Platform reference
Username rules by platform
Compare username length, allowed characters and name change limits across 5 platforms. Each row links to the official help page.
Updated on
The username format checker checks the characters and length of the name you enter.
01 Overview
Overview
Compare the main rules below. Each platform’s section includes details, sources and the date the rules were checked.
| Platform | Name type | Length | Unique? | Name changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discord | Name type Username | Length 2 characters → 32 characters | Unique? Yes — two accounts cannot have the same username. | Name changes Up to twice a week. The account must have a verified email address or phone number. |
| Discord | Name type Display name | Length 1 character → 32 characters | Unique? No — several people can use the same display name. | Name changes No limit: change it at any time. |
| Twitch | Name type Username | Length 4 characters → 25 characters | Unique? Yes — first come, first served. A username released by a non-partner account stays unavailable for at least 180 days, around six months, before another account can claim it. | Name changes Once every 60 days. Changes are blocked during a live stream or a VOD upload, and the email address must be verified. |
| Twitch | Name type Display name | Length Not documented in the official sources reviewed | Unique? Not a separate requirement for a regular display name: it uses the already unique username with different capitalisation. A localised display name must be unique. | Name changes No limit for regular display names. Once every 60 days for a localised display name, which is not reserved after a change. |
| YouTube | Name type Handle (@name) | Length 3 characters. Exceptions: 1 character for Chinese and Korean; 2 for Ethiopic and Japanese kana (hiragana and katakana). → 30 characters. Exceptions: 10 characters for Chinese and Korean; 20 for Ethiopic and Japanese kana. Mixed-script handles may have other limits. | Unique? Yes — the handle must be available, and each channel has only one. | Name changes Up to twice in a 14-day period. |
| YouTube | Name type Channel name | Length Not documented in the official sources reviewed | Unique? Not documented in the official sources reviewed | Name changes Up to twice in a 14-day period. Changing your channel name removes its verification badge. |
| TikTok | Name type Username | Length 2 characters → 24 characters | Unique? Yes — the name must be available. It may already be taken or reserved by a suspended or deactivated account. | Name changes Once every 30 days. A released username remains unavailable for an unspecified period before an account can claim it. |
| TikTok | Name type Nickname (displayed name) | Length Not documented in the official sources reviewed → 30 characters | Unique? Not documented in the official sources reviewed | Name changes Once every 7 days. |
| Name type Username | Length Not documented in the official sources reviewed → 30 characters | Unique? Yes — you cannot claim a username already used by someone else. | Name changes The pages reviewed do not give a fixed waiting period. A change may be reviewed for accounts that reach many people. A name recently released by an active account you do not own may not be available. | |
| Name type Name | Length Not documented in the official sources reviewed | Unique? Not documented in the official sources reviewed | Name changes Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
Discord
| Minimum length | 2 characters |
|---|---|
| Maximum length | 32 characters |
| Allowed characters | Unaccented letters (a-z), numbers (0-9), underscores (_) and periods (.) are allowed. Usernames appear in lowercase. |
| Not allowed | Accents, spaces, emoji and other scripts are not allowed. Two consecutive periods are rejected (.a.b. is allowed, a..b. is not). |
| Must it be unique? | Yes — two accounts cannot have the same username. |
| When can you change it? | Up to twice a week. The account must have a verified email address or phone number. |
| Effect on the profile link | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| How to check it yourself | Try the username in your account settings. The help page reviewed does not provide a separate availability checker. If it is taken, Discord suggests adding numbers, underscores or periods. |
| Official sources | |
| Checked on |
| Minimum length | 1 character |
|---|---|
| Maximum length | 32 characters |
| Allowed characters | Uppercase letters, accents, other scripts, symbols, spaces and emoji are allowed. |
| Not allowed | No official character list. Discord’s Community Guidelines apply. |
| Must it be unique? | No — several people can use the same display name. |
| When can you change it? | No limit: change it at any time. |
| Effect on the profile link | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| How to check it yourself | No availability check is needed: display names do not have to be unique. |
| Official sources | |
| Checked on |
Nymforge’s advice Choose your username first: it requires lowercase, unaccented letters. Build your display name around it to avoid ending up with a shortened username that no longer matches.
The Discord generator applies these rules as you generate names. Generate a Discord name
Twitch
| Minimum length | 4 characters |
|---|---|
| Maximum length | 25 characters |
| Allowed characters | Unaccented letters (a-z), numbers (0-9) and underscores (_). The first character must be a letter or a number. |
| Not allowed | Spaces, accents, periods and other symbols are not allowed. A username cannot start with an underscore (_). |
| Must it be unique? | Yes — first come, first served. A username released by a non-partner account stays unavailable for at least 180 days, around six months, before another account can claim it. |
| When can you change it? | Once every 60 days. Changes are blocked during a live stream or a VOD upload, and the email address must be verified. |
| Effect on the profile link | The channel URL changes immediately. The old URL does not redirect to the new name and may stop working. Twitch asks you to update the link everywhere you use it. |
| How to check it yourself | In Settings > Profile Settings, enter the username: a green check appears if it is available. |
| Official sources | |
| Checked on |
| Minimum length | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
|---|---|
| Maximum length | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| Allowed characters | The same username with different capitalisation. Localised display names are available for Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. |
| Not allowed | A localised display name in one of these scripts cannot contain English letters or symbols. |
| Must it be unique? | Not a separate requirement for a regular display name: it uses the already unique username with different capitalisation. A localised display name must be unique. |
| When can you change it? | No limit for regular display names. Once every 60 days for a localised display name, which is not reserved after a change. |
| Effect on the profile link | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| How to check it yourself | No check is needed for a regular display name: it uses your username. |
| Official sources | |
| Checked on |
Nymforge’s advice Choose a Twitch username you can keep for a while: changes require a 60-day wait. Update your social links and bios as soon as you change it, because the old channel URL does not redirect.
