PayPal has been around for over two decades now. The online payment service is one of the dinosaurs of web services. And if you've been using it for a long time, you may need to change your name on the site.
If you can't change your PayPal username, you can change the display name associated with your account and disable your PayPal.Me link (the link that allows you to receive payments). We'll show you how to do this in your PayPal account.
When you want to change your name on PayPal, the site may ask you to upload supporting documents proving that your new name is legal. This is because PayPal does not want you to hide your identity or pretend to be other people on its platform.
As for the PayPal.Me link, you can't change it once it's created. But you can disable this link if you don't want people to use it to send you money. I'll explain how to do it at the end of the article.
Change your name on PayPal
As mentioned above, it is not possible to change your username on PayPal, however, it is possible to change the displayed name. But this procedure is strictly regulated by the site which wants to avoid usurpations and other crazy things!
Therefore, to change your name on PayPal, you may be asked to upload an official document indicating the new name. This document can be a photo ID, a passport, a driver's license or any other official government or state issued identification.
If you only want to change one or two characters to correct a typo, PayPal will let you do it once without asking for identification.
To get started, log in to your account PayPal.
Once logged in, click on the small gear at the top right of the home page corresponding to your account preferences.
On the next page, next to your name, click “Edit Name.”
You will arrive at a page asking you why you want to change your name:
- marriage, divorce… resulting in the change of your legal name
- name update (to replace a pseudo for example)
- minor correction (1 or 2 characters)
Select the pattern and click next.
On the “Change your name” page, you will be able to change your first name as well as your last name. Once the change is made, click on “Continue”.
As stated above, if you only want to make a minor correction PayPal will not ask you for anything, otherwise you will have to upload your ID.
Once PayPal approves your request, you will see your new name on your account.
This is simply how to change your name on PayPal!
Disable your PayPal.Me link
PayPal.Me is a link that you can share with your contacts so they can send you money very easily. It uses your username.
Unlike your account name, you cannot change your PayPal.Me link once you have created it. However, you can disable this link to prevent people to send you money.
To do this, log in to your PayPal account.
Once logged in, click on the small gear at the top right of the home page corresponding to your account preferences.
Next to your current PayPal.Me link, click "Manage".
You will then find yourself on the edit page of your profile.
Scroll down to the “Profile Status” section and click the button to turn it off.
A page will open to confirm the profile deactivation. Confirm!
And there you have it, your PayPal.Me link will no longer be functional.
