How to Change Your Nickname on a Discord Server
Per-server nicknames, and what to do when the option is missing
Staff Writer · · 2 min read
Discord gives you two names to work with. There's your username, which is global and the same everywhere you go, and there's a nickname, which applies to one server only.
Because changing your nickname in one server has no effect anywhere else, it's useful for servers where people go by real names, in-game handles, or some particular naming convention.
Changing it on desktop
Click the server name at the top of the channel list and choose Edit Server Profile. Type a new nickname and save.
You can also right-click your own name in the member list on the right and choose Edit Server Profile, which does exactly the same thing.
Changing it on mobile
Tap the server name, then the three dots, then Edit Server Profile. Enter the nickname and save.
When the option is grayed out
Changing your own nickname requires the Change Nickname permission, and some servers turn it off for everyone below a certain role, usually to enforce a naming convention or to stop people impersonating staff.
So if the option is missing or seems to do nothing, that's almost certainly why. Ask a moderator, because they have Manage Nicknames and can set one for you.
Changing someone else's
If you have the Manage Nicknames permission you can right-click any member and edit their nickname, though role hierarchy still applies. You can't change the nickname of someone whose highest role sits above yours, and nobody at all can change the server owner's.
Removing a nickname
Clear the field and save, and you'll go back to displaying your global display name or username.
Nickname, display name, username
There are three things here, which is two more than most people expect:
Username is your unique handle, lowercase, one per account, and it's how people add you as a friend.
Display name is the friendlier name shown by default across Discord, and changing it changes it everywhere.
Nickname overrides your display name in a single server.
Nicknames win over display names wherever both exist, so if you've set a nickname in a server, that's what people there will see no matter what you change globally.