top right corner to save
On mobile, the option currently lives in the YouTube app under your profile icon, then "Your channel," then the pencil edit icon, then "Basic info." It's a bit more buried on mobile, so I'd recommend doing this on a laptop or desktop the first time.
Changes usually appear within a few minutes, sometimes up to an hour if YouTube's cache is slow that day. No approval process, no review queue.
Should you add them?
Here's the uncomfortable bit nobody wants to say plainly: adding pronouns to a public YouTube channel with any real audience size can invite targeted comments, and YouTube's comment moderation tools are not great at catching coded harassment around gender identity specifically. I've seen it happen to two people I've worked with directly. Neither regretted adding their pronouns, but both had to spend more time than expected setting up comment filters and blocked-words lists in Studio afterward.
That's not a reason to skip it. It's a reason to set up your moderation settings first (Studio, Settings, Community, Automated filters) before you publish the pronoun field, not after. Add your held-for-review words list, turn on the "hold potentially inappropriate comments for review" toggle, and check it daily for the first week or two after the change goes live.
If you run a small channel under a few thousand subscribers, this risk is low. If you're at 50,000 subscribers or more, or you cover any topic that already draws heated comments (politics, gender, parenting, religion), expect at least a small spike in comment volume worth watching.
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Pronouns and building trust with your audience
A pronoun field is one tiny piece of a much bigger picture: how much a viewer trusts you within the first thirty seconds of finding your channel. I've written before about the small, specific things that build that trust fast, and pronouns fit into the same category as a clear channel description, a consistent upload schedule, and a bio that says exactly who you are and what you make, the kind of small consistent signals covered in these blogging tricks for building trust with your ideal customers, most of which translate directly to video content too.
Pronouns won't grow your channel. Trust signals stacked together do. Treat the pronoun field as one small honest detail among several, not a standalone strategy.
What to write if you're not sure
If you're not certain what to put, here's what I tell clients: put whatever is accurate and comfortable for you right now, not what you think sounds most professional or most inclusive to an audience you're guessing at. You can change it any time in thirty seconds. Nothing locks in permanently. If you're unsure whether to add anything at all, it's completely fine to leave the field blank. YouTube doesn't require it, doesn't prompt for it repeatedly, and a blank field doesn't read as a statement one way or the other to most viewers.
If you want the full set, start at the Grow YouTube Views and Subscribers: 1 New Sub a Day.
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Related: the no code page.
Frequently asked questions
Do YouTube channel pronouns show up under every video?
No. Pronouns only display on your channel's About page and in the expanded basic info panel, not on individual videos, thumbnails, Shorts, or in comments you leave elsewhere on the platform.
Can I add more than one pronoun set to my YouTube channel?
Yes, YouTube allows up to two pronoun sets per channel, chosen from presets like she/her, he/him, and they/them, or entered as custom text.
Does adding pronouns affect YouTube's algorithm or search ranking?
No, there's no evidence or documentation suggesting pronouns influence recommendations, search ranking, or watch time metrics in any way. It's purely a display field, not a ranking signal.
Can I remove or change my YouTube channel pronouns later?
Yes, go back to YouTube Studio, Customization, Basic info, and edit or clear the Pronouns field at any time. Changes publish within minutes and there's no limit on how often you can update it.
