can you change your name on twitch

Emotes are one of the most exciting features on Twitch! Every eligible streamer can upload their own unique emotes, allowing active subscribers to use them freely across the platform. Emote codes are made up of a predetermined 6 letter prefix code followed by whatever word the streamer determines is the best to represent the emote. This prefix will be very similar to the name attached to your account at the time custom emotes were unlocked.

Having meaningful and relevant names for your emotes is definitely a great way to reinforce your brand. This guide will cover everything you need to know if you are interested in changing your emote prefix on Twitch.

Requirements to Change Twitch Emote Prefix

If you are looking to change your Twitch Emote Prefix, one of two scenarios must be true:

1. Twitch Affiliate

You are already a Twitch Affiliate and you've just changed your Twitch name.
2. Twitch Partner

You were approved for becoming a Twitch Partner. (Congrats!)

An attempt to contact Twitch for a new emote prefix for anything other than these 2 reasons will likely be ignored.

Steps to Changing Twitch Emote Prefix

Changing your emote prefix is easy! It just takes a little navigation through your Creator Dashboard. Affiliates and Partners have slightly different methods of doing this, but we'll be sure to cover both!

As a Twitch Affiliate:

Step 1

Log in to your Twitch account.
Step 2

Click on your profile picture in the top right corner, then select "Creator Dashboard."
Step 3

Now you're inside of your Stream Manager. In the top left corner, you'll see your Creator Dashboard.

Note: If you don't see it, that is because it's most likely hidden. Click the Expand Left Navigation button to reveal the dashboard.
Step 4

In the Creator Dashboard, click on Settings. This will make a drop down list of a few more options. From here, click on "Affiliate". Of course, if you are a Twitch Partner, it will say "Partner" instead.
Step 5

Underneath Onboarding, you'll see a section titled "Subscriptions". In the Emotes section, you'll see a link prompting you to go to the Emotes page. This page came in a pretty recent update, so editing your emotes may look a little different if you haven't done so in awhile!
Step 6

Inside of the Subscriber Emotes section, you'll see a section titled Emote Prefix. If you are eligible to change it, there will be a button that says "Update Prefix". Click it and your new prefix will be assigned to you immediately.

If that button is not visible, you are unable to change it at this time.

Reasons to Change Emote Prefix on Twitch

There are a few reasons that you may want to change your emote prefix on Twitch. Here are a few examples:

Username Change

Perhaps you've recently changed your username and your old prefix no longer represents your brand. As a Twitch Affiliate, you can update your emote prefix once every time you change your username. You may change your name on Twitch once every 60 days, but discarded usernames are not released back into the pool of available names for at least 6 months.

The emote prefix takes the first 6 letters of your username, and it is followed by a number if your name is any longer than that. The number at the end represents the amount of other streamers who have registered emotes with the same 6 letter prefix before you.
Partner Status

If you've reached Partner status on Twitch, you are eligible to receive a custom prefix for your emotes!

Up until pretty recently, you would've had to contact Partner support by submitting a ticket on the support page while logged in from your partnered account, including multiple options in case your desired prefix had already been taken.

Luckily, the process is much easier now! In the same spot we just found in the Creator Dashboard you are allowed to change your emote prefix every 60 days via the Emotes page. You account must also be in good standing with the Terms of Service and Community Guidelines within the last 60 days of the change.

ArryBo, a Twitch Partner and another content writer here at StreamScheme, was kind enough to show us what that looks like from a partner's perspective:

Custom prefixes must abide by the following guidelines:
- Cannot begin with a number
- Must be alphanumeric (no special characters)
- Must be between 3 and 10 characters long
- Cannot use capital letters