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Don't Like Your Gmail Email Address? You Can Finally Change It

'John Smith' probably already created another account a long time ago, otherwise he has a problem... xD So I don't see much point in it.
 
Archmage said:
The problem isn’t my email address, it’s everybody else with the same first name and last name who thinks my email address is their email address 😩
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This, this, this.

I've had my gmail account since early 2006, and why Google is still letting people register a variant of my email address (with a period somewhere within) and I get their email is mind boggling.

I've received wills. Tax returns. Legal documents. Random emails of people planning a vacation. Invoices. Receipts. Very personal emails (no nudes, however). It goes on and on. All because there are at least a dozen (if not more) people with the same first initial, last name as me who signed up after I did, hand out my address as their own, and their stuff comes to me.
 
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Kind of off topic, but has anyone noticed an uptick in spam getting through the gmail filter? The filter used to be pretty solid, but in the last year or so I'm seeing one or two emails make it through - and not regular looking emails either - they're very obviously spam.
 
This is kind of an exercise in futility in 2026. I've spent my morning trying unique email addresses that I would like to change to. Obviously, they're not unique enough as all are taken. I'm going to have to pick something really off the wall like Platypus.Spatula.
 
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Rob9874 said:
This is kind of an exercise in futility in 2026. I've spent my morning trying unique email addresses that I would like to change to. Obviously, they're not unique enough as all are taken. I'm going to have to pick something really off the wall like PlatypusSpatula.
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I like that for my possible new Xbox Gamertag if its not too long.
 
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to add context, this announcement is only that it's finished rolling out to U.S. users. it's actually been rolling out in other countries for months.
 
I miss my old Mac.com email, it was 12 total characters (only 4 before @mac.com). Unfortunately, $99 a year was too much for me to afford while I was in college, so I let it go and switched to gmail. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have kept it.
 
The coolest email address I ever had was uli@3dfx.com 😎
Unfortunately 3dfx is history since long ago and today this extremely short email address would get more spam than would fit into the inbox.
 
Timpetus said:
I miss my old Mac.com email, it was 12 total characters (only 4 before @mac.com). Unfortunately, $99 a year was too much for me to afford while I was in college, so I let it go and switched to gmail. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have kept it.
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Yes, same here. I still have some apps linked to my mac.com email address.
 
Does this mean I can change mine to one of the pre-existing alias’ for my address? Gmail addresses ignore dots so all variants with and without dots in them are yours. Any emails sent to them arrive in your inbox, but you can’t change the sending address, instead it remains in whatever format you setup it up as.

Someone used one of my aliases, my email address but with no dots, to somehow sign up to PayPal, and I’ve been unable to convince PayPal to remove it from their systems because I can’t send an email from that address to request its removal (despite me explaining and sending links to the Gmail support page documenting how dots are ignored). This would finally let me sort that!
 
ignatius345 said:
I got into Gmail early and snagged a coveted short handle (my first initial and last name, with no extra numbers or anything). Score.

But honestly, I wish I hadn’t because I get such an absurd amount of crap directed to idiots who have my same last name and first initial. You would sort of think that if you’re giving out an address and never receiving any emails that you’d figure it out, but no.

I finally just started cancelling people’s appointments and declining their landscaping estimates because I’m so sick of it.
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I've been tempted, but never gone that far. Could have easily wrecked someone's travel plans.

The idiots who don't know their own email address are half the problem. The other half are the idiot companies that don't implement challenge/response systems during account signups.

The other issue with easily predictable addresses is that spammers more easily figure them out, versus more unique examples.

All this happens with iCloud as well, to a lesser degree. Random misdirects from an @icloud.com address to my iTools .mac account.
 
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TheIntruder said:
I've been tempted, but never gone that far.
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I've only done it after certain people have just bombarded me with their crap. I've tried responding to some of the emails, telling the car service department or whatever to kindly let this person know they're using the wrong address. I figure a cancelled oil change appointment or something will probably start getting their attention.
 
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I was about to create a new email account for spam emails and just saw this… I’m thankful for the Mac rumors site. Thanks guys. I don’t know if I would have seen this on any other news site. So like you retain ownership of the original but you create a new name? I don’t know how this works. Let’s say your email has been compromised or been part of a data leak and you want to create something new?
 
ignatius345 said:
I've only done it after certain people have just bombarded me with their crap. I've tried responding to some of the emails, telling the car service department or whatever to kindly let this person know they're using the wrong address. I figure a cancelled oil change appointment or something will probably start getting their attention.
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I do admit to things like changing their credentials to something like "CantTypeMyOwnEmail@foo.com" or variations of the same. 😉

But the things you discover…there's some guy with a similar name structure in Europe who is behind on their car payments…the cost of CO2 service for fountain drink machines at fast food joints…how much paper cups cost a South African café.

The worst of the companies are those that don't verify addresses…and don't offer automated methods to unsubscribe. I sent a message to one, and they responded like they didn't comprehend the situation and it was my fault!
 
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