Go to your profile picture, then Settings, then Account, click Change username, confirm with 'I understand, let's change my username', type the new name and click Change my username. Before you do, know that your old profile link will return a 404 error and your old username becomes available for anyone else to claim.
The clicks take a minute. The fallout can take a week to tidy, which is why this page puts what breaks before the how-to. All of it comes from GitHub's own documentation (its username concepts page, the how-to page and the username reference), as of Nov 2026.
It helps to remember what GitHub is: a developer platform where people create, store, manage and share their code, as GitHub's Wikipedia entry puts it. Your username is part of how all of that code gets found, which is why a rename reaches so far.
What breaks the moment you rename
Start with the headline from GitHub's docs: after changing your username, your old username becomes available for anyone else to claim. That's not a footnote. It shapes everything else on this page.
Next, your old profile address. Links to your previous profile page (github.com/previoususername) will return a 404 error. The same goes for your public and secret gist URLs. So every place you've pasted your GitHub link, a CV, a portfolio, an email signature or a social bio, now points at a dead end until you update it.
Then there's the stuff GitHub says it can't fix for you. It can't set up redirects for @mentions using your old username, or for links to gists that include the old username. And any CODEOWNERS files that list your old username will need to be manually updated.
One more that surprises developers: verified commits signed with the previous GitHub-provided noreply email lose their 'Verified' status after a rename. The commits are still there. They just stop showing as verified.
What GitHub redirects for you
It isn't all bad news. GitHub says most references to your repositories under the old username automatically change to the new username. However, it also says some links to your profile won't automatically redirect, which is the profile and gist problem above. Repositories mostly carry on; your identity links mostly don't.
The practical upshot: anyone who cloned your repositories can usually keep pushing and pulling for now, but anyone who clicks your name in an old README, blog post or slide deck hits a dead page. Plan your clean-up around the people who find you, not just the code, because the code largely looks after itself while your profile links don't.
The mistakes that bite later
Trusting the repository redirect forever
This is the catch. The repository redirect only holds while nobody else uses your old name. If the new owner of your old username creates a repository with the same name as yours, that overrides the redirect and yours stops working. GitHub's advice is to update your remote repository URLs rather than lean on the redirect. Do it the same day.
Assuming the old repository path stays free
For some public repositories, GitHub permanently retires the OLD-OWNER/REPOSITORY-NAME combination. That applies if the repository contains an action listed for others to use, or had more than 100 clones or more than 100 uses of GitHub Actions in the week before you rename. Container images that are public with more than 5,000 downloads have their full former name retired too.
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Panicking about the mobile app
GitHub Mobile may keep showing your original username until you log out. GitHub recommends signing out and back in. Nothing's broken; the app just hasn't caught up.
Changing it: the six clicks
- In the upper-right corner of any page, click your profile picture, then click Settings.
- In the left sidebar, click Account.
- In the 'Change username' section, click Change username.
- Click 'I understand, let's change my username'.
- Type your new username.
- Click Change my username.
Once that last click goes through, the rename is live, and GitHub's docs describe the old profile link returning a 404 error from then on, so assume the breakage starts straight away. Straight after, update your remote URLs, your CODEOWNERS files and every profile link you've shared. If you're in the middle of tidying your setup anyway, my list of prompts I'd give Copilot is a handy next stop.
When the name you want is taken
GitHub's docs are blunt: GitHub Support cannot release the unavailable username for you. If you hold a trademark on the name, GitHub points you to its Trademark Policy page instead. There's no back door, so pick a name you can live with before you start.
My view on renaming
If you've got a good reason, do it, but treat it like moving house rather than changing a profile setting. The real cost isn't the six clicks, it's the 404s, the lost 'Verified' badges and the old name sitting there for someone else to grab. Make a list of every place your GitHub link appears, rename, then work through that list the same day. And if this rename is part of a bigger rethink about where your code lives, my roundup of other code hosting options is worth a look first.
Quick answers
Does GitHub redirect my old username?
GitHub says most references to your repositories update automatically, but links to your old profile page will return a 404 error, and so will public and secret gist URLs.
Can someone else take my old GitHub username?
Yes. GitHub's docs say your old username becomes available for anyone else to claim after you change it.
Will my commits stay verified after a rename?
Commits signed with the previous GitHub-provided noreply email lose their 'Verified' status after a rename.
Can GitHub Support free up a taken username for me?
No. GitHub says Support cannot release the unavailable username; trademark holders use the Trademark Policy page.