YouTube
| Minimum length | 3 characters. Exceptions: 1 character for Chinese and Korean; 2 for Ethiopic and Japanese kana (hiragana and katakana). |
|---|---|
| Maximum length | 30 characters. Exceptions: 10 characters for Chinese and Korean; 20 for Ethiopic and Japanese kana. Mixed-script handles may have other limits. |
| Allowed characters | Letters and numbers from one of the 75 supported languages, plus underscores (_), hyphens (-), periods (.) and middle dots (·). These separators cannot appear at the start or end. Handles are not case-sensitive. |
| Not allowed | A handle must not resemble a website address or phone number. Mixing left-to-right and right-to-left scripts is only allowed with numbers at the end. Offensive, violent or spam-like handles are prohibited, as is selling or transferring a handle. |
| Must it be unique? | Yes — the handle must be available, and each channel has only one. |
| When can you change it? | Up to twice in a 14-day period. |
| Effect on the profile link | Your handle becomes the channel address, such as youtube.com/@example. Both the old and new addresses work for 14 days; afterwards, another channel may claim the old handle. Legacy custom URLs keep working. |
| How to check it yourself | In YouTube Studio > Customisation > Profile, view or edit your handle. If it is taken, YouTube suggests adding periods, numbers or underscores. |
| Official sources | |
| Checked on |
| Minimum length | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
|---|---|
| Maximum length | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| Allowed characters | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| Not allowed | No character list. The name must follow the Community Guidelines, including the impersonation policy against visually or phonetically misleading names. |
| Must it be unique? | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| When can you change it? | Up to twice in a 14-day period. Changing your channel name removes its verification badge. |
| Effect on the profile link | No direct effect is described in the official pages reviewed: channel URLs use the unique channel ID, the @handle or legacy custom URLs, rather than the channel name. |
| How to check it yourself | In YouTube Studio > Customisation > Profile, enter the new channel name and select Publish. |
| Official sources | |
| Checked on |
Nymforge’s advice Your handle sets the channel address; your channel name shapes how people recognise it. Decide on both together, and use the 14 days when both addresses work to update your links elsewhere.
TikTok
| Minimum length | 2 characters |
|---|---|
| Maximum length | 24 characters |
| Allowed characters | Letters, numbers, underscores (_) and periods (.). |
| Not allowed | A username cannot end with a period. |
| Must it be unique? | Yes — the name must be available. It may already be taken or reserved by a suspended or deactivated account. |
| When can you change it? | Once every 30 days. A released username remains unavailable for an unspecified period before an account can claim it. |
| Effect on the profile link | The username forms your profile link: changing the username changes the link. |
| How to check it yourself | In the TikTok app, go to Profile > Edit profile > Username, enter the name and save. The help page reviewed does not provide a separate availability checker. |
| Official sources | |
| Checked on |
| Minimum length | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
|---|---|
| Maximum length | 30 characters |
| Allowed characters | Choose a nickname within the length limit and TikTok’s Community Guidelines. |
| Not allowed | No official character list. The nickname must follow TikTok’s Community Guidelines. |
| Must it be unique? | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| When can you change it? | Once every 7 days. |
| Effect on the profile link | None — the profile link uses the username, not the nickname. |
| How to check it yourself | In the TikTok app, go to Profile > Edit profile > Name, enter the nickname and save. |
| Official sources | |
| Checked on |
Nymforge’s advice Choose your username carefully: it sets the profile link and can only change every 30 days. Use the nickname for variations, with up to 30 characters and a change every 7 days.
| Minimum length | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
|---|---|
| Maximum length | 30 characters |
| Allowed characters | Unaccented letters (a-z), numbers (0-9), underscores (_) and periods (.). |
| Not allowed | Spaces, accents and other symbols are not allowed. A username cannot end with a period or contain consecutive periods. Underscores can be consecutive and appear at either end. |
| Must it be unique? | Yes — you cannot claim a username already used by someone else. |
| When can you change it? | The pages reviewed do not give a fixed waiting period. A change may be reviewed for accounts that reach many people. A name recently released by an active account you do not own may not be available. |
| Effect on the profile link | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| How to check it yourself | The pages reviewed do not provide a separate availability checker. Change the username in your profile information; it must be available. Followers may be notified of the change. |
| Official sources | |
| Checked on |
| Minimum length | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
|---|---|
| Maximum length | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| Allowed characters | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| Not allowed | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| Must it be unique? | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| When can you change it? | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| Effect on the profile link | Not documented in the official sources reviewed |
| How to check it yourself | From your profile, select Edit profile, enter the name and submit your changes. You can also use Accounts Centre > Profiles. |
| Official sources | |
| Checked on |
Nymforge’s advice A taken username cannot be claimed, and a recently released name may still be unavailable. Claim yours early: returning to a previous username is possible, but not guaranteed.
Download the table (CSV)
The file contains the same information as this page, with one row per platform and name type.
Free to reuse, including commercially, under the CC BY 4.0 license. Credit ‘Nymforge — Username rules by platform’ with a link to this page.